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Ivor Biggun

In that we don't understand the full story I would have done the same as, why hide a gun, and bullets, if all is above board and legal ?

Bluecat

My point is, why did the son have a gun in the first place?
Well, I rest my case, I think Blackgang can explain better than me...

Norton

Herein lies the real question. Who knows what kind of person the 19 year old man was. Maybe the father knowing he was a dangerous sort was justified in turning him in. If he was a relatively well behaved young man I doubt I would have turned him in. If he had a history of bad behavior and all my attempts to set him straight had failed, I would turn him in.

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Eat right, exercise daily, live clean, die anyway.

jandajoy

A 19 yr old is not a kid.

Bluecat

Indeed, at that age he is the end result of the education of father and mother...

Loy Toy

As is the norm the newspapers leave out other details such as prior convictions and to sensationalize a story. Father puts in own son, wow what a cnut.
Quite possibly the boy has been in trouble with the law before and maybe informing the police was his last option.
3 years inside for a first offence is highly unlikely and quite possibly the lad had fallen off the rails long before this indiscretion.
I would always support my sons and until I couldn't support them anymore.

Norton

BG would have turned him in as well but not until he took the gun away and shot him in the leg!

November Rain

Yes, no question.

My parents would have done it to me - and they made damn sure I knew it. I've turned out pretty good (IMO) & completely law abiding. I love my Mum more than anyone except my son & loved my Dad in the same way. Good parenting includes teaching you respect of others & of the law, IMO.

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It is far easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.

Lorenzo

I would not vote for a father like that for public office. He is a real shit

Bluecat

Indeed so that you will never need to turn out your children.
And if you need to, well, it does not really qualify as good parenting...

November Rain

^ That's the whole point, isn't it?

Bluecat

I'm still not too sure people get it.
If your children do not "behave" when they are adults, it is because of you, parents, not because of them.
You're the ones who taught them.
And you want to send them to jail because you did not teach them right?
Or love them right?
I can't accept that and I rest my case again...

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Discussion is an exchange of knowledge, argument is an exchange of ignorance

Norton

Case reopened on appeal,

Agee, parenting is the primary factor in determining our adult conduct. Not all parents are capable of providing proper guidance. For the sake of argument, suppose a not so good parent knew his 19 year old son was a bad egg and had a strong indication the son was planning to do harm to others. If this is the case here, I believe the father would be irresponsible if he didn't inform the authorities.

astasinim

Legally he`s not a kid, but still a kid in a lot of respects.

According to the father during a radio interview, he stated his son had no prior dealings with the police.

Morden

Here's another report:

LONDON (Reuters) - A teenager was jailed on Friday for possessing a gun after his father handed him in to police when he found the weapon and bullets in his home.


Paul Metcalfe, 19, of Nelson, in Lancashire, was jailed for three years after his father, Neil, 45, turned him over to the authorities.
He had faced a maximum five-year term after he pleaded guilty to firearm offences at an earlier hearing.
The teenager hid the weapon -- a reactivated semi-automatic pistol with 11 live bullets -- for some older men because he was frightened of them.
After sentencing, his father said he had no regrets, although he did think the sentence was too long.
"I think I did the right thing," he told reporters outside court. "I don't think he should have walked out of court, but 18 months or two years maybe - people get less for GBH."
Detective Inspector Derek Jones, of Lancashire Police, said the judge had done the right thing in balancing the case.
He said the gun could have been used to commit murder or robberies if it landed in the wrong hands.
"The minimum sentence is still 5 years (for possessing a gun)," he told reporters. "The reason Metcalfe didn't receive that, is (because of) the circumstances of his case.
"I think his father has to be commended, but what he did is not unusual."
Before sentencing the teenager had told newspapers that he was scared of the consequences.
"Although I'm scared of going to prison, I feel dad saved me," he was quoted as saying. "I was angry with him at the time. Now I know why he did it and respect him for it. I'd got in with the wrong crowd."
(Editing by Peter Griffiths)


So, if the 19 year old is telling the truth, he was locked up because he was frightened into hiding the gun by other people. Locked up where he can be attacked by friends of the gun's owners!

My questions, by the way, were to do with how you would react if your own son had a gun, rather than someone that you don't know. Could you report your own offspring for an imprisonable offence?

November Rain

I'm not sure I do understand what you're saying. Yes, if your children do not 'behave right' as adults, it's largely the fault of the parenting (though other factors could be involved).
As for wanting them to go to jail because of your failure (mine/whoevers) as a parent, no, I don't agree that that would be my sentiment. It would be more protecting society from my failure as a parent. If my son owned a gun & bullets in a country like UK where they are illegal, I think it would be reasonable to assume he owned them for a reason that would not be a benefit to society. OK, then, in that case, I've failed as a parent in teaching him right from wrong. I now have a number of choices. Most involve 'protecting' him from the realities of life & risking the safety of others in hoping that he's now going to listen to me. One involves people reviling me, but keeping society safe from him (this time) & hopefully being the shock he needs to put him back on track. As he's my son, I can't believe he's bad through & through. So, I take the latter option. Not a case of passing the buck as far as I can see, but the most caring choice.

Morden

Perhaps one of the drawbacks with a prison sentence for a 19 year old is that he would probably learn more about being a criminal than being a good citizen. He would probably be sodomised too. Add to that the fact that he may well turn his back on the parent who shopped him and go with the people who gave him the gun or whom he met in prison.

I can see the rational argument for allowing the law to deal with the problem provided that the result is correction rather than a punishment that could make matters worse. However, speaking about me and my own son, I don't think that I would be emotionally capable of reporting him. Unless he had turned into a hardened and dangerous criminal, I would probably do my best to help him get rid of the weapon and take any retribution on my own shoulders. Protecting ones young is a parental instinct and it's that which I would follow rather than objective reasoning.

The gun in this case is illegal in the UK and there is no legitimate reason for owning it. Putting a 19 year old in prison is a failure to get to the root of the problem unless other enquiries are being made. He must know some very bad people who should themselves be locked up.

Ivor Biggun

So all the tyrants, rapists and wrong doers of this world can blame their parents ? When it comes to court procedings we will now try the parents, cause it aint the kids fault they ended up in trouble. What a cop out clause.

Ivor Biggun

The son got of lightly in that the minimum, under English law, is 5 years for gun possesion. Also the son refused to co operate with the police in revealing who he was minding the gun for. He will in fact only serve 18 months in a young offenders institution and the remaining 18 month outside on licence. I believe that to be parole.

Marmite the Dog