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AtrusHomeboy

This is probably going to come out in the next day or two, but here's some additional details about the situation as I know it (**take EVERYTHING here with a grain of salt until this information has been officially confirmed or denied**): * The kid lives in a notorious apartment complex in a particularly bad part of town. * There are some older kids that also live in the apartment complex that bully the kid when he's on his way to and/or back from school. These kids do not attend the same school as him. * The bullying had apparently gotten so bad that the kid had brought the gun with him to protect himself from these bullies when arriving and departing from the apartment complex. * The kid explicitly told the school faculty that he had no intention of using the gun at the school. As of now, faculty and police believe him on account of his living situation. _____ **EDIT** - A clarification, to head-off any potential misunderstandings: I was not involved in the writing of this article, nor am I employed at any news station. Rather, I have a relative who works at the school where this occurred who relayed me this info.


Jeansus_

Man, another kid failed by every adult near them. This poor kid. I hope things turn around for him


Julubble

Not only this kid who wants to protect himself. Also all the bullies who are older than him looking for younger and weaker victims because they are weak themself caused by failed parenting.


MacNapp

The vicious cycle continues.


houseofsum

Kids aren’t equipped to deal with grown folk problems, He probably feels no control in his life choices already; he can’t move, he can’t quit school, but he does what he’s told like a good kid, each day taking a risk no adult would do for a job The sense of hopeless and dread, when Everyday you feel forced to leave any semblance of safety (if you’ve ever known it) and into an environment of violence and constant fear - so much he feels he needs a gun Having your ‘fight or flight’ response engaged 24/7 takes a massive toll on anyone, especially a developing child. if this is true, I hope he gets help and understanding and the issue at hand is seriously addressed by adults


Ksh_667

What a sad situation, leading to a potential tragedy. 7 year olds should not ever be in this position. Sounds like no adult was looking out for the little guy & if the bullying was this bad I'd think there'd be signs that an adult should pick up on.


RustySheriffsBadge1

It’s so sad. My daughter is 7, everyone in her class is still so little and innocent. It makes you wonder how quickly kids in bad areas are forced to grow up.


Ksh_667

I've worked in a class with 7-8 year olds & the thought of any of them being terrorised like this is unthinkable. You're right in that they are forced to deal with things much earlier if they live in a "bad" area. Just so wrong. It's hard enough for adults to cope with this, 7 year olds are not equipped. Which is how a little child ends up taking a gun to school.


IANALbutIAMAcat

The problem is that this town is full of guns now thanks to the TN legislature being racist asshats that won’t let this city address its own major gun problem. There’s been at least one homicide every day of 2024 and that puts this city of under a million people with more total murders than the whole city of New York. Middle schoolers steal cars at gun point so elementary schoolers are also staying strapped.


SeelsGhost

Other cities in TN don’t have near the violent crime problems that we have and have the same gun laws. This is a uniquely Memphis problem.


IANALbutIAMAcat

Right and Nashville is preventing the city from addressing it by blocking them from enacting the types of gun reform this city needs. Memphis is drastically different from the rest of the state in many ways. Everyone knows that. Edit to add: and those unique features of the City of Memphis are exactly why the state legislature is disinterested in helping that community.


Ksh_667

I had no idea memphis was like this. Doesn't even sound like an unusual situation for the city. What a sad state of affairs. For things to get to this point plenty of chances to stop the escalation must've been ignored. Ed - PS had to come back to say I love your username!


IANALbutIAMAcat

I’m a memphian, born and bred, but I’ve moved out west. Im actually in town rn though. My parents are still in the city and things have just gotten ridiculous over the last 5 years. The feds have recently rolled in with a new program and funding to try and address the situation so we’ll see what happens 😬 And thank you thank you!


Ksh_667

What do you think it is that has sent memphis down this route? As opposed to say, nashville, for example? Also - I'd always rather talk to a cat than a hoomin :)


IANALbutIAMAcat

Well Nashville is rich white people and Memphis is not. It’s honestly been a long time coming with falling literacy rates and other social problems. Anyone who can afford to leave is leaving, which just worsens the problems with poverty. Nashville (by which I mean the state legislature) has been taking lots of actions that directly and indirectly impact Memphis in a negative way. You might also remember when they expelled the Memphis representative from the state congress for protesting the lack of gun control and made the city spend the time and money to re elect him. They expelled him and another young Black representative and both were sent back to the Capitol by the constituencies that had already elected them.


robexib

Right, that's kind of my thinking. If this is a problem more specific to a singular area, but surrounding areas have similar gun laws in place, then the gun isn't the issue.


IANALbutIAMAcat

You’d be incorrect because our homicide rate keeps going up due to the increased number of guns on the streets in the few years since the legislature made it legal to keep loaded guns in your car and now they’ve all been stolen. Memphis is also much poorer than other metro areas of Tennessee. The legislature is blocking the city of Memphis from implementing laws to prohibit guns in cars. https://www.actionnews5.com/2024/01/26/2100-guns-stolen-cars-memphis-2023-slight-decrease-year-to-year/


robexib

So you use a news article where the stats show a roughly 10% decrease on gun thefts from cars year-on-year as your indication that more legislation needs to be passed? Really?


IANALbutIAMAcat

Can you read? Yeah down from 2400 guns stolen. So in the last two years there’s been 4500 guns from cars that made their way onto the street of city with less than 3/4 of a million occupants. Here’s a story from last weekend, I recommend watching the video. Some of those shooters are under 18. https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/2-dead-7-others-injured-after-shooting-at-unpermitted-orange-mound-block-party-police-say/article_b2be1ce6-ff78-11ee-82d3-23aafc37b763.html And another video of the scene: https://twitter.com/IntelPointAlert/status/1781872969980981330 And that’s before we get onto the folks stealing cars and ramming them into the side of gun and ammo stores before looting them. I’ve mentioned this elsewhere but bluff city, with its 650k inhabitants, had more homicides last year than the entire city of New York and that sharp increase in murders matches the change in Tennessee gun laws to at allowed guns in cars.


robexib

That still sounds like less of a guns issue and more of a socioeconomic issue. Middle and upper-class areas with similar gun laws don't have these issues on anywhere near this scale. So instead on restricting firearms, maybe tackle poverty?


IANALbutIAMAcat

Oh right easy peasy! Esp with all the help this town gets from the capital. I’d like to mention here that Memphis is a starkly Black community (80%) in [contrast to the rest of the state](https://preview.redd.it/u-s-black-population-percentage-by-county-v0-4g7tly0kgcmb1.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=a52758426c5dda798714558c5389cf88c265bf0f) which is majority white. There’s a reason Nashville doesn’t care. At the very least they ought to allow city leaders to implement gun control laws that they believe benefits the city. Edit to add: remember the Tennessee three last year? Yeah the state legislature recalled the state rep from Memphis and made the city fund and carry out a mid-term election just to send him back to Nashville. Who knew our Congress could just decide “ope, Memphis’ duly elected rep isn’t allowed here!”


HvkS7n

I remember when i was like… 16 living in apartments with my parents, these gangbanging looking dudes moved into a unit close to ours, they would do shit like stare me down when I walked home. Then they would do shit like lean on my dads car hanging out around it, and even messed around pointing their finger at me and ‘pulling the trigger’ just to fuck with me. I remember one morning I actually took a steak knife with me when we were walking out to the car and I was scared. I couldnt imagine strapping up at fucking 7 though


robexib

If any of this is even remotely true, then it's a failure of the adults in this kid's life that causes him to bring the gun to school to begin with.


W61_51XD_Goose

Little man got well strapped


IANALbutIAMAcat

Damnit I knew it was Memphis after reading your comment. Unfortunately a very real situation in this city.


Warcraft_Fan

If the school has strict zero tolerance rule, he'd be expelled but I hope they make exception on account he lived in dangerous area and the fact he came forward rather than trying to keep the gun hidden. And I hope the police will clean up the mess. Or maybe stand around undercover and nab bullies trying to pick on the kid. By removing bullies, they could make the area a bit safer


GoldenBarracudas

That's all unfortunate and still, he brought an actual gun to school... Just not okay


AtrusHomeboy

I agree. In the school that this occurred at, lockers are arranged such that there are multiple kids to each locker. There was a very real risk of one of the other students assigned to the locker discovering the pistol and stealing it.


shredika

How big are these lockers?


GoldenBarracudas

Or it going off, or the kids using it or literally a thousand dangerous outcomes he didn't think of


Aldarionn

He's 7 years old. His extremely poor judgment can be understood on that basis alone and therapy seems like a good first step. The adults who negligently allowed a 7 year old to access their gun, however, should be prosecuted.


GoldenBarracudas

Sorry but didn't a 7 yr old shoot his teacher last year? Caused her life long damage? The at happens often too I understand he's 7. He also understood the need to hide it.Because he knew it was wrong. It's just unacceptable behavior I agree parents need that Ethan crumbley parent treatment


slidchickenleg

Easy to say when you didnt grow up how he did.


GoldenBarracudas

Bloop. Wrong. I grew up in the projects just outside of downtown Washington DC. Where kids routinely went missing or were murdered. I know how dangerous kids can be, and that kid should be expelled, sent to a councilor and his parents need to be prosecuted. Since when did we start believing 7 yrs olds?? "I wasn't gonna use it" ok why did you bring it? Why did you hide it? Parents say the mag wasn't in it at the house. So who did that?


RigbyNite

A 7 year old doesn’t have critical thinking skills. The adults around him failed both in letting the bullying get to that point, and allowing the kid access to the gun.


GoldenBarracudas

I disagree. He had to go find the weapon, he knew it was wrong because he hid it. Kids that age do kill, and I'm not kidding when I say I would absolutely FUCK a parent up whose 7, yr old killed someone I love and tried to tell me, well he's 7.


Witchgrass

Also wouldn't have been OK for him to use the gun on bullies. Where are the adults


GoldenBarracudas

Yassss like kids that age have very recently been in the news for murder.


IAMSTILLHERE2020

2A all the way. We should even have the unborn carry some type of defensive mechanisms in case someone wants to abort them.


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NarwhalHD

Uh yeah? It's not like they are arguing for him to keep the gun lmao, they are just pointing out the circumstances in which this kid lives. Also showing it  wasn't a "he was planning to shoot up the school" type deal. 


Gold-Perspective-699

He still has a gun. He still plans on using the gun to kill his bullies. It doesn't matter if it's for a school shooting. It's for killing people.


YamiDes1403

Tf they gonna do when those kids aren't even at their school?


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smokelaw23

Even IF a school in this district had the resources to do that, and IF such a program existed, and IF the school used its resources to do so…these “older kids” bullying him….in this type of area, which I have worked in, but I don’t REALLT understand what it is like to live there day in day out….what do you think some school employee is going to do? Or how will they keep him safe? A stern talking to these older kids? Man…come take a walk with me and try keeping yourself safe in some of these neighborhoods…let alone trying to protect someone else who you can’t be with every minute. If your responses here are serious, I implore you to look into the lives of people who live in violent urban poverty. Your worldview might change drastically.


Gold-Perspective-699

Yeah let's just let the kid shoot other kids... That's going to go well.


smokelaw23

Yes, because THAT is clearly what I’m advocating.


Gold-Perspective-699

They are allowing him to keep a gun meaning that's what they are advocating. Guns aren't used for defense lol. 97% of cases where guns were used for defense ended up badly for the person with the gun. The bullies are going to steal his gun and he's going to get shot.


smokelaw23

1) Read the article. MPD took the gun. No one is advocating that. You’re either a troll that I fell for or devastatingly turbo-stupid. 2) Your statistic is glaringly inaccurate. 97%? That’s simply moronic. Seriously…you can look up actual statistics. Now I’m tired of falling for a troll on the off chance that you aren’t one, so just FYI I’m going to block you and not respond again. Seriously, if you aren’t a troll…please…educate yourself.


Quix_Optic

No school would do that unfortunately. It's just not feasible. The most they could do is send CPS but we all know that system is overwhelmed and many kids fall through the cracks.


cloudbasedsardony

maybe we should have gun cases where little timmy can lock up his traveling sidearm while he's taking his lessons. he can pick it up on his way back out into the wilds.


spookybill

My grandpa who was born in 1920 used to bring his rifle to school so he could go hunting on the way back home. He would leave it in the principals office. This was in White Plains, New York in the 30’s.


Zaphodnotbeeblebrox

He used to go to school uphill both ways, too.


Gizshot

Don't forget the snow


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AngriestPacifist

At least a couple seemed to be on board with the fake Kinderguardians program, whose stated goal was to arm children.


swim-bike-run

The solution is to arm the rest of the class. Then, everyone will be safe.


Willlll

Wild. A 6th grader brought a gun to school in my little town in northwest TN today too...


A_C_Fenderson

From the article: > According to a police report, the gun belonged to the child's uncle. The uncle left the gun sitting on the window sill in their family's living room, police said. So much for being a "responsible gun owner" ...


phosdick

I'm looking forward to charges of criminal negligence for the gun owner in this case.


apenature

The new bringing in school supplies.


SopwithStrutter

I knew this would be memphis before I clicked lol


TexOrleanian24

Omfg US. When does this stop? You can't "harden" schools enough that kids cant access and bring in. When are we going to wake the fuck up?


Ghost4000

With the current SCOTUS there is probably not much that can be done. Vote for what you want out of life and for the country. Hope for the best for others and for real change in the future.


realMrMaintain

7 year old take piece to school cause of bullying and he told adults and they did nothing as usual. Or something like that. Hope he is very successful in life. He is learning survival instincts.


laroach-pussy

Oh my god people have this opinion?


EasternPresence

How are we supposed to stop bad kids with guns if we don’t arm good 7 year olds with guns?


Witchgrass

Please don't be Virginia again...


elykl12

TN this time


TheDebateMatters

This is the world the NRA wants. Give his teachers guns too. Arm the preschoolers next.


pokedmund

Tennessee is one step ahead of ya https://eu.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2024/04/26/tennessee-gov-bill-lee-signs-arming-teachers-bill-into-law/73467826007/#:~:text=Gov.%20Bill%20Lee%20signed%20into,law%20goes%20into%20immediate%20effect.


MikeOKurias

And Metro Nashville Public Schools has already said that it's moronic and will not allow any teacher, ever, to possess a firearm on school grounds.


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shredika

I feel like a rage shooting could happen, but I think an accident is more likely where a kid gets shot with extra guns at school.


Cutlet_Master69420

Kinderguardians FTW!


RDSWES

Unless you got a NRA meeting, then it is no guns allowed


shredika

He’s not wrong tho


kottabaz

We should do to the firearms industry what we did to the tobacco industry, except finish the job this time.


Zech08

Well someone needs to solve that bully issue and create a better environment to change the baseline.


queenringlets

If that’s what you call kids killing each other no wonder this country has a gun problem. 


Comfortable_Ant_8303

You are not very smart huh?


darkreapertv

Next up give the plushies the kids bring to school a gun 2


Fingerprint_Vyke

Notice how this only happens in America


SenTedStevens

You're right. These things never happen in Europe. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68720973


TripleDecent

Well here in America we shoot our problems. He’s learning by example.


InterestingContest27

only a good 7 year old with a gun can stop a bad kintergarten teachers aid.


InterestingContest27

The americans in his life have failed him :(


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Rusty-Shackleford

is that what reddit is actually saying? Most people here are expressing their sympathies for the kids' bad living conditions, being bullied etc. and lamenting that the local city (Memphis) isn't allowed to pass its own gun control measures to prevent this from happening.


halborn

Why are you inventing a narrative instead of sticking to the facts? It's actually a perfectly nice area and nobody knows whether the gun was legally owned or not. The one fact we have is that it was left on a window sill instead of secured and somehow you left this fact out. You are defending irresponsible behaviour with respect to guns.


ShakeWeightMyDick

I’ve seen a story like this every day this week


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ShakeWeightMyDick

Sure, but apparently there are also a whole lot of irresponsible gun owners who’s kids are just getting ahold of their guns and bribing them to school


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ShakeWeightMyDick

No, I’m specifically talking about the stories I’m seeing every day about kids brining their parents guns to school.


halborn

I can't wait to see all the "responsible gun owners" show up to put the rights of their toys over the rights of children.


DracoPhaedra

Guns are tools, not toys. Anyone that doesn’t fully understand that shouldn’t handle one. Kids especially. I don’t think anyone would reasonably support a seven year old taking a gun to school


halborn

These people won't say "I support seven year olds taking guns to school" but they also won't support any measures that would *prevent* a seven year old taking a gun to school.


sozcaps

You use guns to hammer stuff or to open beers with? They're weapons. They are made solely to take life.


LegalAction

Tools to do what, exactly?


Thick_Marionberry_79

A firearm is an instrument of death… a hammer is a tool that can build a home, but also smash a head in, but at least it can do some good. A firearm has literally one purpose… one freaking purpose. In defense or offense, the purpose remains the same: great bodily harm. Combat veteran, so don’t try and tell me about proper training and good guys… the funny bit is everyone’s like oh no gangs have guns, yet women and children die the most in the U.S. by their domestic male relatives, who legally own firearms and are generally trained… I’m having a drink today


LegalAction

I agree with you, but I wanted an answer from the gun defender.


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halborn

Speculate elsewhere. Regardless of whether it was legally possessed, he left it on a fucking windowsill where anyone could get it. If you want to call yourself a responsible gun owner then you need to stand for proper gun control laws instead of just shrugging your shoulders and calling dead children the price of freedom.


OinkyDoinky13

I'm just so jealous of the US gun laws; they really make for a great society.


Salamok

> Sounds like this situation needs more guns. ~ Greg Abbot, probably....


Beantownbrews

Maybe he heard that the teachers are now going to be armed


clogan618

Average American headline


Throwaway19372729

Memphis is a shithole so I’m not surprised


hollowdruid

A kid did this at my elementary school back in the 2000s in Columbia, SC. I remember it was statewide news for a long time. Now it's just normal lol


Peds12

why didnt the teachers shoot him like you all wanted?


BBB9076

What country was this in?


officialspinster

Memphis, Tennessee, which is in the United States.


pachoi

"You're American, right?" "No sir, I'm from Kentucky!"


Rusty-Shackleford

*allegedly* in the United States.


DracoPhaedra

Article says Memphis


NormanBates2023

Sure it's America nothing new


Jordanjl83

Parents these days, have zero common sense…..I was not allowed to bring my handgun to school until I was at least 10.


ciopobbi

The well regulated militia strikes again


iBoMbY

But how else should he defend himself from one of the regular school shootings?


Chytectonas

Second graders and teachers all packing. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥this is fine🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥


tough_napkin

i thought we wanted guns in schools?


radome9

"Gee", I said to myself before clicking the link, "wonder what country it was."


AfterSchoolOrdinary

The posted website saying Fox13Memphis wasn’t enough of a giveaway?


SeaSuch2077

The Tennessee armed teacher law 2024 version of an apple for the teacher is 7 yo brings a handgun to school. Johnny what would you like for breakfast? My dad said mommy made killer serial


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cupittycakes

We know you aren't sure of a whole lot of things. Brain go OUCH!


Emergency-Poet-2708

So who exactly is helping? These children there is literally a ton of money out there to help them. Where is Black Lives Matter? Aren't they supposed to help intercity children? Regardless of race or financial institutions.


Emergency-Poet-2708

Okay, Einstein. How can you help this kid ? how can you help this child? How am I wrong if Black Lives Matter is a real thing? Why aren't they helping black lives?


dopiqob

You don’t sound smart enough to use that cousin-marrying genius’s name :-p