RE: [Noise] was Re: Giving 6 year old kids Uzi's

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 7:54 PM 7/23/96, Bill Olson (EDP) wrote:

>I find nothing wrong with plinking. Hell, I'm from Montana--we used to
>go shooting all the time. But when the shooting was done, the guns were
>put away. What I find disturbing is that a child is taking it to school,
>or just carrying it around. I say that any parent who thinks their child
>is mature enough to carry a gun for non-recreational reasons is less
>mature than the child. In fact, I'd go so far as to say they are a
>danger to their own children.
>
>I guess I don't really have to worry too much, though. It is illegal for
>children to possess such items publicly, and any parent who condones it
>is simply breaking the law. I don't blame the child, I blame the moronic
>parent who let's it happen.

I'm _still_ missing the reference here? Just who *seriously* is proposing
that 6-year-old children carry guns to school?

(I emphasize "seriously* because there is a big difference between
seriously proposing this and obviously making a joke, a la "I say we issue
them guns after a basic safety class in Kindergarten." And I think
someone's (maybe Brad Dolan's, if I remember correctly) point that his
daughter carries a gun at school was followed immediately by mention that
she is home-schooled, i.e., at his home.)

I can imagine certain circumstances in which children could be
armed--attacking terrorists on a ranch, Indians, etc.--but no public school
in the United States, and probably not any private schools (K-12), allow
loaded guns to be carried to schools.

I'd love to see this "stupid gun thread" (to use Ernest Hua's term) die,
but it keeps living on because some here are mischaracterizing the claims
of others.

Look, handing out guns to kids playing cops and robbers at age 6 or 8 or
even 10 is probably a bad idea, but training kids at even a very young age
to respect guns and to understand their dangers and limitations--and their
advantages--is proably a good idea. In any case, the hoplophobia of some
parents is not adequate reason to stop other parents from training their
children under carefully controlled conditions.

Getting a carry permit is not easy in any state in the U.S., so the fears
that 6-year-olds are openly carrying guns to public schools is unfounded.

(Young kids carrying guns to schools _secretly_ is of course a problem.
Many of them carry crude guns out of fear that other kids are carrying
guns. The proper solution for a kid committing a serious crime with a gun
is to severely punish the child--I see no reason why a 14-year-old who
murders someone should not get the brand of justice I favor, namely, a fair
trial, no appeal except on substantive grounds, and a quick execution if
determined to be guilty of first degree murder.)

--Tim May

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