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Father Shoots Daughter’s Laptop With A Gun, Internet Parents Applaud Scary Violence

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When I started seeing posts about this YouTube video in which a father shoots his daughter’s laptop with a gun because she posted something on Facebook he didn’t like, my immediate reaction was not to applaud his actions and shake my fist at the state of youth today like so many other people I saw.

My first thought was that this is why Facebook needs better privacy settings and needs to explain them better, too.

My second thought was that someone really needs to come take this man’s gun away because that’s an extreme and violent reaction to something so small and normal as a teenager complaining, in private, to her friends, that her parents are annoying her.

My third thought was that it’s no wonder poor Hannah is so spoiled since her father can apparently afford to completely ruin an expensive piece of electronics just because he’s cheesed off.

I’m inclined to agree with the person in this thread that sees the family dynamic here as very abusive and scary, but I also can’t ignore all the mommy bloggers on my Twitter feed roundly congratulating this dad for teaching his daughter a lesson. I just wonder what lesson is being taught?

I am not a parent, but I am an aunt. My two oldest nieces are old enough to use computers and tablets, surf the Internet, interact on social networks, and in general do a lot of things that are both awesome and scary as an adult who loves them. I am an advocate of keeping an eye on what kids and young adults do online and making them understand the dangers and consequences they expose themselves to.

I also understand that when you’re a teenager you’re going to vent about your parents to your friends. Quite frankly, if you do that in what you thought was a private space, that should be okay. If you, as a parent, are going to get bent out of shape every time your teen says something uncharitable about you behind your back, you’d best learn some Yoga to make that more comfortable.

So yes, I do feel the father’s actions were over the top and scary and incorrect. Team Hannah!

Parents, teens, unaffiliated adults, what say you to this?

41 Comments

41 Comments

  1. Mike Birkmeyer

    02/10/2012 at 10:40 am

    I believe this only perpetuates an ongoing grudged relationship between the parent and teen.  He’s playing into the same petty forum that his daughter was playing towards, and is therefore no wiser or mature for it.

    • Thfmms59

      02/11/2012 at 3:02 am

      Yes he is just playing her game but sometime this action is the only one they understand

  2. John Wood

    02/10/2012 at 10:51 am

    Get a damn life…..pay me to raise my kid and you can tell me what to do….otherwise be an active parent and provide for your kids.

  3. Herpderp

    02/10/2012 at 11:12 am

    “I am not a parent, but I am an aunt.”   In case tl;dr  Writer doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

  4. David

    02/10/2012 at 2:25 pm

    An aunt is to a parent what Auto magazine reader is to a mechanic. You don’t know what you are talking about so please write about what you do. I am not sure what that is, but it is not parenting or kids.       

  5. Anonymous

    02/10/2012 at 3:13 pm

    Kids today feel entitled to everything, but don’t want to do anything for it.  I know there are many teens that are respectful of parents, don’t ask for anything and appreciate what they do get.  But being in an industry where I see children and their parents everyday…I see nothing but complete disrespect coming from a child.  The father wasn’t the most articulate for an IT professional, but you can see he was noticeably upset.  he began to stutter and stumble on words as he remembered the different things she did.  I say kudos to him.  I get that kids rebel, but then if she’s going to rebel…accept the consequences.  You want to be treated like an adult, act like an adult.  I really believe this all began when children of the 60’s and 70’s began having their own kids in the seventies and 80’s and promised that there children were never going to have to work as hard as they did.  Those parents created monsters; and probably the only ones that will disagree are those that did just that.
    I say good for the parents.  What other options are there to punish a child today.  You yell at a child and they call child protective services.  A time out?  That’s a joke.

    • ConcernedParent

      02/10/2012 at 7:43 pm

      I think the same thing was said when we were growing up.
      The general rift is as old as mankind; just look at the graffiti found on the
      walls of Pompeii.  At the end of the day,
      parents need to be allowed to and have confidence in being a parent.  It feels that parenting has come under such a
      microscope that parents are getting their hands tied and then what do our
      children have to look forward to when it comes to getting the appropriate
      experiences to prepare them for life? 
      Are we to let the “system” train them? 
      I think not.  Back to tough love
      (not abusive, tough).  That’s my
      philosophy.  The hand that provides all
      the niceties and material goods has the power to take them away.

      • Anonymous

        02/10/2012 at 7:44 pm

        You said it much better than me.

        • Arran100

          02/13/2012 at 3:17 pm

          I think you both are both incredibly hyprocritical, I imagine both of you as teenagers ‘rebelled’ against your parents. If teenagers didn’t they would be institutionalized into acepting all authority, which would be an awful thing. Trying to make people fit into the system is how the human race would be bogged down and great thinkers would be scarce and few, shooting this laptop isnt going to make his daughter like him anymore, this will just cause more distress, if anything, he was the child in this situation for not taking the higher ground, something a weel rounded adult should know to do for someone whos is still a child.

          • Anonymous

            02/13/2012 at 3:42 pm

            This child isn’t going to learn to respect from getting a timeout. Kids seem to feel entitled to everything because of exactly the type of parenting you seem to expect.
            And for the record, I never rebelled as a teen. I was disciplined if I did something wrong…I was spanked ONCE as a young child for who even remembers what, and I just knew how to behave from then on. My siblings and I may have had moments of being angry, but that fades fast. My siblings and I have the best relationship with our parents. And despite my sisters being disciplined regularly as teens, they remember all the great times over the discipline. We all agree we turned out great because of being kept in check, and taught what behavior is/isn’t appropriate. Not all discipline is beating a child…everything is not black and white. Maybe shooting the laptop is extreme where you live, but in some parts of the country, owning a gun and using it without intent to harm…is not all that unusual. Whether he did what he did, (broke it, burned it, took a hatchet or any other weapon to it) or some other way of breaking the laptop and taking it from her…it was completely within their rights to do so. And at least both parents were on the same page. Tjhe daughter sounds like a spoiled brat.

        • HuskyC

          02/13/2012 at 5:52 pm

          The child never learned respect at all from her dad. Yeah, her parents are in agreement now that, finally, they have a common enemy. They can finally get along when they are equally incensed that their own behavior came back to bite them in the form of their daughter. 
          Too bad they couldn’t manage that when they decided to divorce. I’m sure the daughter was consulted in that decision and yet again when daddy married step-mom.

          • Anonymous

            02/13/2012 at 6:30 pm

            Those are pretty big assumptions. Because she doesn’t have respect, they never taught her? He states a few times that they were disappointed because they “raised her better”and expected better from her.

        • HuskyC

          02/14/2012 at 5:54 pm

          One can assume quite a bit when a man behaves the way I’d expect a 16 year old man-child to act, not a father who is supposedly setting an example. I can see where this teen-aged girl learned all of her behaviors. A few more lessons and she, too, could go from ranting about her parents in private to a group of friends to filming it for the whole world then shooting something up in a fit of anger.

      • HuskyC

        02/13/2012 at 5:47 pm


        The hand that provides all

        the niceties and material goods has the power to take them away.”
        Yeah, I learned that a long time ago about my mother. That’s why I won’t accept a so-called gift from her again. It’s never a gift. It’s always hers to take away whenever she pleases, even though I’m looming closer to 30. I’m on my own; and she can take her “gifts” and shove it.

  6. K. T. Bradford

    02/10/2012 at 3:40 pm

    For all the folks jumping on the ‘entitled spoiled brats” bandwagon,it  should be noted that the teen in question bought that laptop herself with her own money. It wasn’t given to her.

    Carry on.

    • Kelsey

      02/10/2012 at 9:13 pm

      Actually, he says in the video that he bought it for her AND paid $130 the day before to add software to it.  He says that in the future she will have to buy her own laptop.  With what money would she have purchased it as a 15 year old with no job?

  7. Regreg

    02/10/2012 at 3:50 pm

    Gun not understand smart machine…what machine do? Gun not know. GUN SHOOT!!  DESTROY! That what gun do.

  8. Anonymous

    02/10/2012 at 4:43 pm

  9. Ant_zilla

    02/10/2012 at 9:20 pm

    Based on the information i have read above, i believe that the parent is in the wrong, more so than that of the teen. pulling a gun on private property, as well as ultimately destroying it, that isn’t yours, that someone else bought is actually an offense, regardless of who owns it. I am surprised that the man hasn’t been questioned by the police on this matter. I frown upon this as i feel society itself is on the verge of collapse.

  10. Cuhulin AmHairghin

    02/10/2012 at 9:37 pm

    I am going to agree with the OP, and I am a parent.  Shooting the laptop was over the top, abusive and did next to nothing to teach his daughter anything appropriate.

    I happen to agree that many of today’s teens are self-entitled brats whose parents were more absent than parents.  Shooting the laptop, however, is simply the wrong way to go about things.

  11. Frenchman94

    02/10/2012 at 9:51 pm

    Your not a parent… that says it all… and what exactly is abusive about shooting an object in a field, with no one around… honestly! This was a creative way to get this kids attention… what she said was SO disrespectful… If he had grounded her, she would have retaliated on FB… this way… she needs to get a job and understand hard work and respect… maybe by that time, she won’t want to be quite so disrespectful!

  12. Boo!

    02/10/2012 at 9:57 pm

    What was so  scarey about that?
    You may have to much drama in your life if you think that is scarey and violent.  Do you pee your pants everytime someone cracks a walnut open?

  13. nobodies business

    02/11/2012 at 4:49 am

    as a grandma to 7 kids I agree with the father.He had warned little Miss 15yrs not to post crap but she knows all and then tried to hide it plus all the swearing. Swearing is swearing regardless of the words. And she did disrespect her family. Dad bought it and dad took it away Get over it and grow up kid and play by the rules plus don’t try and hide your posting from your dad, and then ask him to fix your computer

  14. cookie

    02/11/2012 at 5:30 am

    I have kids and I believe in whooping their butt. Now that they are teenagers, that is not the first reprimand of choice (but will always remain an option). I would have tried options just like this dad. As they have gotten older, I found that removing privileges get a better response. I am also an aunt. Sorry, but at the end of the day, you do get to give those kids back.       Now, after I got over the surprise that he really is going to shoot the computer, I realized, that he was only shooting something he probably paid for anyway. Although the video did not specify who purchased it, did you not hear him say he paid for upgraded software. That would be enough to piss me off to. There is no violence in the video.The crime would be if he shot the kid; that’s not what happened.      

  15. Reggie53

    02/11/2012 at 7:01 am

    I agree 100@ with what the father did.  Kids nowadays feel that they can be so disrspectful to their parents and still want to get all the new technology items and expensive clothes and they dont want to work to pay for them.  Its time we go back to the days where the parents are in charge and not the government who dictates how we can discipline our children.  Let her find a job and buy her own stuff and she will then learn how to appreciate these things and not take them for granted.   

  16. Anonymous

    02/11/2012 at 8:58 am

    Personally I would have just reformatted the disk and let it set on her desk with no software on it, a constant reminder works better I think.

  17. Marx Dudek

    02/11/2012 at 10:07 am

    A parent who takes out their aggression, whether directly or indirectly, with a gun needs psychiatric help.  If I told you the number of “I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU” letters I found as my daughter was growing up … it’s part of adolescence.  It’s part of the hormone surge that happens. If your solution is to point a gun at ANYTHING – and he was clearly taking out his hollow-point aggression out on his daughter using the laptop as a surrogate – he has issues that need to be resolved, and NOW.

    This is from a mother of a beautiful, well-adjusted self-sufficient adult daughter.

  18. Michael McLaughlin

    02/11/2012 at 11:40 am

    Just a joke, but here’s my video response:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_VmTt8PGsY

  19. Junebelle

    02/11/2012 at 2:02 pm

    Wow. It is truly sad to see the state of parenting today. 
    Tommy — “My kid disrespected me privately to her friends! Well, them Ima gonna teach ‘er how ta reeeeally get ‘er done! An’ Ima IT guy, too, yeah. That’s it. Ya kin tell by how I is talkin’. Nope. I wasn’t a snoopin’ on my kid’s laptop while supposedly updatin’ software. She mad about fetchin’ me my coffee! She tell her kiddie friends! Well, I’ma gonna tell the whole world! Yep!”

    Great maturity. I’d like to see his daughter mimic ol’ daddy, whose trying to be all cool and hip about throwing a tantrum in front of the whole world just to get attention. 

    She saw something she didn’t like and ranted about it where only she and her friends would see. He saw something he didn’t like and decided to destroy property while ranting about it in front of the whole world, EXCEPT (take note of what the guy said with his own words in the video) the person he was supposedly supposed to be teaching the lesson to: his DAUGHTER. She’s the one person who canNOT see it because (duh) she no longer has a laptop! Wow! Genius! Such a GREAT teaching moment! A teaching moment she won’t see!

    This guy is truly a child of the 70’s. And by child, I really mean child. He clearly has yet to grow up.

  20. Brrngr

    02/11/2012 at 2:12 pm

    Writer of this article, stay being an aunt, DO NOT HAVE CHILDREN! You have no idea what it takes to raise children and what it takes for parents to teach them respect and what will be expected of them as adults.

    • HuskyC

      02/11/2012 at 2:23 pm

      Clearly this guy has no idea how to raise a child since, by his own admission, he raised a hellion. How do you think she got to the way she is? Good parenting? The divorce was quite helpful in raising his daughter, I’m sure.

  21. Anonymous

    02/12/2012 at 4:15 am

  22. Gabey8

    02/12/2012 at 6:29 am

    If his response to her online misbehavior is to film himself destroying her property, then post the video on YouTube, then he is a “Do as I say, not as I do” parent.

    There are saner and more constructive ways to make a point.

  23. Cody200

    02/12/2012 at 7:20 am

    He didn’t teach her any lessons. he got even with her. he humiliated her in public unlawfully discharged a firearm, destoryed personal property, sandered his daughter in public. he didn’t scold her. he slandered her. He didn’t punish her; he got revenege. A punishment would be to have her write a public apoplogy and post it admitting what she really did for chores and why. Punishment would have been making the daughter correct her mistake. He did not do any of that. Worst father of the year!

  24. Eochaid

    02/12/2012 at 2:39 pm

    You know why teens are spoiled self-entitled brats? Because their parents were too. And they never learned. And instead of actually talking to your kid and..you know..parenting, the parents go ape shit crazy and then the kids go ape shit crazy in return. 

    You think kids are raised in a vacuum? Parents seem to forget that their kids are a reflection of themselves. Parenting is about setting an example and communication. Set an example for how you’d like to be treated through your actions, not by yelling or screaming. What did the daughter learn? When you’re pissed, go ape shit crazy and shoot something. 

    I also think people have forgotten that we live in a world with a bunch of people. The only way to get along with people is to use the one thing that separates us from animals: language. I highly doubt that he actually sit her down to talk to her about the problems in their relationship. The only communication they have is to scream at each other. Believe me, people listen less as your voice gets louder. 

    Whenever I see a parent actually praising this clown, my palm goes right to my forehead. “Yeah you teach ’em a lesson! Kids these days…” Yeah well, we were all kids once. Look in a mirror before you judge your kids.

  25. Anonymous

    02/13/2012 at 4:04 am

  26. Josh

    02/13/2012 at 2:45 pm

    Wow, so many experts on parenting.  Listen up folks, I’m going to make it plain and simple.  The man took a gun, a loaded gun, and then took his daughter’s laptop and shot it.  9 times he shot the computer.  All the while recording the show for his daughter and the world.  What, pray tell, what in his actions was healthy or a sign of good parenting?  She’s a teenage girl whining online about chores and not getting paid.  WOW, who the F cares?!  If you are so insecure in your parenting skills that your daughter’s online posts bring you to a place of pulling out a gun, then you are NOT healthy.  Take the computer away, lock it up, keep it from your daughter.  Let her use it only when she does chores.  That way she’ll be getting “paid” for her chores.  That will teach her a damn lesson.  But no, he took it and shot it.  NINE TIMES.  The only thing this girl learned is that violence “solves” problems, and guns are toys.  Great lesson.  Great parenting.

    Oh and will all of you with kids telling the writer she has no right to even an opinion simply because she doesn’t have a kid get a freaking life.  You don’t own the book on opinions or child rearing.  At the end of the day, this video isn’t about parenting, it’s about reacting to frustrations, and how to do so in a very unhealthy manner.

  27. hippiehater

    02/13/2012 at 9:12 pm

    . Id hate to live in a world that thats illegal. Guns are not illegal yet (despite all you hippies best efforts).And shooting a gun is only illegal in some city boundries, not all places like the suburbs. And shooting and destroying your own property,oh legal too. You may disagree with the way he handled it but lets not be stupid. We still live in the U.S.A and we still have the right to make our own decisions on how to handle our own children. Complaining to your friends in your room is one thing but this social media crap is out of control and we all know it. lets also remeber she was warned before about this.

  28. Baddawg2001

    02/14/2012 at 11:06 pm

    I personally agree with the fathers decision. No one knows what else the daughter has done or how she truly acts, and before you say it no I am not saying that it is all the daughters fault. I know when my parents grounded me as soon as it was over then I was right back to the same stunts.

    The father took an extreme approach to get his point across. I bet that she thinks twice before acting out again.

  29. a good parent

    02/15/2012 at 7:09 pm

    Sorry but rebelling against your parents is not standard adolescent behavior due to hormones.  None of my siblings rebelled or dissed our parents the way this girl did and neither did most of our friends.  You can agree or disagree as to whether shooting the laptop was the best way to deal with it but saying that all teenagers act that way and that the behavior should be ignored is wrong. She was clearly acting like an entitled spoiled brat and deserved punishment for it.  Hurray to the dad. 

  30. David Toews

    02/16/2012 at 8:56 pm

    K.T. your writing about this is excellent!  Good going.

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