http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/10/01/boy.vs.alligator.KTRE

Gangsta

I'd like to say that not everyone in Texas gives their children guns...

hahahaha. ok sure

I guess I'd feel better about it if it was in self-defense. However, wtf do you hunt alligators for? Food? Skin? Profit?

Humans: the dominant species for a reason

I thought gator hunting was illegal.

People eat alligators. It's supposed to be pretty good.

that couldve turned bad on him fast, imagine if he failed, there would be a great irrational crocodile hunt

I'd feel out of line killing something that much bigger than me. Without that pithy gun, the kid would be snackfood. This would only be a cool story if the alligator were about to eat him. Anyone can aim and shoot.

You're extremely stupid and have obviously never fired a large caliber gun before.

My point has nothing to do with the gun's caliber or the difficulty in shooting the animal. If he can shoot a small crock, he can presumably shoot and kill a big crock. I feel it's incidental what the size of the animal he killed was. Now if he fought a 12 foot gator brandishing a tommy-gun, I'd be more impressed.

Oh, and you're dumb lol

So who's the youngest kid to have ever fired a gun and killed an animal. Is it this kid?

Fried Alligator is wonderful. It tastes like chicken, and is healthier for you. Of course, if it is fried, there isn't much difference in nutritional value.

...thus proving once and for all that the most dangerous animal is...

the zookeeper.

1. I can't watch the video, so my knowledge of this is what I've read in this thread. If any of this doesn't apply, I apologize in advance.

2. aligator and crocodile are not the same thing. irrelevant, i know, but still...

3. Kirbz, there's a lot more to it then just "Anyone can aim and shoot." Besides that statement being entirely untrue (there's sailors on our boat that can't hit a target at 5 yards. Ridiculous, I know, but there it is), there's a lot more to firing a gun than aim and shoot. We're not talking about a video game where you line up the crosshairs and click the mouse and the target goes down. Depending on the range, you have to factor in elevation and windage. You have to account for the caliber of the weapon. Even an adult holding even a low caliber weapon improperly can cause injury with the recoil, and being 5 years old makes that more of a possibility. Not to mention needing to know and understand the concepts of firearms and gun safety (I assume the kid's parents wouldn't have been stupid enough to let him hunt if he didn't grasp what he was doing). Hell, for a 5 year old, even just the weight of the gun could be an issue.

Anyway, in my mind, this speaks a pretty strong case towards teaching your kids guns and gun safety at a young age. Many people argue that it's more important to teach your kids how to handle weapons responsibly than to keep them locked away, and I tend to agree. The safest gun owner in the world can make a mistake one time and leave a weapon out or leave a cabinet unlocked, and it only takes that one time for his kid to come up and shoot his/herself or someone else. But if you teach the kid to respect the weapon, then he/she can police him/herself, and even when the gun owner does make that mistake it won't become a life threatening situation.

not a chance

I don't know how it turned into a crock in my post...

And I'm sure it took a lot of talent, and I certainly don't know the first thing about killing an alligator. I just don't see it as all that significant that it was so big, or more difficult than shooting any other alligator/animal because of its size. I'm sure it might be less likely for the bullet to go in, I'm just annoyed that such a little thing gets credit for taking down such a big monster when size had little to do with the situation.

Read: I want the bigger thing to win, not the smarter thing.

All of the above.




YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The kid shot, it worked, great story in the newspaper. Crock was killed for no frickin' reason...

Lets assume:
The kid shot, it didn't work, child got eaten, parents started a campaign against crocks, couple of crocks dead for no frickin' reason...

AMIRITE?

Alligator is thinking, "WTF did I just get killed by some freaking monkey? Seriously? It's a ****ing MAMMAL for Christ's sake!"

Either way sounds like horrible parenting

it's texas

good point.

I think he was just reinforcing your point.

Of course HE wasn't but his comment does.