Children Enticed By Vice
They're children, after all. Do they understand completely the consequences of what they undertake to do? They live in a community where long-gun ownership is common enough that every family owns a rifle. Nothing untoward is seen within the community of teaching young children how to handle that rifle, and as a consequence, those children are comfortable with the situation.
So why be surprised when children - who are always on the lookout for something interesting to do, always conspiring between themselves to produce situations that will inspire admiration in their peers, always flirting on the edge of danger - act on their impulses? The entire community is aware that there is a firearms cache close by, housed in an unused police station. Its presence is an enticement to children.
Wouldn't a responsible community take action to remove the cache of .40-calibre police-issue handguns, along with associated ammunition? Well, perhaps not, if it's a community accustomed to having firearms around, since it's also a traditional hunting community. Unable to foresee the likelihood that a child might want to own something common enough in his community, but for his very own.
So, in an aboriginal community in northern Ontario a group of teenagers broke into the police station, no longer used because the Long Point First Nations had recruitment problems and decided to abandon their own community-operated policing in favour of signing on with the Surete du Quebec provincial police force. While the Surete recommended the firearms be removed, the community was in disagreement.
The children, aged 12 to 16, out of a community of some 350, somehow broke through a reinforced door to make away with the eight stored .40-calibre handguns. The Surete du Quebec was called to investigate and five of the guns have since been recovered. Residents hearing gunshots on the perimeters of the town alerted police who found the children shooting at targets.
Five accounted for, three left to be retrieved. In the interim, there are some very nervous residents of the town, wondering where those handguns are, and in whose possession. And why they hadn't had the foresight to remove them to begin with.
So why be surprised when children - who are always on the lookout for something interesting to do, always conspiring between themselves to produce situations that will inspire admiration in their peers, always flirting on the edge of danger - act on their impulses? The entire community is aware that there is a firearms cache close by, housed in an unused police station. Its presence is an enticement to children.
Wouldn't a responsible community take action to remove the cache of .40-calibre police-issue handguns, along with associated ammunition? Well, perhaps not, if it's a community accustomed to having firearms around, since it's also a traditional hunting community. Unable to foresee the likelihood that a child might want to own something common enough in his community, but for his very own.
So, in an aboriginal community in northern Ontario a group of teenagers broke into the police station, no longer used because the Long Point First Nations had recruitment problems and decided to abandon their own community-operated policing in favour of signing on with the Surete du Quebec provincial police force. While the Surete recommended the firearms be removed, the community was in disagreement.
The children, aged 12 to 16, out of a community of some 350, somehow broke through a reinforced door to make away with the eight stored .40-calibre handguns. The Surete du Quebec was called to investigate and five of the guns have since been recovered. Residents hearing gunshots on the perimeters of the town alerted police who found the children shooting at targets.
Five accounted for, three left to be retrieved. In the interim, there are some very nervous residents of the town, wondering where those handguns are, and in whose possession. And why they hadn't had the foresight to remove them to begin with.
Labels: Life's Like That, Society
posted by Pieface | 7:09 PM
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