• MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Parents who buy their children guns at all need to all be evaluated. There is seriously something wrong with giving children something whos intended purpose is delivering lethal force.

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I don’t find it weird for hunting, but giving a child unrestricted access to firearms is insane to me given children are not able to assess risk the same way adults do.

      • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Oh, I don’t mean temporary custody under controlled and hopefully educated circumstances, but those who hand it over completely. A kid simply does not need that power nor have the responsibility for full time custody.

        Hell, the government wants people 18+ before they’ll hand someone a gun and let them go die for something…

              • FontMasterFlex@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                if you can’t make the decision to drink, buy a gun, or whatever else because you’re supposedly not “mature” enough to do, why the fuck should you be trusted with choosing who makes those laws? while you’re at it, raise the age to enroll in the military. if you can go die for your country at 18 you should be able to buy a beer, vote, and buy the gun they’ll hand you at boot.

                conversely if you want to lower the voting age, as some democrats suggest, then so should the drinking age, gun purchasing age etc.

                there’s simply no logic in being ‘mature’ enough for one and not the other.

                • Zirconium@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  It’s not about principle of freedom or maturity. The legal age of drinking is where it is because of young adults drinking and driving. You can have layers of maturity that isn’t give/take all responsibilities. An 18 year old should be allowed to vote because they’re just as responsible as any adult to provide themselves their own food and shelter. Unless you think it should be illegal to kick someone out until they’re 21.

        • EinatYahav@lemmy.today
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          9 months ago

          Hell, the government wants people 18+

          No, I’m pretty sure that was some ancient Christian pro-lifers who came up with that rule. Government would take people younger if they could.

          • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            “… if they could.”

            Yea that’s kinda’ EXACTLY the point… they CAN make it that way, but haven’t. The entire point is that modern Republicans are far more despicable than most any kind of politician from history. Yes, that includes slavers.

            It takes an entire additional level of evil to step BACK IN TO social problems, and that’s 100% of the modern GOP platform: bring back problems that were already solved.

      • devnull406@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Before he passed away, my kids’ grandfather bought all his grandkids their first 22 rifle. Some of the cousins were still infants but he wanted to buy them something. He was a prolific hunter and marksman. My kids guns all lived in the safe until they were old enough to shoot them, and now they live in the safe when not in use. You can give guns to kids all day long, that’s not the problem and the gun is not the problem.

        • III@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          You can give guns to kids all day long, that’s not the problem and the gun is not the problem.

          The problem is not appropriately assessing whether the child in question she be allowed the gun. Are they responsible, are they going to use it for valid purposes. This holds true for, well, everyone always. A lack of reasonable regulation is the actual problem. I am glad you have responsibly managed the distribution and use of firearms for your children. We should do that for everyone.

          • FontMasterFlex@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            A lack of reasonable regulation There are hundreds of firearms laws on the books. What new law is both reasonable and would accomplish anything?

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  It’s almost like we should be getting something for our tax dollars other than a pittance at retirement and a genocide in the middle east.

              • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Fuck that, no way in hell people would allow authorities to inspect their private property inside their homes as a prerequisite to exercising a constitutional right.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  The “Constitutional” right to have weapons on you 24/7 and use them the second you are afeared is brand new. The actual text has a whole other half making clear that it’s for a well regulated militia. I had my room and weapon inspected in the military. So can you if you want that gun. If you have a problem with order and discipline then you don’t get a gun.

                  • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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                    9 months ago

                    Nope, that’s all bullshit and you’re lame for spouting it.

                    Fortunately, what I said is fact and there’s never going to be a goddamn thing you can ever do about it. Our gun rights are extremely well protected.

                  • Narauko@lemmy.world
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                    9 months ago

                    A well regulated militia made up of people who were supposed to bring their own guns and ammunition that they were proficient in using. The Militia Acts make this pretty clear, along with the Federalist Papers. The intent was that an armed population could be called on by the States to resist an invading army, be that army foreign or the standing Federal army. It also was an evolution of English law enshrining rights to self defense.

                    If we change the sentence slightly and say “The free flow of goods and services being essential to the safety and functionality of the economy, the right is the people to keep money and travel freely shall not be infringed”, would not imply that you are only free to leave your house and have cash if you are engaged in business.

        • raoulraoul@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          If this heartwarming story of responsible gun ownership is actually true, Mr/Ms Anonymous Voice On The Internet — y’know, because I believe every anecdote I read on social media — you are probably one of <1000 people in 336,000,099 (the 2024 population of the United States).

          !detroit@midwest.social
          !michigan@midwest.social

            • raoulraoul@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Oh, absolutely. Where would you put that impossibly quantifiable number? 10? 10,000,000? More? Less?

              My point being that every gun-owning household in the United States isn’t like yours and with almost weekly occurrences like the Oxford school shooting, the Michigan State University shootings of 2023, the Perry, Iowa school shooting, even the Detroit five-year-old who shot himself in the face among his playmates while their parents were out of the home, or the Lansing toddler who did the same with his father’s gun…

              …it’s hard to believe that your family is anywhere near the norm. You are 0.1% of 0.1% (yes, I made that up too).

              • SoleInvictus@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                This, friends, is a great demonstration of why math and science courses are so important. Science teaches critical thinking skills. A lack of critical thinking skills often leads people to make things up to explain phenomena instead of questioning their assumptions and seeking factual information.

                Mathematics, especially statistics, provides a framework by which people can critically evaluate the validity and significance of numerical values as well as generate realistic, informed estimates. A lack of basic math skills causes many people to be unable to evaluate relative proportions and effect sizes of event drivers.

        • AFaithfulNihilist@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          That is when your brain stops really growing and developing, it’s not some threshold of social or intellectual maturity.

          If anything, people become less adaptable, less open-minded, and less cooperative after that. It’s not something we get to lord over young people, it’s a mark against us olds for being less capable of growth.

          • UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Decision Making and Reward in Frontal Cortex

            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3129331/

            Your frontal lobe contains brain areas that manage who you are — especially your personality — and how you behave. Your ability to think, solve problems and build social relationships, sense of ethics and right vs. wrong all rely on parts of your frontal lobe.

            Experts know this because of a railroad foreman named Phineas Gage. In 1848, an accidental explosion at a railroad construction site propelled an iron rod through Gage’s head, destroying the left side of his frontal lobe. Before the accident, Gage was a calm, respected leader among his coworkers. Gage survived, but after the accident, his personality changed. He would lose his temper, act disrespectfully and constantly use profanity.

            However, Gage’s personality changes weren’t permanent. Four years after his accident, Gage moved to Chile in South America and became a stagecoach driver. Somewhere in late 1858 or early 1859, a doctor who examined Gage said he was physically healthy and showed “no impairment whatever of his mental faculties.”

            While Gage mostly recovered from the accident, he died from seizures in San Francisco in 1860. The seizures were very likely the result of damage from the accident. However, his case remains one of the most useful in modern medicine’s understanding of what the frontal lobe does, especially when it comes to your personality.

            The Pre-Frontal Cortex

            One of the biggest differences researchers have found between adults and adolescents is the pre-frontal cortex. This part of the brain is still developing in teens and doesn’t complete its growth until approximately early to mid 20’s. The prefrontal cortex performs reasoning, planning, judgment, and impulse control, necessities for being an adult. Without the fully development prefrontal cortex, a teen might make poor decisions and lack the inability to discern whether a situation is safe. Teens tend to experiment with risky behavior and don’t fully recognize the consequences of their choices.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        I find it weird they don’t just lend a gun to their child for hunting. Why give them their own personal gun? What’s the point?

        • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Hunting is a cultural thing for many, and you often start with a smaller caliber while you’re young and learning. I guess I would compare it to a parent buying their kid their first baseball/softball glove. Parents often pass down a love for sport, most just don’t involve killing stuff.

          • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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            9 months ago

            There’s literally nothing stopping them from passing down their cultural love for hunting while only lending their children guns.

            • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              You’re not wrong, but it’s still why they do it as far as I can tell from having friends that hunt and were taught by their fathers.

              • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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                9 months ago

                Well I grew up with a dad that hunted and took me hunting, I was even an Eagle Scout, but I didn’t actually own a gun until later in my 20s. There’s just no good reason for kids to have their own guns and it needs to stop.

                Also, gotta be honest, now that I’m older I think hunting is kinda fucked up in itself. I’m not gonna try to fight that battle tho lol

      • zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev
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        9 months ago

        “Hey son, here’s a firearm, let’s go kill something, systematically eviscerate and skin it, and then consume its flesh while taking joy and pride in each step of the process. Oh, don’t ever do this to humans or dogs.” I dunno, seems pretty weird to me.

        • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          You’re loosely describing most of human history.

          “Let’s take these plant babies and grind them into a pulp, drown it, let it be eaten by a bunch of tiny monsters until they fart enough gas, and then burn it” also sounds kinda weird. Welcome to the universe; shit’s a little whack.

          • GONADS125@feddit.de
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            9 months ago

            You’re loosely describing most of human history.

            To play devils advocate, you’re arguing an appeal to tradition, which is a logical fallacy.

            Just because we’ve historically operated in a certain way, it does not mean it is morally permissible behavior.

            The appeal to tradition has been used to argue in favor of slavery, racism, and a lot of other horrendous human behavior.

            • rambaroo@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              So? It’s patently obvious that millions of people go hunting every year without turning into mass murderers. Pointing out logical fallacies isn’t an argument.

              • GONADS125@feddit.de
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                9 months ago

                It’s patently obvious that millions of people go hunting every year without turning into mass murderers.

                I never said they do.

                Pointing out logical fallacies isn’t an argument.

                I wasn’t staking any claims in this argument. Just pointing out how yours is invalid.

                I did so because it’s constructive criticism to promote better reasoning. But of course you’re too immature to receive constructive criticism, so you defensively deflect it instead.

                Edit: oh wait you’re not even the user I was speaking to…

                • I think it was an appeal to natural order, not tradition.

                  One time after GPS became pretty well available a court somewhere was called upon to decide whether, now that we have this cheaply available magical system of maritime navigation, is it negligent to crash into the rocks and destroy the vessel because you were still using a sextant and navigating by the stars? I mean, that’s the way we’ve always done it. That’s an appeal to tradition.

                  • GONADS125@feddit.de
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                    9 months ago

                    I disagree. It was clearly an appeal to tradition, given his specific reference to human history (traditional human hunting behavior). But the appeal to nature is also a logical fallacy anyway.

                    I’m not even condemning hunting, btw. It’s necessary in some cases for healthy animal populations.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          What? How is that weirded than “let’s go to mcyd’s and get you some nuggets”

          • GONADS125@feddit.de
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            9 months ago

            I’m guessing that user would probably find CAFO/factory farm supplied nuggets just as “weird”/bad. If not worse. Certainly more cruelty there vs hunting.

            • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              Not my point. The comment I replied to was highlighting that killing and preparing your own food is perverse, as compared to normal food shopping practices. They made no claim of veganism, so I didn’t go there.

              Veganism is great for a lot of folks, but before that, I think meat eaters should be fully aware, accepting and ready to see how meat is prepared. And they should be ready to do it themselves if they are willing to eat meat.

          • zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev
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            9 months ago

            I’m pretty sure they didn’t use firearms millenia[sic] ago. They had dysentery, though, maybe try that instead. That’s more authentic if you really want to connect.

            • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              You’re right. Probably won’t try dysentery. There is something intimate and connective in how we choose to procure and prepare food, and in being alone and quiet in remote wilderness, relying on our senses and wit, strength, respect for nature and its fruits. I don’t want to do exactly as the indigenous people did, or even as the colonists did. Going hunting once or twice a year is enough for me. Part of a tradition.

                • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  Well no, not when you make it weird. That’s a you thing.

                  Could be harvesting watercress from a drainage ditch or going somewhere remote to forage whatever. Obtaining, preparing, and eating food, is intimate.

                  intimate adjective in·​ti·​mate ˈin-tə-mət 2 : of a very personal or private nature

                  Doesn’t get much more personal than eating, lest we’re talking about eating people. See, now it’s me that’s making it weird.

                  • zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev
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                    9 months ago

                    None of what you said is clever or addressed that killing animals, ripping off their skin, tearing out their viscera, and eating their flesh is creepy, especially given the amount of planning, tools, etc, that is requires. Don’t conflate that with foraging watercress. It’s a bad, lazy argument.

                    You kill for pleasure. I don’t care if it’s tradition, religion, or whatever other excuse you tell yourself, you kill for pleasure. And that’s creepy. And I’m not interested in continuing his or any further conversation with you.

        • agitatedpotato@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Oh boy, wait until you hear about this type of animal called omnivores. They can survive off vegtable but they still hunt and eat meat because obviously they’re evil strange and un-natural.

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              9 months ago

              You’re calling something that happens in nature all the time un natural then asking that I don’t bring up nature. Okay buddy, want me to not bring up everything that makes tour argument ridiculous too? Or just the ones you don’t have a canned response for?

    • Rooskie91@discuss.online
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      9 months ago

      I know you’re not referring to hunting rifles, but it is very common to give those as gifts to teenagers when they are old enough to get a hunting license. In some places that’s 12 years old.

      My parents also made me take a course on gun safety tho…

      And they wouldn’t let me use it unless it was with them…

      So this lady definitely still deserves her sentence. Also, no kid needs and AR or a pistol.

      • 520@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        Some of that stuff you mentioned needs to be mandatory IMO. I’m talking about gun safety lessons for all firearm owners.

        • PoliticalAgitator@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          It’s the pro-gun community that insists they shouldn’t be. They’ll literally send you death threats for trying.

        • Narauko@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Gun safety should be a mandatory class in education. Probably a multi-stage class starting with an age appropriate class in Elementary school, a more advanced class in Middle school to demystify and take some of the taboo cool factor out, and again in High school. Range time should be incorporated in High school, and maybe Middle school. We all know abstinence only education doesn’t work.

      • spiffy_spaceman@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        My dad is a gun collector, so I was around them my entire life, but gun safety was also part of my entire life. We understood what they were and what they could do. So if my friends ever said “can we see your dad’s guns?” It was always “no.”

        • GONADS125@feddit.de
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          9 months ago

          That’s good, and I can relate to your experience growing up respecting firearms, but children should simply not be trusted to have access.

          There have been many experiments in which children find a weapon and the parents who claimed their children knew better were horrified to see them handle the staged weapon.

          Children simply don’t have the logical portion of the brain developed. Even in teenagers, their amygdala (emotionality, anger, fear response) is nearly fully developed, yet their prefrontal cortext (executive control, rational thinking, emotional regulation, thinking of future consequences) is still severely underdeveloped. [1]

          In fact, the prefrontal cortext isn’t fully developed until our mid 20s, and possibly a few years longer for those of us with ADHD. [2] This is why teenagers display heightened risk-taking, are bad at controlling their emotions, restraining themselves, and thinking about the consequences of their actions.

          Under supervision is one thing, but unsupervised access to a firearm is a patently bad idea. With that said, I did have access to a firearm (.22) and I acted responsibly as a minor (only used it for target practice). But I absolutely should not have had access to it.

      • Neato@ttrpg.network
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        9 months ago

        In some places that’s 12 years old.

        Whyyy? Hunting is a dangerous sport that is 100% not required that utilizes lethal weaponry. If a parent wants to take their kids hunting, they should be 100% responsible for them including having the license and owning the firearms. 16 seems like the bare minimum to allow children to engage with weaponry, but probably older to own.

        • krellor@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          There’s a huge difference between giving a child unrestricted access to a firearm, and taking them sport shooting in a controlled environment. I’ve helped with beginner shooting courses for kids in scouts. There is an adult with each kid, one round loaded at a time, etc. You can similarly control the environment hunting by using blinds, etc, where you oversee the use of the firearm, loading of round etc.

          I’m not big into shooting, but from a safety perspective there are ways to hunt and sport shoot with kids in a very controlled way.

          • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Keep in mind, a person earlier in this convo said some kids get one gifted when they get a hunting license, which can be as early as 12, so you’re basically attempting to change the entire claim being made… Clearly, in many situations, kids ARE ending up with a firearm under their sole ownership.

            • theyoyomaster@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Having a .22 under the Christmas tree and having unsupervised access to it are two very different things. I know plenty of people who got rifles for their younger children but keep them in a safe with their own guns until the kids are older.

              • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Yes, and are those parents on trial for manslaughter? You guys are completely forgetting the context in which this is being asked. If they’re retaining control until the kid is older… they’re likely being responsible and would be found totally fine under any serious proposal.

                • 520@kbin.social
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                  9 months ago

                  The parents are on trial for manslaughter because they gave their kid a gun like you might give your kid an action figure, with zero restrictions or teaching about respect for life whatsoever. There is a right way to handle kid’s access to guns and many wrong ways.

                  • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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                    9 months ago

                    Yes, and you fucking morons keep saying that as if ANYONE is saying we’d want to take THOSE guns. You fucking idiots are using the context to get offended instead of using it to understand what is being asked for.

                    Stop being offended over something not even being asked for here. It’s pathetic.

            • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              Being gifted a gun is not being given unrestricted access to that weapon. I was gifted a shotgun at 15 and I never saw it unless my dad was present. It stayed in his safe until we went shooting together. When I moved out and showed him my own safe was ready, I got it from him and that was that.

              • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                What I’m saying is you’re complaining about something no one is asking for. No one has even mentioned doing anything negative towards people who responsibly teach their kids about guns.

            • krellor@kbin.social
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              9 months ago

              I gave my kid a BB gun, but it stays in a safe. I also gave my son a pocket knife for camping that stays in my night stand unless we are camping.

              You can give something to a kid without letting them have unsupervised access. I gave my kids steam decks, but limit their screen time.

              I agree the original comment lacked specificity. You could gift a gun in a responsible or irresponsible way, and I’ve seen both.

              Edit: and the comment about gifting a rifle also mentioned that in their personal situation they had to have a parent to use it.

              • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Indeed, and that’s exactly what they’d be evaluated on. Responsible gun ownership should be the only kind of ownership protected under the 2a. Responsible gun ownership should not include sole ownership by those that cannot even join the military.

                Maaaybe under odd edge cases where a kid gets to be their own guardian, but eh.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Outside of America, buying a gun at all is rather grounds for evaluation. Inside America, it’s still mental but #theConstitution.

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      9 months ago

      For families who participate in hunting and shooting sports, I can see giving the child their own gun, make it their responsibility to clean and maintain it, choose what optics or other accessories they put on it, etc.

      I don’t support letting them have unrestricted access to it as a minor though. It should be locked up whenever it’s not in use under adult supervision.

      I have a casual interest in guns, don’t currently own any but may someday when my budget allows (it’s pretty low on my priority list.) I do have a lot of friends who own guns though, many of them have had their “own” gun since childhood. All of their parents though were very strict about gun safety, none of them had free access to any guns or ammo until they were adults, and sometimes not even really until they moved out and took their guns with them because even as adults living at home with their parents some of them didn’t have the key/combo to the gun safe, so in a sense they still kind of had to ask for their parents’ permission if they wanted to take their guns out to go hunting or shooting into their 20s.