If this turns out to be true, these kids are really headed for trouble. They are told to get off some property, and they can't handle being told "no" and doing the right thing, so they shoot. That is what allegedly happened, anyway. If so, these kids need to face some consequences as if they continue down this road, it does not bode well.

I see Juvie and Prison in these kids future! They will be the next generation of our young troublemakers in prison, although they are starting kinda young, it is really not looking good for them, I will hate to see them 10 years down the road!

Poor mother. These kids are out of control. Too bad.

They would probably make good Marines. Send them to basic training and put them to work on Al Qaeda

people will never learn to lock up their guns. most are in denial thinking their kids would never do things like this. lock up the parent along with the kids, maybe something would sink in.

what is certain is the boys went to the gravel pit. Wether the boys shot at the truck before or after the being yelled off is the real question. The boys may have shot at the truck and then were yelled at for being so insolent, the boys then ran off, of which the call was then made. In the anger of their truck being shot at, the woodsmen may have left out details of the exact time frame. I am not saying what the boys did is justified, I just see there may be more to this story than what has transpired.

My question is HOW AND WHY DID 9-14 YEAR OLDS GET A GUN??? AND WHY?? I would like to see the parents punished for this one too!!

While it is true that children (and many adults) should not have access to guns. We should remember that often times good kids do dumb stuff. As a father of a young boy of the similar age to these boys, I will share this story with my son so he can understand that bad decision making has consequences. We have guns in our house and he has shot almost all of them. I don't worry about him, it is the herd mentality that takes over when boys get together that I worry about.

it must have been that Grand Theft ATV game that all them kids are-ah playin'

Forget the guns, lock up your kids!

Always remember: If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns!!!!!!!

The law in Maine says that youths over 10 and under 16 yrs. old having a valid license can hunt SUPERVISED. I'm sure that means that none of these kids should have been allowed out of the house alone with firearms. The parents should be hauled in also and they should all have to do some community service in a public and embarrassing way.

I'm not saying these kids are lost, but their actions are punkish and the parents have NO EXCUSE for allowing kids to wander at large with loaded guns.

Just for the record, I'm a strong proponent of the 2nd Amendment and hate to see stupidity cause the rest of us to suffer. Prosecute the guilty. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. I suspect they were shooting up the woods and that's when they were yelled at and later they shot up the truck. I didn't have to be there to know that, and am tired of parents who stick up for their kids after the fact and want to blame anyone but themselves for their lack of parenting skills or sense of responsibility.

Children should not be allowed to use BB guns, or ANY gun of any kind without adult supervision. You just can't allow your children to go out with a BB gun without supervision. It's a BAD idea.

Maine gangstas-in-training.

These three boys will be fine, they should spend the spring in the woods working for the landowner and truck owners. they will soon grow and learn. I am glad no one got hurt, it only takes a moment to make a tragic mistake especially when you arent really aware of consequences like a 9 or 11 year old boy. I am not saying give them a rifle under the tree this year or anything, but this is not that big a story thank god, and we all can agree that some people in our communities really overreact when it comes to guns or violence in any form, jumping on the juvie and prison bandwagon or interjecting yourself into the event as if you were there dont help anything, and any involvement in the juvenile system will only make a more effective future criminals out of three boys

Replace the guns with a stick. For everyone living in the past with stories of "that's what I used to do" then a stick across the right portion of the anatomy a few times would also be the correct "punishment" , as that was also they way it used to be.................

Oh Please people...you are so out of touch....

The world teaches these kids that there are no absolutes in this world.....

When there are injustices in the world (not being able to play guns where you want to)

the Kids have a right to react any way they want to.

Maybe if these workers had stopped earning thier livelyhood, and cleared out for the kids this wouldn't have happened...

The workers caused this incident. They should be the one in trouble.....

sarcasm filter off

I remember being taught as a youngster that adults had authority and should be listened to and respected. A while back, I told a five-year-old to not go into an area where there were no adults present because there were tools and such that could hurt him if he was not careful. He turned on his heel, came back to me and said, "Don't you ever speak to me that way again!!" What is this child being taught? Disregard for rules, disrespect for adults, and a display of temper that is not acceptable in a civil society. Oh, sorry, I forgot how uncivil this society now is, thanks to too many parents who abandoned their children to television and video games and forgot they are supposed to teach them manners and respect.

Were I friends with ANYONE in this story, I would tell them to go out and get a good lawyer and stop talking! As they said during WW II "Loose lips sink ships"

Are you people kidding me?!

First all, I happen to know the parents of these children.

They are my 6 month old's grandparents.

If you don't know the family, or the children involved, you should not be passing judgements.

Yes, what happened was WRONG, and BAD

but not everyone named here is a "troubled child, headed for disaster"

A 9 year old is VERY easily influenced and intimidated.

Perfect example of how peer pressure reallly effects children.

Did you miss out on the "fathers out of state getting cancer treatment?"

hm. mother home alone, hoildays, with her husband away getting cancer treatment?

She was watching the boys, she's never had a problem with HER son or son's friend before. Why shouldn't she trust when they say all they had was a BB gun?

I assure you that I'm 99% sure 2 of the boys will not ever be involved with ANYTHING like this again.

Cut her a break! Cut the kids a break!

They made a mistake, no one was hurt.

I agree one should be punished, but don't make bystanders forced by intimidation suffer too.

Some of You Folks Need To Sit Down And Play Some Of These Violent Video Games

You Did Not want to Believe TV would De-Sensitize Kids

Well TV is NOTHIN to These Freakin Video Games

De-Sensitize Do You Even Know What IT Means~~YOU BETTER<

Lock Up Your Freakin Guns

That IS The Freakin Lesson To Learn

And There IS NO EXCUSE for A Kid To BE OUT With A Gun w/o Supervision

KASIMO, if you know them so well then tell them to lock up their guns!!! separate the ammo from the guns, no one was hurt, but its called luck and people run out of luck sometimes, i have been brought up around guns my whole life, my dad had all the triggers locked and ammo in seperate places, i never once considered takin one of the guns, i also had bb guns as well, kids can be influenced but they also know what they should and shouldn't be doing and taking a rifle in a pit which i'm sure their not supposed to do unattended is wrong, lucky one of the kids or someone else wasn't shot!!

Does ANYONE realize that children of this age do not comprehend the meaning of DEATH - what if they had shot at the workers for telling them to leave the area and accidentally killed one of them? --- As far as kids of that age --- they do not realize that Death is a permanent thing --- there is NO coming back to life when it happens --- as far as they are concerned -THEY are going to live forever - never! ever! going to die!!! Apparently no one ever taught them right from wrong or they would never have even shot at the truck --- because THAT is very definitely WRONG - the truck does not belong to them or to their family, but to a complete (?) stranger. If the Mom had known they had the BB gun (and not known about the other gun/guns) she should have told them they MUST have a person to supervise them when they use the weapons, even a BB gun!!! I do feel very sorry for the lady whose husband is ill, and I intend to try to help when she needs it, but right now, her son and stepson (?) and the other boy need sharp discipline and/or anything that the police or courts need to hand out. I do not agree with jail over this, but they should be made to pay the owner of the truck by working for him in the woods or whatever. It will cost money to repair the truck --- hey ---- even the man's Insurance Company may step in on this --- did anyone think about that??

As for telling the woman that ALL THEY HAD WAS A BB GUN - well, even a BB gun has its bad side --- my sister's oldest son lost BOTH EYES to kids playing with a BB gun --- remember how your Mom said --- watch out with that gun, you could put someone's eye out?? It used to be a joke --- but my nephew and him Mom does not think so now!!! As a result he is on disability - YOU are paying for that (in a way) for something that someone's kids did about 20 years ago with a BB Gun --- hmmmmmm.

TO: Othermainah - I do feel sorry that you had that experience with a 5 year old --- you would be surprised at how a lot of children are NOT corrected when in the company of adults. Everyone now feels that children should say whatever they want to --- whenever they want to and to hell with adults --- you are just a "stick" in their way!! I know that you were probably brought up with - children should be seen and not heard --- well, that is NOT punishment --- it is just a good way to teach respect for others --- peers as well as adults. Why don't they teach that now? Also we had certain hours that we were allowed to stay up at night --- not like a lot of kids today who stay up until midnight or even later because the parent does not know how to put the kid to bed at 7 PM or 9 PM and expect it to get up in the morning for school --- and then have the teacher try to get some learning into the kids head when alll it wants to do is nap all day. Hmmmm ---- makes you wonder why a lot of them drop out of High School huh??

My wife and I had friends we used to visit who had smaller school age children and they let them stay up all night while we were there to visit OR they would come to our ranch and stay all hours with the kids screaming and yelling ----- that got a bit tiresome for us, so we eventually worked ourselves away from them ---- their oldest is now in prison in Mass. for robbery and the youngest is a drug addict. The parents are the actual best of people - no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarette smoking etc., but the kids had the run of the whole farm!! WOW

Swampfox : I believe there is no law against ANYONE possessing a gun in a pit for target practice. The law you cite pertains to hunting only !

KasiMo - I know what you mean. I had 3 older brothers who did a lot of stupid things when I was tagging along with them. I got scared as soon as they started talking about doing something wrong. The cops could see that and they always treated me well.

You think you found a good place to shoot and then you see the no trespassing sing laying on the ground with a bunch of bullet holes in it.

so im the older sister of two of those boys, as far as i know this truck came after the boys . . witch wasnt said in this artical . . so you dont know half this story it wasnt like the boys were trying to kill someone, they are young trying to have fun it got a lil out of control and it happends, so whoever saiying parents and kids need to be locked up. . thats lame that doesnt need to happen. the parents are perfectly fine one thing goes wrong doesnt make them bad parents! thanks ( :

Kasi, I wanna know how the mother didn't know they had three guns? I know these people personally, and I am not on their side. What those kids did was very wrong and they ALLLLLL knew better. It wasn't just ONE boy. They ALL knew, mind you. The mother shouldn't have even let them out of the house with one gun, thanks, let alone three. How did they get out AND back in without her knowing? Just because one of them has been in trouble before, doesnt mean it was all his fault, or that he should be the only one punished. 9 and 11 year olds DO know better! Even if there may have been peer pressure, they still know right from wrong.

KasiMo has a real good point. We know the story from only one side.

She's convinced me that it is best to wait for all the facts...... Then we'll hang them!

HarryHSnyderIII - Maybe we have 3 bad kids or maybe we have one. Once it gets sent to the secret juvenile court we won't be getting much in the way of facts. You seem to forget what western movies taught you. We could hang them if they were cattle rustlers or horse thieves. We could hang them high.

9-14 yrs Old? Wow. It is time to put the hammer down on these kids. If the parents wont, then the state has to.

Whose gun /guns were these ? The owner of them has some responsibility in this. If the guns belonged to the boys then some 'idiot ' parent forgot the gun safety courses and lessons they should have had to take. Kids have no respect for others property anymore. They should have left when they were asked to go. Definitly shouldn't have been target practicing , if that's why they were there, in an area where people were working . Peer presure is NOT a good defense for why they did it. It can go both ways.

I would like to open this comment by saying that I am the father of the 14 yr old and the 9 yr old boy that are involved in this accident and i am very upset that this has happened. I am willing to take all resposibily for their actions and am willing to do whatever it takes to correct it! I am the one who has taught these childern how to safely handle and respect these weapons. They are never allowed to take these weapons from the gun cabinet without my permission. We are a family who enjoys the opportunity to still be able to hunt this wonderful land we were given and I have learned a great lesson myself due to this occurance. I am very glad to know that no one was hurt and I do know that it could have happened. When I return home, all of the guns in my home will be locked up and all ammo for the weapons that we own will be stored in a diffarant area. Please know that these are all good boys with no harm intended. Trying not to cover this up by any means but accidents happen and again so glad that no one was hurt. I myself feel that my wife did not know that the boys had the 22's, childern can be sneaky! I do try to keep the boys excited about the out of doors and not the tv games because i feel that there is to many bad things in those games. I do not believe that sending them away to pay for thier decisions is the way to go because they are not crimanals. To those who think that they should be locked up, please take a moment and think of your past and think of a time when your parents had insisted that you do sometime and you turned around and did the opposite. We have all made some bad decisions in our lives which could have ended badly but were lucky enough not to have them turn out that way. Accidents and bad decisions are made everyday in all of our lives that we wish could have been done differanly. I do believe that these boys have learned a extremly valuable lesson from this and again I am sorry for it happening. Please don't past judgement on these boys until the entire story has been told and I hope that your child also makes the best a safest decision in everything they may do in life. Please let us not put all of the blame on the parents when our childern make a bad choice. i suppose everyone who has made a comment in a negative way is PERFECT.

RandyNason: I applaud you for your comments here and your obvious willingness to take responsibility for what happened. That is so important. No, no one (and no one's children) are perfect, you are so right.

No, most would not think your kids should be locked up as this point. If this is addressed and they do not do this kind of thing again, then it would be time to move on. In the future, I am sure the gun situation in your home will be handled a lot differently, with the cabinet being locked!! Wasn't it usually locked and this was a mistake and an exception? I should think so.

Thanks for stepping up and for your comments. It sounds like you intend to handle this situation and do everything you can to prevent such an occurence in the future. Good luck with everything.

Hey Randy,glad your taking blame as you should be it was wrong leaving guns unlocked .I'd like to share a quick story When my older sister was 6yrs old the boy next door was given a BB gun by his father his son 6yrs old came in our yard had a dis agreement with my sister told her he was going to shoot her awhile later he saw my sister playing he walked up to her said Sandy I'm going to shoot you and he DID in the eye shes been blind in that eye her whole life shes now 70yrs old and still recalls this day in her dreams or nightmares. My dad had to take on extra shifts at the mill for years cause nobody sued back then to cover medical expenses. Lock up you guns you may save someones life and you sons as well . Looks like your family has learned a horrible lesson good luck sounds like you truly sincere. The truck can be fixed my sisters eye couldn't.

Looking at the State Trooper with his gun make me think how this could have been much different. If the boys listened to the trooper as well as they did the woodsman they might have been shot dead Best of luck with your family and treatment maybe Santa won't read the story or if he does you may want to think about burning coal cause thats what they may get.

My daughter is a friend of one of the Nasons' other children. I have never known this child to be anything but thoughtful and kind to my daughter as well as polite and respectful toward me. In my opinion she was obviously raised by involved parents who, like the rest of us, are just doing their best to teach their children good morals and values. My daughter has visited her friend many times and I have absolutely no problem allowing her to go again., I know that she is well cared for and I do not believe she is in any danger.

I find it sad that, when something like this happens, many people react with scorn rather than looking inside themselves for compassion. When this family is dealing with so many difficulties people would rather kick them when they are down instead of reaching out with a helping hand. For those parents who have made negative comments, I hope you are not teaching your children to be as judgemental and self righteous as you appear to be. I assume it must be acceptable to make this observation since you obviously have no problem sitting in judgement of these parents. For those who are not parents, it is always easier to sit on the sidelines and make comments than it is to be down in the trenches fighting the battles, most of which come from outside influences rather than from inside the home.

This was a bad situation that could have ended tradgically for everyone involved. It seems apparent to me from Randy's comments that he and his wife are doing everything they can to ensure that it never happens again. What more can we ask from any parent?