Juvenile arrested for brandishing a replica firearm at Windsor High School.

Community Juvenile arrested for brandishing a replica firearm at Windsor High School.

On May 1st, 2015, at approximately 1000 hours, the Windsor Police Department was notified by the administration of Windsor High School that they had placed the school into lockdown status. It was reported that one of the students had brandished a firearm at another student and that the school’s security officer had detained the student without incident.

Several deputies from the Windsor Police Department responded to the school and met with the staff and students involved. After conducting an investigation, deputies located the airsoft handgun that was used in the incident. After determining that no other students were involved and there was no further threat to the students on campus, the school’s administration lifted the lockdown.

Deputies subsequently arrested a 15 year old student for violation of 417.4 PC, brandishing a replica firearm and 422 PC, making terrorist threats.

Prepared by Greg Miller, Lieutenant
Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office
707-565-6013
Crime Report #W150501-002

Address/Location
Sonoma County Sheriff's Office
2796 Ventura Ave
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Contact
Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-emergencies: 707-565-2650

We need to STOP Buying the toy replica guns.

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by Shandi:

Community Juvenile arrested for brandishing a replica firearm at Windsor High School...

---

As long as replica guns are promoted through the media, video games, etc., they will be in demand. Parents might stop buying them, but the kids will find a way. Even with the news of kids being shot by police, other kids may think it won't happen to them. Most people/teens/young adults think this way, regarding actions like texting while driving, drunk driving, multi-tasking driving, experimenting with drugs/alcohol combination, and so many other "life-taking" risks that may seem normal or even fun and exciting at the time, can change lives in irreversible ways.

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by juna:

We need to STOP Buying the toy replica guns.

---

While I know replica guns are "promoted" through video games, I haven't actually seen myself them being promoted through "the media." Therefore while I applaud Shandi's post, I'd personally simplify it to "as long as replica guns are AVAILABLE"....this is a child safety issue and these "toys" must absolutely be banned.

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by Shandi:

As long as replica guns are promoted through the media, video games, etc., they will be in demand. Parents might stop buying them, but the kids will find a way. Even with the news of kids being shot by police, other kids may think it won't happen to them. Most people/teens/young adults think this way, regarding actions like texting while driving, drunk driving, multi-tasking driving, experimenting with drugs/alcohol combination, and so many other "life-taking" risks that may seem normal or even fun and exciting at the time, can change lives in irreversible ways.

---

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by gypsey:

While I know replica guns are "promoted" through video games, I haven't actually seen myself them being promoted through "the media." Therefore while I applaud Shandi's post, I'd personally simplify it to "as long as replica guns are AVAILABLE"....this is a child safety issue and these "toys" must absolutely be banned.

---

I should probably dig up a link... but it's an old trope, trotted out every few months in 'family' magazines. They'll have one of their writers do a piece on how their little boy, with liberal and conscious parents who control his access to media, still manages to pick up any stick he finds and start blowing away his little buddies with his new firearm.

I know that's different - making a deliberately accurate model of a real weapon is taking it up a level. But just because you're horrified by it and because the appeal of it is mystifying to you doesn't mean that reason will triumph over emotional appeal in this.

I don't really want to try to sanitize the world to the level where any trivial thing that could cause a reaction is prohibited. And I don't think it's smart or possible to train little kids to only seek their angelic sides. The little critters have millenia of animal instincts in them. It's not yet proven that excessive peace-loving is well tolerated by evolution, anyway.

These are all valid points. It does seem that many/most kids have an instinct for combat, and will use any means to show the opponent or innocent victim, that they are the "winner". Any item can be seen as a weapon in the eyes of a kid; a rock, a stick, a snowball, a squirt "gun", a BB "gun", a paint ball "gun", etc.

I haven't studied this, but it seems to be almost innate, or inherited unconscious behavior, as evidenced by children with conscious parents who restrict media. I wonder if the Quakers have this issue.

Use of weapons (including "trained hands/feet") will continue to be with us, and I see no way to stop it. And, sometimes knowing how to use a weapon may save our lives or our loved one's.

The big problem with these replica guns isn't the guns, it's the reactions from our militarized police force that maims, but mostly kills young people who use them for play or to threaten. Banning anything hardly ever works, it just drives it underground, where more money can be made by those who make the banned items available. Maybe it would make it more difficult for the younger kids to get, but there's always a way

We don't live in a peaceful world, and our children are the products of an inherited combative instinct, which seems to be part of their survival instinct.

My grandson is a highly sensitive 8 year old, who doesn't like combative sports involving rough contact. He tried to play soccer, but never actually went after the ball because that meant shoving being shoved. My son was very worried about this, and was concerned that he would be a target for bullies, which seemed to be valid. He wanted him to be able to defend himself. So he enrolled him and his older sister in JuJitsu. My grandson didn't like it, and quit. His sister has gone on to become a champion, with the opportunity to compete in Japan.

What will happen to this boy who doesn't want to hurt or be hurt. He does watch video games, and I'm sure some of those are combative, but they haven't changed him so far. He asked for a drum set for Xmas, so maybe he'll be able to use that lack of instinctive aggression on the drums, and he can use the sticks to defend himself!

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by podfish:

I should probably dig up a link... but it's an old trope, trotted out every few months in 'family' magazines. They'll have one of their writers do a piece on how their little boy, with liberal and conscious parents who control his access to media, still manages to pick up any stick he finds and start blowing away his little buddies with his new firearm.

I know that's different - making a deliberately accurate model of a real weapon is taking it up a level. But just because you're horrified by it and because the appeal of it is mystifying to you doesn't mean that reason will triumph over emotional appeal in this.

I don't really want to try to sanitize the world to the level where any trivial thing that could cause a reaction is prohibited. And I don't think it's smart or possible to train little kids to only seek their angelic sides. The little critters have millenia of animal instincts in them. It's not yet proven that excessive peace-loving is well tolerated by evolution, anyway.

---

I find it sad that this young, peace loving boy should seem peculiar because he doesn't want to fight ... I wouldn't worry about him because necessity is the mother of invention, and should he need to defend himself he will find a way ... eventually we must all cross that road, as distasteful as it might seem ...

Regarding the toy guns, parents must teach their children not to use them publicly ... I know that it seems like a difficult thing to do, but the roads are dangerous also, and one doesn't see children squashed all over the place ... why? because they are taught not to cross them without looking carefully in both directions ... it's a big lesson like tying your shoes, and it is repeated over and over and over again ... the same thing must be done with toy guns ...

I would try to substitute some other harmless weapon like a soft tip bow and arrow for the war games ... might work ... children need to learn to respect for the truly dangerous tools in our world ...

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by Shandi:

These are all valid points. It does seem that many/most kids have an instinct for combat, and will use any means to show the opponent or innocent victim, that they are the "winner"...

---

You bring up a point I hadn't considered, which is to teach kids not to use them publicly. They learn early on not to do other things publicly, like go outside naked. It's funny that this is the only one I can think of at the moment! I used to let my toddlers go naked to play in their wading pool, and my neighbors told me it was indecent! (That didn't stop me....)

I think it's important to tell the truth; that going out in public with a "replica gun" is dangerous for them, because the police may think it's real, and shoot them. Tell them about other children who have been killed by the police, and show them pictures of kids shot down by cops. If a kid is old enough to obtain a replica gun, they need to know the potential consequences.

I see this issue much the same as drinking and driving. It may be o.k. to drink at home, but not wise to do in public, and there are laws against it. As for drinking and driving, I remember in driver's ed. seeing tragic images of what happened to kids. We are more influenced by images than words.

There are many things we can't control when our kids leave the house. I just found out recently from one of my sons, that he and his brother had a dangerous encounter with a male predator while hiking on a hill behind our house, when they were 10 and 11. They must have agreed not to tell me, because they didn't want to be banned from hiking. He didn't give me any details, only that they had been able to escape. There are probably other incidents that I wasn't told about.

I had enrolled them in Karate about that same time, and they attended classes for about 3 years. Having each other as sparring partners gave them an advantage. Knowing that they had some defensive skills gave me more peace of mind, since they were both non-combative. I can't recall ever buying them guns. But a few years ago I bought a "marshmallow" shooting gun for my grandson, and decided not to give it to him.

My brother had a western gun and holster set when he was 4. He wanted to wear it everywhere, even to church. One Sunday, as we were going in, he pulled out both guns, and pointed them at the congregation, and said "Stick um up, or I'll shoot!" He'd picked this up from watching western movies on TV. Also, he'd been exposed to violence since he was an infant. At 39, he tragically turned a real gun on himself.

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by arthunter:

I find it sad that this young, peace loving boy should seem peculiar because he doesn't want to fight ....

---

Hello all,
I appreciate and agree with most of the thoughtful discussion in this thread that I have read (haven't read all).
I tried to raise my son without toy guns.
Yes, he made them from tinker toys and sticks. I tried to reframe them as "tickle guns', shaping my fingers into the stereotypical gun shape and tickling him with my index finger as I said, "Tickle pow pow". This didn't really work...although we both laughed a lot...
When he was a preteen I discovered he had somehow gotten and hidden a toy bb gun. It was put in the garbage and I may have put him on restriction for lying etc., but I don't remember that part because it has been so long ago. I am much older and wiser now (he was my oldest, and I had him when I was very young). I am no longer in favor of punishments, restrictions, etc. etc., or forcing kids to get rid of something special to them.

What would I do differently now, with hindsight?

Let me begin by saying I am a pacifist, and spent my teen years in Baltimore (where the police haven't changed much it seems, and back when I was a teen they also beat up my white male longhair hippie friends. None of us ever thought of getting a lawyer etc.; it was just part of our "normal life").
Now, having raised 2 other kids to adulthood, been an "outside of the system" teacher for kids (many of whom had been kicked out of "the system") I have very different views.

I would have talked and more importantly listened to why my son wanted this bb gun so much that he was willing to hide it and lie about it. It must have been very important to him.
I should add that he grew up to be a gun owner kinda guy, with a kind and generous heart.

I would get him professional lessons (although I have no idea how much that would cost and was mostly a low income single mother). I think having lessons, from an honorable man (I think boys' gun fascination have to do with stereotypical male identity stuff) who would teach him safe handling, respect etc. for guns, would have been much more effective, rather than forbidding, repressing, etc.

I realize now, that this is related to not expecting/demanding that our kids be just like us.

By the way, as a child I had a toy gun and holster --which I loved-- yet grew up to be a pacifist...

For a short while I was able to get my pre--teen son Aikido lessons with a teacher named Marty Callahan. I think Marty is still in Sonoma Co. teaching. I frequently recommend this to mothers of boys.
Aikido is somewhat different than other martial arts, very powerful yet gentle, and Marty is a special human being, who teaches respect, honor, and refraining from violence unless absolutely necessary. I think this is inherent in Aikido, but like anything else, a lot depends on the teacher.
It made a huge difference in my son and our family life, but for reasons I won't go into now, I wasn't able to keep getting him to the class, even though Marty did his best to help make it work for us (basically transportation issues).

The point I am making, is that I'm thinking that the boy who didn't like ju jitsu, might really like Aikido, especially if Marty was his sensei (teacher).

No matter how hard we try to raise our kids in line with our philosphies, the dominant culture is usually more powerful. Kids spend more time in school/with peers than with their families, and if not at home then they get brainwashed by what they see/experience at school, friends' houses (movies, violent games, shows, toys etc.) billboards, magazines at the market, and on and on.

As for soccer,when she was about 7, I remember my daughter and one of the other side's star players, both stopped to help another player, who had fallen down during the game.
All the other parents and most players were yelling at them to keep playing...
I realized what a drag competitive sports are, and how this was undermining what she'd learned at home, ie. stop and help when someone falls down.
There are cooperative versions of all sports and games--everyone wins together or loses together. When I was a teacher, I always played cooperative games with the kids.

Hope this is helpful, or at least food for thought, offered from my heart to yours, with kindness.

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by Shandi:

You bring up a point I hadn't considered, which is to teach kids not to use them publicly. They learn early on not to do other things publicly, like go outside naked. It's funny that ...

---

Thank you so much for your detailed sharing. I feel a lot of wisdom from you. I think you're right about Aikido being a more gentle martial art. Having a good teacher is also very important. Unfortunately, my grandson lives in So. Cal, and would probably never go into a dojo again.

To ask why a child wants a gun can be an essential question in the equation. I doubt if many parents ever consider this. They make the rules; the kids have to obey them, (or hide the evidence).

Also, I agree with getting lessons if possible, because that takes it to another level of responsibility, which is a critical piece of gun ownership. Maturity plays a role in this.

Even though we allow 16 yr. olds behind the wheel of a car doesn't mean they're mature enough to handle it, and I would say the same for BB guns. The real problem is lack of mature and responsible parenting, but sometimes we all struggle with these issues, as we try to figure out the best answer for our particular children.

BTW, I love your avatar! :heart:

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by gaiasophia:

Hello all,
I appreciate and agree with most of the thoughtful discussion in this thread that I have read (haven't read all).
I tried to raise my son without toy guns.
Yes, he made them from tinker toys and sticks. I tried to reframe them as "tickle guns', shaping my fingers into the stereotypical gun shape and tickling him with my index finger as I said, "Tickle pow pow". This didn't really work...although we both laughed a lot...

---