I had one of these babies in the early '70s. Wish I still had it to pass on to my kids. They have a BB gun my father gave them, but it's not as nice as this one was.
Posted on 12/29/2009 3:55:35 PM PST by SmithL
BB guns and other nonpowder guns are often thought of as toys, but they injure as many as 21,000 Americans each year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. On Christmas day, a Florida boy was among those who got injured this year.
It's a scene right out of Humorist Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story, only this story takes place in Palm Beach, Florida, so the cast of charters is a little different.
A boy gets a pellet gun for Christmas, and tries out his new toy by shooting his autistic cousin in the buttocks, according to the Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches news site. The boy's stepfather, Christopher Fred Cady, a registered sex offender, decides he needs to teach his stepson a lesson, so he grabs the gun and shoots the boy in the chest. Pow!
The boy ends up at grandma's house with a huge welt, and Cady ends up in jail with a child abuse charge, and he's being held without bail for failing to report a change in address or his name as a sex offender.
"Maybe Cady would have been better served to force the boy to watch the 24-hour marathon of A Christmas Story to show him what happens when you get a BB gun for Christmas. Everybody knows you'll shoot your eye out - or get popped in the chest," writes Todd Wright in NBC Miami's Weird News column.
This story brings up a good question: Should young kids -- say, under age 16 -- have BB guns?
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
When I was a kid, we all had BB guns. No problems.
I do favor running them thru a safety course first. Something like what we teach at cub scout day camp. They them have at least a passing acquaintance with gun safety and may actually think to put their safety glasses on. BB guns are for the young ones from there they usually go on to shooting one another with air soft pellets and paint balls safety glasses are a definite plus. Pointing at and shooting at other people is generally discouraged unless they are other willing participants in the game.
Proper supervision is the key. yes they should have them. The only way to teach responsibility and decision making is to let them practice.
At least he doesn’t have his weapon loaded in a war zone.
I got my first .22 for Christmas when I was 12. It came with a trigger lock, and I was allowed to have the key. I still have the gun, a Winchester 141 repeater. I just recently refurbished it and it still shoots fine. I can't wait until my grandchildren get a little older and I can take them to the range.
It was not a BB gun. There is a big difference. Some pellet guns approach low powered cartridge arms in energy of the projectile.
Boy, 6, Kills Sister With Pellet Gun
Winchester .22 lever action, great gun
With appropriate parental supervision children should be allowed to “play” with BB guns if by “play” it’s meant shooting at targets in a safe place.
Six is a bit young for most kids to handle a .22, but then again, it depends on the kid.
A couple years ago I went out shooting with my son-in-law and some friends out in the boonies. We had a variety of guns from a .22 semi-auto handgun to shotguns with skeet shooting gear. A friend had his 9-year-old boy there and that boy had better gun safety than most adults I've seen.
Oops! I realized the moment that I hit the ‘post’ button that a Warthog jockey would be proud to admit it, but a pilot of another craft would be insulted, LOL!
Besides, that plane is too pretty to be an A10.
They should have them much sooner - as soon as they are strong enough to load them, cock them and pull the trigger is about the right age.
By the time they are 16 they should have already had their NRA Safety Training card and their first .22 and .410 shotgun for several years.
We already have more than enough GFW's (Gun Fearing Wussies). We don't need to raise any more generations of youngsters into adults who are afraid of a pointed finger or a pencil drawing of a gun.
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Allowed? Boys should be required to begin learning to shoot using BB guns.
He was playing with other kids in the neighborhood in a sand pile. Older boys came up and decided to “see what the gun would do” is what we later learned. At first, we were told that he “fell forward” just as the gun was shot into the sand pile. It was just a tragic case of teenage boys being teenage boys and Stephen paid the price.
When I was a kid, we all had BB guns. No problems.
At ten I got my first shotgun, a brand-new Winchester model 37 .410 single shot.
Over the next year, I killed about 75 grouse of varying kinds for the dinner table. The following Fall a Caribou fell to a punkin'ball.
The next year, when I was twelve, we moved to the Homestead and that .410 became my constant companion. It put a lot of meat on the table.
I must have had terrible parents.
I lost a classmate at 12 from a ricochet of a .22 bullet. The other classmate who fired the round never recovered from having been somewhat responsible for the tragedy.
Sometimes the cards just aren’t fair.
I assume this term includes paintball guns, which will leave a welt and are designed for shooting at people in competitive fun. Brushing off this major category in such a vague way grossly undermines the validity of the article/opinion.
One of my childhood friends did shoot themselves in the eye. We laugh about it every Christmas.
And he did recover. And spent twentyfive years in the ANG. He learned how to shoot all over again. And this time he did not shoot himself, much to everyone’s amazement.
I had one of these babies in the early '70s. Wish I still had it to pass on to my kids. They have a BB gun my father gave them, but it's not as nice as this one was.
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