Well I knew that it would be coming back up again. This is just not surprising anymore. It is deer season and the little old ladies who are appalled at children hunting are creeping out of the woodwork. I guess they don’t really mind it until the Democrat publishes pictures of these children with their deer because they don’t raise a stink until that happens.
I was reading the paper yesterday (actually was the Sunday paper) and again in the Sedline someone was complaining about kids hunting. Rather than waste my time responding directly to the person I am going to repost my response from last year because the comment was almost just like the one last year, so for all I know it was the same person complaining again this year.
Follow up:
UPDATE – Last night my husband took our 5 year old out (after I dressed him in 5 layers – because I am one of those overprotective moms) and they sat in a blind at my parents house and shot a deer. Fisher didn’t pull the trigger but he was part of the experience and if you could have seen his face light up when he was telling my mom how he and his dad shot a deer it would have melted your heart! Time well spent with his dad. Not a bad thing, he could have been laying inside glue to a video game, mindlessly becoming a lemming.
So here’s my post from last year, and it applies just as well now:
I have some issues to discuss regarding the stupid people in our community. Here is one example from the Sedalia Democrat Sedline (for those that aren’t from the Sedalia area, the Sedline is a feature in the local paper that allows people to call in and state their opinion with complete anonymity. It’s one of the few features that has been keeping this paper afloat in recent times, keeping the tradition of gossip alive in our community)
“Well here we go with the hunting season again. In Sunday’s paper, they have two young boys, age 10 and 11, proudly standing with the deers they had shot and killed. They shouldn’t even be able to touch or handle a gun until they’re 18 or 21 years of age. We’re talking about something that can end a person’s life, not a toy. We wouldn’t have so many shootings in our schools if young kids couldn’t get a hold of a gun. The parents should know better than to let a child play with an adult toy. At least our schools might be a lot safer. These young children should be at home playing with their friends, not out shooting and killing things. Wake up parents, before it’s too late.”
First of all, if this is your opinion and you were the one that called in, maybe if you had gone to school instead of skipping English class because you were too busy thinking up crazy conspiracy theories you would know how to formulate a coherent sentence.
“Well here we go with the hunting season again.”
“the hunting season” Holy crap! I didn’t realize “hunting season” was proper.
“standing with the deers they had shot”
Deers is not plural for deer. I suppose this summer this same person will call in complaining about people killing fishes too!!
“handle a gun until they’re 18 or 21 years of age.”
Let’s see…what is wrong with this statement – 21 years old – so if someone enlists and they aren’t allowed to handle a gun until they are 21 should we just send them over to Iraq to serve their country with a wet towel to snap at the bad guys? Or maybe we can give them a dart gun to use since this person keeps referring to toys.
“We wouldn’t have so many shootings in our schools”
First of all if the kids under fire had been exposed to guns and learned properly how to 1) handle them safely and 2) aim properly, they could defend themselves and others from the crazy kid whose parents thought the world was out to get them and passed on that “psycho gene". You know, the kid that is shooting up the school. What I am trying to say is that exposure to guns is not the reason why the kid shot up the school in the first place, and if that kid who was planning to shoot up the school had learned how to aim – he wouldn’t miss the kid he was out for, and therefore would save innocent lives.
“parents should know better than to let a child play with an adult toy.”
The fact that you refer to this as a toy shows your ignorance and I hope you do not own guns and refer to them as “adult toys” when your children are around. When you say “toy” around a child what is their reaction? Let me tell you what it is, “ooohhhh I want to play with that!!!” You know when they said “curiosity killed the cat"? Well, with your stupidity it becomes “curiosity killed the kid". I hope your maturity will improve.
“At least our schools might be a lot safer.”
The fact that this paper is distributed in the schools and children read this opinion certainly doesn’t make schools smarter than not teaching kids about gun safety will make them safer!
“These young children should be at home playing with their friends, not out shooting and killing things.”
Part of this is true, kids should be home playing with their friends but the fact they are out with their parents spending quality time earning trust and learning respect for the earth and all of her creatures means that they are growing as a person that will at some point make them a productive part of society.
When a child, or adult for that matter, harvests a deer a few things are happening. One, the family eats. Long ago there was no such thing as Wal-Mart or Bing’s and someone had to hunt the dinner. This was part of life for the “dad” of the family and he had to teach his children this skill so they would be able to eat and survive (in some Native American tongues, the phrase ‘lousy hunter’ is literally translated “vegetarian").
Two, it thins the herd. When you are out driving at dawn or dusk and no one has hunted to help decrease the number of deer and you hit one with your brand new gas guzzling, ozone polluting SUV, you will curse the hunters for not doing their job. If you’re a state legislator you may even introduce stupid legislation for the state to pay your insurance deductible.
Last sentence
“Wake up parents, before it’s too late.”
Yes, please “Wake up parents” teach your children about gun safety “before it’s too late” and they do it on their own. If you think because you have no guns your children have no questions or curiosity towards guns, you are dead wrong and let’s hope your kids are just wrong not dead. If you don’t teach your children about sex is it reasonable to believe they will never become pregnant, or will they get pregnant sooner because they got some wrong information on the street? Anything you as a parent teach your child will have a more lasting impact than anything they learn anywhere else, including school. If this is not the case then I submit that you need to spend more quality, caring time with your kids and not shuffling them off to school every morning allowing the state to teach them about everything including life skills.
Well, I am stepping down off my soapbox and I am sure that I offended someone out there. That was not my intention. Keep in mind, I was one of those people who really didn’t like guns but I was open minded enough to listen. You don’t have to agree with what I said, just let it in your head, swirl it around, and if you still don’t agree, you’ll be wrong, but that’s your right.
Cinderella
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