It doesn’t happen everyday, but when it does violence against children often shines the spotlight on the capacity or failure of homes and institutions to protect them.
The 11-year-old boy who admitted to shooting a 14-year-old inside a billiard hall in barangay Pasil, Cebu City, will certainly be haunted by his one careless act of childhood frivolity.
The victim, a school mate who works as an errand boy in the billiard hall, may end up paralyzed, his motor functions impaired and his chance for a full normal life a faint hope.
The price of neglect is steep. Aside from the hospital bills, the parents of the young shooter may be obligated to cover the child’s rehabilitation if the victim’s parents decide to sue.
It’s not everyday that we witness violence committed by children against children to this degree.
It’s all the more tragic because the shooting was accidental. No one noticed any commotion or argument before the gun went off.
Police and the owner of the billiard hall where the shooting took place are in a quandary over over who owned the firearm.
Nobody wants to step up and admit owning the weapon and risk facing charges.
While the Juvenile Justice Law absolutely considers blameless a child below 15 years old, society and the law itself knows who’s responsible for the deeds or lapses of a minor child.
Parental duty to supervise the activities and formation of one’s children is basic.
How did a gun end up in the boy’s hand in the first place?
The police have picked up neighborhor’s accounts that the .38 caliber revolver was seen brandished by the boy’s father a few times before. It’s the civic duty of these neighbors now to attest to this in a sworn statement so the investigatin can move forward.
The police can also look into the liability of the billiard hall owner who allows minors to hang around a joint reserved for the entertainment of adults.
Even if the incident happened on a Saturday and a Cebu City ordinance prohibits minors from entering Internet cafes and entertainment outlets during class hours and on schooldays, still the owner should have discouraged kids from making the premises a playground.
Why go around assigning blame to adults who were nowhere near the gun-wielding pre-teen boy on?
Because children aren’t born accosting other children with guns. They are shaped into the young beings they have become by grownups who are supposed to protect them.