Controversy over kids handling SWAT weapons in...California

H

Hardcase

New member
The story doesn't say when it happened, but at a community event in Santa Rosa, CA, the local police SWAT team brought out unloaded and safed weapons and with, as far as I can see, supervision, allowed kids to handle the weapons.

There was, as you probably expect, utter outrage from some members of the community.

Two quotes stood out to me:

“Education and gun safety is a component of what we do… We teach kids the difference between a real gun and a Toys R' Us gun.”
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"I would not want my child to be involved with something like that... Those guns, they should have been behind glass -- to teach the kids that you don't want to deal with this gun, because it kills."
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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/18/police-defend-letting-kids-hold-automatic-weapons/
 
I dont understand how people thing teaching kids firearm safety and that guns are not toys they see in video games is a bad thing. Sometimes i think these people truly believe guns run around by themselves shooting people. And how dare the police try to be involved in there community to create a better relationship.
 
Assuming the direction the kid in the pics was pointing the weapons, it appears that all 4 rules were followed. I couldn't tell in all of the pics, but there's a couple where the kid is holding/aiming the AR-type rifle where you can clearly see there is no booger hook near the bang switch.
 
That one was done right.

Now, last October in Indianapolis... the Nat'l Guard comes out to a Boy Scout event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A couple of 20 yr olds with a tarp and a couple of tables. They lay out on the tables a couple of ARs, a couple of Berettas, a couple of shotguns, and a SAW or two. The kids range from 7-14 who are given free rein to pick 'em all up, walk around under the tarp, pointing them all at each other and pulling the triggers.

Sorry, that teaches kids that guns - real or otherwise - are toys and it's ok to point at shoot if "someone told them they're unloaded."

The one linked? It looked truly supervised and hopefully an attempt was made to teach them the rules. What I say in Indy was BS.
 
Hello Kimbertron,,,

I dont understand how people thing teaching kids firearm safety and that guns are not toys they see in video games is a bad thing.
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I agree completely.

I'm reminded of that great line from the movie,,,
Last of the Mohicans.

Do not try to understand them,,,
And do not try to make them understand you,,,
For they are a breed apart,,, and make no sense.

Having lived on the left coast for over 20 years,,,
I saw my share of irrational fear driving their irrational behavior.

It truly makes no sense at all.

I don't try to understand them anymore,,,
I just avoid them and try not to let them dictate my behavior.

Aarond
 
California, need I say more?

Hell back in the 90's the teachers at my school learned that my father taught me how to shoot at age 7 and were horrified! You have a certain percentage of the population, especially teacher types who think of guns as nothing more than canned evil.


My kids will learn all about guns and gun safety from me, when they are ready (probably somewhere between 7 and 10).
 
I am going to be getting my daughter into shooting soon, and I do feel like I have to tell her not to talk about it with her friends at school or with teachers.

I feel like I'll get a call from one of them - or even the school nurse and they'll quiz me on it.

Some people are so so out of touch with reality that they think if you "expose" your children to a firearm - it's child endangerment. If you teach them how to shoot - it's akin to inducting them into some satanic cult or something.

It makes me think of this whole anti-gun movement within the medical community.
 
Its Kalfornia...... Apparently illicit whatever is ok but not guns... I would say more on this states policies and laws but I wil refrain from doing so...
 
Whining from the usual suspects.
I'm glad to see the police pushing back. They did nothing wrong and I'm glad some PR flack hasn't convinced them to cave.
 
Kind of reminds me of an event at a camp out I went to as a Boy Scout. We were camping at West Point and the FBI SWAT team from NYC was there showing off some of their gear. We were allowed to handle unloaded weapons in a controlled setting. I was about 13 at the time and absolutely thrilled by this since I didn't have guns at home. As I was getting the feel for an MP-5, one of the agents remarked "every teenage boy in America should be issued on of these to go shoot squirrels". Good thing the Brady Bunch wasn't around to hear him say that:D
 
"I would not want my child to be involved with something like that... Those guns, they should have been behind glass -- to teach the kids that you don't want to deal with this gun, because it kills." Holtz told FoxNews.com.

"I am coming from the heart of a woman, a mother, a grandmother," she added.
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Typically I don't listen to women and mothers but grandmothers are a whole 'nother animal. I'm converted.
 
I agree completely.

I'm reminded of that great line from the movie,,,
Last of the Mohicans.

Do not try to understand them,,,
And do not try to make them understand you,,,
For they are a breed apart,,, and make no sense.

Having lived on the left coast for over 20 years,,,
I saw my share of irrational fear driving their irrational behavior.

It truly makes no sense at all.

I don't try to understand them anymore,,,
I just avoid them and try not to let them dictate my behavior.

Aarond
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I should follow your lead and stop trying to understand them. The last time i tried to understand comments like in this article I felt a pop in my head, peed my pants and forgot who i was for an hour.
 
I should follow your lead and stop trying to understand them.
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Seriously. I've found that simply listening to their logic is literally bad for my health. I just get all worked up and aggravated inside. Ever listen to that GoTimothy guy on You Tube? Man forget it.
 
Seriously. I've found that simply listening to their logic is literally bad for my health. I just get all worked up and aggravated inside. Ever listen to that GoTimothy guy on You Tube? Man forget it.
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I am deaf so thankfully i have not been able to listen to anyone on youtube, sometimes my "disability" is very convenient :D. My dentist told me to stop reading the newspaper, i cant stop grinding my teeth when i do lol
 
I think every responsible American Home should own firearms and teach the kids about safety and responsibility.
 
Someone will always hate something about you or so something you do, but either you'd did wrong or you did not. If you did not do wrong, tell the complainers to kick rocks as they depart your presence. If you did wrong and they call you out, well...take your medicine.

Teaching kids about guns and gun safety is a good thing, and I practice it with my own.

This is just a story on Fox News about guns in California, a perfect combination of nothing thats ever makes good sense. That's all that needs to be said about that.
 
Ignorance and fear.

Yes, guns kill people and kill kids, but so do bikes, cars, pools and stairs.

Very important to teach gun safety to kids. I was, and am with mine. But just as swimming is a killer with <5 yr. old, so is gun safety. They just don't know that pointing it at your head will kill you or jumping in the pool is fun but don't know that they cant swim and drown.

The world is a cruel place, and thats why you have to watch your little kids at all times. Not possible as they get older, but that is why you teach them to:
not point guns
swim
and look both ways before crossing your street.

So, I make sure my 8yr. old knows the diff. between a real gun and a toy - both of which are around here and at g'pas.

At her b-day last year I brought out the bb gun, and 100% of the girls had never picked up one or fired one. They were all fascinated, so I let them shoot and taught them to not point it and treat as real gun etc. That is how you start to teach them.

My only quandry is how to teach correct play - more with boys. My son is now 2+ and picks up a toy gun and says, "gun, boom" and points it.
I did not teach him this, (probably cousins). And when they have toy guns as in the entire past of our nation, including myself, they run around shooting each other.

I guess boys will be boys and at some point when they grow out of being a boy, they will stop pointing their toy guns at each other. So just keep the real ones away from them.
 
California has mandatory explicit sex education, starting at age 11.
Because they are going to have to deal with sex eventually and education is better than ignorance.

California has mandatory drug education, starting at age 12.
Because they are going to have to deal with drugs eventually and education is better than ignorance.

But try and have a sworn law enforcement officer show them an unloaded gun -
no, no keep them ignorant, because anything to do with guns is EVIL, EVIL, EVIL. :mad:

Hypocrisy is never in short supply.
 
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