I have been wanting to post something about this issue for years, but found others to talk about. However, the time has come that I MUST do it NOW! Thanks to my good friend and Marine brother, a retired Sergeant Major of Marines, who sent this to me this morning. I enjoyed it and agreed with it so much that I had to read it twice. This guy has nailed it squarely on the head.
COMMENTARY- The Blade, Toledo, OH
Parents, not guns, are responsible for keeping kids safe
BY MATT MARKEY BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR
There were 361,119 hunters in Ohio in the most recent season. Michigan had 665,431 hunters. They carried shotguns, rifles, pistols, and lethal archery equipment, so they were armed to the hilt. But no one shot anyone else.
That’s more than one million individuals with firearms, but they didn’t settle a neighborhood squabble, a fight over a girlfriend, a dispute involving territory, a road rage incident, a case of perceived disrespect, or an instance of just looking at someone the wrong way, with violence.
They did not allow their guns, which most own for hunting and personal protection, to become weapons used to settle some petty discord, the result of which we see on the streets of our major cities on a frighteningly regular basis.
In that scenario, which seems to be playing out on an endless loop, lives end — too often those of innocent bystanders — families are devastated, mothers are left to mourn, the perpetrators end up in the prison system, and we pay to support them for decades.
And many of our politicians, community leaders, and sociologists hit the well-worn but ever-reliable default button of blame — Gun Violence. They are infatuated with that term. Make the lifeless device culpable. Focus your condemnation on a piece of steel. Claim that the inanimate object is the actual source of the evil.
There were more than 3,000 youths at the 2022 high school Target Shooting National Championship competition. Every one of them had a powerful shotgun, but nobody shot anyone. There will be more than 4,000 people taking part in the National Matches at Camp Perry this summer, firing rifles and pistols, but as has been the case for more than 100 years, nobody will shoot anyone, despite the abundance of firepower and ammunition on site.
Then we hear about a six-year-old in Virginia taking a handgun to school and shooting his teacher. The national news calls it Gun Violence, but nobody demands to know where he got the gun, where did he learn to use it, and where are his parents.
Two teens arrested after a recent brawl at a Columbus mall were found to be carrying fully-loaded handguns. In a Cleveland suburb, two boys, ages 12 and 13, were charged with aggravated murder for shooting down a 14-year-old schoolmate. The cases keep rolling in, and we lump them all into that convenient Gun Violence folder.
Much closer to home, the examples are equally abundant.
A 16-year-old is arrested for shooting and killing another teen near the playground area at Ravine Park Village apartment complex in East Toledo. A convenience store on Phillips Avenue is robbed by two gun-toting teens, and one of them dies in a shootout with police.
In January, a 15-year-old girl is found shot to death in a North Toledo alley. Three teens decide to shoot up a funeral in Toledo and two funeral home employees are wounded. A 15-year-old boy is killed and a 10-year-old seriously wounded during a Wednesday night shooting at Avondale and Brown avenues.
Other teens are injured in shootings at two in the morning where the gunslinger is also a juvenile. We have a news conference, bringing out the long faces and the somber tone, but nobody in authority asks mom and dad what their children are doing out at that hour. Nobody asks where they got the guns.
Instead, we make Gun Violence the boogeyman. We describe it as if it is the next coronavirus variant or an invasive species that just arrived from a foreign land. No one dares demand some personal responsibility from the parents of the youths involved in these shootings and other crimes.
We hear about these “violence interrupters” who are going to ride into town, work the streets, and put an end to kids killing other kids. That approach turned out to be a band aid that didn’t stick when applied over a metastasized gargantuan tumor, and a colossal waste of time, and money.
Still searching for a magic potion, we find a program from Kentucky. This is going to fix our Gun Violence problem. More programs, more government money, more meetings. But nobody wants to talk about parenting or your responsibility for the children you bring into this world.
When a juvenile believes that picking up a gun, pointing it at another human being, and pulling the trigger is the way to solve their problems or take what they want, we’ll have to go a lot further than Kentucky or Chicago — maybe to Heaven above — to find the solution. Because nobody wants to dare mention the source of the issue.
Kids learn a lot at home — both good and bad — and if home shirks this responsibility, then there are plenty of nefarious outside sources ready to fill the gap. And when kids see that irresponsible behavior is acceptable, as well as a lack of concern and culpability for their actions, they often take these same traits into a troubled adult life.
Like many kids, I found that my father was a very effective violence interrupter. You treated your neighbors, teachers, women, law enforcement, and your friends with respect because, from the earliest age, that is the way you saw your role model treating other people. And you did not want to transgress and end up in Dad’s court.
While searching for an appropriate and acceptable description for the kind of leadership we need at this critical juncture, when kids killing other kids has become so common, this came up — a comment from a Toledo police officer following yet another slaying involving our children.
“We need parents involved in kids’ lives. We need structure. We need routine. We need discipline. We need rules and boundaries,” this female officer said.
That should have been the mic drop moment that ended this circus of news conferences and proclamations and addressing this issue with wads of money and more bureaucratic folderol.
She nailed it, but I don’t think that perspective has been raised by anyone in authority ever since.
Contact Blade outdoors editor Matt Markey at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.
My question has always been who is responsible when when a 10 or 12-year-old takes a gun from home to school and kills someone? No one wants to place the blame where it should be. instead we feel sorry for the parents, Oh my it’s so sad that my 10 year-old Johnny shot and killed his best friend over an argument. R U shitting me? Furthermore, the parents cannot believe that their son did something so horrific. It’s those damn slack guns laws. Really?
I know I will be criticized by some as being crazy or out of touch with reality, but I believe we should lock both parents up for ten years. Put that kid in a juvenile home and get his ass straightened out once and for all. It is time we start looking at who is actually responsible for a 10 year-old killing another kid. Nuff said, and bring it on liberals!
Originally posted 2023-06-14 15:21:37.
Yup, you nailed it Jim. Spot on
Thanks, Jim, for this post. I agree that in every case the first questions must be where are the parents and why did they create this little monster?
But there is, IMO, a much more troubling answer: the leftists and their puppets in the main stream media want to remove all parents from the equation, and that is why these questions above never get attention. The goal is to destroy the nuclear family as the building block of society.
We see this in the schools and the latest movements to prevent parents from having any say over what sex the child will be.
This article really hits the nail on the head. Parents must begin teaching their young respec and discipline at an early age (I grew up saying yes sir/mamam, a trait I still follow at 78 years old). Hold the parents responsible as well as their misguided children. A noticeable decrease in shootings will be seen immediately.
I got my first gun when I was 10. Never once thought of pointing it at any human. Respect for authority and others plain and simple. That’s what is totally lacking in the generations coming along now. And trust me, the powers that be don’t care how many are shot to death. That’s not the reason they want to disarm the populace. It’s a globalist and Marxist way to gain total control of the people. That and shut down free speech. Dumb down the population by getting rid of history and rewriting it to suit their purpose. Get rid of religion by making the religious the enemy. And finally get the masses addicted to drugs/ social media/ video games/ welfare or total reliance on the government. The leftists are hard at work on all those fronts. Guns, however, are the hardest of the list. Legal gun owners are the most independent people of all.
Parents are a major problem, but the video games that kids (and adults) play also contributes to the mental frame of mind of how to settle problems. Hollywood and violent movies also contribute. But…a parent can control that exposure if they would STOP being a damn FRIEND and try being a parent that guides and disciplines as needed!!!
Jim, every time we would see on the news about a teenager or younger, I look at my wife and ask her ” where are the parents and what are they doing out so late”? You are spot on! I just heard the president say that he owns our kids, then he must be the problem! No sir, parents need to be parenting and not being their friends! You are spot on Sir! Semper Fi!
Lots of great stuff here Jim. All true (especially towards the end). And, maybe 30% or more percent of liberals might be moderately well off, have 2 parent households, and seemingly other “normal” circumstances. But, if they believe it’s okay for a 3 to 15 yr old decide they should be another sex and the parents (and teachers) support such lunacy, what chance do we have as a country/society. I assume most of your blog followers were pretty much like me. At dinner time, my father yelled all 4 of his kids’ names out the back door. If we didn’t show for dinner, we didn’t get to eat. We were told to go outside and play….made up our own games because we didn’t have much in the way of toys. Hunted with my father; learned not to point even a toy gun at anything I didn’t want to kill. I had to finish cutting the grass with that damn push rotary mower that jammed up every few minutes. Got chased up the stairs if I sassed my mother.
In short, so much of this problem must stem from homelife in one form or another.
Kudos to the author.
Thanks Doug, you obviously grew up as I did. Dad never raised his voice, he didn’t have to. I blame all the problems today on the damn parents. And I am tired of hearing about both families working while they drive to work in expensive cars. Stop trying to be something they aren’t and raise your children!!