NEW ALABAMA BILL WOULD ALLOW KIDS TO HAVE HANDGUNS –

[avebury]

CASKET SALES SHOULD SKYROCKET


The Alabama House and Senate are both moving forward with bills that would circumvent federal law prohibiting the sale of firearms to minors by allowing parents or guardians to “transfer” the weapons to children under 18. House bill 328 and Senate bill 262 would also eliminate record-keeping requirements from the Code of Alabama, removing language that mandates firearm dealers “keep a permanent record of the sale of every pistol, revolver, or maxim silencer, showing the date of sale, serial number, or other identification marks, manufacturer’s name, caliber and type, and also the name and address of the purchaser.

Congratulations, Alabama, not only will you be able to use a gun in a crime without it being traced back to you, you’ll also be able to get a volume discount on caskets as children will now have legal access to handguns. What could possibly go wrong?

The good news is children will only be allowed to use those handguns under proper supervision. Unless they’re using it for hunting, trapping, target shooting or training. So basically the only time a child needs to be supervised with their pistol is if they’re robbing a bank. Thank goodness for that.

State Senator Arthur Orr said the bill wouldn’t permit the sale of firearms to people under 18 as mandated by federal law, it would simply allow kids to hunt, trap and target shoot. Orr said he started hunting with his parents when he was 12.

Even though children will be allowed to use handguns without supervision, Orr said the bill is meant to bring reason and common sense to Alabama’s gun laws. Everyone knows children are the epitome of responsibility. By allowing them not only access to but free rein to carry handguns, Alabama has shown the level of intelligence present in its lawmakers. How anyone could think this will end well is a mystery.

http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/guns/new-alabama-bill-would-allow-kids-to-have-handguns-casket-sales-should-skyrocket/

[RandySF]

1. Yeah, supervision

[misterhighwasted]

2. I'd be homeschooling from here on. Or just leave the stupid state law far behind

Dumber than dirt

[misterhighwasted]

3. Ya. Target shoot.

Fucked up

[shenmue]

4. What could go wrong?

[Shamash]

5. You would embarrass yourself less if you would check the details first

Most states already have the exemption you are decrying for Alabama. New York (home of the NY SAFE Act) allows kids down to age 12. Connecticut (remember their assault weapon ban) has no minimum age for possession of a long gun and issues hunting licenses down to age 12 (link).

So, methinks your outrage rings a little false. Oh noes, Alabama is bringing its laws into conformity with New York and Connecticut!

[avebury]

6. Based upon the number of child initited shootings due to

irresponsible gun owners, any state allowing children unfettered access to loaded guns is stupid to say the least. I would post the same story no matter which state was stupid.

If there is one thing that has become obvious in this country it is the fact that gun rights come before everything else. One would hope that people would care enough for children to make sure that they stopped being victims of negligent gun owners. One would hope that society would care enough for the safety of children to hold negligent gun owners criminally liable for their negligence. Unfortunately, all you ever hear when a child shoots/kills himself/herself or someone else - oh what a tragic accident. These incidents are neither tragic nor accidents but are the result of intentional negligence on the part of the gun owner. There is such a large volume of theses cases no one can claim ignorence when they occur.

[gejohnston]

8. the total number is about 62

There is a difference between a three year old who makes national news and a ten year old that is safe responsible.
The issue is intelligent decisions by the parents who know the kids and trained the kids properly before letting them do anything unsupervised.
It is not, however, up to people who know nothing of the situation.

[Shamash]

12. Speaking of ignorance

What does the CDC say about the number of kids who die from household chemicals or drugs left lying around compared to the number of kids who die from negligent gun owners? Well, according to the CDC, for ages up to 16 for 1999-2013, the ratio of accidental fatal poisonings to accidental fatal gun incidents is 2 to 1. Let's see how that works:

One would hope that society would care enough for the safety of children to hold negligent parents criminally liable for their negligence. Unfortunately, all you ever hear when a child fatally poisons himself/herself - oh what a tragic accident. These incidents are neither tragic nor accidents but are the result of intentional negligence on the part of the parent.

I mean with twice the fatalities, we need to come down on these negligent parents at least twice as hard as the gun-owning ones. And don't even get me started on what we need to do about these parents with swimming pools, what with accidental drownings killing nine times as many kids as gun accidents. Clearly, some public beheadings are in order for that sort of intentional negligence...

There is such a large volume of theses cases no one can claim ignorance when they occur.

So, if you can't claim ignorance of the above data (there is such a large volume of them, after all), what is your excuse?

[russ1943]

15. Concern regarding gun violence isn't ignorance.

"What does the CDC say about the number of kids who die from household chemicals or drugs left lying around compared to the number of kids who die from negligent gun owners? Well, according to the CDC, for ages up to 16 for 1999-2013, the ratio of accidental fatal poisonings to accidental fatal gun incidents is 2 to 1."

The discussion is about allowing younger people to possess firearms. The concern many have is the younger people in possession of firearms will increase gun violence when we should be making efforts to diminish it. Your perpetrators aren’t known in your statistics, only the victims.
The number of kids ages up to 16 for 1999-2013 who die from poisoning themselves (suicide) is 505 compared to the number of kids who die by intentionally shooting themselves (suicide) which is 4,177. Over eight times as many. These are not accidental/unintentional but just the suicides, the young perpetrators.

[Shamash]

18. You're correct, concern is not ignorance

But one can be concerned about an issue yet completely ignorant about it. Todd Akin is concerned about abortion, but his "women's bodies have a way of shutting that whole thing down" comment showed total ignorance of the subject he was concerned about. Same thing applies here.

Young people can possess firearms perfectly safely. Do you remember hearing about the epidemic of child drownings taking its toll on our nation's youth? Me neither, and those drownings are nine times as likely as accidental shootings.

Allowing a child access to a firearm is an extremely important decision and one which a parent should take a constant and careful hand in as appropriate to a child's level of intellectual and emotional maturity. Some people never reach that level, I've heard adult DU'ers say they would not trust themselves with a gun. Some people reach it early. For better or worse I was out in the woods unsupervised with a high-powered rifle years before I had my driver's license. But I started under total supervision with a dinky single shot .22 that came out of the locked cabinet when my father wanted to teach me and went back in when he was done. In time he would get it out when I wanted to practice and I could practice on my own and bring it back. Eventually I had full access to it. Later, I got to practice with a hunting rifle in the same way.

If a parent lets a child have unsupervised access to a gun when they are not ready for it, then hell yes they should be responsible for the consequences as much as if they gave an underage kid a fifth of Jack Daniels and keys to the family car and said "have fun!". But unless you are going to argue that the State should handle the ideological upbringing of children instead of the parents, it is the right of the parents to choose...even if they choose poorly.

Just because we're liberals does not mean we all believe the exact same thing regarding the values we want to instill in our children. Just look at the same-sex marriage vs. polygamy debate in some of the other forums, or anti-vaxxer liberals or religious liberals vs. atheist ones.

But it does not seem very liberal to me to demand that other parents choose my beliefs to raise their children by because I'm scared due to self-imposed ignorance of their beliefs.

[gejohnston]

7. Alabama is actually stricter than most states

in that regard. The Gun Control Act was never intended to prevent parents from giving their kids guns, or to use them under supervision, so there is nothing to skirt.
When it comes to handguns, it is a federal crime for a minor to possess a handgun without written permission from parent or guardian while engaging in target shooting or hunting.
Until a few years ago, Finland allowed 15 year olds to buy a gun in a gun store. France, with a hunting license, it is 16.
In Canada, you have to be 18 to buy any gun. However, a 12 year old with a minors permit (although in some cases you can get one as young as age nine) firearm without supervision and even go in the store and buy ammo for it.
In case you are wondering what a "prohibited" firearm is, it is a grandfathered gun that has been banned, such as pre 1977 machine guns. Until 1977, machine guns were not as tightly restricted as they are here, nor as much as handguns there. The only thing I can find that made them different than regular long guns until then was that they had to be registered since 1952. Not all prohibited guns have been grandfathered and were required to surrender to the police without compensation.

BTW, I prefer my news written by professional and ethical journalists (which is rare to nonexistent), not snarky ideologues.

[blueridge3210]

10. Well, now you've gone and done it.

Introduced facts and derailed a perfectly good rant. "How Wude!"

[world wide wally]

9. A Democratic good idea = how to prevent teen pregnancy and abortion

A Republican good idea = how to get more guns in more people's hands

Duuuuh... Why is our country so fucked up?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

11. And anyone suggesting abstinence for either issue is naive beyond polite description. nt

[Eleanors38]

13. BEHIND THE SCREAMING HEADLINES:

I received my first handgun when I was 13 from my Mom & Dad. Completely legal in Florida, well before the modern era of gun law liberalization.

I think Dale Shannon was charting at the time.

[russ1943]

16. Maybe I'm wrong but...........

I’d guess you probably meant Del Shannon. Born Charles Westover near Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1934. The singer/songwriter known as Del Shannon wrote and performed a song called “Little Runaway”. “Runaway” roared up the pop charts on its way to #1 in April 1961. To stay on subject, I’ll note Shannon used a gun to kill himself in his Santa Clarita, California, home on February 3, 1990.

[Eleanors38]

17. Your right. Runaway was supposedly the first use of a synthesizer keyboard in a pop song.

Suicide remains a problem, esp. In Japan where guns are as prolific as a cold Pepsi on the Plain of Jars.

[ileus]

14. I remember buying my first handgun in 1985 at 15.

Of course I bought it off my Brothers BIL, a Ruger super blackhawk 44mag.

We all got together on weekends and would shoot....I soon upgraded to a TC with a 22/44/222 barrel. To which I eventually found me a 223, 30-30 and another 22 barrel. Kept that until sometime around 1999....sure miss that gun.