The other day I was checking out Google Video when I happened upon a movie of a little girl in the United States firing a huge machine gun. The video was produced by Cousino’s Firearms of Ohio who, from what I can work out, made it at some kind of ‘trade show.’
Now I guess it’s just a cultural difference between the UK and the USA, but to see children with guns, especially heavy artillery machine guns, makes me shake my head in disbelief. It seems kind of obscene to me to put such a weapon in the hands of one so young.
I’ll grant you that guns can be a lot of fun. I have fired a gun, a rifle in New Hampshire, it made a wickedly loud noise and gave me a real rush. I’d fire another given a chance, if for no other reason than to just experience that really loud bang again. But firearms and children, well that just doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe I’m old fashioned when it comes to firearms. But I just can’t seem to divorce them from there lethal potential.
I don’t want to be judgmental of the man who shows the little girl how to fire that weapon in the video. Maybe it was just harmless fun in a very controlled environment and that’s hard for me to understand given the fact that not even the regular cops here in the UK carry firearms. And when I do see a cop with a gun (there are a rare few) it sends a chill through me.
I find the scene of this young girl in America with the machine gun no less shocking than the pictures of child soldiers fighting wars we never hear about in places we can only identify as ‘far away.’
Aside the video below check out this TV and cinema ad that is currently showing here in the UK. I don’t know whether it would be shown in America. It’s a very funny shopping channel spoof about the AK47, but really plugs into the British relationship to guns and how they are an entirely alien thing to us.
Few Brits will have ever seen a gun up close, let alone fired one! ALL hand guns and automatic weapons are illegal here, and there are extremely tight controls on who can now a rifle and where they can keep it.
Watch the British TV and cinema commercial and see the other video I mentioned below.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 21, 2006 at 8:25 am
It’s also worth pointing out, as many of us will know, in unexpected situation one often simply watches it unfold. It happens so fast often that we don’t react how we would like to. Muggins and car accidents are a prime example.
Carrying a gun doesn’t make you safer, it doesn’t protect you better, it just means when you are unlucky enough to be mugged you’ll feel angry that you didn’t think quick enough to shoot the attacker, instead though you did what everyone else did, you just stood there and though “what the hell is happening here.”
Worse case scenario though for women, is that the gun was in your handbag, and guess what just got stolen. Congratulations, you just armed another potential killer.
I can see the enjoyment of hunting, heck I can even see the enjoyment of blowing the crap out of old cars. I just think that there should be very tight control on gun ownership. And when some gun enthusiast says to me that it’s their ‘right to bear arms’ I ask them why. They usually prattle on about the constitution, but again I ask why, as in what’s the history.I don’t know for sure, but I’d guess that guns have killed more people than they’ve freed.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 21, 2006 at 1:46 pm
Wow, at 500 pounds, that AK is a STEAL!
Just kidding, I can’t think of an ok reason to let a child that young fire an automatic weapon. I grew up on a lot of land, and had guns around me from the time I can remember. Mostly shotguns and hunting rifles. It was only after my older brother got married and began collecting a few handguns that I ever fired them. However, it’s the same as Anatomicsd said, even though I learned to shoot very early in life, it was very steeped in safety. It developed a healthy respect for what damage a gun could do, and why you would NEVER play with one. I would venture to say that most of the accidents that happen with kids coming across their parent’s arsenal is because of a lack of that understanding and healthy respect for what guns are capable of.
I won’t begin to display my lack of complete understanding of the 2nd amendmment. I believe this “right” goes back to the days when America was founded as a country of the “free”. Protection meant, among other things, protection from an oppressive government. But, that’s as far as I will go into my weak memory banks.
I don’t currently have any guns in our house (Marzooky won’t let me bring them home from my parent’s house :-) ), and I haven’t been shooting in a long time. Next time you’re in the states, maybe we can arrange an outing to a shooting range. That would be a blast!
Wrote the following comment on Feb 21, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Indeed, that would be a blast. I am fascinated by them like a lot of people, though I am VERY glad we live in a country where they are not only rare, but highly illegal.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 21, 2006 at 7:51 am
I hope that no NRA people read this because I don’t really need to be told what a ding bat I am for not believeing that the 2nd ammendment isn’t perfect. I do believe that a RESPONSIBLE person has a right to own a gun to protect his or her family. I don’t necessarily have a problem with hunting.. the PETA people can back off too, that’s a whole other issue entirely.. But I can’t think of one instance where it would be necessary for a 5 year old to open fire with a machine gun on a crowd of people or a bunch of cars. AK47s are not meant for killing a home intruder or Bambi’s mother they are meant for mass casualties. What are these people thinking showing a kid that it’s neat-o to open fire with a weapon like that for the fun and entertainment of it?How often do we hear about Harry the Happy Homeowner shooting some intruder and saving his family from some sort of violence? Not very often. How often do we hear about some kid getting ahold of Daddy’s gun and blowing away himself or his little sister, or some drugged out loon killing a clerk in a conveinence store. Too often. How do they get the guns? From irresponsible Harry the Happy Homeowners that’s how.My ex was all defensive about his right to keep and bear arms. He owned a 45 to protect his family with. Not once in 10 years did he ever point it at an intruder but there was more than one occasion that I found it pointed at my head. Almost anyone in this country can own a gun because it’s our right. I don’t agree that it should be so easy.Recently I’ve had good cause to check into buying a gun for myself. When I really thought about it, I imagined that the likelihood that it would be used on myself or someone that I cared about was greater than the likelihood that I would be able to use it to defend myself. Not because I’d be afraid to pull the trigger but because of circumstances and other factors. I chose a home alarm system, a can of pepper spray and a baseball bat. I could survive having those things turned on me, but I don’t think I could come back from a bullet in my brain.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 21, 2006 at 9:33 am
My Dad is an avid 2nd amendment buff. He can argue all day long about how it’s the peoples right to own guns if not to protect themselves against criminals but how it’s our duty as citizens to be armed in case the US government starts to act in a way that’s not in keeping with the constitution. (Like that could ever happen!). My arguement to that is that if the government decides to freak out on the American people.. His handgun isn’t going to do much against their tanks, air attacks, bombs and whatever else they decide to use. So to me that just seems kinda silly.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 21, 2006 at 11:03 am
Actually, we country cousins all learn about guns fairly early. Gun safety is part of that. I started hunting when I was six. I stopped after my father passed away. While I still have all the guns, none of them have been fired in over 20 years.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:57 pm
“Don’t be in a hurry to grow up John. Be 12 for as long as you can!” I know, I know, It’s just gonna be cool when I get there.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 22, 2006 at 2:50 am
And when you get here Jon, you’ll eventually start buying stuff that ‘take you back’ there :-)
Wrote the following comment on Feb 22, 2006 at 12:21 pm
I have to agree with what Topher said about safety. The reason why there are so many household incidents involving kids and handguns is because their parents did not teach them how to safely and properly use it. Kids are curious and want to know about everything. Simply saying don’t touch this isn’t going to keep them from getting into “Daddy’s handbox”. Teaching your kid how to have a healthy respect for firearms and how to responsibly use them, IMO, is the key. I know a Dad who took his son out and started by taking one shot to a watermelon. It of course exploded into a thousand pieces, thereby showing him that not only are guns not a game but the kind of damage they can do to a person.
Now do I advocate a kid taking an AK47 and heaving ho? Of course not. But there is a healthy balance which I think is quite achievable.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 23, 2006 at 4:45 am
Children and firearms shouldn’t mix. That’s my opinion. Though you have to temper that by the fact I am a Brit, and last year we have ZERO children with firearms accidents because we have almost ZERO adult with firearms and ZERO firearms just in cupboards and things.Handguns should be flat out illegal. They are here and I’ll leave you to guess how much of a problem gun crime and gun accidents are.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 26, 2006 at 2:47 pm
The 2nd ammendment was originally placed in the constitution so regular citizens “minutemen” could fight for their country at a moments notice. Sadly the ammendment is now being abused.If conservatives are so interested in saving children’s lives then maybe they should start with enacting Britian’s gun control laws zero tolerance rather than bomb abortion clinics.