The truth is always buried in the story - Merged Threads

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jimpeel

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On the foxnews.com page they have a video of all of these terrible deadly weapons spread to infinity. The only problem is -- with the exception of one rifle, they are not real.

While he did have edged weapons and, purportedly, a working hand grenade, all of these were BB and pellet guns. He also did not have any ammunition.

Sure did make for one hell of a photo op though.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301237,00.html

'Bullied' Home Schooler Arrested After Cops Find Weapons Cache in PennsylvaniaThursday, October 11, 2007

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. — A home-schooled teenager who amassed a cache of weapons, including a hand grenade, and tried to recruit another boy for a possible school attack in Pennsylvania was charged with solicitation to commit terror, authorities said Thursday.

The 14-year-old, who authorities said had felt bullied, was taken into custody after police raided his home in the Philadelphia suburbs on Wednesday evening. He had talked about mounting an attack on Plymouth Whitemarsh High School similar to the 1999 massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School, authorities said. In that incident, two disgruntled teens killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves.

"I do not think an attack was imminent and I am not certain that an attack was going to occur at all," District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said at a news conference. "It could have simply been big talking by a kid who thought that he was bullied previously and he was going to exact his revenge."

The teen was charged as a juvenile with solicitation to commit terror and other counts and was being held at a youth facility. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

The arrest came the same day that another teenager shot and wounded four people at an alternative high school in Cleveland, Ohio, before killing himself. Students at SuccessTech said Thursday their warnings that the 14-year-old boy was planning such an assault went unheeded by the school's principal.

Castor declined to name the suspect's parents and said he did not think they had retained lawyers.

"They are now under investigation by us, concerning whether there's any complicity in putting the weapon in this boy's hands," Castor said.

The weapons found included a 9 mm assault rifle that the teenager's mother had recently bought for him, Castor said. Police also found about 30 air-powered guns, plus swords, knives, hand grenades, a bomb-making book, videos of the 1999 Columbine attack in Colorado and violence-filled notebooks. The weapons were plainly visible in the boy's bedroom, Castor said.

They found no ammunition for the most dangerous weapon, the assault rifle.

Plymouth Township police say they received permission from the boy's parents to search their home after getting a tip Wednesday from a high school student and his father.

Authorities also found one working hand grenade and three others that were still being assembled.
Classes were held as usual Thursday at the Pennsylvania high school.
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The weapons found included a 9 mm assault rifle that the teenager's mother had recently bought for him
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?????complicity for putting the weapons into his hands?

Granted, on the surface of it, buying a 14 year old a 9mm "assault rifle" might seem a bit extreme , but...

I bought my 13 year old kid a .22lr henry lever action a few weeks back. He already technically owned a 28gauge since that particular gun goes to the oldest child on said child's 13th birthday, 1st my dad, then me now him. He also owns a pellet rifle and a couple of airsofts. Am I in danger of being investigated for complicity? We go to the range every week too, am I going to get in trouble for "training" him?

This is another example of why appearances are so important. Tactically there isn't all that much difference between an ak and a henry pistol caliber levergun, but the image it projects on TV or newspaper is light years different. It shouldn't be that way, but that's the reality.
 
Philadelphia arsenal

14 year old has arsenal 30 air powered guns ( paint ball or pellet) containers of BBs that could be bombs one operational handgrenaid ( home made )
sounds like another hysterical response. Its early so maybe theres more . My opinion at present "Much ado about nothing"
 
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I Worry About the Hand Grenade But...

I'd like to hear more about this “hand grenade”. If it is in-fact a small bomb with shrapnel, then throw the kid's parents in jail! If it is just a CO2 bottle rigged to blow up like a firecracker, then the reporter is an idiot (more likely).

When I was 14, I had 30-06’s and 12 Ga’s in my room, and look how I turned out. OK, bad example!!!
 
I'm calling foul on this one....by the time this investigation is over, we'll probably find out that the kid who reported him is probably one of the bullies who outed this kid just to get some media play....

...and I hope this kid's family sues the heck out of the media Richard-Jewell-style....
 
The Nancy Grace show went on and on about this arsenal. When I was a young 'un I had several BB guns and my friends and I did the homemade grenade thing. I was a testers paint bottle packed with powder and bbs with a waterproof rocket fuse. The only thing we used it for was blowing up our models and barbi-doll houses that we'd buy at yard sales. The point I'm trying to make is, he's prolly a war nut trying to get attention like we were. I woulda had the "cache" that this kid had if we had all the cool realistic looking bb guns available to us at the time. Heck, I may go buy some now. I'd be more worried if the kid was a gangbanger wannabe on drugs.
 
Guys,

This looks like a good thing. It says "bullied", "home schooled", and talks about how apparently he had problems when he was in the school. That means that whatever was happening was so bad he was either taken out of school or kicked out of school.

Talk about school shooting prevention...this might not have ended up in a shooting but it's certainly prime material. Nerds like this admire the Columbine shooting, have bad feelings built up in side of them, and love guns...that is danger now or in the future. I'm glad this was found out now, maybe there'll be some way to help the kid out so he doesn't ruin his life now or in the future.

As far as getting guns for your children. My son already owns a small Airsoft pistol I use to teach him gun safety and to let him shoot like daddy...he's 4 years old. I keep his gun locked up in the safe with mine...just like a real gun.

Buying a teenager a 20 gauge, .22 rifle, or even a handgun/rifle is cool but don't most of you guys lock them up with your own guns vs. letting them keep it openly displayed in their room? If you do let them keep them in their room would behavioral issues that resulted in pulling your kid from school make you think twice about letting them have open access to them.

I didn't look at the video but thinking this "assault weapon" is probably a 9mm carbine (probably Hi Point...can't imagine spending 600+ on a Beretta or other). I'm all in favor of introducing the youth to guns so they don't fear or covet them but a little common sense goes a long way.
 
Good points Sigma 40. And yes, my son's guns are locked up with mine, except for the airsoft. Luckily he's a pretty normal kid and would scream much louder if I took away his computer and world of warcraft game than if I took away his sword(bought at the highland games a few years ago and used as "decor") and guns.
 
I have some comments on the alleged PA school massacre plot that's been in the news the past couple of days (to which I'm local), here:

http://blogostuff.blogspot.com/2007/10/pa-school-massacre-plot-or-not.html

Something stinks about this. The local DA is running for election to township commissioner and has said that he has doubts about the existence of a real plot, yet the mom was charged this morning. I'm wondering if she's getting Nifonged.
 
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I am so sick of seeing the picture of all of those scary BB guns and knives. They also never said where the 9mm carbine was kept. I plan on buying a rifle for my little girls when they get old enough, but it will be kept in my gun vault until they're old enough to take care of it themselves (I also had a gun in my room from 16 on, but never thought to shoot anyone with it).

I plan on buying a BB gun and indoor target trap for my oldest girl for either her 5th or 6th birthday. I figure the earlier I can get her into shooting with me, the more chance she'll be hitting the range with me as a teenager. I guess I just better not buy more than one or someone will take a scary picture and I'll be all over the news.

I'd like to know what the grenade really is, but this whole thing seems like a lot of hype based around some bold statements and a kid who really likes military style guns -- but then, isn't that what boys are like? Guns and fast cars can get any American boy's heart racing.

But when the police come in and discover you're bought "too many" legal toys for your kids ... you end up on national news.
 
I cannot understand how the mother can be charged with transfer of a weapon to the son if the gun was in her home. Perhaps I missed something on this or someone can explain.
 
I've got to agree with Sigma.

There is nothing wrong with kids having some fun with airsoft guns.

There is nothing wrong with kids being taught to use real firearms.

I see two major problems:

1 - the parent should have known that this kid had some anger issues. At that point maybe buying guns for him to use isn't such a great idea.

2 - having guns in the home is fine, but I don't think minors should have unfettered access to them.

I don't yet have children, but when I do they will be taught to use firearms responsibly. However, they will never have unsupervised access until they can buy their own.

Maybe this will turn out to be a success story and this kid will get the help he needs to work through any bully issues and return to a normal, happy life. Let's all hope so.
 
Have you got a link to this?
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The link is in the thread header. Go to Foxnews and watch the video. Lots more visual detail there. Even after the cop tells Shep Smith that there was only one firearm in the group he is still incredulous at "all of those guns".
 
I've already posted once in this thread but had some interesting experiences today regarding this story.

My mother-in-law saw this story and drove 30 minutes to see me. My re-introduction to shooting is pretty recent (6 - 9 months or so) and she was very adamant that I needed to purge the house of firearms or my son (her grandson) would end up like that kid and me and my wife would be in jail.

I love her to death and very patiently showed her the precautions I take in keeping everything out of my son's hands and had him tell her the four rules of handgun safety for kids and even had him demonstrate a pretty decent Weaver stance with his Airsoft. She almost had a heart attack.

It is obvious that this story and the prosecutors have an agenda in charging the mother, and it looks like it's working. I think the woman probably made a bad decision giving the kid a 9mm something or another and letting him hold on to it while he's apparently going through some trouble...without knowing if this kid would've shot up his school is this too much accountability for parents? I think it is not BUT at the same time it's scary to know a parent can be charged for providing their children access to firearms.

I think all I can do is be as involved as I possibly can with my son as he grows up, keep him active in sports/academics or whatever he likes, and hopefully this'll never even be an issue for my family.

But long term for gun owners I see how this could evolve into a problem, I often wondered why parents were not held more accountable for similar tragedies. Now a potentially dangerous situation has been prevented the saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure comes to my mind. The problem with prevention in a case like this is how to separate at risk children from those who are not at risk...responsible gun owners from irresponsible gun owners to find out who might need some help or prevention.

The responsible will have to suffer (not trying to be dramatic here, just couldn't think of a better way to express it) for the irresponsible??? I think I'm starting to understand the gun culture a little better.
 
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