Today’s Idiot: Delaine Mathieu
A potentially terminal case of teh st00pid:
If your child came across a gun, what do you think they would do with it? Tell an adult? Pick it up? Pull the trigger?
We wanted to try something. With a Northside ISD police officer’s help, we put a group of children in a room with a real, unloaded gun to see what they would do when they thought no one was watching.
We want to emphasize: News 4 and a police officer took every precaution to make sure these children were never in danger.
Except that part about leaving kids alone with a fucking gun.
July 18th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
The media pulls this stunt every couple of years and I fail to see how these tests proove anything. Telling a kid “don’t touch the gun” moments before you introduce one to them for the first time doesn’t make any sense. Just because a cop is present doesn’t mean a thing either.
If anything, it only proves our point about advocating parents educating their children on firearms as that is the only way for kids to effectively learn. Would you let a stranger tell your kid for the first time not to have sex, and then immediately put them in the room with Ron Jeremy? Do you tell your kid as he or she is heading out the door to a party “oh, by the way, drugs are dangerous. I forgot to tell you when you were nine.”
I swear it’s like the media thinks everyone is stupid or something.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Comments are good to read, though.
Lots of folks saying they’re gonna write/call various agencies to put the smackdown on everyone involved.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Wow, that’s…stupid.
They proved that a single instance of warning doesn’t sink in with kids. Duh. If they grew up knowing guns, were allowed to examine and handle (unloaded and under supervision) firearms, and had the knowledge of how to handle a found gun taught to them constantly by responsible adults, well, the results would be different.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
arent there state and federal laws governing leaving a gun in reach of a child?
July 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
They should have at least removed the firing pin. Something that would turn the gun into not a gun. Or remove the firing pin and the barrel. Just about no way to mess that up.
Anyway, they are stupid. I know what my kids do when they come across one of my guns left out (sans firing pin and barrel). They tell me about it. They also know that they can look, touch, whatever with my guns any time they like, all they have to do is ask. They really don’t care and guns are about as tempting to them as a fork.
July 18th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I’ve written before about the tests done with college students that were nearly identical.
The results were clear – groups of students that had previous training with fire arms (either through the NRA or through family) treated the weapon carefully and with respect. Those students who identified themselves has having ‘little’ or ‘no’ training played with it and did not respect it.
July 18th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
OK, I watched the video. They did remove the striker.
But then they buried the gun in the box of toys. Surprise that the kids played with it. My kids have tons of toy guns and they play with them all the time. But then again, my kids have both handled real guns and know the difference.
July 18th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
This really infuriates me.
First of all, this is nothing but yellow journalism at its worst. The people involved already have an agenda and this sloppy exercise allows them to confirm it.
Second, they take kids ages 4-11, give them ONE Eddie Eagle lesson and that’s supposed to be enough to sink in? It’s more nonsense because it will allow whatever asshat anti-gun dope that comes along to claim the NRA program “doesn’t work.”
Third, how many people who own guns leave them in TOY CRATES? “Honey, have you seen my gun?” “Yes dear, I put in the kids toy box next to the Spongebob Squarepants game.”
Idiots.
July 18th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Hmmmm.
Now as a control exercise they need to take the same group of kids and put a 10″ chef knife into the toy box and see what happens.
Idiots.
This is why people who have a brain *train* their kids to recognize and properly handle firearms.
July 18th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Yeah– they’ve been using this stunt for years, trying scare the shit out of ignorant welfare moms.
memomachine; The knife bit makes a good point, but the problem with it is that virtually all kids have been exposed to, and instructed in, knife use (or avoidance) in the home, to some degree. Hence it wouldn’t be much of a problem. Same goes for household chemicals, matches, etc., and guns in many homes.
Yeah, my kids are pretty much bored with guns. Put some cool toys in a box full of guns and they’ll dig through the guns to get at the toys.
For me though, guns are cool toys.
July 18th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
fucking gun…
What was the gun doing?
July 18th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Yes, the comments are interesting, especially these two:
“rickytammy – 1:09 PM 0 Votes Report User got one better for you robcam78… I’ve contacted the governors office….. they told me to call the Texas Rangers @ 512-424-2015 to report and have them do an investigation into Sgt. Fryar, then they told me to contact the Texas Board of Education at 512-463-9007, after that they told me to contact DPS, AND contact the district super. which I believe is still Dr. Folks…. So excuse me, while I make all these calls, I’m gonna get kinda busy so maybe someone else can contact other tv stations?”
“rickytammy – 2:14 PM 0 Votes Report User Spoke with Delaine over the phone, she indelved some information to me that I am not privy to tell you, but I can tell you she is very passionate, and practices what she preache(s). We came to an agreement to disagree, we both walked away repecting, not agreeing with maybe, but respecting the other’s opinions. For the record though, from what I got out of this NISD not only approved it, but the captain also requested a tape for training purposes. Now, go and do what you feel needs to be done, and just as Delaine stands behind her story, so do I stand behind my reporting it to the FCC, DPS, Texas Board of Education, Texas Rangers and the governor’s office…. Delaine, I appreciate the time you took to talk with me in detail, and share some information with me, some of which as you pointed out, didn’t have to be told to me. I’m looking forward to hearing from NISD’s police John Page and hearing from Dr. John Folks on this matter when they return to their offices on Monday.”
July 18th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I am so totally getting involved in this. This is in the city I work in and live 20 minutes from. I fully plan to raise All Holy Hell.
If I must, I will personally spearhead a campaign against the reporter, the station, the officer(s) involved, the parents of the children, and every damn body that gave this a green light.
This is where I draw the line. This is where I put my foot down. I hope that many will put it down with me.
I am in the process of leaving a nasty-gram in the comments box. It will be under Chris G.
tweaker
July 18th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
go get em… this is a total load of crap… no one should do anything like this with children… this is coming from someone that is aspiring to train children in safe and responsible firearms use… and i am not talking about eddy eagle, i am talking about setting up youth shooting programs…
you should never leave a minor unsupervised around firearms, even if you know that they are inoperable… that would create complacency and the result of that is serious injury…
July 18th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Hey fuck you! my gun hasn’t fucked anything yet!
July 18th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Hmm.. could you imagine your babysitter doing that?
“Hey, I let your kids play with my gun. But don’t worry, I unloaded it first. They were never in any danger.”
What kind of parents loan their kids out to this sort of thing?
July 18th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
You know one of the news programs did something like this with child abduction. They sent a guy into the park looking for his dog and he got most of the kids to leave with him. In follow up, all the parents said they’d told their kid not to talk to strangers.
So what have we learned…children are not like Neo in The Matrix who can be programmed with one short upload. Even if the lecturer wears a uniform and hides his gun in a toy box. Apparently, the school, the officer and the reporter have little or no experience with kids.
I’m reminded of a video a few years back of a DEA agent talking to a class. He pulled is weapon to show it and said that only he could handle it since he’d been trained. Whereupon he, in a well trained manner, shot himself in the foot trying to re-holster the firearm. At that point the kids learned not to trust DEA agents with guns if their reaction when he tried to show an assault rifle is any indication.
July 19th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
JKB –
Yes, he explained quite loudly that this was a Glock Fotay, and he was “the only one in this room professional enough” to handle this weapon. I do believe that is why on this and other blogs you will see sarcastic references to “the only ones.”
July 19th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Normally, I shake my head and then click the next link, but this one p1ssed me off enough to actually register and ask if anyone had contacted the batfags and/or the AG for allowing someone under 21 to possess a handgun, which is illegal, at least the last time I checked.
Morons.
Grrrr.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Moonbats conducting experiments with guns??
What’s next?? Are they going to try and get apes ruled as human??
Wait, what?? 😕
July 20th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Dumbasses.
A psychologist performing a study would have sense enough to use a realistic airsoft replica.
This “study” only proves one thing … that current educational standards are woefully inadequate, especially on the subject of firearms safety.
July 20th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
I know what my child would do. He’d pick it up, check to see if it was loaded and if so, uload it, then disassemble it to see if it had a firing pin, etc, etc. Then he’d reasemble it, reload it, place it on safe, and store is safely until he could determine whose it was, and why it was laying around “unpossessed” by it’s owner. Of course, he’s had lessons …….
July 21st, 2008 at 5:06 pm
In more seriousness, have these people never watched children play?
If there is anything in the toy-box, the children will play with it.
I think I’ve seen boys empty the toy-box so they could play with the box.
I’ve seen boys run around a backyard, using a random stick that fell from a tree as any kind of toy.
Put simply, kids will play with anything they can get their hands on (unless they have sure and certain knowledge that such play is forbidden).
They need Eddie Eagle, but they need it in repeated doses, not a one-shot download.