A determined kid can get a gun in a snap, and not just through a burglary. They'll say the kids don't know where the guns in the house are. Ask the kids, and they know exactly where they are. You can beat yourself over the head wondering why kids would want a gun, why a decade of bloodshed involving kids and weapons hasn't made an impression on them. It doesn't do any good.
Kids are kids.
I said at the start that the essence of being a teenager is a belief in your invincibility. That isn't the whole story. Mixed in with that, hiding most of the time, is a more childish faith, that when push comes to shove, some adult will step in and save them. Sheriff Lee Cannon turned on one of those kids at a news conference at week's end and told her to look in the mirror. It turns out that several of Teddy's friends knew about the gun, and none of them reported it.