Maybe. Twelve's right on the edge of an age where kids take a big jump, but it's still pretty young to go in guns a-blazin'. If the cops would have done that when I was growing up and everyone had a cap gun (without an orange thingie on the tip! -- Gasp!) on their hip 24/7, there'd have been nobody who survived elementary school.
A) A LOT of conclusions being made here with only a report from the media, which should have proven to all gun owners not to be trustworthy. I'm not saying the particular "news" sources linked/referenced, but ALL of these sensationalism driven outlets.
2)
My assumption here is that you are talking about a smaller city/town or at least a city that had nowhere near the crime rate of present day Cleveland. Correct me if that is a wrong assumption on my part. Otherwise, comparing how a large city police department approaches things in present times with how things were years ago in a comparatively smaller and/or safer city is not fair. Sadly, there are many present day examples of misguided youth being a deadly threat.
Once we get more information, it might become apparent that the 12 year old was small for his age, was wearing Mutant Teenage Ninja Turtle pajamas and Big bird slippers, and yelled clearly to the police officer "I have a toy gun" before he pulled it out. Until then, we can't jump to conclusions with what the media has told from their perspective/agenda.
Fly
