Indians For Guns

The unidentified 10-year-old whose tale of heroism is being told by the Bellingham Herald, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Associated Press this morning is also the kind of story that makes gun prohibitionists cringe. It throws water on the notion that kids and guns – even BB guns – don’t mix. In this case, they mixed very well for an outcome of an otherwise harrowing story that could have gone very bad as Thanksgiving looms on the horizon.

One annoying detail in the Herald’s story is a quote from Bellingham Police spokesman Mark Young, who reportedly said the boy will not be charged because he was defending his mother.

State statute on the use of force, including lethal force, in self-defense is very clear, and it covers not only the act of defending one’s self from criminal attack, but defending a family member or some other innocent. In this case, there is the added factor of disparity; a child versus an adrenaline and alcohol-charged adult.