Boy Brings Gun To School, Father Blames Minecraft

[thethird0611]

Shouldnt the boy of brought a bow and arrow and been able to hit a target square in the bullseye from 100 yards?

But yeah, this whole thing is just a dad trying to pass the blame off to video games instead of taking responsibility. I agree with a few of the people in this thread, where did he put the gun that allowed the child to be able to easily get it? To add to that, where did he have it that he needed to keep the firing pin out of it?

 

[Frezzato]

Hmm. I like where this is going. Now I can blame Ikari Warriors for the fact that I don't own a yacht. Granted, I've played games all my life but my eyesight is still pretty much perfect (20/15), but I prefer to focus on the negatives, and avoid all personal responsibility.

 

[Makabriel]

One hour a day? Pft.. casual player.

I have to admire the kid for bringing the right tools though. He could definitely build himself a nice home and defend it. It doesn't say if he had a chest, though..

 

[Ken Sapp]

Actually, SCRATCH THAT. My concern is who was bullying this supposedly caring kid until he decided bringing a gun, knife and sledgehammer to school was a good idea.

I'm still trying to figure out how he got out of the house and into the school with a sledgehammer. A knife you can conceal. A gun you can conceal. But a sledgehammer? At nine years old the thing is about as big as he is and half as heavy.

Actually a sledgehammer can be quite concealable. I, for instance, have a 2 lb. sledgehammer with a 1 ft handle. I could easily hide that in any backpack I have ever owned. Whether or not I would want to carry it around all day is another matter.

 

[MatsVS]

Boy brings guns to school, father a moron who should be arrested for keeping firearms and ammunition around the house where a 9 year old could get to them.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

bahahaahhhaaaaahhaaaa

what?

is this a wind up? seriously, am i just not getting the joke here?

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Oh those darn video games, turning our young people into killing machines. Why can't it be like the 70's where people read commie propaganda (disguised as simple comic books) to become killing machines?

No more farming and mining simulators for you boy!

 

[Shuu]

Well, at least the guy's got his priorities down. Get rid of son's pass-time so you may continue to leave your gun where he can get to it.

 

[1337mokro]

Digital Lego made my kid a little shit. It certainly wasn't my bad parenting and the fact I leave a fucking gun and ammo littered around the house where any kid could get his grimy hands on it. No it's them cubes! Turned the fucking kid into a socialist anarchist!

 

[Glaice]

I blame bad parenting.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

He said his son brought the weapons to school to emulate "the zombie-slaying game" Minecraft, which he played "every day, for about an hour," and that as a result of the incident, "all those games are going in the garbage."

Here, let me run that through my Universal Bullshit Translator (patent pending):

"Holy crap, I got caught out utterly failing as a parent and a human being! I need a scapegoat to deflect blame onto... oh yeah, them vidya gaemz!"

 

[Gitty101]

How on EARTH could the Father blame Minecraft for his son's behavior? I mean, the usual weak-legged argument about GTA and CoD being a bad influence I can sort of understand, but Minecraft? A game where you build stuff in a super unrealistic pixelated world? Nope, not buying it.

 

[Rad Party God]

Right... frakking Minecraft... of all games... I love how they skip the irresposability of the parents or even the motives for the child to bring the weapons to his school in the first place.

And good luck throwing a digital game into the garbage

 

[RandV80]

It's perfectly natural for young boys to want to play with combat weapons. I mean when I was a kid me and my brothers/friends used to head out into the woods (had a nice big vacant block) and play ninja turtles or guns or whatever. Or for a more classic example think of the movie A Christmas Story where Ralpie just really wants a BB gun and at one point in the movie he fantasizes that robbers are invading the yard and he chases them off with his fancy new Red Ryder B.B. Gun.

I know it's a sensitive subject with all the school shootings in recent year in the States but its really all sort of ironic how they cling to their guns for the adults yet completely stifle the make-believe gun play for children. Although actually in a weird sort of way it makes perfect sense with America's bi-polar nature. The loud & crazy redneck conservative side makes sure they get to keep their own guns because it's their God given right and enshrined in the constitution to which they are all seasoned scholars, but for the children there's no one to stand in the way as the bleeding heart hippie liberal sissies side of political spectrum have their way in the classroom where every child is a special butterfly and couldn't possibly have any inherent violent tendencies, those must all come from outside influences!

 

[RandV80]

Oh, and in my opinion it makes perfect sense that a kid after playing minecraft would want to make believe playing it, zombie slaying included. So yes Minecraft could be the influence to bring those weapons to school. Rather what I think is the wrong thing here is that the kid had to resort to contraband for make believe play. And of course from a legal perspective the fact that the father didn't seem to keep his handgun properly secure.

 

[RicoADF]

...Minecraft is a zombie-slaying game? That's like saying Call of Duty is about learning the differences between guns. Sure, it is a possible aspect of the game, but a very minor detail nonetheless.

Also, good luck throwing away a game that is only available digitally.

If its the 360 version it did have a physical copy available in stores.

I like how the father demonized him playing minecraft for an hour every day yet no mention of how his 9 year old "caring" son got a hold of a gun and ammo.

I wonder if it's really the father or the media scewing his words. He did say the gun was out too, if he means he is getting rid of it then he's accepting that the gun was the issue.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Also if the kid was trying to live out Minecraft in real life why didn't he start by chopping down a tree?

WITH HIS FISTS.

Now that's a news story I'd like to see. Even more amazing when with his bare hands he cuts the tree into planks and builds the start of a new house.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

For a moment I thought the source was from WTFV.com. It would have been more suitable.

And seriously, Minecraft, a zombie slaying game? That's like saying Super Mario is about the ethnic cleansing of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Hey dad, maybe it should be the gun going in the trash, since you obviously don't know how to keep it out of the hands of your kid. Whoopdy fucking do for taking out the pin.

 

[K12]

Boy Brings Gun To School, Father Blames Minecraft

The father of a nine-year-old boy who brought a gun and bullets to school says the videogames are going in the garbage.

A nine-year-old Florida boy has been sentenced to "home confinement" after being caught with a handgun, a magazine with six rounds, a steak knife and a small sledgehammer. School officials say they discovered the weapons after the boy showed them to three other students, who immediately reported it.

Speaking to WFTV News [http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/father-boy-who-brought-weapons-to-school-was/vCDXPx/], the boy's father described him as a "good" and "caring" child, and pointed the finger of blame in the usual direction - but not at the usual games. He said his son brought the weapons to school to emulate "the zombie-slaying game" Minecraft, which he played "every day, for about an hour," and that as a result of the incident, "all those games are going in the garbage."

The good news for all involved is that even if the boy had wanted to go on a shooting spree, he couldn't have done so because, according to the father, the firing pin had been removed from the weapon. Even so, the gun is also "out," although the report isn't clear about whether that means it will be removed from the home or just not left lying around in quite so accessible a location. Either way, it's fortunate that nobody was hurt, and sadly predictable that videogames - and not, you know, wildly irresponsible parenting - would be given the bulk of the blame.

Source: WFTV.com [http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/student-found-weapons-orange-co-elementary-school/nZ8DK/?ecmp=wftv_social_201312470064]


Permalink

Apparently Poe's Law also applies to the "video games are evil" people as well as religious nutters.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

...Minecraft is a zombie-slaying game? That's like saying Call of Duty is about learning the differences between guns. Sure, it is a possible aspect of the game, but a very minor detail nonetheless.

Also, good luck throwing away a game that is only available digitally.

It's no longer PC/XBLA only. You've been able to buy an XBox hardcopy since June 4th (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Xbox_360_Edition).

Huh. I stand corrected on that part. Still, the whole "not a zombie-slaying game" part stands, unless I play it terribly wrong.