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Boy, 10, locks himself inside Sam's Club gun safe
"I was pretty scared," says the kid, whose brothers simply punched some number to open the safe. The fire chief who was called in for the rescue says: "It's an interesting call that's for sure. Kids get in places that they're not supposed to get into, and this is no different than that." (Worcester Telegram & Gazette | Boston Channel/no-registration)
August 14, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
Parents, ya need to keep ya eye on the kids at all times. Should have sterilized yourself at 2 kids.
Posted by: Farmer Bob | Aug 14, 2007 12:32:56 PM
Sorry, the other was a cousin.
Posted by: Farmer Bob | Aug 14, 2007 12:35:39 PM
He coulda shot his eye out.
Posted by: vksjk | Aug 14, 2007 12:37:14 PM
So. Where were their parents?
Posted by: Neopatra | Aug 14, 2007 12:37:17 PM
Random thoughts:
-Does this fall into the possible Darwin Award category, or is the kid(s) just a dumass(es)?
-Anyone want to lay odds that thy sue Wal-Mart?
and
----
“We kind of talked to Dan and kept him busy and asked him some idle questions to keep him talking to make sure we had communications,” Chief Sullivan said. “He was pretty well aware of what was going on in there. He was a trouper.”
----
Or 'trooper'? My dictionary says 'trouper' is a member of a theatrical company. Although, I guess that could still be correct.
Posted by: stopeatingmysesamecake | Aug 14, 2007 12:37:46 PM
I'm more disturbed by the fact that 2 kids were able to easily figure out the combination to a gun safe. Doesn't seem very secure.
Posted by: Brooke | Aug 14, 2007 12:43:55 PM
He may have been a trouper, SEMSC...did he have a skull and was he quoting Shakespeare?
Posted by: pnwgal | Aug 14, 2007 12:44:22 PM
Oopsie..I forgot the combination, I know it's around here somewhere, we opened it once back in '92...
Posted by: oopsie | Aug 14, 2007 12:45:32 PM
"Daniel had a new story to tell classmates when he starts school this fall, she told him. "
Let's see, I think the story goes something like this "I'm an idiot and I let my cousin lock me in a safe."
Posted by: G-Man | Aug 14, 2007 12:47:37 PM
Guns don't kill people. Gun safes kill people.
Posted by: BallstotheWall | Aug 14, 2007 12:52:06 PM
I remember when I was a kid two of my buddies and I were in the neighborhood laundromat, where we decided to put one of our buddies in one of the dryer machines (it was his idea). He spun around a few times and then the cops showed up and took us all downtown for being in the laundromat after hours, even though the door was wide open. They handcuffed us and everything as if we were common criminals.
Ahh, to be 13 years old again.
Posted by: vksjk | Aug 14, 2007 12:52:34 PM
brooke: the combination was 1-2-3-4-5-6. I would hope that people who purchase the safe would change that to something more secure.
which reminds me...
[King Roland has given in to Dark Helmet's threats, and is telling him the combination to the "air shield"]
Dark Helmet: So the combination is one, two, three, four, five? That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! The kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!
President Skroob: [enters after the interrogation of King Roland] Well? Did it work? Where's the king?
Dark Helmet: It worked, sir. We have the combination.
President Skroob: Great. Now we can take every last breath of fresh air from planet Druidia. What's the combination?
Dark Helmet: 1 2 3 4 5.
President Skroob: 1 2 3 4 5? That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage! Prepare Spaceball 1 for immediate departure!
Dark Helmet: Yes, sir!
President Skroob: And change the combination on my luggage!
Posted by: ReardenSteele | Aug 14, 2007 12:53:42 PM
I'm with Brooke. The fact that 2 kids simply "punched some numbers" and were able to get into the gun safe doesn't make it very secure. Probably all those video game skills that have made the little buggars so savvy
Posted by: cherie | Aug 14, 2007 12:56:13 PM
If the safe had a push-button combination, then it probably had a generic 1-2-3-4 or 0-0-0-0 which is supposed to be changed by the purchaser.
However, we all go shopping. We all have seen the parents who just watch as their kids tear off on their own. I would like to just slap every one of them and say two words to them: "Adam Walsh."
These parents the idiots, not the kids. Kids do stupid stuff because they truly do not have the brain development to predict the far-reaching consequences of their actions until they're in the later teen years (and then it just barely works).
Sure, they might see a flame and instantly recognize it will hurt if they touch it. But climbing into a cabinet that was probably easy to open in the first place?
I predict that those kids will have more than one "new story" to tell their friends by the time they reach adulthood, if they ever do.
Posted by: Soo | Aug 14, 2007 12:59:10 PM
As the judge on The Simpsons says: Boys will be boys.
Ten year old little boys don't think, they just act. Anyone that calls this little boy an idiot is an even bigger idiot.
Posted by: The Asshole Guy | Aug 14, 2007 1:08:19 PM
semsc: Sounds like you need a better dictionary! The correct spelling in this case is indeed "trouper". The OED's definition is "A reliable, uncomplaining person; a staunch supporter or colleague"; Merriam-Webster Online has "a person who deals with and persists through difficulty or hardship without complaint (you're a real trouper to wait so long)".
Posted by: Hirayuki | Aug 14, 2007 1:09:20 PM
American Heritage, 1991.
Posted by: stopeatingmysesamecake | Aug 14, 2007 1:26:19 PM
Hirayuki: What you said.
I know what a "trooper" is, for example: the ultra-hottie in the nicely-creased trousers and the way-cool hat who wrote me a ticket for following too closely after I tried to drive Mister's car under the back end of an SUV, and then recommended I go ahead and fight it [wink wink].
Posted by: Soo | Aug 14, 2007 1:31:53 PM
With mirror sunglasses, right?
Posted by: stopeatingmysesamecake | Aug 14, 2007 1:36:34 PM
While we're handing out dumbass awards, let's not forget the WalMart manager who didn't change the default combination on the safe.
Posted by: Phranqlin | Aug 14, 2007 1:43:08 PM
But was he a super trouper?
Rearden, I had just thought of that scene when I read your post. May the schwartz be with you.
Posted by: dep | Aug 14, 2007 1:45:28 PM
Mirror sunglasses? Oooooh yeah! Damn he was hot. Is hotness to the nth degree a requirement to be a trooper?
Posted by: Soo | Aug 14, 2007 1:48:28 PM
I hope the town bills the parents of this child. A 10-year-old just running free in a store with no adult supervision?! Sounds like a recipe for intense annoyance and/or child abduction.
Hopefully, the town will charge the parents for the lost time.
Posted by: Sean, Torrington CT | Aug 14, 2007 1:55:01 PM
This might sound dumb, but when you have the need to have a gun safe large enough to get into (or anything that locks for that matter), is the technology there to allow it to open from the inside? Don't all car trunks now have a release from the inside? I mean, the guns aren't going to escape are they?
Posted by: stopeatingmysesamecake | Aug 14, 2007 2:24:38 PM
I've got an idea. Let's get the kid a old refrigerator to play in, considering his desire to crawl into things that lock, that gift seems it would be great. He's lucky the safe wasn't a fire protected case as most are, otherwise this could have been an obit story.
Posted by: yucca | Aug 14, 2007 3:03:54 PM
