On Oct 30, 10:22*am, "Ed Huntress" wrote:
"Jman" wrote in message

...

Man, I guess some people "just don't get it" and likely never will....
This tragedy was Completely 100% avoidable!

Yes, it was.



When are people going to realize that the 'deadly toys' that they
choose to play with, like that of a fully automatic weapon is for
killing 'people' and not used for sport.

Except by people who like to use them for sport. The same is true for a .45
autoloader pistol.

*Definitely something that
should NEVER be introduced to a kid.

Kids shouldn't be shooting full-auto firearms.

*There's a reason these things
are Grandfathered for Christ Sakes !

The reason is that they met too much political resistance when they tried to
outlaw them. There are on the order of 100,000 registered, fully automatic
firearms in civilian hands in the US. Considering their value and what one
has to go through to get one, the number is not likely to decline
noticeably.


Grandfathered weapons here in Canada are "Destroyed" once 'that' owner
dies.
The gun must be submitted within 3 months of the death.


Kids and guns don't MIX no matter what their age is....

I was shooting semiautomatic M1 carbines on a Police Athletic
League-sponsored Junior DCM team when I was 13. At that point I had been
shooting for three years and had five sharpshooter bars, and a BSA
Marksmanship Merit Badge.

Well, any military, Cadets (Canada) has and DOES in fact introduce
weapons to kids after ages 12 / 14 but I still don't agree with that
sentiment in this day and age...

Without knowing where you live or grew up, it's hard to know what's shaped
your attitude. Where I grew up, practically all kids were shooting by the
time they were 12 or 13. We had no troublesome incidents. We were
well-taught, in the Boy Scouts, in the PAL, and by our parents. Handling
guns in that rural, traditional area (NE Pennsylvania) was a right of
passage, like religious confirmation. If you never experienced it you'd find
that there was a strong, community-wide expectation that kids who passed
into it were expected to acquire a new level of maturity and responsibility.
As I look back on it, it was pretty remarkable, compared to the way kids are
brought up today.

Yeah, I grew up around guns since I was a very small boy in Northern
Ontario and Quebec. My stupid father let me shoot an M-16 when I was
just 5 years old and he had pretty much every weapon imaginable. Our
entire basement was FILLED with everything from derringer's to machine
guns. He was proud of his "GUNS" and had them under glass on red
crush velvet surrounded by GIANT OAK frames for everyone to see....
Fortunately they were always locked too...

Things were far simpler back then and the attitude was much different
than it is now. Guns didn't kill people where I came from (at least
very few anyway...) but things have changed dramatically over the last
20 years or so...

Introducing a
Child to a gun and certainly a fully automatic ANYTHING is 'just
wrong' and any parent who let's them do it is a F---ING IDIOT !

Fully automatic guns are not for kids. Neither are semis, in my opinion.

*I doubt very much anyone would want to be in this parents shoes....
This guy has to live with his sons blood on his hands for the rest of
his life and so should he.....

Yup. He was an idiot.



There is no reason one needs to introduce a dangerous weapon (even if
it's a .22) to any kid at such a young age. *14 would be a better age
for the LEGAL introduction of a REAL gun for sport or hunting purposes

Eleven is fine for most kids, if they're under strict supervision, as we
were.

The maturity level of kids these days isn't the same. There is
'incredible' peer pressure at schools and the environment at the
"home" is a lot different that it was when we were kids. Kids get a
way with waaaay more than I ever did and it's my belief that their
level of Maturity is just not sufficient....

and until then, MAYBE a small pellet gun would suffice for the Die-
Hards who JUST have to arm their children with something !

Pellet guns are a mixed blessing. The big problem with them is that it's
easy for kids (and for adults, as you've just demonstrated) to dismiss their
seriousness. I wasn't allowed to have an air rifle until I'd had a .22 for
two years, and a shotgun for one. The same was true for several of my
friends. They're just too likely to be treated as toys by very young kids..
If it goes "bang," it's easier to impress a kid with the seriousness of the
whole thing.

Yeah that I just don't understand that... Why go backwards when you
already have the real thing ? Unless you were shooting a competition
Air Rifle there wouldn't be much interest. Having a Pellet gun was
ALWAYS the 'passage' to the REAL thing in my family and everyone else
that I knew as well.... If you couldn't be responsible enough to
handle the Pellet gun with care and safety, there was NO WAY you were
going to get your .22 or your .410 !
A good example of this was one of my cousins who just 'didn't get it'
and was always messing around and never paying proper attention to
what he was doing. He finally really screwed up and shot our other
cousin in the hand with his pellet gun. Now if he had started out
with a .22 or a .410 instead of a Pellet Gun, the result would have
been FAR, FAR worse, especially if the impact point were someplace
other than in the hand....

--
Ed Huntress