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Did the father do the right thing?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/7462914.stm
BTW The son ended up being sentenced to 3 years in Prison
Personally I think most fathers would have at least waited to talk to their child before ringing the police.
BTW The son ended up being sentenced to 3 years in Prison
Personally I think most fathers would have at least waited to talk to their child before ringing the police.
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I don't understand this "betraying the family" business. If he's got a gun he's as dangerous as any other gang member who has a gun. If he shot someone, would it be any less awful because he was somebody's son?
Think of the greater good. In the end who you are doesn't matter, because you could just as easily be the father of a victim rather than a killer. The father of the victim is as much of a person as you are.
I think most fathers would have at least talked to their son first - cos all he found were bullets and not the gun (the police found the gun) and then I think most fathers would have said let just throw it away in the river or something
The fact is after 3 years in jail the son is probably going to be more of a danger coming out then going in. He's certainly going to find getting a job a lot harder when he comes out with a criminal record.
But as mentioned by other we don't know what the son was like before this..
If more parents did this there would be a lot less crime on the street.
If more parents raised their kids right in the first place they'd be less need to shop them to the police ....
Of course I'm not going to be jumping with joy about - but my family would come first. It may not be moral or ethical, but my ties to people I don't know are much less than my ties and obligations to my daughters, wife, parents and siblings
See the second part of my original post...
I'd consider letting someone in my family go for stealing something once, but if they kept doing it or it was something more serious I'd be a terrible bastard if I didn't do something to stop them.
I do think family does normally come before other considerations, and that is largely natural. Lets face it someone dying on the other side of the world is worth less than someone dying in your town, who is worth less than a family member dying.
If he thought it would have worked, perhaps a stern talking to and throwing the bullets and gun in the nearest cannal or lake. But if he didnt think the kid would listen I do think he did the right thing, even though he will struggle both in prison and out of it.
I assume we're talking about what we'd do in reality, rather than theory. because in theory the lives of my family are no more important than anyone else - in reality, at least to me, they are much, much more important. I can live with that (better than I can live with the idea they are no more important than strangers)
Blood is thicker than water but if I found one of my family members with a handgun under the bed I'd be tipping off the police as well. I wouldn't want the gun in the house and I wouldn't want the people who gave him the gun anywhere near me.
The obligation is to tell the police if a serious crime has been committed. It doesn't make you a grass. Anyone who thinks that family comes first is a complete tool.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/7465414.stm
Better to be judged by 12, than carried by 6.
Interesting case - I don't actually anyone really benefits from the outcome in this case except the people who owned the gun - I wonder if he was offered a deal to give up their names and what it was.
good on them both.
I think that was before he got sent down for 3 years - I wanna see him being interviewed now from prison and see if he still feels the same way ..
To be honest I don't see why there isn't an amnesty on handing in guns really. But I agree with the no tolerance policy if you're caught in possession in some ways as it sends out a clear message. Guns are so dangerous you can't really mess about with the law like maybe with cannabis possession which isn't so damaging. Still, who will ever turn themselves in (and the gun) if it means a minimum 5 year sentence? :no:
Because the majority of people who hand in guns are generally law abiding. When they have amnesties, the only people who don't hand things in are generally the criminals.
Last time we had a gun one, we had an elderly woman hand in her late husband's WW2 collection which consisted of a webley revolver, bren gun, heavy machine gun and a bazooka......
But we didn't get a single BB gun from a hooded gangster.
I would do the same thing, because I want most of my family to be able to go out feeling safe more than I want one relative to feel that they have a right to have and use a gun.
I'm not sure I'd want my daughter's to be keeping ammo, or stab to death a cheating boyfriend or anything else. But if they did my loyalty is to them. I don't think this is a particually moral response on my part - but it is a response by a parent.
If he was holding it for someone else he may well not have had a great deal of choice in the matter. There are people in certain areas you dont say no to.