May not be the story your looking for.

Sorry. Back in 1992 when working at an apartment building in

South Los Angeles, I asked some kids to please not break into the tenants storage lockers in the carport.

One kid, around 12 years of age pointed a loaded 38 caliber pistol at me. I said nothing and didn't move. After what seemed to be minutes, he walked away.

I called the Los Angeles Police Department on the emergency phone number and two bicycle police showed up quickly. I asked them what I should have done since I had a gun permit and was caring a weapon. They said I should have shot him dead.

I then tole the two officer that the kid with a gun was standing around 50 feet away with a group of other children. One officer said, "Oh him! We've arrested him before they let hand the kid over to the parents after booking. It never goes to trial". So said go take the gun away from him and if you want you can shoot him yourselves.

Our local newspaper publishes "letters to Santa" every year, going back at least to the 1930's. Basically from PreK-(3rd? 4th grade?), all the schoolkids write a letter, and they get turned in for transcription/publication (spelling intact).

There was one year we were really surprised to see the number of firearms on these kids' wishlists. They knew more about guns than I do, and they weren't just asking for one-- there were probably a couple dozen requesting small arsenals and specifying the types and calibers by name. :P

Last year didn't have much in the way of gun requests beyond bb guns. (There were a remarkable number of kids requesting a thesaurus.) But our part of Texas has a lot of people coming in town for deer and dove. When I sub at the schools, more than one teacher has photos of their elementary-aged kids on the wall, posing next to a buck they've shot.

So--- based on the facts presented, the kid (4th grade, give or take a year?) was alone, and was either answering the door to a strange man on the property, or alerting the strange man on the property that he knew he was there. If the kid knew your handyguy by sight, it was overkill, but if the kid isn't familiar with your handyguy, the kid was doing his best to be a visible watchful presence.

I got the official Red Rider BB rifle for Christmas this year.

My wife said "You will shoot your eye out"

One of the most iconic themes from the movie A Christmas Story is, of course, Ralphie’s “official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.”

This line alone is uttered nearly 30 times throughout the movie. Needless to say, this beloved BB gun was a gift from my life long best friend ( he got one too) and made this years Christmas memorable

We now have a range set up in his basement where we compete like we were kids again

My kid was a good marksman by the time he was 10, but he had enough training to not answer the door carrying a gun.

If kids are in a neighborhood where it is dangerous to open the door, they simply need to be trained to not open the door when the parents aren't home.

You had given notice that the handyman was coming? The kid should have known that the handyman was going to be there.

Veering a bit off topic, but pellet guns are not perfectly safe toys. I use a pellet gun to kill rabbits when we are butchering rabbits, and one shot through the skull kills them dead.

"- probably not in the socialist republic of MD"

---MD is actually pretty conservative overall. But you have a heavily-populated swath of socialistic tendency adjacent to DC, plus a little bump up towards Ellicott City and Baltimore. ;) The parts on the peninsula and adjacent to Pennsylvania are much more conservative--- but those concentrations are enough to tip the whole state.

I don't have a problem with a 10 year old having a gun. I do have a problem with a 10 year old answering the door with the gun. I probably have a problem with a 10 year old answering the door period. Apparently the child has not been taught basic gun safety and the parent in charge must be clueless about it too.

a ten year old with access to a gun-- BB or otherwise is poor parental training-- you can color it anyway you want.

Learning about guns-- shooting-- keep them up---- YES for sure. Being able to have access and bringing it to the door at 2 AM-- NAW somethings wrong with that.

A 10 yr old with a gun - BB or real - is OK by me, IF he/she is being supervised and trained appropriately by a responsible, trained adult.

Clearly, this was not the case, if he pointed it at someone who was not a threat, AND had his finger on the trigger. IF he didn't know who was at the door, he should have kept it closed and locked. Some pellet guns are very powerful, Look very realistic, and people have a (Stupid) tendency to remove or blacken the orange tip.

This will make some uneasy..

About 18 years ago I had a tenant with teens. The house is on a main road and one of the teens was cracking the front storm door and shooting from the door-- he said at birds across the street.

"Gun or no gun. You should NEVER go into a unit where there are kids with no adults. Insist that there be an adult there or that no one is there."

Agree. Leaving aside the gun issue, if he didn't know the handyman was coming, why did he open the door at all? So many things wrong here.