I don’t understand.
I don’t get it.
It makes no sense to me.
How did our culture, our community, our society, our beloved country, come to believe that all guns are good, and that all people should be allowed to shoot them at will? How did we ever come to accept the bizarre idea that the more armed we are, the safer we will all be?
I just don’t understand.
I’ve written about this before. I’ve written about the fact that I live in a rural community where many people hunt for deer, turkey, ducks, even black bears. Most of the hunters I know eat the meat that they procure. I get that. I admire it. I even enjoy it when I get a chance to eat some fresh turkey or deer.
Guns for hunting= makes sense to me!
And I even understand those people who tell me that they like to shoot guns “for sport”. Ok. It doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun to me, but neither does bungee jumping or playing football or catching catfish with my bare hands. If people want to go to a legally registered gun range or gun club and shoot a weapon at a non-living target, go for it.
Whatevah. To each his own, right?
As long as “each” is an adult who understands the repercussions of his actions, that is. As long as “each” shooter is old enough to give informed consent.
I mean, we live in a society that tells 19 year old men and women that they are not yet adult enough to handle a beer. We tell everyone under the age of 18 that he or she is not yet mature enough to consent to sexual activity, not matter how deeply in love he or she may feel. We tell them that they are not yet old enough to give informed consent to actions that we deem to be detrimental to their health.
So why, for the love of all that is good and sacred, do we happily put absolutely horrifically lethal weapons into the hands of our 8 and 9 year old children? WHY?
I teach ten and eleven year olds. I know very very well how illogical and how impulsive and how fragile those young people are this very tender age.
Anyone who believes that it is morally right to put an Uzi into the hands of such a little being is a self-serving idiot in complete denial about the purpose of such a terrible, lethal machine.
I am willing to bet that the parents who take their prepubescent children to the gun range and hand them an automatic weapon are also parents who make sure that the very same children have all of their shots. I bet that those children rode in car seats and booster seats until they reached the proper weight to ride safely with only a seat belt.
I am willing to go out on a limb and wager that the majority of those kids wear bike helmets when they ride around the block.
So what the hell gives with the damn guns?
How did this happen?
How did well allow the NRA to convince us that it is “fun” to let a little girl put down her dolls and pick up a deadly weapon?
I don’t blame that poor little child, whose life is now irreparably broken. I don’t even blame her parents. I blame every single member of the US government who took a dollar (or a million) from the NRA and who looked the other way as more and more weapons were allowed to flood our streets.
And I blame every single responsible adult who doesn’t stand up right now and say that enough is enough.
If we really want to tell the world that we love our children, we need to outlaw these weapons of mass destruction. Or at least take them out of reach until the age of informed consent.
Empty Nest, Full Life 
First of all the idea that we are safer the more armed we are probably comes from our founding fathers who created the second amendment. I’m sure they had their reasons. Not saying I agree with it, it’s just the way it was, and still is I guess.
Secondly, who is putting an Uzi in a second grader’s hands? I feel like I’m missing some vital new story here?
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I actually truly and deeply believe that those famous FF’s were trying to insure that a central government wouldn’t be allowed to disarm local militias. When the words were written, there was no federal army yet. All defense was local, and we had just fought a revolution.
And the story is at CNN.com. I can’t even repeat it to you.
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Momshieb,
We let children drive race cars, ATVs — and unfortunately sometimes they or the people they are with are killed.
We let children swim in lakes and rives – and unfortunately sometimes they or the people they are with drown. I would guess that more adults are killed trying to keep kids from drowning then are ever killed by children using firearms.
I don’t agree with very young children shooting select fire weapons but that has to be based on their physical ability to handle it.
How did well allow the NRA to convince us that it is “fun” to let a little girl put down her dolls and pick up a deadly weapon?
Please don’t blame the NRA for something that has been going on since long before it was ever formed. Throughout the history of firearms it has been a common occurrence to let children shoot them. And yes, it is fun. There is a possibility of injury like in many other activities…but that doesn’t take away from the fact that safely shooting firearms is a fun activity.
It seems instead of reacting to the ‘gun death’ shouldn’t your focus be on irresponsible parents?
We have parents leaving children in cars and they die horrible deaths. Leaving children at home, letting them get into drugs, poison, hundreds of different deaths.
How about the irresponsible parents letting their kids get involved in gangs and drugs?
Let’s keep the focus on where it belongs – people not inanimate objects.
Bob S.
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OH, please.
Lakes and rivers equate to an Uzi, a gun designed and intended to be used by highly trained military forces? I’d love to pin the blame for this on idiot adults, believe me. But until we can regulate stupidity, I would prefer to regulate guns.
Guns kill.
Guns are designed to kill.
Guns have no purpose other than to maim and kill.
Fun and sport can be found in a million non-lethal ways.
Uzis and other similar weapons have no place in civilian life. They certainly have no place in the hands of children, who are far to young to give informed consent.
And I blame the NRA because they have opposed every single logical attempt to limit the use of weapons in this country.
I don’t “blame” the guns. I just hate the guns, and see them for what they are.
I don’t “blame” hand grenades for being dangerous either, but wouldn’t use them with my students at recess.
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I am outraged by what happened ! That childs life will forever be changed.
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What will it take for this country to realize that shooting lethal weapons is not a “sport”?
I am just so disgusted.
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I believe We are teaching fear in this country now. Morons on the right want everyone to believe that we must be afraid of other people, especially people of browner color and must be ready to kill them when they come into our neighborhoods for us because America isn’t America anymore because it is losing its whiteness. Guns are for killers. And folks who want their children to grow up to be killers are apparently going to get what they want. I have no idea how to stop this madness but we have made a business out of guns and killing in this country and business is what we seem to do so well. Every great empire has its fall. What makes us think the the USA will be so different. We are all just people after all.
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I agree with you, 100%; we live in constant fear of each other. How awful! And we fear those “foreigners” even more than our “other skinned” brethren.
But it is the idea of “guns as sport” that really horrifies me. Especially for children.
Where is the idea of Informed consent?
I would rather see teen agers engaged in consensual sex than “shooting an Uzi for fun”.
I can’t even imagine what the rest of the world must think of us.
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I have read all of your previous posts about this subject and commented on some too. You write passionately about this subject and always base your writing on information and fact. It is an emotive subject but you ALWAYS manage to cut through that and make sense. Thank you for this post.
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Thank you, my friend.
I just cannot understand how anyone could possibly think that giving guns to children is a “sport”.
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