The boy exchanged the handgun for $300 in February. The incident was discovered after ammunition was found in the backpack of the other student Wednesday.

Two 10-year-old students were arrested in connection with a gun sold at their elementary school in Florida, county officials confirmed.

A deputy’s son “agreed to exchange a handgun, (later found to belong to his deceased father), for a sum of $300” back in February, the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

The Country Oaks Elementary School was placed under lockdown Wednesday morning after the sheriff’s office received a call about “a suspicious incident” on campus. Authorities discovered ammunition in the backpack of the boy who purchased the gun.

The gun was later found in his backyard under a shed, hidden with a 74-gram bag of marijuana, according to investigators.

  • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    50·
    8 months ago

    10-year-old students were arrested

    Fuck me. We didn’t used to arrest tiny children.

    And when shit like this comes up, I’m screaming, “How did a 10-yo have access to a GUN!?” Arrest whoever fucked that up please.

    There is no excuse. My kids are that age, and they won’t touch a gun. Period. (Partly because I’ve taught them, but mostly because they have brains.)

    I have a shitload of guns, and they’re all in safes except a couple of black powder arms (which they couldn’t arm and fire if their lives depended on it).

    Everyone wants “common sense” gun laws? Most ideas are silly, ineffective or run afoul of the 2A (which the courts uphold, like it or not). I see nothing stopping us from draconian storage laws.

    Make the laws, it’s on the owners to abide. Make an exception for one gun out for home defense, which some caveats. Hell, owners don’t even have to pay attention! But if a child lays hands on your gun, concrete and steel box for you.

    • MagicShel@programming.dev
      40·
      8 months ago

      Mostly because they have brains.

      I’m fucking jealous. Don’t get me wrong, my kids are bright, but my ten year old got expelled for taking a steak knife to school - something I’d never in a million years have suspected she’d do. But one of her friends thought it would be funny, and you know how you or I might joke about telling our boss to go fuck himself, but we’d never actually do it? My daughter knew better, but in that moment all she thought about was clowning around.

      She is already the most independent, hardest working kid I’ve known. I raised her to be that way and I’m damn proud of her. Some day she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with. It’s just like most children she’s a fucking idiot sometimes. It’s not her fault. I was a fucking idiot when I was a kid too. And based on stories I’ve heard, so was my dad. And then you look at the science and it turns out nearly every kid is a fucking idiot because a child’s brain isn’t an adult brain. And for some reason us parents tend to be the last to know.

      You and I feel similarly about what sane gun laws should be and I don’t really look to argue about that, but damn as one parent to another every time I hear someone say their child would never do some stupid thing or another because they are smart or raised right, I just think to myself that person either hit the jackpot or they are naive about how kids’ brains work. I’ve raised five kids. Every damn one of them has done at least one idiotic thing I never in a million years believed they would do.

      So don’t ever rely solely on your kids’ intelligence or adherence to rules to keep them safe. You don’t ever want their moment of idiocy to involve a firearm. Best of fortunes my friend - to you and your kids.

      • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        11·
        8 months ago

        but damn as one parent to another every time I hear someone say their child would never do some stupid thing or another because they are smart or raised right, I just think to myself that person either hit the jackpot or they are naive about how kids’ brains work.

        It is simply an extension of their narcissism. They see their child as an extension of themselves (at least for now, the child will inevitably leave them when they see how toxic they are), and in their mind it isn’t possible for them to do wrong.

      • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        8 months ago

        Oh my friend, black powder arms are a hella pain in the ass. They’re not even considered “guns” in my state.

        In any case, they’re too physically weak to stuff the ball in there. I have to use a helper tool to start it and mallet to finish.

        But first! You gotta figure out where to get black powder and where to pour it. Then you gotta figure out where the percussion cap/primer goes, and the safety and the other controls. LOL, forget the patch? Ball just fell out.

        The hobby is a labor of love for sure. Cause it ain’t easy. :)

    • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      12·
      8 months ago

      And when shit like this comes up, I’m screaming, “How did a 10-yo have access to a GUN!?”

      Hang around here long enough, and someone is bound to respond and try to defend it. Has happened to me multiple times. Apparently thinking that children shouldn’t have access to firearms, period, is a controversial take in the US now.

      • bitchkat@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        8 months ago

        The article says the gun belonged to his dead dad. It doesn’t offer any evidence of when his dad died or how he came to be in possession,

        • jonne@infosec.pub
          2·
          8 months ago

          Presumably another responsible adult would make sure the kid wouldn’t have access to it? Like, I don’t see how this could’ve happened unless his dad dropped dead in front of him while carrying, and the kid decided to just leave him there and sell the gun at school?

    • SaintWacko@midwest.socialEnglish
      10·
      8 months ago

      Even my home defense gun is in a biometric safe in my nightstand… Two of the others have trigger locks, and the other two are flintlocks

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        10·
        8 months ago

        Most gun owners, despite all the talk of “responsible gun owners” are nowhere near as responsible as you. I wish more were. Good for you for understanding gun safety.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
        7·
        8 months ago

        Hope those are some damned good trigger locks cause you can get past some with a hammer and screwdriver. My uncle lost his keys at some point and that was his solution.

      • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        8 months ago

        That biometric safe work well? I touch on fingerprint readers in IT, and while they’ve improved I’ve heard those little pistol safes are a PITA.

        And yes, I get that they’re easy to break into for the motivated.

        Flintlocks?! I’m mad jealous. I’ve got a few percussion cap guns, the modern one is the only one I have working reliably.

        • SaintWacko@midwest.socialEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          It really does! Doesn’t open for other people, but opens quickly for me. And you’re right, they’re not exactly difficult to break open, but that’s not why I have it. I just have it to keep a loaded gun out of reach of the kids.

          My father-in-law actually built the flintlocks decades ago! I haven’t actually fired them yet, but I keep meaning to pick up some powder and try them out

    • fah_Q@lemmy.ca
      6·
      8 months ago

      What if a 10 year old breaks into my house and tries to steal my “one home protection gun” should i blast him? Let’s say he is large for his age and it’s a dark and foggy night?

        • fah_Q@lemmy.ca
          5·
          8 months ago

          No personal concern! In Texas three youths robbed a bank the youngest was 11. Let’s say they robbed the bank attacked the security guard. Would it be right for him to light them up? Or better yet let’s say during the get away they run over your grandma and force a bus full of nuns off a bridge? Should Texas give them the electric chair?

  • Che Banana@lemmy.ml
    38·
    8 months ago

    Follow up story: 10 year olds’ gun charges dropped after being sentenced to 55 years on the mara-juannas.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    35·
    8 months ago

    I wish I had $300 when I was 10. I would have spent $150 on Star Wars figures and another $150 on G.I. Joes.

    • Ithral
      13·
      8 months ago

      I probably would have bought Bionicles, still sad they got discontinued

        • Ithral
          6·
          8 months ago

          Oh yeah, and the lore rabbit hole gets deep, read most of the comics and books, it was really cool as a whole universe with supporting toys.

          • Zahille7@lemmy.world
            4·
            8 months ago

            Fuck yeah it was.

            I went back a little while ago and reread through some of the lore on the wiki and all these memories came rushing back.

    • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      6·
      8 months ago

      Legos and SNES games for me. Probably more the Legos. I used to look through the catalogs longly, wishing I could afford the bigger city, jungle, and pirate sets.

      Nowadays I still look longingly, but at more sets and a little less at the city sets.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        3·
        8 months ago

        I was never hugely into Lego. I enjoyed it and had some, but it wasn’t the thing I was totally into.

        I like that they have adult stuff now though. I can’t say I had a lot of fun putting together the Lego Yellow Submarine, but it was still worth the experience.

        I got my wife some of the Lego plants they have now for her birthday last year. Succulents and an orchid, I think. She loved them.

        There’s no reason creative toys like Lego need to be just for kids.

        Also, there’s an antique mall near me that has a booth with like every G.I. Joe figure and vehicle made in the 80s. My parents would have had to drag me away from that booth.

        • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          3·
          8 months ago

          Yeah, I love the adult ones too, and aside from my personal experience I’ve heard a lot of people discuss the calming feeling it gives. For people with ADHD alot of us find it calming, relaxing, and something we can focus on unlike other ventures. Gives lots of hits of dopamine for each section you do etc.

  • babypigeon@lemmy.world
    33·
    8 months ago

    “The gun was later found in his backyard under a shed, hidden with a 74-gram bag of marijuana, according to investigators.”

    This whole story would a great opening to a film about a mob kingpin.

  • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
    26·
    8 months ago

    How did a 10 year old get $300, presumably in cash, and wtf was he going to do with it?!

    That kid is gonna be an arms dealer.

    • stoy@lemmy.zip
      14·
      8 months ago

      That removes ALL other factors, and simplifies too much, it doesn’t ask why a 10 year old kid had 74g of marijuana in the first place.

      Guns are part of the issue, drugs are part of the issue, family and social life are part of the issue, finances are part of the issue

      Just going “gun bad” solves nothing.

      I do wish the US would institute proper gun control systems, like a national registry, with random checkups on how guns are stored. It won’t happen, the gun lobby is too strong.

      I am glad I live in northern Europe where we don’t have the obsession with guns that the US has.

    • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      8 months ago

      Seriously! I was just thinking this was the most Florida headline I had heard this year.