Re-posted from a couple years ago.
In my little town about 30 miles outside of Rome there was a carnival. They were celebrating the patron saint or some political holiday, but it was just like what you have in the States. There were kiosks with ring-toss games, dart throwing, a merry-go-round, bumper cars, all the usual. I was walking through the place holding my 7-year-old boy’s hand when we looked to the left and both of us saw the shooting gallery. Alessio practically let out a yelp for joy, pulling me by the hand in that direction . . .
I considered the next move on my part. Pulling him away from the evil guns might make them even more attractive, although that seemed unlikely given the level of his enthusiasm. Now, a little background is that he’d had almost no exposure to toy guns and none at all to real guns.I never prohibited them in our house but we never bought any either. Some of his little friends have surely had them and he’s seen some on TV, although he’s not too into that, so the exposure was about as minimal as it could be. For a kid with so little experience with guns to be as excited as he was to get his hands on one, shocked me a little or more than a little.
As we approached the booth, I saw a rifle on one side and a handgun, like a 9mm on the other. They were attached to something with cables. They were both very realistic looking, as it turned out, airsoft guns with the CO-2 cartridge that shoot those yellow plastic pellets a little bigger than a BB. At least that’s what I figured they were.
Alessio unhesitatingly picked up the handgun, immediately putting his finger on the trigger. I’m laughing right now recalling my reaction. I wondered, where in the hell did he learn that from, is it innate?
I quickly took control of the gun which he had pulled back close to his chest aiming at the ceiling at about a 45 degree angle. I thought, kind-of laughing to myself at the absurdity of it, OK now is the moment to teach him some gun safety. I’m flexible, right?
I showed him how to take his finger off the trigger and extend it along the gun outside the trigger guard, and I told him never point the gun at anything but the target. I repeated those two points, released my grip on the gun and told him to go ahead.
He fired three or four shots holding the gun back almost to his chest when I said wait a minute and physically extended his arm for him. I placed his left hand on the gun to steady it and told him to continue. From there he hit the targets, soda cans they were, with almost every pellet and won a prize.
Reflecting back on it, I’ve had a few thoughts . . .
The plastic pellets actually put holes in the coke cans after enough hits. How dangerous those air soft guns are, and how realistic looking. They need to be controlled exactly like real firearms. That was one thought. The other was about my boy and how can I best teach him to not get hurt with guns in the future, and I mean get hurt in the widest possible sense. Obviously, never addressing the subject and hoping it never comes up won’t get it. We live in the real world and he’s definitely going to run into guns throughout his growing-up life.
The truth is I’m at a loss. I don’t have a clear plan on how to teach him the things he needs to know without increasing the mystique and fascination and attraction that are inherent in the using of guns. What do you think? Any ideas? I don’t necessarily want him to be a gun control enthusiast when he grows up, which is what I consider myself, but I certainly wouldn’t want him to be enthusiastic in the other direction.
There is nothing wrong with teaching kids about guns. I'm anti-gunsuck, but wish that I was able to do that. I tried to take my kids to a range at a gun shop in Belleville, IL, once. When we got there, we were told that the cost was 18/hour/person. Plus gun rental, it would have probably cost $100. So we left, and went to the local archery range, where we got by for about $20 for an hour.
ReplyDeleteYou call teaching children how to use guns child abuse. How is this any different? Of course, the good news is that children find their own way eventually.
ReplyDeleteGreg's idea of teaching children about guns, is the post you had about terrorists teaching their 3 year old to kill with a gun, which Greg thought was a great idea, No surprise for a criminal like Greg.
DeleteMike, Greg make a good point. My father allowed no guns in the house as was his prerogative, though he did not begrudge my learning to shoot through the Boy Scouts. Making a big deal of it will cause it to be an attraction.
ReplyDeleteDid you also like Greg's nasty sarcasm in comparing what I did in this post to the ones that I call child abuse?
Delete"I'd like to know what kind of shotgun a 10-year-old can fire? It couldn't possibly be the normal weapon that adults use. The recoil is too much.
DeleteBur, even if it were recoilless, it would still be child abuse in my opinion."
http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2010/11/child-abuse-in-england.html
Or perhaps you want to limit it to airsoft guns. You made a post of a child shooting an airsoft gun and tagged it child abuse. And Baldr supported your position. Again, I think you handled your son's interest well.
http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2013/06/bullying-gun-nut-dad-forcing-frightened.html
You didn't really answer me. Do you find inconsistency in my frequent use of the "child abuse" remark and this post where I described how I'm trying to deal with my son? Greg claims that he does, but I suspect he's just trying to poke me a bit. What do you think?
DeleteMikeb, you post articles about parents teaching their children about guns and call that child abuse, even though no one is harmed, and the children learn a valuable skill. Since that's child abuse to you, everything must fall under the definition.
Delete"You didn't really answer me. Do you find inconsistency in my frequent use of the "child abuse" remark and this post where I described how I'm trying to deal with my son?"
DeleteIt is inconsistent when you look at it out of context. You did mention that this event with your son took place a couple of years ago. On thing you can count on from children, especially your own, is inconsistency. Children also have a natural talent for getting parents to do things they wouldn't normally do. I think its a form of hypnosis since it usually involves them looking you in the eyes with "that" look.
How that worked out for you long term is unknown. You might have one who makes you want to do that just to see him smile, (got one of those) or one that uses decisions you made against you. (got one of those too)
Did you think that this kind of thing was child abuse after you let your son shoot at the fair? After reading your story, the only difference I see between what you did and that guy in the picture I cited was the venue.
Who knows, that guy in the picture might have been one of those "reasonable" gun owners you claim support more gun laws. And you called him a child abuser.
Greg says "and the children learn a valuable skill." But that's precisely where you're wrong.
Deletess, you really are full of shit sometimes, you know that?
DeleteGreg thinks teaching a 3 year old to kill with a gun, is acceptable. That's easy to understand since Greg is a lying criminal.
DeleteI tell you what, oh brave Anonymous, why don't you give us your notion of when it's acceptable to teach a minor to use a firearm? I've never said that children should be taught how to murder, but hunting, target shooting, and self-defense are certainly good skills. Since children mature at different rates, I'll leave it up to the parents to decide when it's time.
DeleteI love your lie this time: hunting is not killing. Thanks for the laugh.
DeleteIf you're going to accuse someone of lying, you should wait awhile, instead of making the accusation when the evidence to the contrary is right there in the previous comment.
DeleteI tell you what: Show me where I said that hunting is not killing. If you can do that, I'll let go the fact that you didn't answer my question.
"I've never said that children should be taught how to murder, but hunting, target shooting, and self-defense are certainly good skills."
DeleteYou just said hunting is not killing. I'm still laughing. Now you try to answer a question. You never have, at least not the question I have been asking for weeks. A coward like you ducks questions. I just answered your, although, since you refuse to answer any question I ask, I will refuse in the future to answer yours. I won't play your cowards game.
And of course, no reply from the lying coward.
DeleteHunting is not killing, brilliant.
"Hunting is not killing, brilliant."
DeletePerhaps a better term is that hunting isn't homicide. Steve, the gun control lobby often does flips and twists to make themselves appear reasonable by always reminding the audience that they support sport shooting and hunting. Perhaps its so they don't get associated by the PETA crowd.
Greg is correct that he didn't say that hunting is killing. He said this:
"I've never said that children should be taught how to murder, but hunting, target shooting, and self-defense are certainly good skills."
You seemed to throw the killing part in there yourself. Happens to me at times too. You have every right to equate hunting and killing of that is your personal opinion. However, most will agree there is a difference between killing an animal and murder.
The whole idea of the hunt is to kill the prey. Your twisted deffinition is to hide reality. Greg is wrong. Hunting is killing, you can use any dishonest term you want to justify it.
Delete