Rant #3,049: Questions and Answers

Here is another story that we all have heard about, but even though it did happen, it is really shocking and hard to believe.

In a school in Newport News, Virginia, a six-year-old pulled out a gun and shot his 20-something-year-old teacher.

Yes, a six year old.

And reportedly the shot was fired after an altercation the two had.

What, after the teacher asked the kid to put away his crayons, and he refused?

This is hard to fathom, difficult to process, but yes, it did happen.

There are few details out right now about this incident, other than the kid got the gun from his own home, where his mother legally owned the gun.

The kid hid the gun in his backpack, so you can presume he packed it away because he was intending to use it.

The teacher, even though she was shot pretty badly, still was able to shepherd her class to safety, away from the shooter.

She will recover, but this brings up so many questions and reactions that I wonder how this teacher will ever lead a class again—and feel safe.

And what was in the boy’s mind when he decided to use a gun to shoot her?

Why was the gun so easily obtainable by a six year old?

What charges do you bring against the kid?

Is the parent liable for any of this, to the point that she can be put into jail for, if nothing else, complete recklessness regarding the storage of the firearm?

This whole incident truly boggles the mind.

How can someone that young truly believe the way to settle any disagreement with the teacher is by shooting her?

It is bad enough when we have teenagers causing such havoc in high schools and colleges, but in elementary school?

It has since come to light that the teacher had just finished reading her class a story, and was going to move on to another lesson when the incident occurred.

For whatever reason, the kid pulled out his gun fron his backpack at this time, and he intended to use it.

The teacher must have been in total shock, but she tried to grab the gun away from the kid, and then the kid fired it at her.

As one could imagine, an elementary school is not a place one would think that weapons would be carried into, and while there are cameras at the school, there are no metal detectors.

Extra security had supposedly been discussed by the school board there, and there had been at least one other recent incident of such violence in the district, but at the high school, where if such an incident is going to happen, it was going to happen between older students, not a six year old and his teacher.

The Newport News police have already said that this shooting was not accidental, but where do they go fron here?

Published reports state that Virginia law does not allow kids of this age to be tried as adults. Also, a kid of this age is too young to be committed to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice if found guilty.

However, a juvenile judge, at his or her discretion, would have the authority to revoke a parent’s custody and place a child under the purview of the Department of Social Services.

Can this kid be rehabilitated? Can he see the error of his ways, and become a productive member of society?

Of do we have a kid that is already so damaged that any effort to straighten him out is simply a complete and total waste of time?

And what about the parent … the gun was purchased legally, but somehow her son got to it, used it—how did he know how to use it?--and could have killed his teacher and possibly harmed others by his actions.

She must bear some of the responsibility for the incident—but how much, and what is the punishment other than perhaps taking away her kid from her?

Like I said, there are just so many questions about this case, and so many answers that need to be fielded and weighed before making any judgments about the mother and her totally wayward son.

But the main question remains this: what type of young mind, that of a six year old, plans out such a scenario, and then carries it out?

What type of environment has this kid grown up in to produce this end result?

I don’t know … I just don’t know.

And at this point, I don’t think anyone does.