Bought my 13 year old a BB gun for Christmas...

[cynatnite]

I'm having second thoughts after this shooting.

Can someone help me out here? Am I being too irrational?

[JanMichael]

1. It's kind of hard not to be hypersensitive right now

Is it a classic Red Ryder? I loved those-

I probably would get him something else, and then give that to him later with a gun/ bb gun safety class.

[cynatnite]

3. It's a Daisy....

My husband will work with him. He and his family have been hunters all their lives. I have no doubt he will teach him well.

I just hate at how deeply this tragedy is affecting me.

You should have seen the other BB guns at the store. There were ones that looked like automatic weapons, hand guns. One looked like a 357 magnum.

[JanMichael]

5. I know; I have been shocked by the toys over the past decade

do you remember the horrific "Barbie house" (or GI Joe? I can't remember) that JC Penny put out after the Iraq war started? Freaking horrifying....Nightmarish

I am sure you guys will handle this perfectly. It's just so hard not to be weirded out right now.

[dawg]

2. BB guns are fine.

Just make sure he doen't put his eye out with that thing.

[CanSocDem]

4. It's a "gateway" appliance.

But, like MJ, it doesn't always lead to something worse. I had one at that age, moved up to .22 cal and eventually gave them all up when I realized that killing something gave me more grief than letting it live. A common housefly has nothing to fear from me short of being placed out of doors.....

.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. Irrational? No ...

Hypersensitive? Yeah, it's been a hypersensitive couple of days.

Don't relate the gift to yesterday's event. It's just a BB gun. Your husband can use it to teach gun safety as well as marksmanship.

It'll be fine.

[nolabear]

7. I'm not a fan but if it's going to be in the family then carefully raise the son.

What you tell him every day of his life will make all the difference. Impress him with the sacredness of life...ALL life. If he's to hunt, let him learn to thank the animal for giving its life for him, and to take in the nourishment with deep gratitude. Teach him that even a BB gun can destroy someone's life in an instant, that accidents need to be kept in mind when handling anything that fires a projectile.

That's the best course, I'd say.

Merry Christmas!

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Mine wants an AirSoft gun. I have been hemming and hawing and putting him off for 2 years now.

He has friends who have them. Heck, he has friends who go deer hunting. Me, I am just uncomfortable with guns.

[Tsiyu]

9. Oh, don't I feel your second thoughts

My youngest - 19 yo who lives in another state- just received an SKS from his uncle for his birthday a few weeks back. I feel very responsible for his desire for this gun ( a Russian semi-auto that is classified in the US as a relic rather than an assault rifle ) because 8 or 9 years ago I borrowed one from a friend. My older son, on leave from the Army at that time, took us out back on my property and we all practiced using it.

At the time, someone had placed those reflective tacks ( they glow at night when a light is shined on them ) all over my property in trails from the woods leading up to my home. One of my middle sons kept swearing he was seeing flashlights go off at night. I ignored him until we were checking on horses one night and our flashlights hit all those tacks. It pissed me off no end.

So a friend loaned me the weapon as it was his only spare and also some night vision glasses. We later determined it was crankers ( meth heads ) and they were rooted out by law enforcement and no longer bother our neighborhood. WE never had to shoot anyone, but I hoped they heard us popping off rounds from their spot at their illegal meth lab they'd set up in those woods and that they wouldn't feel we were easy pickins.

The gun went back to my friend, but my youngest enjoyed shooting it and has always wanted one.

Now, I have always had guns in my home. Raised six kids with guns in the house. Never had one drawn by any of us in anger. Never had the kids mess with them. Lots of talking and lecturing and such helped.

The situation with this SKS is that he cannot find any ammo for it. All the nuts have grabbed it up. So he called me asking if I could find some. I said I'd try, because he is well-trained, a very stable, loving kid. He lives with his girlfriend's family til he starts college. Her dad takes him hunting and he knows hunter and gun safety. I have no fear that he will go off the deep end. He was popular in high school, lots of friends, not the kind to harm anyone - he has always had a very big heart.

But in light of Friday's events, I think I am going to tell him I can't find any ammo here either. Maybe that's not a lie and it's all been bought up here, but my heart is just not into buying bullets.

I do believe gun safety and shooting skills are fine for young people to learn. And we had BB guns as kids, and none of us has ever committed a gun crime.

I know this is a lot in one post, but I share your dilemma. You're not being irrational. You are a caring parent or you wouldn't even question the thing.

My story, boring as it is. ( Glad to get that off my chest. )

[Initech]

10. Probably not a good idea.

A couple years ago I was hanging out with my brother and a couple of friends of ours at my parents' house. There's a house on the hill above it with a tennis court and the tennis court overlooks into my parents' back yard. We were at a baseball game, and we come home, we're out on the balcony having a beer, and these kids from the house above start shooting their BB guns at us! While we were out on the balcony. One of the bullets whizzed by my brother's head and hit a light, and one of the bullets is still lodged in a window. Needless to say my brother was, a little bit pissed, and he went over to the house and had a "chat" with the parents. BB guns only lead to bad things.

[Tsiyu]

12. Nah, BB guns don't always lead to bad things

Had we done anything like those kids we would have had sore backsides for weeks.

Sounds like some parents never supervised their kids.

The number one rule we all learned: NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER aim that gun at ANYONE.

NEVER EVER EVER shoot at ANYONE.

It's better a kid gets good training from a responsible adult, so if he's ever at any other kids' houses doing what your neighbor kids did, he can tell them what ASSES they are and go home.

[WCGreen]

11. You do know you can put your eye out with that...

[bluesbassman]

13. As long as it has a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time.

I had one as a kid, my now twenty year old had one when he was a kid. It's a relatively safe way to acquaint young people with firearm concepts like always assuming a weapon is loaded, never point at anything you don't intend to shoot at, and so on.

Sounds like firearms are a part of your extended family's activities, so he's going to be exposed at some point anyway and you might as well be a part of his learning curve.

[Rhiannon12866]

14. Are you Darrin McGavin?