Local news in brief Oct. 18, 2009

I hate guns. Yes guns don't kill people, people kill people. But we're in a new era. The teens of our country are willing to try anything these days. I feel a gun is like a drug or liquor. Keep them locked completely away from everyone in your home especially young children and teens. In fact if you have any young children or teens, you shouldn't even have a gun in your house. Remember, you may be able to trust your child, but there's always someone around to edge him on. This young boy dying was sad. I feel for his family.

Disgusted wrote:

I hate guns. Yes guns don't kill people, people kill people. But we're in a new era. The teens of our country are willing to try anything these days. I feel a gun is like a drug or liquor. Keep them locked completely away from everyone in your home especially young children and teens. In fact if you have any young children or teens, you shouldn't even have a gun in your house. Remember, you may be able to trust your child, but there's always someone around to edge him on. This young boy dying was sad. I feel for his family.

If you are unable to teach your children how to safely handle guns, drive a car, operate a power tool, et cetera, the you should not be surprised if they are unable to handle them safely. It's sad that this young man's life had to end this way.

You will only be able to trust you child if your have instilled values in them that make them trustworthy. Trust that is given instead of earned often results in betrayal and tragedy.

I don't know if anyone agrees but video games and their influence on kids may be surprising in a very scary way. My feeling is that they have removed a sense of real life consequences due to their nature.
When something happens in a video game, the kids get "game over". Then they can hit the reset button, and live again and still get a slice of pizza. There are no consequences. Repeat this behavior tens of thousands of times over a few years and you have some very acute conditioning. Add the plethora of media devices and the bombardment that comes with them and yet another ethereal layer of reality gets established. What happens between this cloud and the real life consequences of irreversible realities and you have a recipe for disaster that is now being served at your local establishments. A very unnerving combination of technology invading the thoughts and actions of these youngsters. Everything in moderation? I suppose...

I don't know if anyone agrees but video games and their influence on kids may be surprising in a very scary way. My feeling is that they have removed a sense of real life consequences due to their nature.
When something happens in a video game, the kids get "game over". Then they can hit the reset button, and live again and still get a slice of pizza. There are no consequences. Repeat this behavior tens of thousands of times over a few years and you have some very acute conditioning. Add the plethora of media devices and the bombardment that comes with them and yet another ethereal layer of reality gets established. What happens between this cloud and the real life consequences of irreversible realities and you have a recipe for disaster that is now being served at your local establishments. A very unnerving combination of technology invading the thoughts and actions of these youngsters. Everything in moderation? I suppose...