Patterico's Pontifications

12/23/2014

Exploiting Kids: It’s Okay Because It’s To Stop Gun Violence

Filed under: General — Dana @ 10:13 am



[guest post by Dana]

A new PSA is making the rounds in an effort to stop gun violence:

Either the makers of this awful PSA are just plain ignorant or have conveniently ignored critical issues for the sake of pushing their message. Part of that message also appears to pit parents against their kids as schools become the go-to safety net for young people.

Interestingly, the main character is not a clueless small child who might sneak into his parent’s drawers to play with the gun, nor a mentally off-balance son who might be tempted to commit mayhem, but to the contrary, the makers of the video have intentionally drawn a well-rounded young man with a working conscience, sensitivity and big sense of responsibility. As such, it would be natural for that same young man to approach his parents about the gun being kept (unsafely) in the house. Likely he did, and the viewer is to infer that his parents are bitter-clinger types who love their guns more than their son and wouldn’t listen to him. That would not only be convenient but also leave the responsible and conscientious son with no other choice but to take the gun out of the drawer, and not knowing if it’s loaded or if the safety is on (and not checking), put it in his backpack to take to school and give it to a responsible adult. But what if the gun accidentally discharged en route? What if other students were injured or killed as a result? This doesn’t seem to be a concern for the video makers. Also, if he is so troubled by the gun and everything surrounding it, why not have him hand it off to the first adult he sees when he walks into the school’s front doors instead of waiting until the end of a class? That would immediately relieve him of his heavy burden while not continuing to put others at risk.

The makers of this shameful video don’t even see how ridiculous this all is: They created a level-headed, responsible and conscientious character and have him behaving utterly irresponsibly just to be able to push their message.

Further, as others have pointed out, a number of laws were broken in the video:

He takes a gun out of his house (not only is this felony burglary, but he’s not old enough to carry a firearm in public); he then takes that gun into a school (that’s against federal and state law); and, finally, he transfers it to a teacher without a background check, thereby breaking the very rule that progressives tell us is necessary to keep us all safe from gun violence.

But apparently it’s okay because it’s in the name of anti-gun violence. Any exploitation of kids, any disregard for safety, any law breaking, and any gross negligence and irresponsibility is all justified if it’s for the right cause.

–Dana

50 Responses to “Exploiting Kids: It’s Okay Because It’s To Stop Gun Violence”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (8e74ce)

  2. Kids? inform on your parental units. Ees good, no?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  3. Hello.

    Denver Todd (5f001f)

  4. For the Left, anything is “justified if it’s for the right cause.”

    Lying, arson, murder.

    Pious Agnostic (7eb3b0)

  5. Plus the PSA was done at a real/live Public School in Oakland California:

    http://www.noccs.org/

    North Oakland Community Charter School
    1000 42nd Street
    Oakland, CA 94608

    Somebody does not have their head screwed on right.

    BfC (8661e2)

  6. Shades of Pavel Morozov

    Not to mention, of course, that this course of action is not only illegal in several different obvious ways, as Charles Cooke says, but, by any standard, more dangerous than leaving the gun where it is.

    But I guess they didn’t want to show him calling 911.

    Sammy Finkelman (1b38fa)

  7. Pretty sure the National Review needs to nationally review the elements of burglary.

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  8. Time for that long-overdue National Conversation On Telling Kids To Do Stupid Sh*t.

    PCachu (e072b7)

  9. Considering what happened to that poptart kid, this could easily be fatal. IIRC, after the poptart incident, the school edumoronocrats offered counseling for other students who might have been traumatized. They’d have to euthanize the entire student body to put them out of their misery.

    Richard Aubrey (f6d8de)

  10. Is the PSA meant to scare parents?

    (Not saying that that is what a child should do, but giving an example of a stupid thing a child might do if they let him discover a gun – take it to school to ask for legal advice?)

    Sammy Finkelman (1b38fa)

  11. Turn in your parents if they favor limited government, if they object to IRS suppression of the TEA Party, if they wonder why Susan Rice blamed the terrorist attack on Benghazi on a video tape.

    Don’t think twice, turn them in if they complain about illegal immigration, if they question why Obama exchanged one Army deserter for 5 Islamic terrorists. Don’t question government propaganda, turn in your parents and feel real good about your indelible contribution to World Peace.

    And, don’t forget your cash contribution to the Democrat Party, they’re your parents now.

    ropelight (857bcb)

  12. Liberals are vicious, nasty beasts. It is good to see them for who they are.

    Steve57 (673a9b)

  13. Pretty sure the National Review needs to nationally review the elements of burglary.

    Would you clarify?

    Dana (8e74ce)

  14. I would be tempted to think this is such a stupid idea that it was an NRA covert operation to get people outraged.
    But then again, I think there are people turned stupid enough to do this by their ideological blinders, even if they were inherently pretty bright to begin with.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  15. Hey, there’s precedent. Mao had a pretty efficient operation going for a while to encourage Chinese kids to “inform” on their parents and grandparents and turn them in for thought crimes.

    elissa (4d84c9)

  16. Holy cow, Batman! Who are these maroons? It’s true. The country did tilt and all the nuts rolled to California.

    Hey, kid! Don’t give that gun to your teacher. I’ll give $100.00 for it. And $100.00 each for any more. And $5.00 for each box for ammunition.

    nk (dbc370)

  17. witless protection
    their moronic convergence
    it takes a village

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  18. Leviticus, it is burglary to enter or remain within a premises with the intent to commit therein a felony or theft. In Illinois, it’s also the heavier charge of home invasion since the mom was home.

    But he would not be charged with that. He’d be charged with the gun laws — unlawful possession of a handgun by a person under the age of twenty-one (federal and state); unlawful possession/carry (state); gun in school (state); unlawful transfer (some states). A couple of those are felonies — under federal law he’d lose his gun rights nationally for life.

    nk (dbc370)

  19. M.D. in Philly —

    I would be tempted to think this is such a stupid idea that it was an NRA covert operation to get people outraged.

    That was my very first thought, “NRA trolls Moms”.

    My second thought was “Moms want more gun violence headlines”.

    I need better faith in my fellow humans.

    htom (9b625a)

  20. Talk radio is chock full of stupid insulting Ad Council spots like this. How to save money, how to talk to your kids, how to tell when you’re too fat, adopt a shelter pet, etc.

    I wonder how Ad Council works..does someone pitch an idea and get a govt grant? Do the PSAs have any effect at all on the desired audience?

    Then again, Ad Council stuff seems to be the only sponsor talk radio has in these parts.

    carol (719eaa)

  21. Dana,

    My point was, what this kid is doing is not burglary. The gun crimes, probably (as nk points out), but definitely not burglary.

    That ad gave NRO the vapors, I think.

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  22. If I could walk better, I’d be at Guns Demand Action protests outside Starbucks with a sign that said “DADS DEMAND HOT ACTION”. Those Bloomberg astroturf ibtches are to laugh at.

    nk (dbc370)

  23. Nk, young folks are all about the memes, and spraining their shoulders patting themselves on the back for “correct thinking.”

    The self-congratulatory narcissism wouldn’t be so bad if they, well, actually knew any history. But they don’t. They let buffoons tell them what to think, while at the same time railing about “Faux News.” Jonathan Swift style hypocrisy and weirdness.

    Check this out, from the UVA idiocy:

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/21/rolling-stone-university-of-virginia-rape-story-sp/

    Here is a future Titan of Society opining:

    “I texted one of my friends and I was like, ‘Let’s throw bottles at the Phi Psi house tonight,’ and she said, ‘Yes!’ I think that the article made it clear that victims at the university have no legitimate channels to take action, and I think vandalism is a completely legitimate form of action when like, legitimate authority is corrupt. I think it was justified,” he said in an interview with The Times.

    Asked whether he believed the ends generally justified the means, he casually replied, “Sure.” He also said he is not opposed to “armed revolution” as a means to end what he termed “systemic oppression.”

    The student who claimed to participate in the attack said he had no regrets despite the fact that the accuracy of Jackie’s story in Rolling Stone has come under significant doubt, including the name of the fraternity where the alleged attack occurred. Asked whether he felt at all bad about attacking the wrong fraternity, he showed no remorse and justified the attack on the broader woes of “social injustice.”

    “I’ve done some thinking about that, but the answer is no. Everyone knows this is a house that does not respect women. They are part of the problem, and I do not feel bad. We have an objective set of laws that empowers the police to kill black men with impunity and protects white rapists at U.Va. from prosecution. The laws are only legitimate when they work. This is not a particularly radical campus, but we’re mad.

    “As a college student, I know a lot of people who have been the result of direct oppression. We have tried peaceful political change, and I think a huge percentage of people in this country are fed up with that because we’re not getting anywhere.”

    Those views, he said were supported by the textbooks issued at U.Va., which he described as “tools for understanding” oppression.

    Hmm. I wonder if this young Social Justice Warrior knows the source of “the ends justify the means,” at attitude that directly led to the deaths of many millions of people. I know their professors don’t tell them that.

    No, American racism is worse. Oh, and capitalism.

    The funny part is how privileged these people are, and yet rail about privilege. Of course, they don’t want that privilege to be “checked” for anyone else.

    Just like the intelligentsia during the 1920s and 1930s about the Soviets.

    Ignorance, dogmaticism, and self-entitlement.

    Sheesh.

    Simon Jester (cbb38f)

  24. Leviticus, what constitutes burglary varies among the jurisdictions, but UK law (which Cooke is probably familiar with) and many state laws convert simple burglary to aggravated or felony burglary when a weapon is in the possession of the burglar. Entering his mother’s room with intent to steal the pistol is a simple burglary, by taking the pistol with him he converts it to felony burglary. Some jurisdictions differentiate levels of burglary differently (CA for example considers entry to an occupied residence 1st degree while entry to a business is 2nd degree), but the elements of felony burglary (in general as opposed to a specific jurisdiction) are there.

    max (4fdf98)

  25. elephant clock is a nice touch

    subtle

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  26. Breaking and entering
    the dwelling place
    of another
    (at night, traditionally)
    with specific intent
    to commit a felony
    therein

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  27. And entering a room in a house with intent to commit a felony has been ruled to constitute burglary, even if you have a right to be in the house. Entering unarmed, but then picking up a weapon, converts the simple burglary to felony burglary, even though the entry itself was made without a weapon. Likely this wouldn’t be charged as burglary (larceny instead, larceny of a firearm too in CA) but the elements needed for felony burglary are there.

    max (4fdf98)

  28. California Penal Code SECTION 458-464

    Dana (8e74ce)

  29. breaking entering
    how can you even enter
    something that’s broken?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  30. Well, I stand corrected then. I didn’t know about the “even if you have a right to be in the house” case law that max points out.

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  31. If this young man did exactly as the ad suggests, even if he is not arrested for the series of felonies he would have committed, as soon as he bought the gun into school, under the “zero tolerance” policies in so many of them, he’d have to be expelled.

    But there’s more. If the firearm was legally owned, the school distict would have to surrender it to the rightful owner, the kid’s father, so the father would have his weapon back, but his son would still have been expelled.

    And if the weapon was not legally owned, then the government would be able to keep the weapon, the kid would still be expelled, and now his father would go to jail!

    Are liberals really that stupid?

    And yes, that was a rhetorical question.

    The Dana amazed by left-wing stupidity (1b79fa)

  32. Burglary, felony possession of a firearm…I’m sure there’s an executive order somewhere that would take care of that.

    navyvet (66f9d3)

  33. The extent of the absurdity in this is shocking. Let’s create felons!!!!!!

    JD (c26b38)

  34. If it was the gun owner’s son, he was in the house legally. It’s still theft, and illegal possession of a firearm by a minor, and taking a firearm onto public school property, but it’s not burglary!

    And if the kid pleads guilty to just one felony, he’ll be permanently barred from owning a firearm in the future. Oh, wait a second, why didn’t I catch that? That’s exactly what the left want!

    The Dana who doesn't think that it's burglary (1b79fa)

  35. Every scenario here ends with a kid expelled from school.

    JD (726aba)

  36. Mr Jester quoted:

    Everyone knows this is a house that does not respect women.

    If everyone knows this, everyone including, I would assume, all of the women on campus, then there’s never a problem there, because women never go to that fraternity house.

    The Dana who noticed the inconsistency (1b79fa)

  37. JD wrote:

    Every scenario here ends with a kid expelled from school.

    Well, not every scenario! There’s the scenario in which this kid, who obviously knows nothing about firearms, manages to kill himself, or someone else, with it. If he dies, or goes to jail, they won’t have to bother with expelling him!

    The Dana who posits an exception (1b79fa)

  38. But, in one way, this “public service announcement” makes one good point: if you are going to keep a firearm in the home, your children should be taught the proper operation and maintenance of the weapon. A kid who actually understood something about this weapon would never take the action that the stupid PSA suggests.

    You’ll be happy to know that both of my daughters regularly qualify as Sharpshooters.

    The Army-daddy Dana (1b79fa)

  39. I see that Snopes is insinuating that this is a ploy from 2A people to smear gun control advocates. See Snopes for more, suggesting that the video’s creators have an ulterior motive.

    JCC (469de6)

  40. What if the kid gets shot by the school cops?
    Kid gets gun out of backpack, screaming ensues, cop responds sees kid with gun…. dead kid.
    But hey, one more gun off the street… net win for the anti gun crowd.

    steveg (794291)

  41. All the hand wringing in the world is just wasted effort because everyone knows that simple videos such as this one do not actually influence one’s behavior.

    Well, maybe that one in Benghazi. Or a movie about NoKo.

    But that’s it.

    Tom (606493)

  42. I noticed the kid in the ad never once used proper firearm safety. Did I miss the part where he checks to see if the pistol was loaded? Or whether the magazine was loaded? And the list goes on…

    No wonder “he” doesn’t feel safe, and it’s not “his” house unless “his” name is on the grant deed.

    MSL (5f601f)

  43. JCC, I remember back when I used to think Snopes was useful and wikipedia was useless.

    Dustin (9b8eed)

  44. Ironically, the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program that teaches gun safety would have advised this young man to do exactly the opposite of what this future Nazi Youth wannabe did. Of course the school system would never want anything to do with the purely evil “Gun Lobby” no matter how effective it is in curtailing accidental firearm injuries and deaths.

    Funeral Guy (afbf7b)

  45. Every scenario here ends with a kid expelled from school.

    not if he’s dead.

    redc1c4 (dab236)

  46. Every scenario here ends with a kid expelled from school.

    And their parents in jail for having their gun where the kid could get to it.

    But HEY, one less gun. Omelets, you know.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  47. if the poor boy is so worried he should start each day with a tasty cup o’ bulletproof coffee

    you can be proactive tiger without being a complete douchebag

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  48. This PSA, if you can call it that, is proof Liberals are incapable of cogent thought. Liberalism past 25 is a mental disease.

    PCD (39058b)

  49. JCC: love the fine example Snopes provides of that classic technique:

    yes the claim (that conservatives make) is true but a claim that no one is making is false, so the result is mixed, partially true and partially false.

    max (4fdf98)

  50. “…We need that generation of young people who began to reach political maturity in the midst of a disciplined and desperate struggle against the bougeoisie. In this struggle that generation is training genuine communists…”

    V. I. Lenin, Tasks Of The Youth Leagues (Bourgois and Communist Morality, 1920 speech to the Kommsomol).

    We now have PSAs teaching future Pavlik Morozovs to value the collective more than their parents. Parents with guns might resist.

    And yes, I know the original child hero of the Soviet Union was a fiction created by Bolshevik propagandists. Just like this one.

    Steve57 (38ca58)


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