People News
By Stone Martindale May 31, 2007, 14:38 GMT
UPDATE: 'Hogzilla 2' killer is 11 year-old Alabama boy
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Older Talkback
No big deal, I was shooting an army carbine in 6th grade. Its great to see a kid outside hunting instead of sitting in front on the tv or playing dumb computer games. I hope he kills a bigger one next year. Congrats
I really get annoyed when people who have no knowledge of gun saftey or hunting traditions make ignorant comments. This 11 year old boy was out hunting with the supervision of his father. He was obviously taught at a young age how to properly & safely handle a firearm. He is not going to be the child who causes an accident because of this. What is really dangerous is when an ignorant adult man who has never had training decides that one day he wants to go hunting & then buys a gun that he has no idea how to use & goes out without supervision because it is ok & he is an adult. That's what I am afraid of. Gun saftey starts with education & boys who are interested in hunting should be educated properly & early on. The best education is supervised experience.
sorry, I was raised to be kind to living creatures. Hunting and killing is a 'tradition' lost on me. There are too many gun toting kids for my taste too. Sue me.
- Stone Martindale
I agree with you Stone. Yes he was supervised but it only takes a blink on an eye for something to happen and besides who in their right mind would let an 11 year old CHILD handle a gun. I wonder what the next thing he'll shoot. Someone's pet?
What's worse a boy learning to use and properly handle a gun. Or a boy sitting and playing a video game that teaches him to steal cars, slap women, and shoot people.
For your sake I hope you chose the former. At least this 11 year old boy knows that there is no respawns in life, where kids playing video games have no understanding of death or even being in the outdoors.
It's just sad that people think this kid is some serial killer. He was with his father! He was being supervised! He knew how to properly use the gun! And they even had the hog turned into food and donated that to charity!! Please tell me whats wrong with that!!!
Hunting has been around since the beginning of time. Every society has hunting in it, in some cultures it is even a rite of passage into becomming an adult. Even vegitarians hunt, it's just that their prey doesn't move much.
And No, 11 years is not young at all to be hunting. As long as he's supervised, it's fine in my books.I think people should focus more of their time into other areas, instead of picking on some 11 year old kid. People trashing this kid, should be ashamed of themselves for picking on a kid.
Well he was on a hunting preserve, I think it's safe to say he's not likely to shoot a pet...come on now. Regardless of personal 'kindness' philosophies on animals, there is no reason this kid or his father deserves flak for hunting. It is highly respectable that a father went hunting with his son, who is obviously knowledgeable and capable of hunting with supervision. The kid is active, outdoors, and spending time with his father; better than most fathers and sons these days.
Stone and Dakota really are ignorant, when was the last time one of the 'too many gun toting kids' (those out hunting with dad, NOT those who are deranged and go to school with one) hurt somebody? Let me read the story without so many pointless personal opinions.
and I bet you don't eat pork either, stone. Maybe you should take a trip to a slaughter house & then decide which is more humane, being slaughtered or shot while grazing in a field. Only vegetarians have the right to make comments like that.
Nice Common sense...I didn't see your post or name before mine went up.
It is quite common, especially in the South, for children to learn the proper use of firearms in a hunting situation. I learned as a child, as did my sons, both of whom are in the military now. Hunting and firearm usage is viewed as a rite of passage with a lot of people. If 'hunting' is lost on you from your point of view, that tells me you grew up in a city. We, who were raised in the 'country', view hunting as a hobby and a gret past time enjoying nature.
As for all the people that have a problem with firearms, you are obviously
clueless and uninformed for whatever reason. This boy did not do anything wrong
he was just doing what he loves. Hunting and spending time with his father(something that is becoming more rare these days). A qun is nothing more than a tool. It's not a toy, and this is good example of a responsible parent that has taught his son that. If this was done more often, there would not be so-called
'accidental' shootings. Something else, this was an 11-year old boy shooting a
'.50 cal.' pistol, whew right-on little man!!!
Welcome to Alabama, I guess. My brothers and I were all educated about guns and weaponry starting at age 8; as the only girl I was not an exception. I was 9 when I shot a rifle for the first time. I never went hunting, though. I don't plan on teaching my child to shoot, but that's mostly because we live in the city (I grew up on Ohio farmland). Why is this such a big deal? The parents were there, as well as guides AND it was a hunting reserve. Sure, some people will cry out for animal rights, but hunting reserves are not against the law and neither are guns- not by a long shot!
Yeah well, to each his own.
I never made a judgment call on the kid in my article.
What I do find incredulous as the parent of two boys-is letting an 11 year old out in 1000 pound feral pig country with a loaded weapon.
And no, I don't eat pork, and am now a vegan-purely for health and weight maintenance reasons-no political agenda. I do miss burgers.
Hunting is not for me-and I would guess a good many Americans who prefer to not spend their precious quality down time getting up at ridiculous early hours to go into the woods to kill something, especially when they can easily go buy their meat in the grocery store.
-Stone Martindale
Well, at least he didn't eat a Corgie. :)
I re-iterate, you must be a 'city' boy, because the majority of youth that grow up in rural areas, do so hunting. Hunting isn't just going out to 'kill' something. hunting teaches many valuable lessons to kids. One, to enjoy and preserve the world that we have been given to live in. Also, one will learn the finality of death first hand. Plus the game that is harvested is a natural meat and teaches that not all meat comes from a slaughter house where animals that have been raise with hormones and steroids are prepared in little plastic bundles to sit on grocery shelves. That's a better lesson than the kids who learn the lessons of life from video games and televisions. They have no concept of the value of a human life, nor the finality of death,therefore they can go into a school and kill innocent beings for no other reason than some imagined wrong that has been done to them.
In reading your thoughtless article, I can understand why you would not want a firearm in your own childrens hands. Maybe you should re-think your position and teach them a little gun safety, it might occur that there would be a need for that knowledge at some point in their life.
Think it over.................
It is a frothy little silly story about a kid from the sticks who killed a mutant pig.
What is thoughtless is the idea in this day and age, you need to go out and shoot something for fun, sport or whatever.
I agree with Stone-and I appreciate the humor there too.
It doesn't come across as a 'frothy' little story, more like an animal rights activist's diatribe about 'poor little animals.' If you've never hunted, then I can't see any reason to value your opinion. If you have no experience in the subject, your thoughts are just chaff in the wind.
Forget about the kid hunting. How does a wild pig get to four times the average size and twice as big as the 'giants'. There has got to be some radiation around those parts.
This hog just ate real good. We raised pigs when I was young and had several boars in the 800 to 1000 pound range. It all depends on how well there are fed and how old they become. South Alabama has a lot of fertile land which will supply plenty to eat.
A couple of comments:
1) For those of you who say shooting a hog is better than playing video games. No one has ever proved a link between video games and gun violence. However there is a direct and irrefutable link between guns and gun violence.
2) What's the big deal, anyway? How hard could it be to kill a 1,000 lb. hog? It's not like it's a small, fast-moving target. The only amazing thing here is that the pig didn't die of natural causes before this kid put him out of his big fat misery.
I'm sure the kid is harmless but when I see something about 11 year olds with guns in the news I think about The Jonesboro school massacre. They were 11 and 13 year old boys and they had been taught at the age of 6 to use guns for hunting. Kids and guns do not go together.
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