Quote:
Originally Posted by lew1
Ollie
Is a person who is 15 years old a child ?
When I was 15 I pedaled my bike to the gun store and purchased a 38 cal revolver. Put it in the basket on my bike and pedaled home. No parents. No background check. No license - except cash. I was not the only person that age and younger who purchased pistols. I was late as I did not have the money.
When I was 12, my class in high school started doing close order drill with M1 Garands. (We had a Marine Sergeant ad the PT instructor.) The school yard was next to the Cathedral and the Bishop, priests and those passing by would sometimes watch us. None in my class, those in front of and those behind us ever did anything.
(And we never hurt our thumbs on the Garand.)
My son’s mother-in-law when she was 12 (and all of the girls around her of that age) learned to fire and strip the garand and they also learned how to use the bayonet.
One of my daughter’s war using machine guns (M16) when she was 16. (All US government approved).
The premise of your proposal is not valid.
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I don't think you are seriously proposing that 15 year old kids should be able to buy guns, but I think understand what you're saying: The real reason for the problem is in today's culture. If you can figure out how this culture has developed, you would also be able to find the solution. However, changing the culture is a daunting task, learning how to handle it is a more viable way. It's not ideal, but at least it's something that can happen within a reasonable period of time.
And if you think of it: The jest of your post is obviously that people need to get familiar with guns and learn to handle them in a responsible way, and this is exactly what I would see out of a license. My son got his first BB gun at 4 and a .22 at 6, and the reason for that was not so much to feed an interest in guns, it was more to teach him responsible gun ownership. If the school system doesn't do it for him, I will, but there's not many parents thinking that way.