When Dad threatens Mom with a gun, who should a child turn to for help? According to Pat Robertson... don't call the cops!
A child wrote to the "700 Club," the televangelist's show on ABC Family:
“Whenever my parents fight, my dad threatens my mom with his gun. Fortunately, this now means nothing to my mom, and she never goes nuts about it; she is very calm. But as a child, I get nervous and worried when this happens. Even my younger brother saw this incident. What should we do about it and him?”
"You don't want to get your father busted... but you could," Robertson answered in a clip posted online by The Raw Story, before suggesting that the child talk to mom instead of "busting" dad.
"Say, 'Mom, this thing is scaring me and I ask you, please, to get my father to have some help,'" Robertson said.
Despite the questionable advice, Robertson isn't entirely ignorant of the dangers.
"One day he's gonna pull the trigger. It doesn't take too much if you've got a loaded weapon and you're brandishing it around, 'I'm gonna kill you,' and the next thing you know the thing goes off. Maybe accidentally, but the mother will wind up dead," he said. "You need to do something to intervene but you're a kid, what do you do, y'know? Your mother ought to take care of that."
According to Opposing Views, American women make up 84 percent of all female gun victims in the developed world.
Kids (and adults) who witness domestic violence, including threats and intimidation, should call 911. For advice and assistance, call the National Domestic Violence hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (TTY: 1-800-787-3224) or visit them online.
(h/t The Raw Story)
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