My son shot my other son with a pellet gun...he said it was an accident..he looked and nothing was in it.?

Question

How would you handle it..How should I punish him. I made him apologize and told him he really could have hurt him. He just keeps saying it wasn't loaded I looked, but he has a big place on his leg where it hit him. Help me out here...Anyone had this happen? Should I just take his pellet gun and throw it out and ground him? It the whole excuse thing that's really making me mad.

Answer 1

Well even if there was nothing in there, you never point a firearm at another person, even if it is just a pellet gun.

I suggest grounding him yes, and make him learn his lesson that you never point a firearm at anybody ever, even if it's just a joke.  There's no joking with guns.  It's up to you to decide what you want to do with it, why dont you ask your other son how he feels about it? and see what punishment seems appropriate.

Answer 2

Well sorry to hear about the shooting. Yes that is what it is and not to be mean but a pellet gun is a no c**p "GUN" than can kill peolpe. I have killed several varmits and coyote, snakes with them. You think that is magic, I would make him take safety courses, maybe offeredby a YMCA, local gun club or the like, aslo try the police, some cops actually no weapons once in awhile. The first rule is ALL guns are alaways loaded and 100% ofthe time need to be treated that way. The first safety and most reliable one is between his ears and he didn't use it. I'm sorry about your son but if not trained properly it could happen again. He needs to no what happened and why it happened.  In the Marines we have four safety rules:

1) Treat every weapon as if it were loaded.

2) Never piont a weapon at anyhting you do not intend to shoot/ kill

3) Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you are ready to fire.

4) Keep weapon on safe until you intend to fire.

I can't tell you how to be a parent, Since I'm single and a Marine but I grew up around guns and even with airsoft unless I know for sure that it is airsoft Never point any weapon at someone I do not wish to kill. If someone points one at me my training says they are out to kill me and should be treated as such. If it wre my kid to do such a thing he would have no social life, be told how and what he screwed up, work if he's oldest enough to pay medical bills pay to have the gun destroyed why he watched and to prove a point tkae him small game hunting with the weapon and kill a rabbit or something. You may say that is extreme but kids are grown up to violence and guns, i have seen peolpe shoot each other with pellet guns before and say where the h**l where there parents. There is no excuse to not have all you kids get weapons handling and safety courses some are even offered ny the NRA. Itz your call but I would get both children to a counsoler asap, this will help both of them get through it. There is no excucse thing and ignorace alone, what if it was some one elses's kid you would be sued for thousands if not 100's of thousands and they would win. See my point it is still a weapon regaurdless of power or caliber, soucre of power. it can and will kill in the right cicrumstances. There is no harsh judgement if you ask me. Do what you see fit but I recomend gun safety weapons handling for everyone you know.

Hope I brought some seriousness and light to the sitution, things likee that are why the media pushes to ban weapons in general. Ignorance is no excuse, the internet can provide all kinds of knowledge with in seconds on about anything includiing gun safety/ handling procedures.  

CD  

Answer 3

I have a rule.. As a pro-gun 2nd amendment kind of guy..

As someone else said "ALL GUNS must be treated a loaded., PERIOD" and when not in use under adult supervision they should be put away.. and out of reach.

Kids need supervision when handling firearms or even air rifles.

Absolutely You should ground the pellet gun.. Don't throw it out. But he needs to know the consequences.

My kids would lose hunting privileges for a season with me, if that happened and I would make them re-take hunter safety..

Accidents do happen, but accidents with weapons can be deadly. It needs to be a lesson not a beating.

Guns are not toys. Some 13 year olds aren't as mature as some 8 years I've seen. It depends on parents being involved in the ownership of the weapon.

Answer 4

this exact same thing had happened to me when i was young. my uncles nephew had came over to my house and we went shooting with my pellet guns and my younger cousin had been there and my uncles nephew had put a stick of some sort in the barrel and he decided to c if it would shoot and shot it at me and it never shot so he shot my younger cousin  who was around 4 or so at the time and he ended up with a fairly large bruise, in the end we got a long talk from his dad whom had a friend that died because of that sort of ignorance, my mom made me punish myself to a extent and my pellet gun i put it away for about 6 months tilll i even touched it. even after that long my mom would make me promise never to do such a thing again, now i would never point a gun that had its slide opened so the gun wouldn't b able to shoot i still don't like doing. make sure that you do take them to a safety course so that they no what they should be doing around a gun, i myself just took it about 6months ago and enjoyd the classes myself!

Answer 5

Wow that's so bad I'd ground him for one month with nothing.  

Answer 6

There should be consequences.

If he pointed the thing at his brother, he did wrong.

If he did 'look' he didn't look carefully enough.

You are correct to be mad about the 'excuse thing'.

He should be made to understand that with guns,

there are no excuses for mistakes.

That gun should be taken away, at least for now.

He's got to do some 'proving' before he gets it back, if at all.

A year of 'no unsupervised use' should get his attention.

Answer 7

Take his gun away first.  Punish him however you see fit.  Make him take a hunter education course, or other gun safety course, then only give the gun back under your supervision.  You will deem when it is the right time.  He has no business with any kind of gun at this point and you are lucky your son was not killed.  There is a certain maturity level one must have to use any type of gun.  There is no such thing as an accidental shooting; incidents of this type are negligent shootings.  If he had learned, and followed the first rule of gun safety (point the muzzle in a safe direction) this never would have happened.

Answer 8

He still hasn't learned two of the cardinal rules of gun safety: (1) all guns are loaded, all the time, even when they aren't (2) you never point a gun at anything you don't want a hole in. His being hard-headed shows he just didn't learn those cardinal rules.

I had a similar incident with a step-son once, and simply rolled back the clock on him. He simply wasn't allowed to shoot unsupervised again until I was convinced he'd learned. I didn't punish him but simply adjusted to the situation, and that's what I told him.

Answer 9

I am a long time military pistol and rifle instructor, and, certified Alaskan hunter safety instructor.

When a pellet gun is loaded and not fired - the projectile nearly always does not come out.  The only way to verify a if a questionable pellet gun is safe or loaded is to discharge it in a safe direction.  This is something your son should have experienced and known.

Your son violated four of the main principles of firearm safety he was taught at Hunter Education.  Always treating a gun as if it were loaded, never point it at a person, always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, and do not insert your finger into the tirgger unless ready to fire.  

Regardless of what was in the barrel - pellet, rock, dust bunny, Elvis - it just does not matter.  There is no excuse.  That he totally bypassed all the major safety rules, especially after being taught - means he is not to be trusted with any sort of firearm.  He is obviously too immature to understand the consequences of his actions - and until he learns to 'get it' shouldn't be trusted with much of anything for awhile.  Take the pellet gun away until next summer and 'revisit' his choices of the past year.

He's 13 now, has been through hunter safety - and failed badly.  In two years whe will be able to get a learner's permit for a car and start vehicle safety courses - he needs to understand the consiquences of his actions ....... before he gets behind a wheel and kills someone.  

Conisder this pellet gun incident a wake up call - and be grateful that it didn't turn out worse.  If he shows better judgement between now and next spring - give it back - on the condition that any infraction means no more guns - nothing - until he is 18 or out of the house - and that also includes his drivers license as well.  If you can't trust him with a darn pellet gun - you certainly can't him with a 2,000 lb machine that can wipe out a family or kill a bunch of kids.

Hope this helps.  You can email if you want.  I have three boys and a ton of guns and ammo in our home ......... so yeah, I understand things!          

Answer 10

a very poor excuse for pointing a weapon at someone. he doesnt accept responsability for his actions or show maturity enough to be  trusted with any kind of weapon. he thinks its a toy? a game? NOT ACCEPTABLE AT MY HOUSEHOLD!   bye-bye b-b gun! no questions asked. take control and dont allow this to happen again, you are very lucky.

Answer 11

you and your children both know the rule about guns, but you have to remember that they are kids and boys will be boys. I had an older brother and when we werent fighting we were having bb and pelet gun wars i know we shouldnt have and it was dangerous but we did it anyway. give em a break theyre kids ground him for a week and be done with it. in fact i have an old hometown friend that to this day has a bb in his neck from when we were kids i dont even rember who shot him but i rember he screamed like a little girl my point is boys will be boys we just cant help it

Answer 12

If it was my son I would make him write these rules 100 times:

The Four Rules of Firearms Handling

by Jeff Cooper

Rule 1

ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED

The only exception to this occurs when you have a firearm in your hands and you have personally unloaded it for checking. As soon as you put it down, Rule 1 applies again.

Rule 2

NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO DESTROY

You may not wish to destroy it, but you must be clear in your mind that you are quite ready to if you let that muzzle cover the target. To allow a firearm to point at another human being is a deadly threat, and should always be treated as such.

Rule 3

KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET

This we call the Golden Rule because its violation is responsible for about 80 percent of the firearms disasters we read about.

Rule 4

BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET AND WHAT IS BEYOND IT

You never shoot at anything until you have positively identified it. You never fire at a shadow, or a sound, or a suspected presence. You shoot only when you know absolutely what you are shooting at and what is beyond it.

Answer 13

just to add to the other answers. There is a good chance that he did looked in the slot to see if their was a pellet. The problem is most of the time if there was a pellet in it when he slid the charging handle back the pellet will remain in the barrel. This is still no excuse to shot anyone but it does make his story line out hope it helps.

Answer 14

You should punish him. Pointing a gun at something (loaded or otherwise) you don't plan on shooting is an infraction of one of the golden rules of gun safety. Just tell him it doesn't matter what he did beforehand, an accident still happened when he broke a cardinal rule and that is why he is being punished. I have seen people (me included) check real rifles/shotgun and come to the conclusion they are unloaded, only to see they were wrong at a later time.

Answer 15

OK

Here goes

It was an accident not an intentional act he should be punished accordingly

The purpose of punishment should be behavior modification not revenge

Take the gun away-- He has demonstrated that he does not have the maturity to have one

Make him enroll in and complete a hunter or gun safety course so that in the future he does not act so irresponsibly

Here's where I get reported and TDed by my stalker troll

Forcing someone to apologize is the lamest of all punishments or reactions

If you need to even suggest that he apologize you have some serious parenting deficiencies

If it did not come automatically a forced apology ,means nothing and shows a lack of civil upbringing

Grounding is the second lamest of punishments

You are at least partially to blame for the accident

You failed to properly evaluate your son's maturity and responsibility and level of knowledge of firearm safety before allowing him access to the gun. You also failed to properly supervise his activity with the gun

All in all the best thing you can do is shelve the gun until there is a little more responsibility and maturity in the home

Answer 16

is you r other son hurt all that bad?

well if not, i would ground him for a weeek tops.

its honestly not like he robbed a bank.

Answer 17

1. take the weapon away

2. put your kids in a firearm's safety class

  

Answer 18

Calmly.  Gently.  Definitely.  Take the gun away, re-enroll him in the course, and tell him he gets the gun back when he has passed the course and can explain to you, in detail, why what he did was wrong/stupid/unthinking.  If there is a charge for the course, he should earn the money himself before you re-enroll him.

Just the humiliation of having to re-take the course (and maybe having to explain to his instructor why he is back) should be enough to drive the point home.  You should never set out to humiliate someone, especially a child, but he obviously didn't learn what he was there to learn and the instructor is sure to ask him why he's back.

As has been pointed out repeatedly in this thread, there are no accidents.  No gun is a toy and should never be pointed at something or someone which you don't want destroyed (well, except for paintball and airsoft, and your target had better be wearing the safety equipment).

Answer 19

do the old school thing . . . take him to the police station and let them lock him up for awhile in a jail cell . . . . after that enroll both of them in a hunters safety course . . . it s cheap, if not free. And then see if you can find a competetive shooting club for them. they are obviously into the shooting, turn the negative into a positive . . . if you step on his  his head and threaten him with the gun he will only rebel. If you take away his toy, chances are he'll find another or something even worse to replace it. You might do something like making him write the text of the following link for every second of his free time until you see fit to spring him from punshment. Beating kids only gets you in trouble these days. Of course you could tie him, to a fence and throw water balloons at him for a few hours . . . .show him this blog and let him choose his punishment and explain why he shouldnt recieve the other forms of punishment.

Answer 20

First, you have to take the pellet gun away.  Was the boy taught the firearm safety rules?  Even though it's a pellet gun,the rules still apply.

If you don't know what they are:

BASIC GUN SAFETY RULES - Anyone who touches a firearm should know these by heart.



1. Treat every firearm as if it were loaded.



2. Never allow the muzzle to point at anything you are not willing to see destroyed.



3. Be sure of your target and know what lies behind it.



4. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are aligned on target.



5. Be sure your guns are never accessible to unauthorized or untrained individuals.



The excuse that the pellet gun wasn't loaded doesn't wash.  It was.  Otherwise, his brother would not have been shot.  He has to treat every gun as if it were loaded, even if he knows that it isn't.  

You take the gun away and ground him.  If you feel that a couple of whacks are in order, that's up to you.  I would.  I wouldn't throw it away, but I would not give it back until he can demonstrate that he can follow the rules.  This is a very serious matter.  Do not let it go.

Answer 21

Whatever you do, make it clear that this is not funny.  Pointing a gun (even a pellet gun) at another person (or anything you do not intend to shoot) is incredibly foolish.  In the same situation, I would indeed take the gun from him for a time.  Make sure he loses the privilege long enough to understand that this is not acceptable.

Answer 22

I don't know about the whole locking up at a police jail cell - that's wasting police officers' time and energy (and our tax money).  But enrollment in the hunters safety course sounds like a solid advice.  

Meanwhile, the punishment should consist of your usual grounding and not allowing your son to touch the air rifle until he passes the hunters safety course.  

Good luck.

Answer 23

1) Take away all access to guns immediately!

2) Own up to your own responsibility (or a gross lack of) as the parent or guardian.

These boys should have been under the supervision of a responsible and knowledgeable adult at all times whenever guns are involved.

You're very lucky this time.

Answer 24

First I agree with the majority of the answers. He needs to have the gun taken away until he successfully retakes the hunter safety class or a comparable gun safety class and can explain in detail what he did wrong. Additionally even after he completes the class, he shouldn't be allowed to shoot unsupervised again until you are confident he understands how to safely handle a firearm.

Second fisher1221us may very well be right about how the pellet avoided detection. Lead pellets are non-magnetic. Therefore simply pulling back the bolt will not remove the pellet from the chamber of a loaded pellet gun or even show if there is a pellet in the chamber. Regardless of this fact it should not change his punishment.

Answer 25

He broke the first two commandments to firearm safety

1 - Muzzle control and direction

2 - Always loaded

I would cut his hunter safety card up

Make him take the class again, make him pay for it

Take the pellet gun away from him.

When you feel he is ready for it, make him buy it.

Say for $75.00.

Now for the ultimate pain and suffering, DO NOT let him hunt this season, make him sit it out.

Yes I have had this happen, my little brother shot me with an unloaded Daisy BB gun when I was 12, I still have the copper BB in my neck. It's too close to my Jugular for them to remove.

I would not let this go unpunished at any cost to is feelings

14 days of him picking the switch and 20 lashings is what my brother got, he has never forgot to check muzzle direction since and that was over 25 years ago.

Answer 26

Wow, lucky nobody was badly hurt.

Note: All the people asking questions about bb guns killing people LOL.

If he's making excuses he really needs to grow up. Firearms of all types are a tool not a toy, and should be treated with the up most respect. Always point a firearm in a safe direction even if its not loaded.

He needs time out to realise he's done the wrong thing and won't get the bb gun back until he's admitted fault and makes some corrections to his behaviour.

Be strong, Witty.

Answer 27

Take it away immediately and do not give it back until every person in your household understands and accepts firearm safety.  You were lucky this time--are you willing to take that chance again?  

ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED!  

Regardless if it is pellet gun or a real one.  How old are your children?  I would bring them to a hunter safety course where everyone learns appropriate firearm safety rules and handling.  Have you ever seen the damage to an eye that a pellet gun can cause?  I have seen it first hand and it is not pretty to see someone wearing a patch!

Answer 28

All guns removed.  you will know when they can have them again.  how sad, feel bad for you too

Answer 29

Your son is either going against what was taught to him in hunters education or he is flat out fibbing.

1. You never aim ANY firearm at ANYONE weather loaded or not. Thats the first thing they teach in hunters education and its the most basic rule of firearms.

2. There is no way "something got into the barrel".. it was loaded by your son and he had full intentions of shooting his brother in the leg. Why did he shoot him in the leg? Because by a teenagers logic that wouldnt hurt him too bad, yet you would still get to see what the pellet does to a person.

Possible solution.. cut a switch and let him have it. Sounds like your son thinks he can get away with some pretty serious c**p. Had I pulled that stunt my father would have never believed my B.S story and I would have been switched for god knows how long. You need to gain control of your son before he decides to play games with a real firearm and ends up in prison.