Dallas Gun Store Opens “Kids Corner” (throwing up in disgust)

[donsu]

http://www.gunguys.com/?p=1415




With gun guys around the country trying to put the hunting age as low as eight years old, it’s almost predicatable that one gun store in Texas has actually created a kids’ section.

You’re never too young for a gun, says Beverly Melton.

“A lot of guys come in and want to buy a Crickett as soon as they find out their wives are pregnant,” she said, showing off small-caliber rifles in the “Kids Corner” of the Garland, Texas, gun shop she owns with her husband, Steve.

Flanked by bandanna-print curtains with displays set against faux-weathered paneling, the Western-themed nook is designed to appeal to bored youngsters tagging along with parents.

Baskets filled with pompoms and foam footballs rest on the floor. Decorative touches, including sheriff-style gold stars, sparkle on the walls.

But it’s the firepower that catches the eye.

Buyers have a range of choices, including a hot pink .22 rifle if it’s a baby girl, or a 20-gauge shotgun for an older child.

-snip-

Guns and kids are a horrible mix– tragedy after tragedy has made that extremely clear to families all around the country. By marketing guns to children, gun companies and dealers are slapping those families in the face, and putting even more innocent lives in danger.
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ignorant madness - call it child abuse

[Selatius]

1. I'm mixed on this.

I'm a big advocate of gun safety education, but I'd rather kids not be enticed into the issue because it looks "fun." So many people would not be dying each year if it weren't for the ignorance surrounding gun safety. Gun regulations in America are scatter-shot and insufficient.

[donsu]

2. a hot pink gun for a baby girl birth present? insane

nt

[LynneSin]

6. Guns are not fricking candy and fun xmas presents

If parents want their children to have a healthy respect for guns then enroll them in a local gun saftely class NOT give them their own hot pink mini-rifle.

[Xithras]

14. Lol! But guns ARE fun!

Seriously, there wouldn't be so many gun owners in the US if shooting weren't fun and challenging. Learning to handle it, hitting your target while keeping control over a bucking rifle, the thrill of the bang. My kids have enjoyed shooting since they were little...heck, going shooting is the only thing that will pry my son away from his video games without starting an argument. It's one of his favorite things to do.

[SteppingRazor]

3. "hot pink .22 rifle" ...

Dude, I am soooo getting one of those :evilgrin:

[meldroc]

4. This strikes me as irresponsible, but kids can be educated responsibly.

My sister has had my niece and nephew take hunter safety classes, where they actually get to shoot rifles and shotguns, and learn proper firearms safety. It helps take the "forbidden fruit" factor away from weapons, and IMHO, prevents accidents.

[Solo_in_MD]

5. Im a radical and think firearms training should be like sex ed. mandatory

and done at different grade levels for the protection of children.

[Greyhound]

40. It used to be in AZ. In fact, it was right after my "health" class. n/t

[-..__...]

7. I think it's a great marketing idea.

If it gets kids more interested in shooting sports and firearms safety, I'm all for it.

Screw "The Gun Guys" and their bug-eyed, drama queen, hand-wringing drivel.

[slackmaster]

8. Barbie's First AR-15?

I likes it!

But the A1 style handgrup really doesn't go with the A2 upper receiver.

[-..__...]

12. Probably easier for smaller hands to hold on to.

The shortened RRA "Tactical Entry" butt stock is a nice touch.

[benEzra]

37. I suspect the pink foo-foo coloration is a bit of wry stereotype-smashing

sort of tweaking the nose of the "little girls are supposed to play with dolls" paradigm.

This reminds me of a thread on the High Road a while back, in which a family showed up at the range with their youngish daughter and her purple-stocked AR with a shorty stock. As I recall, she proceeded to outshoot every adult male on the firing line, including a couple of military reservists getting some range time. Girl power...

[Buns_of_Fire]

17. LOL! I was scrolling down the thread and I saw the gun...

...and said to myself, "Ah, we need a KalashniKitty pic in here!"

Then I scrolled down another half-page, and THERE THE LITTLE SUCKER WAS!

I smiled. :thumbsup:

[deaniac21]

9. I started hunting squirrel with a .22 at eight years old. This was

common in Arkansas. I never heard of an accident with a kid because we were trained to respect what we were doing.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. I went on my first hunting trip at 7

with an adult, of course.

I don't have a problem with gun safety being taught to kids. IMO a lot of the probels we have stem from the fact that kids aren't being taught gun safety.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

11. I don't have a problem with it.

Kids need to be better educated on guns. That would cut down on gun accidents. What's the big deal if the kid has their own gun, provided they recieve education on it.

Anyway, I really want a hot pink .22 now. Our guns are so boring and brown looking.

[brentspeak]

20. If a kid's gun is locked away, and can only be used in the presence

of an adult, then I don't see the problem with a child owning a firearm. But if a kid has unlimited access to his firearm -- for every 50 kids who would resist the temptation to go firing their gun irresponsibly, there's going to one kid out there who's not going to use it responsibly.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

22. Well to me, that just goes along with responsible gun ownership.

Hell, there aren't even any kids in the house here and we don't keep ammo around.

[Xithras]

13. Two of my three kids have their own rifles.

The third doesn't have one because he's only two. He HAS been to the range with me already though :) My 12 year old daughter has been shooting since she was six, and has had her own rifle since she was eight. My eight year old son went shooting with me the first time at FOUR, and likewise was given his first rifle for his eighth birthday. They're not pink or camo or anything like that, but basic little .22 plinkers that we use for target shooting.

Rabidly trying to keep kids away from guns is like trying to keep kids from alcohol, sex, or drugs. You simply create an aura of mystery around it, and turn it into something to latch onto when they want to rebel. Just like alcohol, sex, and drugs, the better reaction is education and knowledge.

BTW, the most effective way to train a kid about the dangers of firearms is still the cantaloupe. Kids who aren't exposed to firearms often have unrealistic ideas about the kind of damage they do (they dramatically underestimate it). With both of my kids, I set a cantaloupe on a fencepost and shot it with my .45, pointing out to them that the cantaloupe will react about the same way as a human head. When the cantaloupe explodes, they gain a deep appreciation for the destructive danger of a firearm.

[LynneSin]

16. If only more parents were like you with regards to firearms

I have no problem with guns

I have problems with people who have no idea what they're doing with the guns

[Sgent]

15. Wow... memories

I remember getting my first gun (a .410 shotgun) for my 9th or 10th birthday, and getting a 20-gauge and a .308 rifle within a couple of years of that.

I had already completed a hunter saftey class, and I went dove hunting before school during the fall...

Speaking of which, dove season opens next weekend... Mmmm.... dove.

[Horse with no Name]

18. I've never understood why the dove--as a symbol of peace--was

made into a bird to hunt.:shrug:
Not judging you--since it is legal and all--I just never got that.

[Xithras]

23. People have been eating them since before they were a symbol.

FYI, the dove as a peace symbol is fairly recent. If I remember the story correctly, Pablo Picasso did an outline of one of his pet pigeons in the early 1900's. Decades later (WWI or WWII I think) he was asked to contribute something to the anti-war movement. Since there are few birds in warzones, the presence of birds means that an area is at peace...so he felt that the bird was a great symbol for the peace movement. He renamed the piece after a dove to tie it in with the old biblical story of Noah (the Jews and Christians have intermittently used the dove as a symbol of renewal for thousands of years). His simple drawing of the dove and olive branch became very well known as a symbol of peace, and pushed thousands of other artists into creating their own rendition.

But people were eating doves long before Picasso came onto the scene, and they weren't going to stop simply because a French artist decided to make them into a political symbol. Why not? Because dove is tasty!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

19. I'm with you, donsu...

Too many guns in the hands of too many people who have no business having sharp objects muchless guns.

ONGOING ESSEX COVERAGE: TEACHER SHOT AT ESSEX ELEMENTARY

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2473642

Essex shooting update: Two dead, four injured - 5:54 p.m.

August 24, 2006

By WILSON RING
Associated Press Writer

ESSEX, Vt. (AP) - A man police said was involved in a domestic dispute shot and killed two people, including one at a school, and injured four others Thursday, including himself.

"At this point the scenes are secured and the community is safe," Police Chief David Demag said about two hours after the incident was first reported. "We have a suspect in custody. The suspect has identified himself as the only shooter. He is secure."

Demag said the four injured people, including the shooter, were taken to an area hospital. Their conditions were not immediately known. Police scheduled a news conference for 7 p.m., saying more information would be released then.

Demag said there were three separate shooting scenes. The first shooting, which was fatal, was at a home on Standard Road, Demag said. The shooter then went to the Essex Elementary School, where he fatally shot one person and wounded two others.

more: http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060824/NEWS/60824008

[KingFlorez]

21. This is insane

Kids shouldn't have guns, it's just not safe.

[benEzra]

31. The gun is legally the parent's until the child is of age...

and the gun is stored where the child does not have access to it.

The reason child-sized rifles are sold is that you CANNOT teach a child to shoot a rifle using an adult-sized rifle, unless your rifle has one of those "evil" adjustable-length stocks. The stock has to be sized to fit the shooter.

The kid's guns I have seen are single-shot (no magazine) bolt-action .22 rimfires. Meaning, you can only load one round at a time (useful for teaching purposes, from a safety standpoint) and you can shoot ammunition in the BB-gun power range (.22 primer-only loads) up through regular .22 rimfire ammunition, such as might be used for squirrel hunting.

On a per-owning-household basis, a swimming pool is between 10 and 100 times more dangerous to your child than a gun, depending on what age cutoff you look at.

[madville]

24. I really don't see a problem

I really don't see a problem with it. Exposing children to firearms and training them properly helps them develop a healthy attitude towards firearms and teaches respect and responsibility. When I was six I received my first firearm, a H&R .410 youth model. Within a few years after that I had a 10/22, a Win. 30-30, and a Ruger Single Six revolver. I was deer hunting alone with the 30-30 when I was nine. The thing with that is firearms safety was drilled into me since day one. When I was about ten my dad gave me a wooden gun cabinet for Christmas and I got to keep all my firearms in my room and we both had keys.

Thinking back to when I was a kid there was nothing mysterious about firearms, they were tools for hunting and sport shooting. When I became an adult I broadened my interest and use of firearms to include things like collecting antiques and concealed carry.

There is no difference between adults and kids, some have common sense and display some degree of responsibility and some do not. There are several kids of friends of mine that I would rather go bird hunting with than some of the idiot adults I know, they are much more safe and have more sense.

[T Town Jake]

25. "call it child abuse" my ass...

...I got my first shotgun, a break over 4-10, when I was nine, and my first rifle, an AR-7 when I was twelve.

If you don't want your children around firearms, and educated about safety and handling regarding same, fine. But not all families in this great big country march to the same drummer as "donsu."

It's something to keep in mind.

[KamaAina]

26. Remember, guns don't kill kids, kids kill kids.

:sarcasm:

:puke: :puke: :puke:

Hey, I know! Maybe the gun stores in Colorado, y'know, like near Columbine, can have "Kids' Corners" too! :sarcasm:

[madville]

27. that really works

Maybe they should stop selling toy and remote control cars to kids in areas where people have died in traffic accidents, great logic :eyes:

[KamaAina]

42. These are not toy guns

"A lot of guys come in and want to buy a Crickett as soon as they find out their wives are pregnant," she said, showing off small-caliber rifles in the "Kids Corner" of the Garland, Texas, gun shop she owns with her husband, Steve.

Buyers have a range of choices, including a hot pink .22 rifle if it’s a baby girl, or a 20-gauge shotgun for an older child.

So who gets the dealership for one-third-scale Hummers to be sold to eight-year-olds? :sarcasm:

[RB TexLa]

28. There are minimum ages for hunting?

When did this come about?

[madville]

29. depends on the state I guess

Depends on state laws probably. Some places don't trust young hunters with firearms.

[Richard Steele]

30. Ever since states began requiring 'hunting licenses'.

[benEzra]

32. Crosspost from a ban-guns website...

so it shouldn't be surprising that they don't like teaching kids to be responsible gun owners as adults. They want to ban guns, not teach people how to responsibly use them.

[stepnw1f]

33. Marketing to Children Like Big Tobacco?

"Hey... it's not the cigarrette that kills, it's the person smoking it."

Don't we have enough problems as it is? The gun culture is really disturbing and ridiculous. I'm sure the gun industry is happy though. More idiot parents to sell guns to in pink for girls! How... nice.

[benEzra]

36. While I think making girls' guns in foo-foo colors is a bit silly...

these guns aren't marketed to children. They are marketed to parents who want to teach their kids gun safety and marksmanship. They are advertised to adults, and sold in adult venues like gun stores and the sporting goods counter at your local big-box store, not in the toy department.

Unlike cigarettes, guns are EXPENSIVE (a Cricket single-shot .22 bolt-action rifle is $100-$200, as I recall). You also have to be 18, show a state-issued ID, pass an FBI background check in order to buy one from a gun store, and usually have to be 18 to buy ammunition.

Show me a second-grader with a valid driver's license who can fill out a BATFE Form 4473, pass an NCIS records check, and plunk down $150 for a single-shot .22 rifle...

[donsu]

34. I'm anti gun for children - actually, I'm anti gun period, except for

cops in some rare situations.

a better world would be gun free.

and I don't think it is good for children to play violent games where they have to kill something to win/play the game.

and a pink rifle for a girl is obscene.

(assigning pink and blue colors to male and female children is screwy)

[benEzra]

35. My 5-year-old daughter prefers black...

and I don't think it is good for children to play violent games where they have to kill something to win/play the game.

I agree 100%.

and a pink rifle for a girl is obscene.

(assigning pink and blue colors to male and female children is screwy)

My 5-year-old daughter prefers black. :)

She's already claimed this one as hers when she's 18, if we still have it:



She'll learn to shoot it (safely and responsibly) long before then.

[stepnw1f]

41. Talk about Militarizing Society

Now guns are seen as just another toy. Goddamn this country is in really big trouble, and the gun industry is laughing it's ass off.

There is a reason guns are frowned upon in big cities, and for a really good reason too. This isn't the "wild West" anymore. People live right next to you.

[Junkdrawer]

44. Here's the problem with gun threads....

The majority of folks who want gun control are busy with other issues and pay little attention. The pro-gun crowd, however, will show up in force on ANY gun thread, no matter how ridiculous.

[Matariki]

38. I used to shoot guns at my grandparents farm from the time i was 6

my aunt taught me all about gun safety before letting me shoot. I'm sure a gun in my hands at that age was safer than in the hands of an adult who was never taught how to use one.

[Greyhound]

39. I learned to how handle a firearm safely and to shoot when I was

six. I've never had an accident, don't hunt, and still shoot regularly. Kids that make the papers by accidentally shooting their friends and relatives are invariably ignorant of firearms and firearm safety.

I think it is similar to the abstinence only classes, all it produces is tragedy through ignorance. Firearms are a fact of life in this country, and to keep your children ignorant of what they are and what they can do is a recipe for the disaster that we see every day.

BTW, neither my sister nor I ever had toy guns, because my parents, rightly IMO, felt that if you give kids the idea that you can shoot a gun with no consequences they will. OTOH, small children "get it" right away when they see what guns really do, and most of the time lose interest in them because they are loud and scary.

[LWolf]

43. My region is big on outdoor sports.

Hunting, fishing, skiing, white water rafting, hiking, rock-climbing, we have it all. Most of the kids growing up here attend gun safety courses and many hunt with their families. I'm glad they have gun safety courses; it only makes sense, if they are going to have guns in the house. Most take the course at 11 or 12. A colleague was just talking about this last spring; he waited until his son was 14, 2 years "behind" everyone else, because he wanted the extra 2 years of maturity, and hasn't regretted it. What he regretted was the number of 5 and 6 yo kids in the course with his son.

How anyone thinks a kid that young could possibly be mature enough for "gun safety" is beyond me.

Marketing? It's reprehensible, and I wish there was a way to curb it.