So what do you think would happen if someone shot him in self-defense? Does it change the dynamic of self-defense at all if it is a kid threatening your life?
The lack of orange tip, coupled with the fact he's committing a felony at 3AM.... Should you shoot in fear of your life, you'd probably walk.
As the picts above prove, some of these airsofts look incredibly close to the real thing. In many places, BB guns are considered a deadly weapon if brandished in public, or flashed at police. Sometimes you really can't tell the difference, and erring on the side of caution and blasting the weilder can be the right thing to do at times.
As for what happens? Take a look at a shooting in Ohio recently. Two kids (13-16 range) step up to a guy who's on his own property, pull a (real) gun, and try to rob him. Guy shoots the kid w/ gun, lets the other one get away, as he's unarmed. The guy is no-billed, as it's legitimate SD shoot. The kid's family and friends, feeling that the kid was the one that was wronged, smash every window in the guy's house, to let justice be done.
Killing a kid sucks. The shooter, even in the right, has to live with it. But the simple fact is that kids at that age know right from wrong. If they choose to do something wrong, they will suffer the consequences, the same as an adult.
Our society spends too much time coddling our youth. If they do something bad, we're told to give them a time-out, because whacking them across the behind with a lilac switch is cruel and leaves mental scars.
This is true, in a sense. My grandmother had a huge lilac bush in front of her house, and when I did something bad, I had to go out and get one. And if it broke during the ten swacks, or otherwise didn't meet her satisfaction, I'd get five more swacks after getting a new one.
Yes, this left lasting mental scars. Not crippling injuries. Those mental scars remind me that doing something wrong has consequences, often bad/painful ones for me. As a result, I know right from wrong, and try to do right.
I didn't understand, then, what my grandmother's discipline was being used for in the long-term. I do now. It was to teach me, in terms I could understand, that actions have consequences both good and bad, and that I have to pay those penalties.
This kid, and the many others we're seeing committing crimes, have not been made fully aware of the consequences of their actions, nor that they will be required to pay for them.
This is the result of "time-outs" and other "painless" and "sensitive" responses to bad behavior. Young children cannot understand that time away from toys is supposed to represent the horrible things will happen to them in the future if they don't behave as adults. Hunger and pain are the two responses we understand from the moment of birth.
Pain hurts, and once exposed to a stimulus that results in pain, we are less inclinced to do that action. Hence, spare the rod, spoil the child.
If more parents had a lilac bush and the love for their child that my mom and grandmother had for me, there'd be more tender bottoms on kids, but better behaved adults.