https://twitter.com/MattLech/status/1416424976362708997?s=19

  • SoyViking [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I'm not from gun land and I don't know shit about guns but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to let preschoolers play with them.

    • Catherine_Steward [she/her]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      If you're going to raise someone around guns and guns are a big hobby of yours, it's actually pretty helpful to get the kid familiar with them early. There are a set of semi-universal rules around the handling of guns which, if followed, ensure practically no one can be unintentionally harmed by them. If you raise a kid to follow those rules, not only do they see the gun as a mundane object (no curiosity = no reason to play around with it) but even if they did want to handle it, they'd know how to do so safely.

      As someone pointed out below, though, at least one of these kids is breaking a big one of those rules. Definitely needs more supervision and education on that.

      • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        The fact that the kid in the middle is holding the gun like that and isn't being yelled at by the parents or the camera man makes this 100% staged

    • Ithorian [comrade/them, he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I think I was only in second grade when my dad showed me how to use a gun, was another couple of years before I got to shoot though.

      • PaulSmackage [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I was around my dad and grandparent hunting since kindergarden. Started shooting at 12, got my hunting license at 14, now own 3 guns. It's all about being raised to respect guns and to treat them as the weapons they are.

    • Jeff_Benzos [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I am from gun land and it's wildly dangerous and irresponsible to have kids playing with guns like that. We'll teach kids as young as the one in the middle how to handle a gun, but always with direct adult supervision. His finger is on the trigger ffs

      • BelovedOldFriend [he/him]
        hexagon
        ·
        3 years ago

        You're from "gun land" and you can't tell the difference between posing with a rifle (that has very likely been cleared) versus "playing" with one?

        Also, you really can't see that the kid doesn't in fact have a finger on the trigger? He's got his hand awkwardly wrapped around the trigger guard in a manner that I wouldn't recommend, but I don't think he's got one finger on the trigger itself.

        • Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          Ah, so the lad is just too inexperienced to know that you shouldn't wrap your hand around the trigger guard haphazardly. Sounds like responsible ownership. I am sure that lad will absolutely only handle weapons that have very likely (maybe) been cleared. This all makes it fine. Ok, fine, sure. That makes it all okay.

          I live in Liberal Pacifist Nice People Land, and even my kids know that guns should be treated with the reverence they deserve. Only pointed at things you wish destroyed, finger never on the trigger unless it's time to end that target. I never let them handle a firearm until they were developed enough to understand those basic tenets.