THE MOMMY FILES: Should kids be allowed to play with BB guns?

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 12/29/9 | Amy Graff

[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?

[Gilbo_3]

I cant resist askin how many A-10s the 'USN' has ever launched 8^}

Blessings to both, Merry CHRISTmas [belated], and a heartfelt "Thank You" for yer service...

[SmithL]

Brushing off this major category in such a vague way grossly undermines the validity of the article/opinion.

A child molester shot his stepson, and the article asks if kids should be given BB guns. There never was any validity to this piece.

[Gilbo_3]

once again, I seem to be the only poster that pulled a Ralphie and managed to put a BB ricochet in my eye at 13 ...hurt like hell, but didnt blind me, much less kill me...

and yes I always try to use eye protection these days...

[Jeff Chandler]

I cant resist askin how many A-10s the 'USN' has ever launched 8^}

Yeah I posted before thinking -again.

[TLI]

Allowed? Boys should be required to begin learning to shoot using BB guns.

Amen.

Dad was a Marine, Korea.

I started shooting so early I do not recall how young I actually was but it was before school. First was bb, then .22 rifle, then a H&R 8 shot .22 revolver. Only then did I go to a shotgun, a .410 double barrel which was mine on my birthday at the ripe old age of... 8.

To this day I can outshoot damn near anyone that cares to walk up and give me a try. This P.O.'s some of my friends as I never practice. And all because dad had the good common sense to get me started before mom could "make up her mind" as to when I should.

Evidently, "when you should" is about the same time a kid learns to talk pretty well, can understand what a firearm is when it's killing power is clearly demonstrated (actual hunting). For me that was about the same time as when I learned to swim, about four I would estimate.

For boys I would suggest mom is informed, not asked.

[Niteflyr]

Hell no....”you’ll shoot your eye out!” Ha hahahahaha!!!

[Niteflyr]

[nowheretohide]

I was a junior NRA member at 12 and was a member of a junior rifle club (22 target shooting). I had my own .22 magnum rifle and a .22 pellet gun. So, good training. I was familar with “A Christmas Story” because my father was a big Jean Sheppard fan. Anyway, I once shot my .22 pellet gun at a dead tree trunck at about 20 feet away. The pellet hit the tree and came straight back and hit me in the far head. Well, I was more careful after that. And, I immediately thought of the radio version of “A christmas story”. Sheppard would tell that story every christmas on the radio in the 1970’s (WOR, NY). I will let my son have a bb gun when he’s 12, but I will also get him good training. But, acidents do happen and some time you get lucky.

[FTJM]

OF COURSE.

[jospehm20]

I had one of those Ithaca model 49 for my first .22 too. My Dad re-gifted it this year to my nephew and it is his first .22 now. I had a lot of fun with that little rifle.

[gigster]

As I write this, I am looking at my Winchester Model 02-.22 1899 that I was given when I was ten years old by my father.Forty years later,I have still not shot my eye out.

I also notice, in the Al Gore photo, that the U.S. Army, in it’s infinite wisdom, did not issue him any magazines with cartridges in it.

[Red in Blue PA]

The fact that this is even being discussed as a serious question is disturbing IMO.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

A friend when I was about 6 got a BB gun and killed a bird.
His Father told him if you shoot an animal and it was not a
varmint, he had to eat it.

His Father made him clean, remove the feather, cook it and then eat it.

[MarineBrat]

once again, I seem to be the only poster that pulled a Ralphie and managed to put a BB ricochet in my eye at 13 ...hurt like hell, but didnt blind me, much less kill me...

I actually hit myself in the lip one day. I was hanging out in the woods in a place we called "The Dump", though it wasn't really a dump, but a large open place that had a small natural pond. We used to practice our marksmanship by shooting dragon flies that would hover over the water.

One day I shot a BB at an old car tire that someone had thrown into the water, and I literally watched the BB hit the tire and bounce right back and hit me in the lower lip. It was as if it was in slow motion. I was about 30-40 feet from the tire. It stung! No damage done, but lesson learned. :)

[Shooter 2.5]

To this day I can outshoot damn near anyone that cares to walk up and give me a try.

Where are you in Texas?

[DuncanWaring]

This story brings up a good question: Should young kids -- say, under age 16 -- have BB guns?

I got a BB gun for my ninth birthday, a single-shot bolt .22 rimfire for my eleventh and a .303 Lee-Enfield #5 Jungle Carbine when I was 13.