Let me guess, does this also make you lose faith in humanity?

Well no, this generation contains duckfaces, skin-tight shorts and cleavage by the age of 12. Either way, it's still quite ****** up for the most part.

By playing with ******* guns and lying about it until he was forced to tell the truth, oh and worrying about his "street cred", or is that normal?

Seems to me that you need to take him out to where his buddies hang out and whoop that ass infront of them. He wont be able to face them and they'll think he's too weak.

Or he's just watching too much TV. A stern talk and some more parental oversight won't hurt either way.

A 12-year-old who glorifies the values of street gangsters is on a dark and destructive way. He shouldn’t be allowed to meet his buddies anymore.

I can understand to an extent of not wanting to snitch, having been in the situation before. You (normally) assume that your friends will turn against you and I don't know what happens where OP is from but if you snitch round here all your friends turn against you. So if he was worried for that reason I'd understand. But to actually give a shit about your "street cred" when you've been shot in the damn foot is just fecking ridiculous!!

"Having been in the situation before", you've been shot in the foot? This kid needs his ass beat and shouldn't hang out with those friends anymore. He's 12, what the hell kind of street cred does he have?

sounds like you know lol

#6, I'm wondering the same thing.. first comment goes to... #2?

Because the first comment was removed. Probably broke the rules are just a REALLY dumb comment. #69 He is 12 and still a child. If his parentz didn't care about him they would let him do whatever he pleases. He cannot hang out with whomever he wants. He is not 18 and living on his own. He needs to obey his parents. You're just a moron to defend him.

Haha not quite, although I've been in the situation where one of my friends has done something stupid and I didn't want to snitch. Although I think "street cred" is utterly ridiculous I still think kids these days are more grown up than I was when I was 12 so being worried about repercussions isn't entirely stupid. I'm not saying he'll definitely get bullied because of snitching but it's a possibility. Some kids are cruel like that.

Idk, 93, I think being worried about bullying when you've been shot in the foot seems a bit backwards. Either way, Op needs to rethink their parenting style completely. My brother had a friend who got shot when he was in middle school. The kid was playing around with his friends, pretending they were gangsters and two kids ended up shot, one dead. My mom pulled my brother from his school and he was not allowed to see his friends again. If Op can, I would suggest removing him from the environment, maybe even moving.

I'm sorry to say OP but your kid seems to be turning into a "thug", you should really get him in classes so he can change his ways.. Or it's just going to be in and out of jail for him.

Yolo

109 that is exactly what I was thinking.

He wasnt playing eith the gun his friend was read the ****** fml correctly

Youre ******* stupid which 12 year old boy didnt act like they wanted to be a gangster its really no different than being a 12 year old acting like a cop. One way or another hes still going to be with a gun.

Perhaps she should move him to his aunt and uncle in Bel Air..

Poor kid :( sounds like he needs a serious talk with his parents.

all I say is Yolo. As parents your obviously not setting great examples for him to go find friends like that. poor parenting!

That..That was amazing. Good job.

kids dont always get it from their parents. he probably got it from his friend/s.

Yes, but his parents allowed him to hang out with said friends. He's only 12. They still have control over who he hangs out with, clearly for his own good.

I hate seeing stupid ass comments like this. do people forget that kids have their own judgements and personalities? I highly doubt his parents were telling him to go out and get street cred.... yo.

When you see news stories of kids murdering their parents, do you still blame the parents?

Only if they beat them or whatever. But that's literally it

Unless you've got bars on the windows and padlocks on all the doors; if they want to get out, they will.

nono i second this. you need to nip suburban gansyerism in the bud. totally op fault for not interacting with her/his kids and not catching onto the do-rags and saggy pants. also dont let your kids hang out with peeps who dont lock their guns. couldve been head not foot.

Most teenagers would know where their parents gun safe was and probably how to get into it. Pre teens are nosy little bastards. Chances are they know about all your hidden things.

19, It somewhat surprises me that kids would go to such limits. When I was a teen I knew not to touch my dads gun safe and I never questioned him about how to open it either. It's sad to see the lack of respect in some kids.

what's the point of having a gun in your house if it's locked up when you need to use it

I've been raised with guns that have never been locked up, but I knew not to touch them because there was never any mystery to the gun. I knew what it was and, since I wasn't involve in any baser activities, I never felt inclined to steal it or anything. I think guns should be locked, though, but that parents also need to remove the mystery of the gun. Kids don't touch what they don't find interesting. Also, OP needs to pay attention to who his kids hang out with, that's a parent's job.

33 - When there are kids in the house, avoiding accidental injuries and death would be the point. The FML makes that pretty clear.

If they didn't own guns then this wouldn't have happened.

We had rules about this when I grew up... Rule #1: touch the gun without permission, you're dead. Rule #2: never threaten to use a gun on anyone, or else you're dead Rule #3: see rules 1 and 2. Rule #4: know and respect gun safety. always treat the gun as if it's loaded. These are the rules I plan on passing down to my children, should I ever have any.

The point #33 is to keep shit like this from happening, it should be common sense to any parent or twelve year old that guns are not toys and should not be handled by a child. Your arguement is invalid, yes my.dad owns a gun. Yes he has told me the dangers of a gun. No it does not mean.that I have no curiousity towards it, but I have common sense, maybe I just don't care about my "Street cred" because I want to live for another few years, maybe into my eighties, with my whole fricken foot attached. That'd be nice

I grew up on a farm with guns in the house. The rifles were on a gun rack hung on the wall beside the dining room. one or two behind the door in the porch, big ass smith and weston in a drawer in parents bedroom. This was way before laws requiring gun safes. All of us kids were taught at a young age about guns, gun safety, and how to shoot a gun. We even had a bb gun to shoot cans on the fence with. But, again, my dad ensured that we were taught proper safety and respect for those guns. Never point them at people. Always have the safety on, always assume they are loaded, and never ever ever touch any gun but the bb gun or our asses would be so sore we wouldn't be able to sit for a month. Never ever had an urge to touch those things. was quite happy with my bb gun. No accidents (can't say the same for my brother who shot my sister in the butt with it, and himself in the thumb...still can't figure that one out). I do not have guns in my house and never will. But when we visit the farm, I have my dad (pappa to my kids) teach my now 6yr old daughter how to use a bb gun safely. The more she knows and respects, the safer she is. That said, OP's kid needs a serious talking to and honest convo with his parents about what is going on amd his need for 'street cred' and the kids he is hanging out with and why. And come up with solutions to divert him away from the dark and dangerous path he seems to want to walk down...out of stupidity...boredom? excitement...acceptance? who knows, but it needs to change and yelling is not the one sole way that is going to work.

This is why I have four safes. Ammo - Rifles - Shotguns - Handguns. Locked inside a room with concrete walls and a steel door. Still, many people keep them out and ready for a moments notice, in case they are robbed. It depends where they live, but if he's worried about street cred, its probably not the best part of town.

If you read the rules in order no one will ever get to rule #4 as they will keep going back to rule 1 and 2 .....

@50 really? you are going to say that if they didn't have guns in the house this wouldn't happen? Nice profile picture you hypocrite.

@66: Guns aren't toys I'll agree to that. But children that know that shouldn't touch a gun. The dad may not be at fault. He might not know his son took the gun or he had thought he taught his son to know better than play around with guns. I've known since I was two when I shot my first gun. My dad leaves guns unprotected in the house for our safety. I even go hunting with him. We don't know how the kid got the gun. It might not be the dad's.

its the OPs fault dude, like the kid is only twelve what the actual ****! must be some drug ****** parents

138 you have just lost the internet. Kids behaviour is less and less paernting influence and more external influences. OP clearly doesn't seem to support this judging by their post.

vatos locos forever, man!

Same thing, innit?

I think that's only a temporary solution. In order to change him long term he needs to address the issue of his kid's friends. Children have mob mentality (usually) and even if they know better, they'll do things to just "fit in"

#11 could not agree more

Or he could show him Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society, they may be movies, but it's the reality of what the "thug life" is really like.

you sir made my day.