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There's no reason why a responsible eleven year old shouldn't carry a gun.
I'm not sure what you mean by this statement. Carrying a gun for hunting and carrying a gun for protection are two very different things. Yes, I got my own .22 rifle for my 10th birthday and hunted regularly on our farm and on those adjoining ours, both by myself and my dog and with others. No problem. Safety had been drilled into me. I'd gotten a BB gun for my 9th birthday and was told that if I handled it responsibly I might get the real deal a year later. Just like I'd been told on my 8th birthday that if I handled the cap gun properly for a year I might get a BB gun. (Remember cap guns?)
But as a defensive weapon against others? No way! Making that kind of quick and decisive life or death decision is hard enough for trained police officers. It would be very difficult for me. There's just no way that a child could or should be expected to make a decision like that. Even if only used for hunting and target practice, handguns are much more dangerous than rifles. For a child to carry one for self defense? Not no, but hell no.
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Besides, the carrying of a gun itself will create more responsibility which will last a lifetime.
Yeah, a WHOLE lifetime -- maybe a month and maybe 6 months. Sorry, but there are better ways to teach responsibility than to endanger the life of the child and his/her friends and acquaintances.
Again, maybe you were only talking about hunting and target practice. Maybe you meant only single-shot .22 rifles. Maybe you meant with parental supervision. If so, I agree.
I'm not sure what you mean by this statement. Carrying a gun for hunting and carrying a gun for protection are two very different things. Yes, I got my own .22 rifle for my 10th birthday and hunted regularly on our farm and on those adjoining ours, both by myself and my dog and with others. No problem. Safety had been drilled into me. I'd gotten a BB gun for my 9th birthday and was told that if I handled it responsibly I might get the real deal a year later. Just like I'd been told on my 8th birthday that if I handled the cap gun properly for a year I might get a BB gun. (Remember cap guns?)
But as a defensive weapon against others? No way! Making that kind of quick and decisive life or death decision is hard enough for trained police officers. It would be very difficult for me. There's just no way that a child could or should be expected to make a decision like that. Even if only used for hunting and target practice, handguns are much more dangerous than rifles. For a child to carry one for self defense? Not no, but hell no.
Yeah, a WHOLE lifetime -- maybe a month and maybe 6 months. Sorry, but there are better ways to teach responsibility than to endanger the life of the child and his/her friends and acquaintances.
Again, maybe you were only talking about hunting and target practice. Maybe you meant only single-shot .22 rifles. Maybe you meant with parental supervision. If so, I agree.
I have to totally agree with WyoNewk. There is a big difference depending on what the REASON for carrying the gun is. Being taught to be a responsible hunter/target shooter is wayyyy different than carrying for protection. I can see that as an accident just waiting to happen. Lord help those kids who are given that responsibility. Looking down the road I can also see that as a lawsuit waiting to happen in extreme cases. It is my opinion that any parent who gives a young child a gun just for the sake of carrying a gun, or for "protection" will be held accountable should something terrible happen. That being said, I think most Wyoming parents are very responsible regarding guns and their children. Most of us grew up with guns around, and those of us who are "baby boomers" learned before there were so many regulations and rampant misuse of guns. We passed down our knowledge to our children, and they to their children. Again, I said MOST of us. There are always going to be those parents who are irresponsible, but overall, I feel that people here use their best judgment when it comes to gun safety and children. Almost every child I know takes a gun safety course (required to get a hunting license but also just good practice) and parents reinforce what is learned.
Although Wyoming is primarily a Republican, conservative state, there are still some of us Democrats left. I am not super Liberal or far Left by any means. I just happen to agree with the Democratic party on a few more issues than I do with Republicans. I am still a firearm toting girl and believe in rights, though. I guess I would be better off as a "middle-of-the-road" independent if I really thought about it. My views are more for individual choice. I don't judge others by their views or by their choices. I guess I'm not a very good Democrat! I just wanted to make this statement as one poster said that "we" are Republicans. As a lifelong Wyoming girl (but I did live in Billings for 13 years and did notice the above mentioned differences in Wyoming and Montana) I feel I still have the values and down-home attitude of most native Wyomingites. I am offended that someone would write insinuating that if we are not Republican that we don't have brains or can't think for ourselves. I am a Master's Degree educated woman who holds a high position in a school district. I feel that I am very intelligent in many ways. No one tells me "how to vote" or "how to think", I am very capable of doing so myself. For those of you who aren't very familiar with Wyoming, I don't want you to think that all of us are so close-minded! I don't want to be judged because I am listed as a Democrat on my voter registration!
Hmmm....sounds like you might identify with Libertarians more than democrats. I myself am a Conservative Libertarian. I feel strongly about certain issues, but on many issues I think less gov't is better, and people should be left to their own successes as well as failures. Anyhoo...I just find it difficult to vote for the GOP anymore. I've been voting for 15 years, and have repeatedly watched them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and all too often think that the strategy for winning elections is to be like liberal Democrats, but not quite as liberal. Establishments for both parties seem to have the same Progressive goal in mind, GOP just wants to get there a little slower. I see only a very small handful of candidates that appear to be truly interested in reforming a broken government...GOP (nationally) just wants to be the ones handing out the money, IMO.
Wyoming is distinctly Neoconservative, which is, of course, a somewhat different animal than traditional Conservatism. As far as gun rights and various other things go, they're right on the money, but Neoconservatism carries a lot of attitude, belief-system and behavioral baggage that pure Conservatism (and especially Libertarianism) do not.
Wyoming is distinctly Neoconservative, which is, of course, a somewhat different animal than traditional Conservatism. As far as gun rights and various other things go, they're right on the money, but Neoconservatism carries a lot of attitude, belief-system and behavioral baggage that pure Conservatism (and especially Libertarianism) do not.
We here in Wyoming have brains and can think,read,and can educate ourselves.....we don't need the liberal media telling us(or cramming down our throats)what to think or how to vote.....Sure Obama got crushed here in Wy, because on these long cold nights we are watching and learning....thanks too FOX NEWS and Bill O'Reily.We will continue to vote Republician.
Watching Fox News(and particularly B. O'Reilly) are not a free thinker's choice for education or news. The Faux News agency has its own slant, and fills a role I like to call "the government-sponsored opposition voice". If you watch it long enough(I did for almost a year before I got rid of the television entirely), it becomes clear that no real ideas or liberty-oriented thoughts are sparked by watching the Fox. It is simply the Republican answer to the rest of the democrat(read, communist)-controlled mass media. Look at where America has come to under the guidance of two political parties and the media. We lose liberty under both parties' administrations, and lose even more when the word "bi-partisan" comes into play. It was not long ago that the Republican champion of conservatism on the Supreme Court, John Roberts(a Republican appointee) squatted and dropped a steaming pile on Liberty with his critical decision on the Constitutionality of socialist national healthcare. I do not call it Obamacare, because the Republicans(including the party's pick for Presidential nominee that they moved heaven and earth to get nominated) gave Obama many of the ideas for the abortion that is socialized medicine in the US.
It was a Republican, Abraham Lincoln, who did more damage to the founding principle of states' rights than any other, before or since(although Obama is trying hard to be like his hero). Before I get blasted as a communist , democrat, or libertarian lulu, I will tell you that I was a Republican delegate at the county, congressional district, and state caucuses and conventions this past election. I typically vote Republican, since it is blatantly obvious that the other four parties on my ballot are either completely unacceptable at the national level due to their platforms, or have no(zero) chance of fielding a winning candidate. I was even on the ballot to be a Republican central committeeman for my county. But I am under no illusions as to where the current republican party is taking America, and I do not need Faux News to tell me how to think, I learned that years ago.
Please do not take this as hatred for the party or people who watch Fox News, it isn't. I just cannot remain silent when folks are thinking that the channel(or the party) have their best interests at heart. They do not. Which is why I remain a Republican. Liberty lovers MUST take the party over and field solid, winning candiates who understand the founding principles of this nation and the role of government with regards to those. If we do not, those who love liberty more than life(of which i am one) will be criminalized and all hope of a peaceful return to governmental sanity in this country will be lost.
Well said countryboy. When I hear on the news "the republicans are battling it out with the democrats" about x, y or z, it reminds me of two drunks arguing about the bar bill on the Titanic.
Watching Fox News(and particularly B. O'Reilly) are not a free thinker's choice for education or news. The Faux News agency has its own slant, and fills a role I like to call "the government-sponsored opposition voice". If you watch it long enough(I did for almost a year before I got rid of the television entirely), it becomes clear that no real ideas or liberty-oriented thoughts are sparked by watching the Fox. It is simply the Republican answer to the rest of the democrat(read, communist)-controlled mass media. Look at where America has come to under the guidance of two political parties and the media. We lose liberty under both parties' administrations, and lose even more when the word "bi-partisan" comes into play. It was not long ago that the Republican champion of conservatism on the Supreme Court, John Roberts(a Republican appointee) squatted and dropped a steaming pile on Liberty with his critical decision on the Constitutionality of socialist national healthcare. I do not call it Obamacare, because the Republicans(including the party's pick for Presidential nominee that they moved heaven and earth to get nominated) gave Obama many of the ideas for the abortion that is socialized medicine in the US.
It was a Republican, Abraham Lincoln, who did more damage to the founding principle of states' rights than any other, before or since(although Obama is trying hard to be like his hero). Before I get blasted as a communist , democrat, or libertarian lulu, I will tell you that I was a Republican delegate at the county, congressional district, and state caucuses and conventions this past election. I typically vote Republican, since it is blatantly obvious that the other four parties on my ballot are either completely unacceptable at the national level due to their platforms, or have no(zero) chance of fielding a winning candidate. I was even on the ballot to be a Republican central committeeman for my county. But I am under no illusions as to where the current republican party is taking America, and I do not need Faux News to tell me how to think, I learned that years ago.
Please do not take this as hatred for the party or people who watch Fox News, it isn't. I just cannot remain silent when folks are thinking that the channel(or the party) have their best interests at heart. They do not. Which is why I remain a Republican. Liberty lovers MUST take the party over and field solid, winning candiates who understand the founding principles of this nation and the role of government with regards to those. If we do not, those who love liberty more than life(of which i am one) will be criminalized and all hope of a peaceful return to governmental sanity in this country will be lost.
^ THIS. IMO, the parties are the SAME. They just fight over who gets to be in charge.
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