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“Maybe you’ll find a Bushmaster AR-15 under your tree some frosty Christmas morning!”

The overall objective was summed up in another study, commissioned last year by the shooting sports industry, that suggested encouraging children experienced in firearms to recruit other young people. The report, which focused on children ages 8 to 17, said these “peer ambassadors” should help introduce wary youngsters to guns slowly, perhaps through paintball, archery or some other less intimidating activity.

“The point should be to get newcomers started shooting something, with the natural next step being a move toward actual firearms,” said the report, which was prepared for the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Hunting Heritage Trust…

Still, some experts in child psychiatry say that encouraging youthful exposure to guns, even in a structured setting with an emphasis on safety, is asking for trouble. Dr. Jess P. Shatkin, the director of undergraduate studies in child and adolescent mental health at New York University, said that young people are naturally impulsive and that their brains “are engineered to take risks,” making them ill suited for handling guns.

“There are lots of ways to teach responsibility to a kid,” Dr. Shatkin said. “You don’t need a gun to do it.”

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“There are lots of ways to teach responsibility to a kid,” Dr. Shatkin said. “You don’t need a gun to do it.”

It is if you are trying to teach gun responsibility.

Rocks on January 27, 2013 at 12:47 PM

The New York Slimes never gets tired of lying or engaging in Propaganda do they. Dear New York Slimes Editors, please show me where in the United States Constitution Hunting is defined as the rational or justification for the 2nd Amendment.

What? You say you can’t do that, well then in that case kindly go FOAD…

SWalker on January 27, 2013 at 12:50 PM

I have it on good authority that Joe Camel had a BUSHmaster AR-15.

rhombus on January 27, 2013 at 12:55 PM

It is if you are trying to teach gun responsibility.

Rocks on January 27, 2013 at 12:47 PM

My twin boys got their first guns for Christmas when they were 13. They stay locked up and we go to the range often. The first thing they were taught was safety and respect. I’m sure the criminal kids in Sh!tcago were raised the same way.

VegasRick on January 27, 2013 at 12:56 PM

The very best way to educate people about gun safety and the dangers involved is while they are young and impressionable. I can’t remember how young I was when I first shot a .22 rifle, but I do remember thinking that it was very heavy. That should give you an idea.

Mord on January 27, 2013 at 12:58 PM

“Maybe you’ll find a Bushmaster AR-15 under your tree some frosty Christmas morning!”

I wish! We don’t give expensive gifts for Christmas. Its more about the reason for the holiday than presents.

And thanks to the likes of 0bama, they are getting even more expensive.

cozmo on January 27, 2013 at 12:58 PM

Well government run schools, starting with kindergarten, are seeing to it that if the kid makes his/her finger like a gun or draws a gun on paper or wants to ‘shoot’ another kid with a bubble gun the cops will haul said kid off/keep the kid out of school/and make the parents/kid get mental health! So the government run schools are making 4/5/6 year old kids scared to death of guns? And now the schools are wanting to ask kids if parents ‘have guns’? The parents better start telling their kids the truth about guns!
L

letget on January 27, 2013 at 1:00 PM

“Maybe you’ll find a Bushmaster AR-15 under your tree some frosty Christmas morning!”

Unlikely, sadly. But I’d be grateful.

CorporatePiggy on January 27, 2013 at 1:00 PM

I hope so, you can’t have too many.

Cindy Munford on January 27, 2013 at 1:01 PM

It’s like these people were born yesterday. How many kids got guns for Christmas and went hunting with their dads. Oh, dads, another thing that is so yesterday.

Cindy Munford on January 27, 2013 at 1:03 PM

“There are lots of ways to teach responsibility to a kid,” Dr. Shatkin said. “You don’t need a gun to do it.”

Agreed. I’ve found the best way to teach gun hunting safety to my own children is by arranging a drum circle and then giving up or down twinkles for each child’s drumming ability.

Bishop on January 27, 2013 at 1:06 PM

Earlier generations had heroic role models in the popular culture who showed respect for life and human dignity and other noble qualities to young men.

Even if they fought or used weapons, they did it in the pursuit of liberty, decency and with rational restraint.

Ben-Hur, Spartacus, El Cid, etc., etc.

Now they get first person shooter stuff that operates more at the autonomic level, with little meaning beyond massive slaughter at high speed. The story is submerged in the mayhem.

You reap what you sow, psychologically.

No father figures (or no fathers) and young men remain semi-tamed beasts at best. With the weakest-minded primed for chaos and trained effective as killing machines.

profitsbeard on January 27, 2013 at 1:06 PM

Still, some experts in child psychiatry say that encouraging youthful exposure to guns, even in a structured setting with an emphasis on safety, is asking for trouble.

So let me get this straight.
Liberals believe the answer to rampant teen pregnancy is more sex education.
But the answer to kids killing each other with guns is less gun education.

Right. No logical disconnect to that at all.

Curmudgeon on January 27, 2013 at 1:09 PM

“There are lots of ways to teach responsibility to a kid,” ~~Dr. Shatkin~~ I said. “You don’t need a ~~gun~~ candy-ass liberal psychobabbler to do it.”

Fixed it…

db on January 27, 2013 at 1:23 PM

Okay, Black Bart, now you get yours…

Gingotts on January 27, 2013 at 1:24 PM

I am sick of people trying to use legislation to force their own values on me. If you don’t like guns then don’t own any, but leave mine alone. To each their own, but why are you so concerned about what weapons I own. Actual assault weapons have been banned since 1986. Certain lawmakers will change the definition of things to fit their agenda. Don’t think for a second that any of these politicians give a @#!$% about you and your children.

DanaSmiles on January 27, 2013 at 1:24 PM

DanaSmiles on January 27, 2013 at 1:24 PM

1934

cozmo on January 27, 2013 at 1:28 PM

Dan’l Boone, Davy Crockett, and Kit Carson hardest hit…

Knott Buyinit on January 27, 2013 at 1:33 PM

Threatened by long-term declining participation in shooting sports, the firearms industry has poured millions of dollars into a broad campaign to ensure its future by getting guns into the hands of more, and younger, children.

Well, of course they do. They don’t have the benefit of taxpayers paying for their campaigns inside state schools and forcing children to attend, like abortion providers, illicit drug, and gays do. ~~God~~ Supreme Court forbid that the schools actually promote an explicit constitutional right.

Socratease on January 27, 2013 at 1:42 PM

Little attention has been paid, though, to the industry’s youth-marketing initiatives. They stir passionate views, with proponents arguing that introducing children to guns can provide a safe and healthy pastime, and critics countering that it fosters a corrosive gun culture and is potentially dangerous.

I’m sure the NYT would much prefer that the “gun culture” that our children are exposed to is the one promoted by Hollywood slaughter movies, cop-killing rap music, and the news media which only reports on murders and never defensive use of guns. When exactly was the last time the Times did a story on a national, state, or local shooting competition?

Socratease on January 27, 2013 at 1:48 PM

cozmo on January 27, 2013 at 1:28 PM

I stand corrected. Off topic but interesting; There have never been any crimes committed by a legally owned assault weapon.

DanaSmiles on January 27, 2013 at 1:51 PM

I stand corrected. Off topic but interesting; There have never been any crimes committed by a legally ~~owned~~ acquired assault weapon.

DanaSmiles on January 27, 2013 at 1:51 PM

Nancy Lanza’s so-called “assault weapons” were all legally owned by her. Adam illegally acquired them.

gryphon202 on January 27, 2013 at 1:56 PM

The very best way to educate people about gun safety and the dangers involved is while they are young and impressionable.

Mord on January 27, 2013 at 12:58 PM

Yep. I was a young lad when dad took me out and we plinked for a long while. He filled up a beer can with water and shot it. Then he explained the physics of why the can had a little hole in the front and was missing its back. And he explained that the human body is 50% water. And *that* is why you practice gun safety. (We also shot up a few plastic jugs – with the same results.) It definitely left an impression.

GWB on January 27, 2013 at 2:03 PM

Dr. Jess P. Shatkin, the director of undergraduate studies in child and adolescent mental health at New York University, said that young people are naturally impulsive and that their brains “are engineered to take risks,” making them ill suited for handling guns.

“There are lots of ways to teach responsibility to a kid,” Dr. Shatkin said. “You don’t need a gun to do it.”

So the only successful way to teach naturally impulsive kids who are “engineered to take risks” is to tell them to not touch guns.

Hey, it works with drugs, alcohol, and sex doesn’t it.

Moron.

Dusty on January 27, 2013 at 2:07 PM

Make no mistake about it, the NY Times and the media are not in this to reduce violence but to eliminate an entire American culture of independent gun ownership. Anything that promotes the peaceful ownership of guns — gun shows, competitions, safety classes, family trips to the range, hunting trips — will be demonized. We’re talking about cultural genocide here, and no benefit to gun ownership will be allowed to be heard until the only gun use people can think of is criminal misuse or government agents imposing the law on the populace.

Socratease on January 27, 2013 at 2:09 PM

“There are lots of ways to teach responsibility to a kid,” Dr. Shatkin said. “You don’t need a gun to do it.”

and then he continued… ‘ Children need to be prepared for sex so the instructions on the proper use of a condom on a banana is paramount to their health.’

CW on January 27, 2013 at 2:14 PM

“Firearms manufacturers and their two primary surrogates, the National Rifle Association of America and the National Shooting Sports Foundation” should be absolutely ashamed of themselves, using children, little children, to further their agenda and sales volume. Why, I remember when President Ø had a lot of little kids around him as he signed gun control mandates and executive orders and whatnot…
.
.
.
.
.
never mind…

ExpressoBold on January 27, 2013 at 2:22 PM

Socratease on January 27, 2013 at 2:09 PM

Exactly.
That’s one of the reasons they are absolutely opposed to cops/armed guards in schools.
They want no positive impressions of firearms.
Can’t have kids thinking “good guys” own guns.

soundingboard on January 27, 2013 at 2:22 PM

Since when is getting whacked with a paintball less intimidating than shooting holes in cans?

TexasDan on January 27, 2013 at 2:45 PM

As I’ve mentioned here before, my boys did find a Bushmaster under the Christmas tree this past Christmas. They are both adults, though. I still haven’t gotten to shoot it. My husband has it this weekend off with the guys. They’re quail hunting, but they’re also bringing other guns for target shooting. We’ve been able to find small amounts of .223 ammo here and there, but it’s expensive so we’re rationing.

My father gave each of his grandchildren a shotgun at birth, but my husband and I have been using our son’s shotgun more than he has. Thanks, Daddy!

juliesa on January 27, 2013 at 3:40 PM

Make no mistake about it, the NY Times and the media are not in this to reduce violence but to eliminate an entire American culture of independent gun ownership. Anything that promotes the peaceful ownership of guns — gun shows, competitions, safety classes, family trips to the range, hunting trips — will be demonized. We’re talking about cultural genocide here, and no benefit to gun ownership will be allowed to be heard until the only gun use people can think of is criminal misuse or government agents imposing the law on the populace.

Socratease on January 27, 2013 at 2:09 PM

Exactly. And yet the coastal elites who want to disarm us will still have access to armed body guards and guns for their own personal use.

juliesa on January 27, 2013 at 3:52 PM

Since when is getting whacked with a paintball less intimidating than shooting holes in cans?

TexasDan on January 27, 2013 at 2:45 PM

Since the libs flipped over into out and out mental illness…

claudius on January 27, 2013 at 3:57 PM

I think the dropping of shooting sport coincides with the urbanization of America. It takes effort and money to go to a shooting range. Out in the country we just walked out the backdoor and set up targets. Kids should be taught gun safety at a young age so they don’t do something stupid when one of their friends brings out a gun to “play” with.

Corsair on January 27, 2013 at 4:33 PM