Dumb
Generally, it’s not a good idea to take pictures of yourself doing something illegal. It’s dumber to post those pics on Al Gore’s Internets. That’s why I don’t have much sympathy for this guy:
A 16-year-old boy was arrested Wednesday after postings on the popular Web site MySpace.com allegedly showed him holding handguns, authorities said.
Police searched the boy‘s home after receiving a tip from Evergreen High School on Feb. 10, the same day he was suspended, officials said.
One photo allegedly showed him lying on a floor surrounded by nine rifles with the caption, “Angel o‘ death on wings o‘ lead.”
Not sure why he was arrested exactly as the article doesn’t mention the charges. I would assume he was likely in illegal possession of a handgun since he’s a minor. Anyone else know?
Update: Apparently, it is not illegal for a minor to be in possession of a handgun in CO as long as he has parental permission. CBS4Denver reports:
A student at Evergreen High School was arrested and charged with having weapons after he posted pictures of himself on MySpace.com.
The pictures were brought to the attention of the school by a parent and the principal contacted the sheriff’s department.
In one of the photos, the teen was surrounded by nine rifles and was holding two handguns with a caption that read, “Angel o’ death on wings o’ lead.”
“That’s pretty disturbing, a kid with guns you know,” said a student at the teen’s school.
Sure, it’s disturbing but it’s not illegal. Why would the parent and principal not contact the kid’s parents first?
February 23rd, 2006 at 4:05 pm
Hmmm…looks like he was arrested because they were afraid of the guns. Perhaps they thought it was a threat? I don’t get it.
February 23rd, 2006 at 4:17 pm
The brady’s say in CO it’s illegal to give them handguns without parental permisson. Maybe so.
February 23rd, 2006 at 4:55 pm
But how would they find out if he had his parents’ permission without asking them?
February 24th, 2006 at 1:00 am
First thought: idiot bureaucrat principal and idiot ‘we don’t like it’ cops
February 24th, 2006 at 2:04 am
I’m not much of a gun guy myself, at least in ownership. However, concerning this case, I have pictures of me at the age of about 12 holding an M-16, while wearing camoflage pants. It’s a real pic, it’s a real m-16 and I’m really about 12, maybe 13.
Though I have that pic tucked away somewhere, I had still YET to fire a rifle, a handgun, or even anything other than my uncle’s CO2 fed pelet pistol. It would be another 5 years till I ever fired a weapon, and 6 till I fired a weapon for a purpose (by “for a purpose” I mean, actually hitting a target, rather than just experiencing what it is like to fire a weapon, and I did that ONCE!)
With the number of fire-arms floating around, there is no reason for there to have NOT been a “soft” inquiry into the situation, ie, call mom and day and say “we found pictures of your kid posting with handguns, do you keep handguns in the house and are you aware of these particular pictures?”
That would have fixed it without insulting the second ammendment. (while I’m not a fan of owning guns myself, I’m a BIG fan of having that option.)
February 24th, 2006 at 9:21 am
[…] Publicola, who’s in Colorado, looks at the case of the kid arrested for posing with guns on his myspace account, which I mentioned here. The police should have done something. After all, if this kid later went on a shooting spree at a school and this info came to light, we’d all be criticizing the cops. That said, I think the police should have just informed the parents and not arrested him for not breaking the law. […]
February 28th, 2006 at 2:49 am
[…] Some kid posts photos of himself with firearms online and the cops arrest him. Say Uncle had the first part of the story. […]