Dad Shoots Daughter's Laptop, Liberals Take

"So keep your guns locked up. Better still, hand them in."

Tommy Jordan, the mad dad who shot his daughter's laptop, is right up there with Charlie who bit his brother's finger. They're both YouTube sensations and they both share an infantile sense of pleasure in biting back. Only thing is, Tommy's the adult here or, at least, should be.

I have to admit to having had a mild sense of pleasure watching the video the first time around. After all, I am the father of a teenage daughter and feel Tommy's pain. Who hasn't felt the urge to blast the damn computer to kingdom come when coming across an inane or offensive post from one's offspring? What a grand gesture it would be to flush a phone down the toilet or set fire to an iPod Touch for being the device that sucked one's child down a time-wasting (adolescence-wasting?) black hole. Oh, the joy of ripping the router out of the wall and hurling it out the window into oncoming traffic!

But here's the thing: Mr. Jordan actually acted on his impulse and turned a teaching moment -- one that should have been behind closed doors and face-to-face with his daughter -- into a premeditated exhibition of force, petulance and destruction of property.

What exactly did he teach Hannah? That he can "kill" her computer in cold blood, record his actions and then post them on her wall (not his) and therefore get some kind of parental revenge.

He taught her that instead of controlling his destructive urges, that it is perfectly OK to take out your feelings on someone else's possession using lethal force. He gave her a perfectly clear example of how to retaliate and to settle a score -- just like in the movies.

And now we're seeing parents praising brave Jordan for taking it to the teens. No doubt we'll see copycat videos popping up on YouTube with dads (and moms) trying to out do the dude with the ten gallon hat and the defiant cigarette in his hand. Perhaps there's a reality TV show offer in the cards.

But let's consider another way. For other would-be Jordans out there, start by sitting down and talking with your kids. It is the simplest, yet sometimes most difficult thing a parent can do. Keep the connection with your teen, no matter how hard or how egregious the provocation. Talk things over calmly and put out the facts without resorting to anger or judgment. Hear her side of the story. Then move on to a sanction or consequence that is reasonable and related to the issue at hand. Ask if she has any questions. If she offends again, repeat until she leaves home.

Kids need boundaries and kids need to see their parents acting reasonably and responsibly when under pressure. How else are they going to learn this vital life lesson? Staying calm and dispassionate is a tough thing to do, but as Dr. Mike Bradley, author of Yes Your Teen is Crazy!, would say, if you lose it, they won't get it.

So keep your guns locked up. Better still, hand them in. I've yet to read a parenting book that recommends unloading your .45 to resolve an issue with your recalcitrant teen. And while you're at it, quit smoking. Your kids will appreciate you being around to enjoy the grandchildren.

Viral video circles were buzzing this morning about a YouTube posting by a North Carolina father who shot his 15-year-old daughter's laptop for mouthing off about her parents on Facebook.

"My daughter thought it would be funny/rebellious/cool to post on her Facebook wall just how upset she was and how unfair her life here is; how we work her too hard with chores, never pay her for chores, and just in general make her life difficult," the pistol-toting dad, Tommy Jordan, wrote on YouTube, where his "tough love" video has garnered more than 21 million views.

"She chose to share this with the entire world on Facebook and block her parent's from seeing it," he continued. "Well, umm... she failed. As of the end of this video, she won't have to worry anymore about posting inappropriate things on Facebook...."

While Jordan's unorthodox parenting style may be new to YouTube, shooting computers isn't. Here's a sampling of some of the mayhem rained on computers captured by YouTube videographers.

Disaster Demo

Like Jordan, KeepGoing.Biz wanted to illustrate a point with its video. The company offers disaster recovery services. It wanted potential customers to think about what would happen if their computer systems suddenly went offline. What better way to do that than blasting a server rack to smithereens with automatic weapons?

Killing Time (and Computers)

Among the reasons for shooting computers is boredom. "Unholydarkenss" acknowledged that when he performed a series of experiments with a spud gun on an old desktop in his backyard.

I'll Show You Thin

Apple has always had an obsession with thinness in its products, a fact that "Mykemaloney" parodies when he reengineers a Mac notebook with a firearm. Warning: this is not for Apple lovers with a faint heart.

Hardware Support

If you're serious about fixing a problem with your computer, you might call an outfit like the Geek Squad. But for a computer that's given you more grief than you can handle, you might want to call Bob, who likes to troubleshoot computers with a .357 Magnum.

Data Wiped. Seriously.

Finally, if you're worried about how to handle of an old computer, the folks at RifleSopes.com recommend a .50 Browning Machine Gun, which they say "makes for quick and easy disposal of old computers that might have sensitive information on them."

"It's dirty work," they add, "but someone has to do it!"