Like Bad Father, Like Bad Son

It's often said that the mayhem caused by out of control teens stems from the fact that there's no father in the home, no proper guidance, no adequate supervision.

There's a serious shortage of decent male role models around to show boys how to behave like responsible men.

In this case, however, a violent teen did have a father to guide him.

Unfortunately, the guidance was in the wrong direction.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The father of a 15-year-old boy who brought an unloaded BB gun to the Metropolitan High School on Friday and pointed it at terrified students stood by and watched the incident and eventually got into a fight with students himself, Milwaukee police reported Saturday.

Both the boy and his 39-year-old father have been arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, police said.

They gave this account:

The boy, who had been suspended from the school at 850 W. Walnut St. on Friday for fighting with other students, went home and was driven back to the school by his father as the school day was ending about 3:15 p.m.

Police said the boy pointed the gun "at all kinds of people" while his father stood nearby.

At one point the boy placed the gun back in his father's car and then began fighting with another 15-year-old boy.

Police said the father joined in the fight. The second 15-year-old was also arrested.

An officer who happened to be in the area was flagged down during the fight and received a minor hand injury as she was attempting to handcuff the boy who had been suspended.

As she was reaching for her handcuffs, police said, a car driving down the street accidentally brushed her arm, causing the injury.

The car did not stop, police said.

This man isn't going to be getting any Father of the Year award.

He didn't act like a good parent. He acted like a kid, a bad kid.

It's a problem encountered again and again in Milwaukee.

See more examples of "How NOT to parent" here and here and here.

Milwaukee has a gun violence problem. It has a crime problem -- armed robberies, shootings, murders.

But it also has an enormous parenting problem.

Thugs beget thugs.

Barrett wants more gun legislation to curb the violence. According to him, that's the answer, or at least an important part of it.

I wonder.

Will the new gun laws he has in mind include provisions for programs to teach parents how to teach their children to be responsible human beings?

(That's a rhetorical question.)