Monday, November 24, 2008

When Babies Shoot Bullets

There was a shooting at the local mall on Saturday afternoon. A group of kids got into a confrontation and somebody pulled out a gun and shot one kid to death. On Sunday they moved the fight a little closer to us and another young man died in a parking lot behind a restaurant in the business district just up the road. Farther north in Rainer Valley they shot up a gas station and hit a 15 year old in the thigh and a 18 year old in the arm. No one died in the last one. The police say both incidents on Sunday were in retaliation for the first shooting at the mall.

What a waste. I'm guessing here, but I'd be willing to wager that it all started with words. Someone said something to someone who couldn't manage their anger. What a waste.

I remember being that age. I remember how my feelings were so intense I thought I might go crazy. How passion ruled my mind before logic. How everything seemed so big and so important.
But I didn't carry a gun.

The cops say it's gang related and I'm sure it is, but I'll bet you when the parents are interviewed they won't recognize their own child as a gang member. They'll say that they were good kids and they'll be telling the truth.

These kids are the same age as a lot of my friends children. Just a few years older then the kids who live down the street, the sweet kids who like to come up and see the goats and chickens. Kids that should be graduating in June. Kids that might have applied for a job with us in a few years.

Now their dead kids.

They're dead because it's as easy for a kid to get a gun in this country as it is to get a pack of cigarettes.

10 comments:

Gin said...

How terribly sad. I hate when things like this happen.

Mo said...

Makes you stop and think doesn't it?

Mama Llama said...

It is saddening and infuriating. And another reason factored into why I left teaching at the Uni.

I could write volumes of emotion on this, Brad. I'm sorry that has hit you in your neck of the woods. So many here are still reeling from Virginia Tech.

Be well, Brad.

susi said...

That's terrible. I've never really understood why it is so easy for anyone to get a gun in the US. I have heard people argue that it is the "constitutional right" of an American to carry a gun - if that's so, why not change the constitution?

However, we have no reason to be smug in England about this. We seem to have a similar "gang related" problem in some of the cities here - but here they use knives which, of course, are impossible to regulate.

happyone said...

It is so sad to hear things like this.
You're right it's such a waste.

Jenny said...

S/C Mall is becoming more and more involved with gang activities - not good for anyone. Especially if an innocent bystander had been shot too. Where are they getting these guns? If I want one, I have to wait 72 hours, have a back ground check, etc., etc. THIS is why gun control is important but I doubt it would keep guns out of the hands of anyone who thinks they need one.

So.Very.Sad.

SOUL said...

it's always hard for me to even grasp these kinds of things. my girl is this age (14) -- she has already had her share of trouble in things i never imagined for her even in her lifetime. you're right brad.. their parents prolly don't have a clue what their kids have been up to. it's all just heartbreaking.
laterz-

Summer said...

I read this yesterday and didn't know what to say. I still don't.

zirelda said...

What a horrible thing to happen and yes, what a waste.

At the age those kids are they shouldn't be near a gun.

Emotions run too high and kids have no sense then.

bonnie said...

I wonder if they know what dead is. Do they know what they steal? Is it a movie? Bravado? Ugh. It hurts.