Yet another idiot with a airsoft gun

[szak416]

My little brother came home to me yesterday with a interesting story about a kid in the public park with a AEP he told me that the kid was brandishing it going around and shooting it randomly at objects trying to look BA. So today i went up to the park with him the kid is there yet again trying to look good with his little walmart crosman gun. I go over to him and basically go off on him explaining how he could get his head blown off by a cop,tazered(my favorite option) ,arrested,etc.Eventually i go on about SB798 what caused it(a single idiot like him) and what it will do to our beloved hobby/sport. After I was done i think i scared to living crap out of him.

I just want to know if what i did was right, i know there is a thread similar to this but some of my teammates are pushing me to post this. (please do not bash me for any spelling errors)

[THEDEISEL]

Originally Posted by szak416

My little brother came home to me yesterday with a interesting story about a kid in the public park with a AEP he told me that the kid was brandishing it going around and shooting it randomly at objects trying to look BA. So today i go up to the park with him the kid is there yep again trying to look good with his little walmart crosman gun. I go over to him and basically go off on him explaining how he could get his head blown off by a cop,tazered(my favorite option) ,arrested,etc.Eventually i go on about SB798 what caused it(a single idiot like him) and what it will do to our beloved hobby/sport. After I was done i think i scared to living crap out of him.

I just want to know if what i did was right, i know there is a thread similar to this but some of my teammates are pushing me to post this. (please do not bash me for any spelling errors)

At least you had the balls to go up there and face him. And luckily it turned out to be a success!

WELL DONE!

[Mechanical Gun]

Originally Posted by THEDEISEL

At least you had the balls to go up there and face him. And luckily it turned out to be a success!

WELL DONE!

Not really, I mean, he's just a kid and there's no real reason to yell at him; he doesn't understand that he's destroying a sport, hell he probably doesn't even know it's a sport.

I'm sorry, but I don't think you would make a huge impact either. I played with my friends with our ****ty cyber guns and plastic AEGs out in the yard and park when we were in the fourth grade. If some random guy started yelling at us, we would walk away and not listen to you at all.

Sorry, I agree with you, but if I'm a kid I don't really give a **** about degrading a sport, I don't understand what you'd be talking about.

[szak416]

Originally Posted by Mechanical Gun

Not really, I mean, he's just a kid and there's no real reason to yell at him; he doesn't understand that he's destroying a sport, hell he probably doesn't even know it's a sport.

I'm sorry, but I don't think you would make a huge impact either. I played with my friends with our ****ty cyber guns and plastic AEGs out in the yard and park when we were in the fourth grade. If some random guy started yelling at us, we would walk away and not listen to you at all.

Sorry, I agree with you, but if I'm a kid I don't really give a **** about degrading a sport, I don't understand what you'd be talking about.

Good sir it sounds like you are trying to insult your self. Anyway I can agree with you on the fact that most kids would just shrug it off and walk away thinking im psycho but still its worth it anyway. Another reason why i post this is because one of my dads friends who is a cop was over recently and he saw me in the backyard with my gun target shooting, he asked me to show him it he looked at it for a while then look at me with a deadlyserious look and said "even if you are in your own yard if a cop asks you to drop the gun do it cause they don't ask twice". I dont care if they just shrug it off and walk away as long as they heard what i said and dont get shot im fine i tried to warn them.

[THEDEISEL]

Originally Posted by szak416

Good sir it sounds like you are trying to insult your self. Anyway I can agree with you on the fact that most kids would just shrug it off and walk away thinking im psycho but still its worth it anyway. Another reason why i post this is because one of my dads friends who is a cop was over recently and he saw me in the backyard with my gun target shooting, he asked me to show him it he looked at it for a while then look at me with a deadlyserious look and said "even if you are in your own yard if a cop asks you to drop the gun do it cause they don't ask twice". I dont care if they just shrug it off and walk away as long as they heard what i said and dont get shot im fine i tried to warn them.

^agreed!

[IRONMAN]

It's best to at least try and give him (little kid) a little insight on what he is doing and how it can cause harm to him and others. A better option then doing absolutely nothing and letting it go on hoping nothing bad happens with the kid's dumb decisions.

My personal view on the matter...

[Jwoo]

i mean there are open carry laws in some states in a lot of states but slinging it around your back and just randomly shooting in a park are two different things

[Mechanical Gun]

Originally Posted by szak416

Good sir it sounds like you are trying to insult your self. Anyway I can agree with you on the fact that most kids would just shrug it off and walk away thinking im psycho but still its worth it anyway. Another reason why i post this is because one of my dads friends who is a cop was over recently and he saw me in the backyard with my gun target shooting, he asked me to show him it he looked at it for a while then look at me with a deadlyserious look and said "even if you are in your own yard if a cop asks you to drop the gun do it cause they don't ask twice". I dont care if they just shrug it off and walk away as long as they heard what i said and dont get shot im fine i tried to warn them.

Not trying to insult myself, I'm just saying that when I was younger and played airsoft we'd all use crappy guns and really didn't think we'd get arrested for using them.

Depending on age, he may not even have heard you. Children have a different brain and it works in many ways different than a full grown adults' may. If anyone starts lecturing and trying to reason with a child, he's probably going to get bored with that and think about something else.

What part of Ohio are you from? Me and my friends would tote our guns around whenever we were in any yards or parks and never received any complaints and had cops drive by and was never questioned. Granted, it seems stupid in retrospect, but to be honest, I didn't even know that anyone took airsoft gun safety and seriously until I joined this site.

[FloW]

While others have said it may have been a 'waste of time' to talk to the kid about the gun, I believe it may have been a good choice. Even if, at the time, he doesn't fully understand the concept of how it can demean our sport, he may take it more into consideration as time goes on. If you didn't say anything to him and nobody else did, he probably would have continued shooting carelessly. I believe our goal is to educate the public and those who don't share the complete love for the sport, but not to scare them about it. Regardless, I believe you did the right thing just to warn him before somebody in the park loses an eye.

[RedL|ne]

Really, you didn't handle the situation as well as you could have. Most young kids hearing automatically shuts off when an adult starts yelling at them, and by yelling at him you risked getting his parents pissed at you. What you should have done was calmly explained the situation to him, rather than yelling, so you could have possibly made a positive impact.

[slim.]

Originally Posted by RedL|ne

Really, you didn't handle the situation as well as you could have. Most young kids hearing automatically shuts off when an adult starts yelling at them, and by yelling at him you risked getting his parents pissed at you. What you should have done was calmly explained the situation to him, rather than yelling, so you could have possibly made a positive impact.

I don't believe he yelled, read the original post.
I approve of the way you handled this.

[Warcat]

Good job. Yell, scream, whatever, you confronted him, discussed the problems with him and woke him up. You did the right thing. Whatever your approach, if you got through to him you did good. If you think you were too harsh? Well. A bullet fired by a cop would be a lot harsher.

[hour3suns]

I'm glad you took the initiative, whatever "go off on him" means in this case. I've always felt an adult yelling at a child is sort of like an adult temper tantrum, but I'm sure when you saw the scenario your heart was in the right place. Anyway, regardles, I say kudos to you for standing up for this sport and giving the child some insight into what could potentially happen to him, not to mention those that respect the sport and use airsoft guns appropriately. Too many parents around here are buying their children the Wal-Mart special and letting them go at it without a clue as to how much they can hurt someone. Thank you for at least saying something and hopefully giving him something to think about.

Smiling & Waving,
Sharon

[Evil Head]

Parents! Where are the F***ing parents? That's the problem, he didn't buy this gun, an adult did yet he's allowed to run free with a gun. Kids won't get airsoft banned, stupid parents will.

If parents won't yell at their kids, I'll do it for them. You did right.

[79stang]

Originally Posted by Evil Head

Parents! Where are the F***ing parents? That's the problem, he didn't buy this gun, an adult did yet he's allowed to run free with a gun. Kids won't get airsoft banned, stupid parents will.

If parents won't yell at their kids, I'll do it for them. You did right.

Agreed!

Next time, call the cops on him, but tell the cops it is an airsoft gun (They will treat it like a real gun anyway). Then have said cops take him home to mommy and daddy. Hopefully the cop takes the gun. That should help the problem.

[Baccarra]

To those saying that this probably didn't affect him or he didn't understand it, well he told him cops would possibly shoot him. I'm pretty sure a young kid understands it's time to stop if he could be killed for it and I doubt he wants to commit suicide by cop.

[Carbon]

Parents! Where are the F***ing parents? That's the problem,

Amen evil head, couldn't agree more.
Prozak, I am glad you told the kid what he was doing wrong, and you did the right thing taking control of the situation.

[OverLord]

Originally Posted by szak416

I just want to know if what i did was right

You did the right thing. +1 for you.
The question is, will he do it again. If so proceed to call the cops like suggested above.

[Texx]

You should speak with the child's mother. Let her know what her kid was doing. And as pointed out previously, offer to produce more intelligent and safety-minded offspring with her.

Women can be practical. She may have lowered her standards simply to placate the screams of her biological clock. Now she can placate society by now producing a more socially-conscientious brood.

So yeah, placate that shi*....

[Evil Head]

Originally Posted by Texx

You should speak with the child's mother. Let her know what her kid was doing. And as pointed out previously, offer to produce more intelligent and safety-minded offspring with her.

Women can be practical. She may have lowered her standards simply to placate the screams of her biological clock.

So yeah, cox the mom...

Texx, you under estimate the number of parents who give a sh*t. The mom is more likely to yell at you for yelling at her kid. That's the problem today. My guess she has no concern for her child's well being, reason... he was alone in a park playing with a gun.

Mommy, "here's a gun Billy, go play with it in the park while mommy screws the crack dealer."

[szak416]

Originally Posted by Evil Head

Texx, you under estimate the number of parents who give a sh*t. The mom is more likely to yell at you for yelling at her kid. That's the problem today. My guess she has no concern for her child's well being, reason... he was alone in a park playing with a gun.

Mommy, "here's a gun Billy, go play with it in the park while mommy screws the crack dealer."

Unfortunately Evil Head is right most parents in that area could care less about what their kid is doing and there has been things like this happening before(kids bringing bb guns knifes etc. to the park) Not to discriminate or offend cause there are quite a few that are considered "good" this is in the area of the apartment/towers kids who in general do stuff like this commonly and i am surprised myself that they haven't been caught by the cops more often.

[Texx]

Originally Posted by Evil Head

Texx, you under estimate the number of parents who give a sh*t. The mom is more likely to yell at you for yelling at her kid. That's the problem today. My guess she has no concern for her child's well being, reason... he was alone in a park playing with a gun.

EH, I don't underestimate parents who don't care. But it can be just as much a case of a parent not knowing, especially when it comes to airsoft. It is equally possible she doesn't know what her child is doing. And be honest, did your parents always know what you were up to at all times as a child?

When I was a kid, my friends and I would sneak out to a vacant lot and shoot beer bottles with our pellet guns. We'd blow up GI Joes with M180s, hunt local woodland creatures or destroy other things that would have gotten us in trouble with our parents.

Letting her know what is going on would be the responsible thing to do. At that point, if she's not concerned to correct her child, it is time for the police to get involved. Or just call the police and complain, if they follow up on it, you can bet she will get involved one way or another.

Mommy, "here's a gun Billy, go play with it in the park while mommy screws the crack dealer."

<Sniff> I thought he was hurting mommy...

When you start tossing around "your kid needs to do this or that" at parents, they become defensive. And so do you, EH, if I told you to stop letting your kid play with Star Wars figures and instead start playing with Babylon 5 figures instead - you'd think I was crazy. Where do I get off telling you how to raise your kid?

Instead, you have to approach the matter differently. Give her the facts, explain why her kid is in danger. Educate her and let her decide how to handle this before it becomes more of a problem. It is ultimately in her best interest - if she doesn't care, being held legally responsible for damages her child causes usually snaps a parent right out of it.

I grew up with kids like that and have seen friends of my stepkids that come from homes like that. And it is just as likely a case of that. You could just as easily substitute "screwing the crack dealer" with "works graveyard shift and is catching up on sleep" or "depression from losing a spouse" or "preoccupied caring for another child." Consider how you would raise kids as a single parent. Until you know for sure, it may simply be a case of not being properly educated.

[mr_kong]

Originally Posted by Texx

You should speak with the child's mother.

And COX HER GOOD.

[Dax_7]

I'm glad someone in the world stepped up to kids (or teens) who abuse such a great hobby and sport. Yeah, the kid probably shrugged it off but at least he isn't going show off his pistol in that specific park anymore. So i think you did something good today and for that, I applaud.

[Big Teddy]

what do you think would happen if you reported him to the police, and stressed the fact it was and airsoft gun. if im not mistaken its agianst the law for minors under 18 to have airsoft GBB pistols. correct me if im wrong please, i know you have to be 21 to buy a real steel hand gun.

that way the police would confiscate the weapon, the parents will get fined. and if were my parents i wouldnt be able to sit or sleep on my back for a week.

lesson effectively learned