October 3, 2009
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Five-year-old Boy Killed 800-pound Alligator
A five-year-old boy has made the news after he killed an 800-pound Alligator.
The boy was hunting with his father and was carrying his junior-sized shotgun. He shot the alligator from 5 feet away. Here is the link: Link
It is interesting to me that a 5-year-old was carrying a gun.
Do you think 5-years-old is too young to be using a gun?
Comments (87)
he’s badass.
That is a bad ass kid,
uh, but what in the hell was he carrying the gun for?
It would have been more intresting news if the boy was eaten.
Come on. Under the protection of daddy, it couldn’t have been that hard to pull a trigger.
Wow…Definitely too young. But I guess a good thing he did have a gun? Lucky he didn’t get hurt/killed!
Alligator vs. Five Year Old Boy? Why wouldn’t you give him a shot gun?
Hmm, don’t you have to have a license to shoot gators?
too young
Is that legal?
Dear Dan,
In this case, no. Since he was hunting with his Dad.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
He did kill it, so he must not have been too young to use it well
@baldmike2004 - Is your ego as bloated as your comment signature?
The Southerner in me is thinking umm don’t all little boys get thier first hunting guns around the age of 5-6? I don’t think it is too young if a child is with a parent that can teach them about gun safety etc.
holy shit thats so scary a 800lb alligator
At least the alligator didnt eat the poor kid
5 years old is* too young to be handling with guns -whats the difference between a junior size shot gun ( is that like a BB gun ?)and a hand gun =S
maybe the alligator thinks he was. lol
With good training and under close supervision, then no problemo.
Nice shot Simon!
I think we should teach kids gun safety and how to shoot starting at probably age 3.
@baldmike2004 - Good reply!
sound like to me a jr shotgun is just as deadly as regular shotgun…and he has a pistol too?! isn’t there anything else he could do? I don’t know…lego? something tells me that the intense look on the kid’s face mean bad news in the future…
I don’t know much about how kids’ abilities relate to age. Seems a bit young, but I’m sure he’s had more training than me.
Better the 5 year old using the gun than the gator.
um, I don’t know, but that intense look on his face is troubling… can a child cope with killing an animal at so young an age, without having it affect them in a… negative way?
Yes, he’s too young……but it’s a good thing he had it.
Hi, my name is Kayla and I contradict myself.
too young, by at least three years.
@Ampersands_Anonymous - hi Kayla, my name is Cyndi and I am a “childless expert”
i killed a liger-shark once using only my bear hands. but then, i have bear hands!!
“Well, because he was 5 years old and he shot from 5 feet away (not to mention the fact that the Crocodile 800 lbs [you know, divisible by 5?]) its a perfectly logical conclusion that the boy (having generally more testosterone than a girl) could carry a junior gun and still be safe if he was in the presence of an adult that actually care about his future.” -Stick Figure
“It was an alligator.” – Stick Figure with hat
“O RLY? This changes everything.” – Stick Figure
I think I’ve downloaded to much xkcd in one day.
@CelestialTeapot - I was thinking the same thing…who does that?
BTW, what’s so badass about a kid killing a poor alligator with a shotgun? It’s a freakin shotgun! I’d say he was gangster if he took it out with a knife or something like that.
He was hunting with his dad with a properly sized gun so I don’t see a problem with it. I didn’t know that gator hunting was even allowed though.
WTF! Unless the alligator was going to attack or anything, there is really no reason a five year old should be shooting animals. Rednecks.
- Kunoichi
he was chaperoned.. and it’s a given that he has been giving some kind of training.. so i think it’s fine
no not really i mean of course but if he has been properly educated and instructed to use it why not. maybe im basis bc my husband has been using one and hunting since the age of 4.
What the fuck? No. Unless properly trained by the secret service for a couple of years or something. At least he’ll know when to use it. Then, I’ll consider him bad ass. Geez…
The look on his face says it all.
If you think a kid is too young to be allowed near a hot stove and you wouldn’t let him hang around your valuable breakables, don’t give him a gun.
Yes, that’s insane.
mm. i don’t think that’s too young.
gun’s is a tool, just like an ax, a knife, or a lawn mower. As long as the safety precautions are taken..
not too young for a hunter.
Would you rather he killed it without a gun?
no.
wow, there are seriously people who have a problem with this?
It seems young in this day and age but my mom at 5 yrs old cut heads off of chickens and prepared them for supper.She was the oldest of eleven children and carried babies around at five yrs old.
what about the fact that he was 5 feet away from an 800 lb alligator?!
that’s worse than him having a gun.
Definitely. I am just a little relieved it was an alligator and not a human. Not that that’s okay, but yeah.
Nah…we give them toy guns by that age…as long as there’s an adult around so he doesn’t….SHOOT HIS EYE OUT…for instance…(I’m chuckling quietly to myself), then all is well.
My son is two and a half and I do not think I want him to have a gun at five but my daughter at the age of five was maturer and probably could handle it. Kids need to learn gun safety. I got my first BB gun when I was about seven and it taught me gun safety. A year later I was hunting with my dad.
not if he’s trained how to use it and supervised. historically no one would have blinked at this- people had to survive by hunting game in times past.
I wish more children learned from a young age about the proper usage of guns- of course on the discretion of parents who would best discern if the child is ready for the responsibility. But I know too many stories of people who have stopped crimes and saved lives all because they were willing to point a gun (not always needing to fire) at the attacker. Peace requires the ever-readiness for war (notice I did not say war but always being prepared for war). Just ask good ol’ George Washington;)
Uh, yes, 5 years old is too young for a gun.
I swear, people are so stupid.
@Rob_of_the_Sky - Excellent point.
Yes and no.
Yes because he’s five years old and for all he knew, he could’ve been holding that shotgun the wrong way and he never would’ve known it.
No because he was with his father and his father’s a hunter and, chances are, his father taught him how to use that gun without hurting himself.
He was hunting. I wouldn’t send my child out into an area with gators without some type of protection, even if I’m a foot away from him. I’m pretty sure it’s up to the parents’ judgement. Some kids are much smarter than others. The parents knew (he did kill a gator) he could handle the gun, so they gave it to him for protection while father and son bonding took place. =)
No, kindergartners should not have guns.
But what I want to know is, what dumbass father let his five year old get that close to a fucking alligator?
Nothing wrong with that. Kids in other parts of the world are trained to shoot proficiently at that age.
I don’t think anyone should handle a gun until they’re at LEAST 10 years old…and with adult supervision of course. It doesn’t surprise me, though, since he lives in Texas. I feel badly for the alligator, though.
um wow 5 year old! hunting!!!
One more noble and majestic beast, cruelly slain before its time. Never again to see the sunset, or smell the start of a fresh spring day. Never again to return home to its alligator family…
This is truly a tragedy of 800-pound proportions.
As a southern woman, I find it not at all strange that a five year old boy had a gun. Would I allow my child to have one is another question.
Wasn’t there a story awhile back where a ten year old kid or something shot his father, who taught him how to use a gun?
I don’t think gun safety applies 100% to the mechanics of a gun yes its a part of handiling one safely…No matter what your age. I think GUNSAFETY should relate more to a persons psychological well being! You have to be able to make a good decision when you have a firearm… the only reason I would say 5 is too young is because hes probably too young to make decisions based off fact and not emotion, which is the only time handeling a gun is “safe”. for anyone
This makes me wonder about how that kid’s gonna be like when he grows older… >___>;;
TOO MUCH COUNTER STRIKE!
thats terrible… i bet that kid would grow up to be a bully of somekind…
I think it is too young of an age, but maybe it was a good thing in this situation.
He looks like a sociopath in training.
Not if the kid is constantly under a parent’s supervision.
My cousin got a rifle for her sixth birthday. But her dad teaches concealed carry classes and is not irresponsible with guns.
I think it depends on the kid. I was 6 or 7 when my father taught
me how to shoot. My son was 9 when he learned, my daughter will
probably be older than that before she is ready. I go by a lot of
things, but the prime factors are their emotional maturity and how
seriously they take gun safety. As for the alligator, I know how fast
they can move, no way would I let my kids that close to one – gun in
hand or not.
My hero he is!
I don’t know for sure, but I myself learned how to handle a gun at age of 7.
Erm…. yes.
Yes
yikes…
Brave little one, I would’ve let the alligator eat me…
If Davy Crockett killed a bear when he was only 3, then this incident really doesn’t impress me so much.
I would say that context is important. Given that it was under close parental supervision, I have no issues with a dad taking his son hunting.
@Paul_Partisan - That depends. I believe there are places you can go where you pay to get in that you can effectively opperate under the liscense of the establishment that owns the land. I don’t know the details but I think that’s how it works. I know here in Florida, there are places that the gator population could get out of hand without having such a program, I just don’t know exactly how it works.
I do not think a 5 year old should have a gun. That’s pretty fucked up.
That is just sad… although I want to taste gator meat.. I have no idea why.
I hate saying “depends”, but it really does!
DEPENDS if they are on their own land without many people around.
DEPENDS if a parent is with him.
DEPENDS if the parent values their own life.
DEPENDS if the kid is resonably calm and does not possess a happy trigger finger.
But it sounds like his parents gave him a gun for a reason… if you live on land with dangerous critters running around, it is not such a bad idea to arm your children.
They will last longer that way.
Umm… yes. It’s also too young for a 5-year-old to be killing.
POOR ALLIGATOR. That kid’s gonna grow up to be one violent kid. Keep him away from the gun. Really! Look at his murderous face.
big whoop. Dan’l Boone killed a Bahr with only a huntin’ knife when he was 3 years old, that 5 year old feggit ain’t jack shit, bitch
If he was well supervised by his father, it’s none of my business whether he had a gun or not.
wow well in the south its normal for younge child to have a gun for hunting so i not surprised
The five year old handled a firearm with more maturity than any gangbanger involved in a driveby shooting. Kudos to the child for his excellent use of his weapon, and kudos to his father for teaching him how to be responsible in handling the firearm.
An 800-pound alligator. How many lives did this boy save?
I started carrying guns at this age. Shooting them accurately came a few years later. Of course with a shotgun, “close enough” can sometimes be “good enough”. Good job kid!
Absolutely not. A gun is like any other powerful tool. Dangerous if used improperly and unsupervised. If a child knows what a gun is capable of and has used it properly and under supervision, I believe he is much less likely to use it improperly against another person.
You have a beautiful mind
Under proper supervison, maybe not. It seems he knew what he was doing. Plus, he has bragging rights for life. Can you imagine going to school and being able to tell all your friends that you killed a gator?
@UR_MUSE - That was what I thought.
I guess it depends where the kid is from, how the kid is raised, and if there is a responsible adult involved. The kid apparently is from the South. I live in the South and my da taught us fishing as well as hunting at young ages. Now if it were my step kids, I do not think I would give them any type of potential weapon because they were raised different. Different cultures have different rules
I wouldn’t let my kid have a gun that young but I also wouldn’t let them hunt that young….
I think there are laws where I live about how old you have to be to get a hunting license…
The kid doesn’t have the rights to do that bad thing to the alligator. I respect his interest with his father but animals do matter to me so that’s my point…