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75
4 votes
Nov 28, 2015

To make a basic analogy, I like to compare guns with cooking knives. If you teach a kid to properly handle a sharp cooking knife when they are young they learn respect for the dangers of that knife and only use it in a safe manner. With guns, I think childhood education is vital to maintaining a safe society where people can freely carry weapons with respect to the principles of the second amendment.

Also, in crimes committed with guns you find a very high likelihood that the guns was poorly maintained or just not set up correctly at all. Police commonly find perps who load up the wrong kind of ammunition or load it incorrectly. I think this is a testament to the fact that the uneducated lack respect for the power of a gun.

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25
main reply
4 votes,
Nov 28, 2015

Teaching kids how to properly handle a gun will only make them more dangerous to themselves and to others around them. They're just kids! Teaching them things like that is expecting them to be responsible. And that's something you rarely can expect even from adults.

I agree that you need to educate your child about guns and threats. But handling a gun is too much.

The best way to prevent gun accidents is to ban all guns. They are tools, I know. But you can kill using a hammer... And it is not designed to kill people. Guns are designed just for that.

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100
2 votes,
Nov 28, 2015

Putting any kid around a gun has a potential for danger, just like knives, hammers, and any other dangerous object. We can't simply ban all dangerous objects to keep them out of the hands of kids or irresponsible people. I definitely think no parent should allow access to their guns while they aren't supervising them, but to deny access to everyone on legal grounds removes any possibility of education about these weapons. An educated child/person will be no more dangerous than a uneducated one, in fact considerably less so.

To ban guns outright only takes them out of the hands of the people who need them and in to the hands of criminals and smugglers.

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33
6 votes,
Nov 28, 2015

We can't simply ban all dangerous objects to keep them out of the hands of [...] irresponsible people - true, but we have to ban some of them. Otherwise any psychopath would be able to buy a machine gun or a bomb. There must be a limit, and I think guns are above it. Why should we educate anyone how to shoot or what guns are? Every single person knows that guns are extremely dangerous and you can easily kill a man with them. Every teenager knows it.

An educated child/person will be no more dangerous than a uneducated one, in fact considerably less so. - I'm not so sure. They will know what gun is, they will know how to use it. You see, if you have ever tried a marijuana, even once, there's a higher probability that you will try it again - only because you know it, I'm not talking about addiction. If you know how to kill, there's a higher probability you'll do it.

As for the smugglers, it is a completely different topic. We can't make thing A work improperly because thing B is flawed. We definitely should fight the criminals and smugglers. If somebody really needs a gun, he should pass some tests and I don't see a problem then.

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100
3 votes,
Nov 28, 2015

Well, let me make me an example. I owned my first pocket knife at age 4. I owned my first BB gun at age 7. I owned my first .22 semi-auto rifle at age 12 1/2. I'm now 55 years old and have *NEVER* had an occasion to shoot someone, had an accidental discharge or even a misdemeanor and I have certainly not ever considered shooting someone seriously that hasn't been a criminal aggressor. And, thanks to firearms, I've never had to defend myself against the five individuals that have attempted to rob or harm me. Display of a weapon was enough for them to decide it was time to be somewhere else doing something else.

As for "buying a bomb", what store do you shop at, Terrorists'R'Us? Criminals don't buy explosives anymore than they buy guns. They either make some improvised weapon or they steal it or they buy it from some one that has already committed that crime for them. As to "there must be some limit", can you show me one for a determined individual when information is freely available in our society? Look up some chemistry articles, go to the grocery store and a hardware store, create a bomb. Look up some more, go the same two places and spend twenty dollars more and create a deadly skin contact toxin or poisonous gas for twenty dollars. We've let those genies out of the bottle.

As for the "If somebody really needs a gun", can you predict for me when a criminal with a knife will kick down my front door and assault me? How about when it will happen to YOU? Would you want the knowledge and the gun then? Because if that is the case, you need the gun to be in your possession starting right now. The criminals that may be on their way to your house right now aren't about to let you call time out while you run out to the gun shop to make a purchase, it will have to be there, be loaded and be near you to make a difference. And they won't allow you to call time out to call 911 either. Even if you run fast enough or hide well enough to call for the police, they will likely arrive in time to draw a chalk line around your body, take some pictures, dust for prints, sample blood evidence and bag some fibers and hairs. Then they zip you up in a bag and ship you to the morgue to wait for your family to be contacted. That's what they do, it's what they CAN do in many cases.

Teaching as many as are willing of all ages to use a firearm correctly will do three things.
1. Help prevent accidents when someone finds a firearm accidentally.
2. Give them the chance to know a bit about firearms that is NOT some movie stunt hype.
3. Let them have a better grasp for their decision on whether or not they want to enjoy the freedom to own and use a firearm for sport, self - defense and as a citizen of the United States exercising a right and a responsibility our unique nation has embraced for well over 200 years.

Knowledge is really power. How is ignorance better?

Edited for typos.

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100
1 vote,
Nov 28, 2015

If your concerned about the loss of life some much why are you not demanding that Autos be ban they kill 35,000 a year, or how about knifes and clubs which kill more than guns. Instead of just repeating what the Media and a few fools cry.

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Load more (2) in reply to Morris Clyde's post (We can't simply ban all dangerous objects to keep them out of the hands of [...] irresponsible people - true, but we have to ban some of them. Otherwise any psychopath would be able to buy a machine g...)
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100
1 vote,
Nov 28, 2015

Your wrong I have two children from age 4 they were taken out and given instruction on guns and allowed to shoot from that they learned the power of a weapon and never played with one after that. Sorry experience has no substitute

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0
0 votes
Nov 28, 2015

Yes.
I live in a state known for it's hunting kids here learn about guns and hunting from there parents.
At least half the homes have here have guns.
In recent years use of guns in crime and gun accidents have gone up, BUT in that same time frame so has the number of people moving in from others states and they are the ones increasing the gun injuries numbers, at first the news would report if a family or criminal had moved here from another state they don't do that now but I wish they would.
Back in the day (70s and earlier) schools had gun safety classes and even gun teams and clubs, kids learned to respect the weapons now all they learn is guns kill and many fear them but also have a morbid interest in them.

But that is only a part of the problem, we need to teach them to respect people and life, a good man or woman does not rob, rape, or kill, we no longer teach our kids to be good people and until we do a gun class will not help.

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0
0 votes
Nov 28, 2015

Well, my father taught me to shoot a gun when I was nine years old. He showed my brother and I where they were kept in the house, and he made it very clear to us that they were only to be used in certain, emergency circumstances. We never had any gun accidents, and I think both my brother and I understood the power of the guns having fired them. My father was also very responsible about his gun use and set a good example for us.

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0
User voted No.
0 votes
Feb 5, 2016

No.

Even well-trained children and adolescents have gun accidents all the time. That's because gun accidents aren't just about knowing how to shoot (and basic gun safety), but also about things like a child being afraid or startled or wanting to show off to friends.

Just the risk that a child could mistake someone as an intruder and shoot them is a very terrifying prospect.

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