What the hell is it with kids nowadays--trade you this for..
from
JoeUser Forums
I know it's April fools day, but this is apparently a real news story.
From CNET's News.news.com site. Headline is linked.
March 31, 2005, 9:36 AM PST
Happiness is a warm Xbox
We're left to wonder anew what the heck is wrong with today's kids, thanks to a report in the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle that documents the efforts of a 9-year-old boy there to swap a loaded handgun for an Xbox game console.
The newspaper, working from police reports, says the unnamed tot hatched a plan with a classmate to trade his Xbox for a pistol the boy was confident he could snatch from his grandfather's closet. The Xbox owner chickened out on the deal and told his mother, but his buddy was ready to go through with his end of the transaction, as evidenced by the loaded .38-caliber revolver police found in his backpack shortly before he left for school Tuesday.
The whole incident brings up fresh questions of whether kids really know the value of a dollar anymore. Judging from a quick online search, a .38 special in decent condition ought to be worth at least $200. Even with the current Xbox shortage, that's a hefty premium over the $150 list price for a new machine and the $99 most outlets charge for a refurbished used Xbox. We figure the kid with the Xbox should have at least thrown in a copy of "Halo 2" to make it a square deal.
Posted by David Becker
Un-friggin' believable. How a school-aged child is getting their hands on a weapon, most especially a LOADED WEAPON, is beyond me.
You folks crying for more gun-control, the controls you need are PARENTS and GRAND-PARENTS that are actually paying attention to what they are doing with the weapons they own.
A school-aged child shouldn't be able to lay their hands on a weapon without serious adult supervision. They shouldn't know where the keys to gun cabinet/locker are, and for that matter, probably shouldn't even be aware of where the weapons actually are.
To have knowledge of where a weapon is, and further, to be able to access it to the point of putting it into a backpack so that it can be taken to school and traded for anything else is beyond stupid. It's reckless endangerment and a few other things that could and should probably charged of the adults involved.
Why boy #1 even started to pursue a possible trade of the gaming console for the gun is somewhat beyond me also, but at least he did the right thing and told his mother which apparently led to the eventual police intervention.
I guess the next we know we'll see new slogans that guns don't kill people, people who traded xbox consoles for guns kill people.
From CNET's News.news.com site. Headline is linked.
March 31, 2005, 9:36 AM PST
Happiness is a warm Xbox
We're left to wonder anew what the heck is wrong with today's kids, thanks to a report in the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle that documents the efforts of a 9-year-old boy there to swap a loaded handgun for an Xbox game console.
The newspaper, working from police reports, says the unnamed tot hatched a plan with a classmate to trade his Xbox for a pistol the boy was confident he could snatch from his grandfather's closet. The Xbox owner chickened out on the deal and told his mother, but his buddy was ready to go through with his end of the transaction, as evidenced by the loaded .38-caliber revolver police found in his backpack shortly before he left for school Tuesday.
The whole incident brings up fresh questions of whether kids really know the value of a dollar anymore. Judging from a quick online search, a .38 special in decent condition ought to be worth at least $200. Even with the current Xbox shortage, that's a hefty premium over the $150 list price for a new machine and the $99 most outlets charge for a refurbished used Xbox. We figure the kid with the Xbox should have at least thrown in a copy of "Halo 2" to make it a square deal.
Posted by David Becker
Un-friggin' believable. How a school-aged child is getting their hands on a weapon, most especially a LOADED WEAPON, is beyond me.
You folks crying for more gun-control, the controls you need are PARENTS and GRAND-PARENTS that are actually paying attention to what they are doing with the weapons they own.
A school-aged child shouldn't be able to lay their hands on a weapon without serious adult supervision. They shouldn't know where the keys to gun cabinet/locker are, and for that matter, probably shouldn't even be aware of where the weapons actually are.
To have knowledge of where a weapon is, and further, to be able to access it to the point of putting it into a backpack so that it can be taken to school and traded for anything else is beyond stupid. It's reckless endangerment and a few other things that could and should probably charged of the adults involved.
Why boy #1 even started to pursue a possible trade of the gaming console for the gun is somewhat beyond me also, but at least he did the right thing and told his mother which apparently led to the eventual police intervention.
I guess the next we know we'll see new slogans that guns don't kill people, people who traded xbox consoles for guns kill people.