If you’re a regular attendee to the weekly VIP Gold and Platinum live chat hosted by Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey and myself, you’ve heard me utter the phrase “everything is stupid and it’s only getting worse” on a regular basis, and this story is definitely evidence of that.
TikTok has spawned a number of dumb and downright dangerous challenges before, including the “blackout challenge” (which involves choking yourself), the “face wax” challenge (which is exactly what it sounds like), and the “Benadryl challenge” (which, yes, is basically taking an ungodly amount of the drug in an attempt to get high).
While those are bad enough, a new “challenge” is almost guaranteed to lead to someone being hurt or killed… or at the very least, criminal charges being filed.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that five juvenile suspects were walking around a neighborhood in Riverview, Florida, when two of them approached a house. Officials said one of the individuals, who was wearing a ski mask, kicked the front door and fired an airsoft gun.
The minors then fled the area.
Supposedly this is known as the “door kick” challenge, but it might as well just be called “Resident Roulette”, since anyone playing this “game” is rolling the dice on whether or not the person behind the door that gets kicked in has a real gun and is prepared to use it in self-defense.
“The door kick challenge is a prank circulating on social media. #teamHCSO is asking parents to speak to their children about this dangerous trend, which could end in tragedy,” the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.
I have to say I never thought that parents would have to remind their kids that it’s idiotic and dangerous to go kicking in someone’s front door as a prank, but here we are.
I’m so glad I grew up in that Golden Age of technology where I had access to the Internet but before social media was ever a thing. The world wasn’t perfect for teens back then, of course, but tee-peeing houses or even pulling a “ding dong ditch” prank pales in comparison to criminal trespass and damage to property while holding something that could easily be mistaken for a real gun.
This challenge is essentially “go out and pretend to commit a home invasion,” and that’s a recipe for disaster in a country with a lot of gun owners and the right to defend ourselves with lethal force from any midnight intruders who break into our homes while armed.
As Bark CMO Titania Jordan told Fox News, “I mean, just one person who is armed who gets their door kicked in by a kid, and you’re gonna have another national headline that is very sad.”
She’s right, but if someone does get hurt or killed it’s not going to be like the case of Ralph Yarl, who was shot after knocking on the door of the wrong home while trying to pick up his younger siblings. Andrew Lester had no reason to believe that Yarl posed a threat, but if someone kicks in the door to your home in the middle of the night while holding what looks lke a gun, I’d say it’s completely reasonable and rational to assume that your life is in danger.
I’m not conspiratorially minded, but part of me wonders if the Communists in China aren’t coming up with these challenges and making them go viral on TikTok as a stealthy way to attack us. Even if that is the case, though, it still takes a pool of willing participants to make it happen, so I guess that leaves it up to parents and other adults to instruct our kids on why this is such a terrible idea.
So, consider this a public service announcement from Bearing Arms: Kids, don’t do the “door kick” challenge. The likes and views you might get on your TikTok account aren’t worth the risk of ending up in the hospital, jail, or the morgue.
Editor’s Note: President Trump is fighting to dismantle the Department of Education and ensure America’s kids get the education they deserve.
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