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Children. Especially ones still a bit too young to go through proper training on the handling of a firearm.

by Nadya 11y ago

VLM 11y ago
Two sensitive topics: 1) How old is wise enough? At age two there's no way a toddler can physically reach a rifle on a top shelf that weighs half his body weight and what's he supposed to load it with? On the other hand Uncle Sam handed me a M16 when I was still 17. Then the banners want 21 yrs, or 65 years, or 150 years to effectively ban in practice. There are gun safety course and familiarization classes for roughly grade school and up kids that boil down to "here take a look, no need to (dangerously) sneak when your parents aren't around, its a tool not a toy, no playing and no pretending, tell an adult if you find one laying around". Complete with coloring books and sing along songs. So the peak "danger zone" seems to be perhaps 2 to 5 years old. 2) The second sensitive topic is parenting skill. If I abandoned a two year old in a house alone with no supervision at all and he somehow dragged a folding ladder thats twice his weight into the bedroom and climbed (and how does he know how to do any of this and how does he know anything is up there anyway?) It would take a toddler a long time to figure out how to load a gun or put the bolt in or remove the trigger lock or defeat the safety or find the hidden ammo on the other side of the room or any number of technical challenges. Fundamentally you have to ask how long the little kid really had to live if it was abandoned for the hours it would take the kid to arm himself. A fatal kitchen accident or fatal stairway accident or fatal swimming pool accident was inevitable in that case, just a gun got the kid first. Likewise the kid who offs themselves because of a post on the internet or anti-depressant use or whatever isn't "really" a gun problem, its a mental health problem, take away the gun and the kid makes a noose or takes pills and ends up just as dead, not having used a gun is very little consolation to the survivors. So file that as awkward discussion about parenting skills or whatever. If you have 300 million people in one little country Darwin will take a few but things that show up in headlines can none the less be very rare indeed. Up there with getting struck by meteors and by lightning.
- Nadya 11y ago
  1. This will differ per child. Some parents take their kids hunting/to a range when they're 9. Others wait til they're 13. Others wait til 16. Some never take their child hunting/to the range. My father took me and my brother to a firing range when we were 6 years old. Not all guns are rifles. A large assortment of handguns are reasonably dangerous to kids ages 3-7 and even the most staunch advocates for firearms recognize that. They're children - they don't know better unless taught. >what's he supposed to load it with Firearms used for self defense rather than sport should remain loaded. But that's another argument for another time. I'm not an advocate of keeping one in the chamber, though I know people who are. 2. I don't think I followed the point you were trying to make.

Children. Especially ones still a bit too young to go through proper training on the handling of a firearm.

by Nadya 11y ago

Children. Especially ones still a bit too young to go through proper training on the handling of a firearm.

VLM 11y ago

Two sensitive topics: 1) How old is wise enough? At age two there's no way a toddler can physically reach a rifle on a top shelf that weighs half his body weight and what's he supposed to load it with? On the other hand Uncle Sam handed me a M16 when I was still 17. Then the banners want 21 yrs, or 65 years, or 150 years to effectively ban in practice. There are gun safety course and familiarization classes for roughly grade school and up kids that boil down to "here take a look, no need to (dangerously) sneak when your parents aren't around, its a tool not a toy, no playing and no pretending, tell an adult if you find one laying around". Complete with coloring books and sing along songs. So the peak "danger zone" seems to be perhaps 2 to 5 years old. 2) The second sensitive topic is parenting skill. If I abandoned a two year old in a house alone with no supervision at all and he somehow dragged a folding ladder thats twice his weight into the bedroom and climbed (and how does he know how to do any of this and how does he know anything is up there anyway?) It would take a toddler a long time to figure out how to load a gun or put the bolt in or remove the trigger lock or defeat the safety or find the hidden ammo on the other side of the room or any number of technical challenges. Fundamentally you have to ask how long the little kid really had to live if it was abandoned for the hours it would take the kid to arm himself. A fatal kitchen accident or fatal stairway accident or fatal swimming pool accident was inevitable in that case, just a gun got the kid first. Likewise the kid who offs themselves because of a post on the internet or anti-depressant use or whatever isn't "really" a gun problem, its a mental health problem, take away the gun and the kid makes a noose or takes pills and ends up just as dead, not having used a gun is very little consolation to the survivors. So file that as awkward discussion about parenting skills or whatever. If you have 300 million people in one little country Darwin will take a few but things that show up in headlines can none the less be very rare indeed. Up there with getting struck by meteors and by lightning.

Nadya 11y ago
1. This will differ per child. Some parents take their kids hunting/to a range when they're 9. Others wait til they're 13. Others wait til 16. Some never take their child hunting/to the range. My father took me and my brother to a firing range when we were 6 years old. Not all guns are rifles. A large assortment of handguns are reasonably dangerous to kids ages 3-7 and even the most staunch advocates for firearms recognize that. They're children - they don't know better unless taught. >what's he supposed to load it with Firearms used for self defense rather than sport should remain loaded. But that's another argument for another time. I'm not an advocate of keeping one in the chamber, though I know people who are. 2. I don't think I followed the point you were trying to make.