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Kids Find Gun in Sandbox and Other Playground Toys

A group of kids playing in a San Francisco playground discovered a loaded gun – cocked and with a round in the chamber — in the sandbox.
I hate to say it, but this is about par for the course for San Francisco.
I’ve found spent condoms, used syringes, half-filled bottles of booze and all manner of detritus left from the night before, when non-children use the city’s playgrounds for their own amusement. The gun, sure, ok, that’s a little extreme. I don’t find those. But I’m not surprised one has been discovered, and I’m breathing a sigh of relief that no one was hurt.
The discovery made me wonder whether this was just a story about a bad neighborhood or whether there was something deeper going on here, and whether we’ll be seeing a lot more crap like this on big city playgrounds in the near future. It used to be I’d spot playground maintenance workers at the parks, cleaning up before the day and checking the sandboxes for crap. Now, I hardly see any workers at all, and I’m sure their jobs have been cut due to the economy. Are you finding more junk at your park recently?
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5 Comments
Whit commented on Dec 03 09 at 6:00 pmWho the hell leaves half-empty bottles of booze?
Laure68 commented on Dec 03 09 at 6:25 pmOK, to defend SF, I have to say I have yet to find anything like you mention at our playgrounds. We usually go to Sunnyside, which is probably a middle of the road neighborhood. (Not Visitation Valley, where the gun was found, but not Pacific Heights either.) Maybe we are just lucky?
lulusmom commented on Dec 03 09 at 7:05 pmI dont think it has anything to do with the location. I live in picket fence suburbia and find spent condoms, bottles of liquor, and the occasional blunt wrapper or roach on a regular basis.
Eric commented on Dec 04 09 at 3:15 pmReminded me of a similar story from my neck of the woods where a BATF agent’s gun was found by kids in a storm drain. http://www.qctimes.com/news/local/article_2d3821c8-defb-11de-bafe-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story
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