7-year-old faces 2 felony charges for shooting BB gun

[jedi]

Why did the mom call the police?

 

[Mark 1911]

How to you charge a kid that's hardly more than a baby with ANY criminal charge? How utterly stupid.

How much damage could a BB gun possibly have done in the first place? Did the passing motorists ever know? I bet most cars get more damage from stones and pebbles.

This is so over the top its laughable. The DA should lose his job for being such an incompetent ignoramus.

 

[wakproductions]

There should be a felony for the parents for their irresponsibility.

 

[GoNavy]

i know this has already been said but a bb gun is not a firearm

 

[OkieGirl]

I don't get why mom called the police. Why did the 7yr old have access to the BB gun without the parents knowing? There has got to be something that I am missing here. Was someone injured or something? If my child got ahold of a BB gun somehow without my knowledge I would be liable for the damages and my sons tail end would be on the receiving end of some firm education. This kid was 7yrs old for crying out loud! He did not have any understanding of consequences. Felony charges??? You have GOT to be kidding!

He's the age of a first or second grader, you guys remember that age: drinking milk, learning to line up to go out to recess, trading baseball cards with a kid on the bus, learning how to brush your own teeth correctly, oh and being charged with two felonies.

 

[92ThoStro]

Aren't these more properly called "delinquent acts" and not felonies? since this is a child?
These also wont stick with him.
Besides, I doubt he will be adjudicated anyway.

I'm just speaking generally, I don't know how the JJS works in that state.

I don't think hundreds of hours of community service is warranted. He is 7, he will not learn anything from it.
The parents should just be fined and they need to take away his BB gun.

 

[SSGSAD]

why were the "Parents" allowing his to shoot at the house across the street in the first place? abandoned or not its just not the kind of thing that a responsible parent should allow

I thought that shooting across a road, was illegal ????? Does anyone know the law, or code ?????

 

[Smokepole]

WOW! When I was a kid if something got damaged the adults worked it out and the parents would pay for any damage then beat the kids butt. If a cop was called he would have checked the overall situation and likely made sure that the adults worked it out. The parent should be held accountable for paying for damage and disciplining the child.

This kid 7 years old and has no idea what the hell a misdemeanor is let alone a felony. Aside from being a ridiculous standard to set the import of the charge will have no practical meaning for the poor kid at all. At his age kids aren't able to understand the charge. Just like they have no ability to understand sex. Only that they did something wrong that they shouldn't do again.

To the poster that thinks that criminal juvenile records are expunged, think again. Expunged means wiped out, erased. And that never happens with a criminal record. EVER. Not your drivers license either. Juvie records are supposed to be sealed at the age of 18, but that is a joke anymore.

Most on this board go ape nuts over schools that expel kids for drawing a gun on paper or making a finger gun, calling the zero tolerance thing ridiculous overkill. Did anyone notice that neither the cop nor the lady driving the car wanted the kid to be charged?

I can see a misdemeanor in an extreme case, but a felony for a 7 year old is ridiculous overkill. First time drunk drivers that cause an accident routinely come away with less.

 

[Shadow8088]

When I was 11, I found my dad's books on how to make and disarm explosives and incendiary devices.. (He was on Bomb Squad for a number of years) Well, me and a couple of my friends built a pipe bomb... put a super long fuse on it... lit it, and tossed it in one of the neighbor's above ground pool. Now, having said this, and looking back with the eyes of an adult, we had NO idea what kind of repercussions would come of this event. We figured that the water would contain the explosion (yeah, we were figuring it would be like a quarter stick.. boy were we wrong) While we were running for our lives giggling with boyish glee, you could feel a shockwave go through the ground.. The sound was deafening... a couple of windows shattered, the pool was leveled.. and we stood there dumbstruck... we of course ran like the children we were... I still feel guilt as I sit here writing this.. with that said.. at 11 we had no idea what we were doing... We knew it was wrong to a point, but we were completely unprepared for the aftermath... 7 years old is way way too young for unsupervised BB gun use.. This kid had no clue what kind of things could come from him shooting at an abandoned house or some cars.. This goes beyond "scared straight" tactics.. Fine the parents, make the kid do community service, and for the love of all that is holy, TEACH HIM THE 4 RULES!!

 

[92ThoStro]

Did anyone ever find out?
I bet the neighbors were speechless.
I bet they would never have guessed it was a bomb if they came home to shattered windows and a leveled pool. Maybe a tornado or something

 

[Shadow8088]

No, we never owned up to it... The police showed up.. insurance covered the pool (I assume...) There was a new one up a week later.. Like I said.. still feel bad about it... this happened at about 9pm on a weeknight during the summer..

 

[Woodrow]

He launched missiles at an occupied vehicle that was in motion. If the BB had gone through an open window and "shot someone's eye out," (yes, I went there), the vehicle could have crashed. That is well within the realm of possibility. The parents need to be handled for failing to teach the child better than to turn the gun on moving vehicles. Yes, boys will be boys, and what not, and I did some stupid things when I was young. Felonies? No, but there need to be some kind of consequences on the parents I think. Nothing permanent, but damn it is just so dumb.

 

[Hookeye]

Get what he deserves. Guess his parents should have raised him better. Good way for someone to lose control and get killed. My neighbor had her back window shot out with a bb/pellet gun while driving when we were younger, it startled her and she jerked the wheel right into a light pole and died.

Gotta have some responsibility when you let you're kids play around with projectiles.

Responsible driving means...........stay in your lane, maintain control.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Kids were shooting across the road at the house, right? The parents were cool with that?

 

[MikeDVB]

Why did the mom call the police?

Probably for the same reason my mom called the fire department when I almost burned down the house playing with fire. House was fine but obviously my mom and dad's lectures weren't sinking in so she let the fire department, engine and all, explain it to me.

Obviously she made it clear it wasn't an emergency and what she was doing when she called but I was young enough to not know this. The fire engine showing up and the firemen talking to me about what I had done etc had a lasting effect and I ceased my misbehavior and playing with fire.

I'm making some assumptions here, but it's all I can think of. I'm also assuming there is more to this story than the media is presenting.

 

[sun]

The mother needs to learn how to properly supervise the 7 year when he's in possession of a weapon. If she doesn't know what she did wrong then she should take a parenting class.

 

[DocGlock86]

Kids will be kids. Parents can't be there all the time. I shudder to think of all the "felonies" the neighborhood kids and I could have been charged with when we was a mere 7 years old. But alas, times were different. If you threw rocks or shot a BB gun at a car there was a pretty good chance the driver would stop and beat your ass and then tell your parents and they would thank the driver for beating your ass and when the driver left they would beat your ass again for causing a ruckus and embarrassing them. Political correctness and this touchy feel good society we live in isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be.

This makes me because I remember back when I was young and dumb. My buddy and I took a TON of those ribbon snapper things that went into those western snap guns (not sure if I'm using the right terms it's been a while since I've played with them LOL) and spread them all over our street. Some guy drove over one and it sounded like a flipping cannon went off. He got out of the car and chased us to my parents house. My mom beat my butt right in front of him and even offered me to clean his car weekly for the rest of that year.

Sorry to OP.

 

[stephen87]

The irony of the story and some of the comments both on this board and attached to the article make me laugh.

How many stories have we read with outrage where the child wasn't punished? Or how many times has the issue of child coddling and helicopter parents been beat to death? Here we have a child that did something stupid and he is going to be punished for it and we are all ready to go to war because somebody is over-reacting.

I agree that felony charges are over doing it a tad but their law is written to include a bb gun as a firearm (I am taking this for granted because one of the posters to the article state that in North Carolina even a bow and arrow are included in this definition).

Will it teach the kid a lesson? Most definitely. Will it outrage people? Yup. Should the parents bear some responsibility here? Yes.

Will it scar him for life? Only if the parents allow it. He can be taught his lesson, and hopefully learn from it but when he turns 18 his record is expunged anyway.

Waste of resources, yes.

I disagree. Per North Carolina law, a bow and arrow is not a firearm. Nor is a BB gun, paintball gun, air rifle, etc.

Article 53B
Firearm Regulation.
§ 14‑409.39. Definitions.
The following definitions apply in this Article:
(1) Dealer. – Any person licensed as a dealer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 921, et seq., or G.S. 105‑80.
(2) Firearm. – A handgun, shotgun, or rifle which expels a projectile by action of an explosion.
(3) Handgun. – A pistol, revolver, or other gun that has a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand. [FONT=Times New (W1)](1995 (Reg. Sess., 1996), c. 727, s. 1.)[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New (W1)]


What's the velocity on a bb gun? 600 fps?

[/FONT]

§ 14‑34.1. Discharging certain barreled weapons or a firearm into occupied property.
(a) Any person who willfully or wantonly discharges or attempts to discharge any firearm or barreled weapon capable of discharging shot, bullets, pellets, or other missiles at a muzzle velocity of at least 600 feet per second into any building, structure, vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, or other conveyance, device, equipment, erection, or enclosure while it is occupied is guilty of a Class E felony.
(b) A person who willfully or wantonly discharges a weapon described in subsection (a) of this section into an occupied dwelling or into any occupied vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, or other conveyance that is in operation is guilty of a Class D felony.
(c) If a person violates this section and the violation results in serious bodily injury to any person, the person is guilty of a Class C felony. [FONT=Times New (W1)](1969, c. 341; c. 869, s. 7; 1979, c. 760, s. 5; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1316, s. 47; 1981, c. 63, s. 1; c. 179, s. 14; c. 755; 1993, c. 539, s. 1141; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 2005‑461, s. 1.)[/FONT]

 

[stephen87]

7-year-old Nabbed on Felony BB Gun Charges | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes


Charges were dropped.

 

[7urtle]

How to you charge a kid that's hardly more than a baby with ANY criminal charge? How utterly stupid.

How much damage could a BB gun possibly have done in the first place? Did the passing motorists ever know? I bet most cars get more damage from stones and pebbles.

This is so over the top its laughable. The DA should lose his job for being such an incompetent ignoramus.

i have head of bb breaking skin and getting lodged near spine