I can understand why so many people had grave concerns about a 14 year old boy having a gun. Given all the school shootings and violent episodes, sure. I totally get that.
But let me explain. The young man in question is a licensed youth hunter. He had to take a hunter safety course when he began hunting at 12. He has to hunt with a licensed adult until he is sixteen. His father is an experienced hunter. Like Tim, his brother was taught by their father.
The boy now has a gun, but he has not been turned loose with it. The gun will be safely stored. When he visits, he will take his gun out to hunt with his father and brother.
Are our gun laws adequate? No. I can assure you that they are not. For instance, my husband gave a gun to his youngest nephew. There is no paperwork that goes with that transaction.
Should there be?
We both think so.
This is how the law reads:
Registration Laws in Pennsylvania | Giffords https://share.google/UIizHeUkCwlZo4MOi
I believe the laws need to be strengthened. It is not an opinion shared by most people. "We don't need new laws! We need to enforce the laws on the books!"
You can see that there is not a lot to be enforced.
Let's talk about personal responsibility. Tim's nephew is a high achiever in school. A happy uncomplicated kid, a boy scout whose intentions are to reach Eagle Scout like his brother. But what if he were an awkward kid? Bullied. Prone to angry out bursts. Acting out. Emotionally immature? Uses violent terminology. Should he have access to a weapon? Of course not.
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania has no laws about weapon storage in the home.
Should they? Of course. But once again, people will fight tooth and nail against any changes to existing gun laws, screaming about their second amendment rights.
The sad fact of the matter is that the law is assuming that gun owners will be responsible.
They often are not.
James and Jennifer Crumbley trials: Parents of Oxford school shooter sentenced to 10 to 15 years | CNN https://share.google/1rgmChJJG35avyWvq
Adam Lanza’s Mental Problems ‘Completely Untreated’ Before Newtown Shootings, Report Says - The New York Times https://share.google/URlnhaTw4NMTkbaMn
In the case of the Crumbleys, they were called to the school over his disturbing drawings and threats. They dismissed the concerns and allowed him access to an assault weapon.
Adam Lanza's mother likewise ignored concerns and took her son to shooting ranges to practice.
The Uvalde shooter legally bought two assault weapons on his 18th birthday. He had 1682 rounds of ammo.
If assault weapons were not legal, nearly all school shootings would have been prevented. So simple.
Except it is not.
Kids cannot legally drink until they are 21. Why should they be allowed to buy an assault weapon at 18.
Second amendment rights.
People will try to debate the definition of an assault rifle, but the fact is, no matter what you call it, no hunter needs a weapon that fires hundreds of rounds per minute.
It doesn't make sense. You are right. We are left to use our own best judgement in this, and Tim did.
Agree or disagree, the fact is that we live in an area where people hunt. My husband is a hunter. He comes from a long line of them. So does his son. So does his nephews.
We eat what he brings home. It is the way it is.
I agree with you on all statements. My son was given a gun in his teens by his grandfather and with our ok. He was taught how to handle, shoot and safety in detail before he could use it. He went on to join the army at 17 and an Army Ranger at 18. He served 23 years. I have a granddaughter in college, and she had the same safety training as the boys, she loves to hunt and killed her first hog at 14 and a deer at 15, she then learned to skin, gut and clean a deer ready to cook. She is well rounded, and her mother taught her all the things she needed to run a house, and her father taught her the hunting and handling guns and probably boys.
ReplyDeleteThe UK has very much more stringent gun laws, sufficiently draconian that many talented marksmen have been forced to train in other countries because of the restrictions. And some of those restrictions are impinging on the ability of countryside dwellers to manage vermin (and I would include deer in that category in many parts of the country).
ReplyDeleteSomewhere there must be a sensible middle way between what you describe for Pennsylvania and what we have here.
I must have commented early and missed the commentary. I live in a rural area. Our 4H program used to have a safe hunter program for kids. And the NRA used to do a lot with gun safety for young people (I am not aware of anything they do with that these days).
ReplyDeleteI am 100% on board with gun registration and safe storage of firearms. So much so that I personally believe that adults who allow juveniles access firearms through lack of safe storage should not only be prosecuted, but banned from future gun ownership. But that's not a popular opinion.
We recently had a middle school juvenile accidentally shoot his high school brother in a vehicle. They were the only two in the vehicle. This defies reason. Supposedly it was the teenagers gun. In my state he cannot purchase that gun at that age. So where did he get it?
Maybe two years ago I heard this call on my police scanner. A woman called and said she was shot by her son. Police raced to the locked house and broke in. The woman who was 8 months pregnant was making the bed with her toddler in the room. The toddler grabbed a high powered rifle that was sitting against the wall and had been modified by grampa who owns a gun store and somehow she was shot through the stomach. She was rushed to the hospital but bled to death on the way. The baby had been killed instantly. Dad was a former marine. There were not charges because this was a "tragic accident". Not in my opinion. It was an "accident" waiting to happen.
You and your husband and your brother-in-law are using what I call Right Judgement. You have evaluated the maturity of your nephew and are encouraging him to hunt safely.
And it is sad commentary that we don't have any reasonable gun safety laws in this country.
I had to add to this novel - this morning in the police log. Someone left their firearm in a room at the local motel when they checked out. The motel called the police who took it to the station and looked up the serial number and called the owner (who still didn't realize he just left it there). He was allowed to come to the station and pick it up. No charges.
DeleteI know that when guns were mentioned in a post some time ago, I was a little taken aback, but by this post I realized that your culture is different than my culture, so I wasn't aghast. We live in a rural area or at least adjacent, and I am sure that there are guns aplenty, but there are a lot of regulations too.
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge difference between hunting families with deer rifles. You don't need a highpowered automatic weapon to hunt any kind of animal.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, 14 was the common age boys - and some girls - were given their first gun so they could go deer hunting with their fathers. By then they'd been handling family guns long enough and shown they could be trusted to have their own. It was a rite of passage really. So I thought nothing about your story; all I could imagine was how surprised and proud the kid must have been. For a deer hunter, your first gun is a Big Deal.
ReplyDeleteIt’s funny because I’m very anti-gun and I’m British, and as remarked above, we have very stringent laws about firearms. But I didn’t blink when I read your previous post, because it was clear that this is a hunting rifle and you live in a hunting culture. I was more interested in the fact that William has decided he is not a hunter.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a very different culture to the one over here. After a terrible incident (committed by an adult, not a school child) handguns were banned in the UK and now even our Olympic team can’t practice here. I don’t believe shooting deaths have reduced since this. Athene
Really brilliant post, I to am British and the thought of young teens having their own gun is against all of my fibre, but our country is different to yours. I total agree no one should require an assault weapon at any time, to use one is not sport.
ReplyDeleteStill makes me open my eyes wide when I read about the easy availability of owning a gun in your country but I understand your totally different way of life.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I hope that it is one US tradition that doesn't ever cross the Pond to here!
Very well said. I live in Maine, a rural state much like your part of PA. My family were not hunters, but I grew up with my classmates bringing rifles to school during bird season so they could hit the woods the minute the bell rang and with deer hanging from front yard trees on our street. It's hard to tread the middle ground when you find yourself between those not familiar with the culture who find all guns abhorrent and those who oppose and all regulation as a knee jerk reaction. You did good.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you have said.
ReplyDeleteWell written, but I still hope that gun culture never crosses the border. Gigi
ReplyDeleteI feel so unqualified to comment on your post. I just don't understand citizens needing guns, yet alone youth. I don't understand the pleasure in hunting and killing animals, while I do recognise that animals are killed for me to eat.
ReplyDeleteIt seems comment I will do. Further, at about the age of fourteen, I had been given an air gun. I pointed it at my brother and pulled the trigger. I put a slug hole in my bedroom window. I could have taken my brother's eye out. I knew the consequences of what I was doing, yet I did it. My father had taught me about safety with guns, but he didn't mind me shooting frogs to bits in our dam. No, no. Adults with guns are bad enough. Don't put them in the hands of youth.
DeleteI don't have a problem with guns being treated responsibly and I know kids starting hunting early, not my thing, but as long as you eat it, I think it's fine.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine why Pennsylvania wouldn't require a gun safe in the home, just makes sense. You want your kids to be safe. It's the same reason we use seatbelts and car seats.
I grew up in an area of deer hunting, and the most successful hunters study habitat, are stewards of wildlife, and practice excellent sportsmanship. My immediate family did not participate, and I consider myself anti-guns. The point I agree with Debby about is that hunting can, in fact, be separated 180 degrees from irresponsible use.
ReplyDeleteBonnie in Minneapolis
You know I am married to a hunter and so of course he has guns. Are they hand guns? No. Are they assault rifles? No. Does he think those guns should be illegal?
ReplyDeleteYes.