Last night the boys’ school held a ‘family dance’. Essentially it was a disco for the kids that the parents got to go along to so that they could embarrass their kids (well I’m sure that wasn’t quite the intent, but for the only girl-aware boy that we know it was certainly the case!)
That however is the purpose of writing. As usual it was something of a struggle to get all four Temby minors dressed, agreeable and moving out the door in a cohesive fashion, so Michael went on ahead to wait for us in the school playground. As we managed to mobilise extra children, Sam and Thomas also went on ahead and we followed with Emily (more than happy to be escorted by both Mummy AND Daddy!)
When we arrived at the school, we found Michael on a bench on the side of the playground in tears. Asking what had happened, it was quickly determined that a boy from Sam’s year level had shot both Michael and Sam with a ‘bb gun’. My first instinct was to shrug it off (I’ve never actually seen or used a bb gun but was always of the impression that they would sting a bit, but that was about all. The fact that the kid had one in a school playground (even after hours) was something that I wasn’t impressed with by any stretch of the imagination.
Sam showed me where he’d been hit (in the knee) and blood had been drawn and then Michael showed us the two spots (welts) on his back where he’d been hit). I decided to call the boy (who was nonchalantly playing on the equipment) over to let him know just how I felt about it.
He was rather insistent that he’d only shot Michael once (like that made a difference) so we showed him the two spots and asked him what he thought they were. A rather ignorant shrug of the shoulders was the response to which I believe i replied, “Well they aren’t bloody bug bites are they?!”
We abandoned him and went on to the school, having assured him that we would be reporting it to the school and that therefore he could expect his parents to know about it.
Its worth noting at this point that if I was angry, Caroline was seething to a degree at the dangerous level of “very angry mother.”
We did indeed report it to the headmaster of the school, who promptly went directly to the house of the child in question and knocked on the door. Massive kudos for immediate action.
During the course of the dance, Caroline discussed the incident with a number of people who said that we should report the incident to the RCMP (cops). My initial thought was that this was possibly a little over the top. But I kept thinking about it as the night wore on.
I haven’t ever really reached a point of being particularly pro or against gun ownership. Because it all comes down to who owns the gun. Responsibly owned, the gun is no worse than a chainsaw. I know a number of people that own guns and take every precaution one could ask for in regards to ensure safe operation.
And then there’s the American gun culture that we all hear about. And living up here in the remote parts of Canada, there’s a lot of hunting that goes on. So I have to wonder about a 9 year old kid who is allowed to wander around the streets with a bb gun unsupervised and exactly what his future holds for him.
Let’s just say that his immediate future definitely includes a visit with his parents by the school and may well indeed include a visit from the RCMP. Because in the end, we did make the call. I don’t want to have to worry about my kids being threatened by a bb gun. Deadly? Probably not. Potential to cause injury? Definite. I don’t want to risk that one percenter (or even less) that one of those pellets takes out a kid’s eye (my kid or anyone else’s).
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