New York lawmaker wants children banned from gun shows

Personal Liberty ^ | January 26, 2015 | Sam Rolley

[Teotwawki]

One New York state lawmaker believes that allowing children younger than 12 to attend gun shows increases the possibility that the youngsters will be future perpetrators of firearm crimes.

Concerned that the firearms industry is making firearms and shooting sports too appealing to children, Hell’s Kitchen-area New York state lawmaker Linda Rosenthal wants to ban children from entering gun shows.

“As the gun industry prepares a public campaign to broaden the appeal of guns, it is important that we establish reasonable age limits for admission to gun shows by children,” the lawmaker said in a memo attached to her proposal. “Within New York State and other areas of jurisdiction, we have myriad regulations that seek to protect minors from exposure to certain potentially dangerous situations and influences.”

Rosenthal reasons that children should be restricted from gun shows in much the same way they’re restricted from “watching films or playing certain video games that portray deadly weaponry and gunplay.”

“Currently, however, minors of any age may gain unfettered access to a gun show,” she lamented in the memo.

Rosenthal’s legislation makes no provision for youth gun show attendance with a parent or guardian, simply stating that it would, “PROHIBIT ENTRANCE TO THE GUN SHOW OF ANY PERSON WHO IS UNDER THE AGE OF TWELVE YEARS OF AGE.”

“As our State continues to look for solutions to violence involving guns, we must begin by limiting the exposure of young children to these weapons and their capabilities,” the New York lawmaker said in her memo.

Guns.com tried unsuccessfully to get Rosenthal to explain how the proposed legislation would affect her Manhattan constituents.

The website noted:

In researching four different gun show listing sites to include Gunshow Monster, American Gun Shows, Gunshows USA, and Gunshow Trader, of the more than 60 shows listed in New York state so far for 2015, few if any are in Manhattan. In fact, the closest shows listed to Rosenthal’s district are in Long Island, some 50 miles away, leading to the conclusion that by far the biggest impact for her bill would be in other parts of the Empire State.

What Rosenthal’s legislative proposal would do — even if only in the smallest of ways — is make it more difficult for firearms enthusiasts and sportsmen in New York’s many rural regions to pass along traditions of responsible gun ownership. More often than not, lifelong gun owners are responsible gun owners. And what better place to encounter some of these folks than at a local gun show?

Certainly, Rosenthal is capable of imagining a worse scenario for a young person’s earliest encounter with guns than the “situations and influences” at a civic center full of folks who understand the devastating consequences of improper firearm use.

[Pollster1]

There should be age limits on attendance at gun shows - as a parent, I always decided when my kids were old enough to attend safely. I’m sure Linda Rosenthal’s mommy will let Linda know when she is old enough to attend safely. We don’t need government to take the place of parents.

[StoneWall Brigade]

Awful!