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AIBU?

To be staggered to find that (real) guns are made specifically for young children to use, and that parents buy their (under 7's) real guns?

39 replies

Lilka · 02/05/2013 15:16

I saw this awful story on the news today here a 5 year old boy shot his 2 year old sister dead :(

But I was more stunned and in complete disbelief to read that the gun was the 5 year olds own gun, bought as present for him, and more specifically a rifle designed to be a young childs first gun

The gun manufacturers have a photo board on their website showing pictures of children using their guns here you can also see the pictures in the article above . Little girls no older than 5/6 posing in their lounges with what looks like a toy gun - pink and girly. Except it isn't a toy. It's fucking real. It's fucking designed for that child to use, in all it's Barbie pink glory.

What the fuck?! Seriously [socked]

AIBU to be seriously shocked by this. And AIBU to be shocked that any parent could think it a good idea to buy their toddler/preschooler/young child a real gun of their own? How many brain cells short are you?

RIP Caroline Starks. Your grandmother stated to the press that it must have been your time to die. But it wasn't. You wouldn't have died if your brother hadn't had a gun. As a grandmother that made me cry :(

OP posts:

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MrsTerryPratchett · 02/05/2013 15:25

I don't understand why they refer to it as an accident. If I left a lighter and some lighter fluid with my two year old, I would rightly be blamed and possibly prosecuted if she died. Why is this not seen as the same? They left a child with a deadly weapon.

Don't even want to touch the issues with gun control.

Poor, poor children. Because, let's not forget that this 5 year old will remember killing his sister. I cannot imagine what that will do to him.

MrsGeologist · 02/05/2013 15:30

What the SCUTTERY FUCK do people think they are doing, giving young children fucking guns!?

Sirzy · 02/05/2013 15:32

It's scary and even scarier is the laid back attitude of the Americans (speaking very generally) as if it is some sort of accident in the park rather than a child being shot by another

feckawwf · 02/05/2013 15:36

This is what shocked me too! It's very sad but admit I blame the parents, what do they expect letting a 5yr old have a real gun! At first I thought it meant it was a toy gun

5madthings · 02/05/2013 15:39

Yanbu i was/am horrified by this.

Do the manufacturers of these guns have no fucking morals at all?! Who the fuck designs and makes guns for chikdren?!! And godknows why anyone would buy them, the whole thing horrifies me.

My ds4 is 5 and my dd is 2, so i can imagine it all too easily, that poor girl and her brother who will now have to grow up knowing he killed his sister :(

LastTangoInDevonshire · 02/05/2013 15:40

'Tis America folks - now you know what Obama is up against in his attempts to reform the gun laws.

MansView · 02/05/2013 15:41

it's a fucked up situation... :(

worldgonecrazy · 02/05/2013 15:48

Guns are not toys, so why do they need to be in pink for girls. I've seen pink camouflage coloured guns at shows. Guns are weapons used for killing other animals. I have guns and I would never leave a child alone with guns. I won't even let toy guns be used in a jokey way and flipped when one of the grand kids pointed one at DD.

With guns there is absolutely no movement for relaxation or dropping of one's guard.

DD will be taught to use a gun safely at an appropriate age, which is when she has some understanding of risks/dangers. Five is too young and those pictures showing kids treating guns as something fun just shows how fucked up the attitude of some people is.

bulletwithbutterflywings · 02/05/2013 15:51

Oh my goodness. Those parents should go to prison for a very long time. Utter stupidity and neglect - how can you leave a loaded gun lying around the house for a child to play with? I am so shocked that this could have happened.

JamieandtheMagicTorch · 02/05/2013 15:52

It's hard to understand the mentality of the portion of that country which baulks at gun control. Hard to reconcile that with the country being our close ally

fromparistoberlin · 02/05/2013 15:57

they were red neck fucking twats

I am beyong pissed of with the US right now

JamieandtheMagicTorch · 02/05/2013 16:03

MrsTerry totally agree

Or a loaded crossbow, or a hunting knife (a pink one, maybe?), or a chainsaw (a pink one, maybe?)....

so fucked up

girliefriend · 02/05/2013 16:03

How can the parents not be up for child neglect?

Its horrific, poor poor kid aged 5 having to live with that for the rest of his life. His parents should be up for child neglect and abuse for allowing their 5 yr old to play with a loaded gun ffs.

I despair at America

MrsGeologist · 02/05/2013 16:05

If anyone thinks a gun is in any way appropriate for a five year old, their kids should be taken into care.

Poor children :(

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/05/2013 16:06

They say that they didn't know there was a round in the chamber. So, I'll just give DD the toaster and a knife and forget to check if it's plugged in.

They have lost a child. At the same time as feeling angry with them, I can't imagine the pain and horror of it. It's so scary.

Lilka · 02/05/2013 16:10

The poor little boy :(

When I saw the news headline I thought it must be another one of those cases where the parents left their own gun in the wrong place. Never did I dream what the reality was.

The parents were neglectful and they are paying the ultimate price for it :(

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ProbablyJustGas · 02/05/2013 16:12

YANBU. My husband sent me this article this afternoon, and I am raging. Would love to see what the family gun nuts have to say about this, given their whining about how "responsible" gun owners are being unfairly persecuted!

ProbablyJustGas · 02/05/2013 16:14

My rage is due to a gun manufacturer prioritizing a revenue stream over common sense and safety. Generations of children in America did indeed grow up using guns, but those generations were - as far as I can see - raised in families where hunting was the only means of survival. It is a very different lifestyle today.

IJustWoreMyTrenchcoat · 02/05/2013 16:20

I have just been reading this, I am outraged at the casual attitude of he Coroner: 'accidents happen with guns'!! WTF, a little girl died, her brother will most likely be scarred for life by what has happened. Yes accidents happen when rifles are given to children, when they are so casually stored in the corner of a room, when nobody realises a shell is left inside.

I don't know where to start, that a company can get away with manufacturing and selling a gun aimed at children, that any parent would allow a child to own one, the grandma who thinks this was God's will...

The gun lobby in the States is so strong and has so much influence, it is hard to see how anything will change no matter how many children die.

Madsometimes · 02/05/2013 16:21

Very, very sad.

But in this country dd1 went on an activity holiday (PGL) and did rifle shooting, and when I was young I went to camp Beaumont and did same. Although I think they were air rifles that did not fire live rounds, because I'm sure I got hit by a pellet, and it just hurt a bit - less health and safety in 1980's.

But guns have no place in the home, IMO. Are the guns at PGL special children's ones? Maybe. Also a toddler could be killed by an air rifle, but I suspect in this case it was not an air rifle. Really dreadful, poor children.

garlicyoni · 02/05/2013 16:23

Aside from the downright weirdness of promoting lethal weapons to children, it was the relaxed attitudes of everyone involved that freaked me out ... it must have been her time, bless her ... such an awful accident, could have happened to anyone ... nobody's fault really

Sounds like life is cheap around Kentucky :(

garlicyoni · 02/05/2013 16:27

I am not actually averse to weapons training, for children or adults. It should be done on a specialised location, with proper safeguards, using weapons that are made safe & locked up.

BarbarianMum · 02/05/2013 20:04

No. The parents were neglectful and their children are paying the ultimate price.

They 'didn't realise it was loaded' - it doesn't get much weaker excuse-wise than that!

Lilka · 02/05/2013 20:10

BarbarianMum - True that

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ryanboy · 02/05/2013 20:13

I used to shoot rabbits at not much older than that (farmer's daughter) Guns were always locked up and I only used them under supervision.I don't see a problem with that to be honest and would have loved a light gun like that

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