Letter - Slug gun critics draw a long bow
Sydney Morning Herald, Page 12. Thursday, 8 October 2009
What on earth are you on about, Samantha Lee (“Shooters hack gun fun for families”, October 6)? Nearly every Australian over the age of 40 grew up playing with air rifles. Itwas common to see children in small towns wandering the streets plucking off feral birds and rabbits with the old air rifle. Did they all turn out to be murderers? No.
Children can join the army at 17, learn to operate rocket launchers and machine-guns and in some cases are paid to kill people.
Now with this extreme exposure to killing, brutality and death, do they become murderers? No.
How will teaching children to use firearms safely be dangerous? My nephew at 10 can’t use aBB gun at an approved range, surrounded by some of the most responsible adults in Australia, learn discipline in the process and be taught that firearms are not a toy, but he can go home and play violent video games instead.
Will shooting a BB gun safely the same thing used to shoot ducks at the show cause him to become a murderer? No.
You should be lobbying for “illegal” firearms to be removed from the blackmarket so they don’t end up in an “untrained” child’s hand. That is the real problem we face.
Phillip Hoare, Darwin
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