Subject: Re: Inside the Kiddie Gun Market
This is so repugnant that I haven't the words to describe my anger. Bad enough that we have figured out how to enslave our college students, placing them in bondage even as they march across the platform to collect their hard earned diplomas.
And bad enough that we once passed out sample packs of cigarettes to anyone holding out a hand, turning our youth into addicts while making it look Kool to run free among the birds and flowers. Bad enough that we've all been turned into consumers instead of citizens. Bad enough that our poor youth must enlist in order to have a shot at a college education...if he/she survives numerous deployments.
Bad enough that so many elders watched the Banks steal their life's savings right out from under their noses. Bad enough to learn that the Nobel Peace prize is rigged.
Bad enough to know that things might have been different if Bush's boys had not stolen the presidential election from Al Gore. Bad enough to know that Bush lied to the world when he declared War on Terror.
Bad enough to sit by and watch Obama kiss the backsides of his Masters.
But we have stooped to a new all time low when we allow Free Enterprise to sell little pink and blue rifles to babies.
I dare someone to defend this unconscionable act. Why are we teaching little innocent children to use guns? Will they be expected to take their turn on nightly watch, keeping an eye on the family home?
Are they going to hunt down squirrels and bunny rabbits for the stew pot?
Or are they going to prove that they are 5 or 4 and shoot their little sister, dead.
But we already know that our great Free Enterprise System is not concerned with little dead children. Just send in your 25 dollars and fifteen box tops from Wheaties, and they'll mail you your pink or blue rifle, along with some real ammo.
God Bless America!
Can anything be more Christian?
Can you tell that I am fried?
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----From: Miriam VieniSent: Saturday, May 04, 2013 1:00 PMSubject: Inside the Kiddie Gun Market
McDonough reports: "The Crickett is a small, air-light firearm billed as 'My
First Rifle' by gun manufacturer Keystone Sporting Arms. It comes in pink
and blue."
'My First Rifle': The .22-caliber, single-shot Crickett. (photo:
Crickett.com)
Inside the Kiddie Gun Market
By Katie McDonough, Salon
03 May 13
The youth market in firearms is growing, selling air-light guns in pink and
blue with names like "My First Rifle"
On Tuesday, a 5-year-old boy in Kentucky shot and killed his 2-year-old
sister with a .22-caliber, single-shot Crickett rifle. The boy had been
playing with the gun, a recent birthday gift, when it went off. The
Cumberland Country coroner described the tragic incident as "just one of
those crazy accidents."
The Crickett is a small, air-light firearm billed as "My First Rifle" by gun
manufacturer Keystone Sporting Arms. It comes in pink and blue. It is a
"training wheels" gun, part of the growing youth market in firearms.
As NBC News reports:
Firearms made for minors represent a new market for gun makers, said Josh
Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center. As the gun
market has been saturated, Sugarmann said, gun makers have followed a "path
trailblazed by a wide range of other industries, particularly the tobacco
industry, and focused its efforts on women and children."
Yet despite the availability of triggers for tiny fingers, gun makers and
marketers are hesitant to actually spell out what age a child should be
before handling his or her first firearm, said Sugarmann. Crickett's
website, for instance, makes no references to appropriate age ranges for
their child-sized weapons.
"There's a recognition that the majority of the American public has concerns
about putting guns in the hands of children," he said.
Through studies and promotional materials, some sporting associations
encourage young people to take up hunting and shooting as recreational
activities, and point to potential benefits - both for avid gun-owners and
youths themselves - of young people handling firearms.
Magazines like "Junior Shooter" call hunting with firearms "one of the
safest recreational activities in America," and sees introducing kids to
guns early on as a direct investment in future pro-gun voters: "Each person
who is introduced to the shooting sports and has a positive experience is
another vote in favor of keeping our American heritage and freedom alive,"
Junior Shooter editor-in-chief Andy Fink wrote in the winter 2012 issue."
Adding: "They may not be old enough to vote now, but they will be in the
future."
"Kid guns" aren't such an unusual phenomenon from a marketing perspective;
fast food chains, clothing brands and other companies target young consumers
to establish product loyalty and lifelong purchasing habits, but a youth
recruitment strategy for deadly weapons has, understandably, given some gun
control advocates pause.
In an interview reported by USA Today, Dr. Denise Dowd, an emergency room
pediatrician who co-wrote the American Academy of Pediatricians policy on
children and guns, said she was "blown away" that anyone would buy a rifle
for a 5-year-old child.
"We don't give our kids the keys to our car, and there is a good reason for
it," she added.
See Also: 5-Year-Old Boy Killed Sister With Gun Made for Kids
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
'My First Rifle': The .22-caliber, single-shot Crickett. (photo:
Crickett.com)
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/inside_the_kiddie_gun_market/http://www.salo
n.com/2013/05/03/inside_the_kiddie_gun_market/
Inside the Kiddie Gun Market
By Katie McDonough, Salon
03 May 13
The youth market in firearms is growing, selling air-light guns in pink and
blue with names like "My First Rifle"
n Tuesday, a 5-year-old boy in Kentucky shot and killed his 2-year-old
sister with a .22-caliber, single-shot Crickett rifle. The boy had been
playing with the gun, a recent birthday gift, when it went off. The
Cumberland Country coroner described the tragic incident as "just one of
those crazy accidents."
The Crickett is a small, air-light firearm billed as "My First Rifle" by gun
manufacturer Keystone Sporting Arms. It comes in pink and blue. It is a
"training wheels" gun, part of the growing youth market in firearms.
As NBC News reports:
Firearms made for minors represent a new market for gun makers, said Josh
Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center. As the gun
market has been saturated, Sugarmann said, gun makers have followed a "path
trailblazed by a wide range of other industries, particularly the tobacco
industry, and focused its efforts on women and children."
Yet despite the availability of triggers for tiny fingers, gun makers and
marketers are hesitant to actually spell out what age a child should be
before handling his or her first firearm, said Sugarmann. Crickett's
website, for instance, makes no references to appropriate age ranges for
their child-sized weapons.
"There's a recognition that the majority of the American public has concerns
about putting guns in the hands of children," he said.
Through studies and promotional materials, some sporting associations
encourage young people to take up hunting and shooting as recreational
activities, and point to potential benefits - both for avid gun-owners and
youths themselves - of young people handling firearms.
Magazines like "Junior Shooter" call hunting with firearms "one of the
safest recreational activities in America," and sees introducing kids to
guns early on as a direct investment in future pro-gun voters: "Each person
who is introduced to the shooting sports and has a positive experience is
another vote in favor of keeping our American heritage and freedom alive,"
Junior Shooter editor-in-chief Andy Fink wrote in the winter 2012 issue."
Adding: "They may not be old enough to vote now, but they will be in the
future."
"Kid guns" aren't such an unusual phenomenon from a marketing perspective;
fast food chains, clothing brands and other companies target young consumers
to establish product loyalty and lifelong purchasing habits, but a youth
recruitment strategy for deadly weapons has, understandably, given some gun
control advocates pause.
In an interview reported by USA Today, Dr. Denise Dowd, an emergency room
pediatrician who co-wrote the American Academy of Pediatricians policy on
children and guns, said she was "blown away" that anyone would buy a rifle
for a 5-year-old child.
"We don't give our kids the keys to our car, and there is a good reason for
it," she added.
See Also: 5-Year-Old Boy Killed Sister With Gun Made for Kids
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