A response to a blog post by Chris Pirillo (of TechTV fame)
Below is the video that Chris was talking about.
Worst Dad Award Nominee
You see, I live in Alabama. A lot of you probably think that this is just everyday stuff to bumpkins like me, but you …

Though I personally believe that kid’s too young (my opinion vs. the Dad’s opinion — and it is his kid, not mine) I agree that familiarity with what a gun is, how to handle one properly and safely, and, MOST important, what a gun is capable of doing, in other words, “education,” is vital.

Kids who grow up sheltered from the reality of firearms are the ones who think they can point one at someone and pull the trigger without real and tragic consequences (after all, they do the same thing all day long while playing video games, or they see it on TV and in movies, and nobody really gets hurt, right?).

I grew up with firearms around and never even CONSIDERED touching them except at the range with my father, and at home only after a day at the range, with Dad there, for maintenance. I never once showed them to my friends, not even my own (a Ruger 10/22). And holy cow, I would NEVER have thought about actually aiming a barrel toward a person. I fully understood they were not toys, or even “cool,” they were firearms that required adult supervision and the upmost care and safety.

I also understood their capabilities and that made seeing fictional use of firearms more easily understandable as pure fiction, not something I might have felt the desire to emulate (unless I wanted to be an actor or video game designer, I guess).

1) This is nuts. Completely nuts, and I say that as a gun owner. Kid is absolutely too young. He can barely stand on his own let alone hold a firearm. Yeah, I grew up in Texas and was shooting guns as a kid, but not until at least 13 when you could be taught some of the basics and fundamental safety issues. This goes for any gun (including air guns) regardless of caliber. They all can launch high speed projectiles that can maim or kill (particularly with the thin bone and skull structure of an infant) and one should have some semblance of awareness of what they are doing. The sad thing is that in much of “gun culture” there is a common lack of critical thinking ability and situations like this are not uncommon. Kids this age have no business being anywhere near a firearm of any caliber as even spall from a misfire or fragmented shell casing could do irreparable harm to someone with thin skin and bones which brings up the next two points…

2) Neither dad or kid is wearing any eye protection. Come on now, this is 2007! Speaking as a vision scientist, this sort of thing should be unconscionable. Any injury to dad, the kid or anyone around not wearing eye protection would be entirely preventable.

3) Dad is not wearing hearing protection. His choice. Not a smart choice, but his choice. There are at least two pairs of hearing protectors shown in that video. Hopefully at least the kid is wearing one pair and the mom is wearing the other.

Noone seems to be wearing eye protection. And the father isn’t wearing any ear protection. WTG Safey first…

I personally prefer the safety of a supervised range.

All of you outside the United States have to realize something, it’s people that harm people. By whatever instrument available. It is an unfortunate fact that some unstable people have access to deadly weapons. Do not condemn the majority due to the irresponsible actions of the slim minority. Weapons are a fact of life throughout the world.

A few years ago we had a vote before the people that would have required trigger-locks and training for gun owners. One of the points of the proponents of the bill was that this bill would reduced the amount of children harmed by unsecured guns. The fact was that only ONE child had been killed by an unsecured gun in the previous year and this legislation would not make that ZERO. This bill was voted down 70% to 30%. We need education not legislation.

And did I mention, it’s an absolute gas launching 230 grains of JHP downrange.

Is it wrong? I think so, just as it would be wrong to hold a kid in your lap and have him “steer” a car. But some Moms and Dads do things like that; Put ‘em on ATVs as soon as is physically possible, put ‘em on skis, take ‘em skydiving, etc.

Some Moms and Dads overmedicate their kids, over-feed them, never teach them healthy habits, etc. That Dad’s doing something I wouldn’t do, you wouldn’t do, many or most people wouldn’t do, but he’s doing it in as safe a manner as is possible considering what the activity is. It’s not like he sent the kid out hunting by himself (yet).