[Darthgamer138]

I'm not saying we have no fears and we cannot tell the difference between right and wrong, I'm saying younger kids are impossible to watch 24/7 no matter how hard you try and it is human nature to do something, at least once in your life that you know is wrong that is also very dangerous,we have all done it.

One kid threatens another with a fake gun, cops are called, he knows he is in big trouble and he knows it is wrong yet in his under-developed mind he says to himself "Maybe if I point this at the cops they will leave me alone and I'll just get grounded by my parents!" and before he even levels the BB gun at the cop he is dead.

All I was saying was I don't agree with the "teach parents to raise their kids." deal, blaming parents EVERY time a kid ****s up is the same as blaming all of us EVERY time some ******* does dumb **** with a firearm.

While I agree you can't ALWAYS blame the parents, given the state of (most) kids nowadays, it is BRUTALLY obvious where the problem is. It is NOT with the objects, it is with the parents. We can't blame them for everything, but we CAN blame them for a lot of the crap the kids are doing nowadays that is being blamed on nonsense stuff. Your kid is a little arson because you let him go behind the shed where the gasoline is for hours at a time unsupervised? He threw a molotov cocktail in the woods and started a forest fire!? That's it blame the glass-bottle manufacturers!

 

[coolbreez67]

If you mean arrest parents when their kid points a real looking fake pistol at a cop then I disagree. If you mean leave it up to parents to teach their children that ALL guns, even fake non lethal guns should be treated as deadly weapons and thus handled as if they were lethal weapons, I totally agree. Lets figure out how to educate parents to educate their children without causing a "guns bad, ban guns" frenzy and kids may do less stupid things. Keep in mind a messed up kid is going to do messed up things no matter what environment he grows up in so there is no avoiding that kids bad behavior, but for the rest who just weren't properly trained in firearm safety because their parents don't know the first thing about firearm safety this could be beneficial.

Let me speak on this topic from personal experience. About 3 months ago, my 6 year old daughter was shot in the side of the head, just above the ear, from a distance of about 15 to 20 feet, by the neighbor's 6 or 7 year old little boy. Miraculously, the BB did not penetrate the skin. She had a huge welt and a pretty nasty scab. This happened in a residential neighborhood. She was riding her bike on the sidewalk and he was in his front yard. The kid got the BB gun without his parent's knowledge. The cops were called and a police report was made. I believe some kind of charges are pending, but I don't know what they are. The joys of a non-communicative ex-wife.

I put the blame on the kid for shooting her. I put the blame on the parents for not taking the precautions necessary to make sure the kid couldn't get access to the BB gun without their supervision. I don't think parents should always be held responsible for the actions of their children. But in this case, I believe the parents should be held criminally and civilly responsible for the actions of their kid. mainly because of his age. I would feel the same way if it was someone elses child.

Having said all that, I don't think there should be any laws to ban any kind of air gun. I just think there are cases like this, that the law should hold the parents responsible for any damage their children do with an air gun. Whether it's an air-soft gun, BB gun or pellet gun.

All I can say is that the father is very lucky he's in Idaho and I'm here in NY. Maybe I'm lucky, I may have ended up in jail after beating his a**.

 

[demerson]

That might not help, you can have a stupid or mentally unstable kid even if you are a good person,

Say your kid is prone to violence and is slightly disturbed, one day he gets mad and cops are called to a scene where he is pointing a gun at people and no one is sure if it is real or not.

If the cop shoots him the parents go to jail for murdering their son?

If the gun is real and the kid shoots the cop, the parents go to jail for murder?

I know there are alot of times where they completely disregard the parents involvement in raising their children (like how the **** did the columbine kids get boxes full of gunpowder and have a nice pipe bomb assembly line going on in their room with no intrusion?) but at the same time children are impossible to control, at one point, in each of our lives at least ONCE we endangered ourselves or someone else in a stupid way, I don't care who it is, we have all done something. To hold the parents responsible would just end up a whole bunch of decent parents behind bars because their child messed up once.

NO NO NO - parents go to jail .... then there are no repercussions for the actions of the child... the parents need to be responsible - I didn't say accountable - responsible for their children - teach them right from wrong- children today for the most part seem to get the shaft on time spent with parents( though that seems to be ar from the truth in our firearms community ) If your kid is prone to violence and is disturbed maybe he shouldn't be playing with guns - maybe he should be monitored better. .... the columbine reference just proves my point thank you - the parents should have known there was a pipe bomb making operation in a bedroom.
And yes we've all done dumb crap - and yes sometimes terrible things happen for no apparent reason - but we have lost family structure and it is rearing its head in our youth. .... how old are you?

If you mean arrest parents when their kid points a real looking fake pistol at a cop then I disagree. If you mean leave it up to parents to teach their children that ALL guns, even fake non lethal guns should be treated as deadly weapons and thus handled as if they were lethal weapons, I totally agree. Lets figure out how to educate parents to educate their children without causing a "guns bad, ban guns" frenzy and kids may do less stupid things. Keep in mind a messed up kid is going to do messed up things no matter what environment he grows up in so there is no avoiding that kids bad behavior, but for the rest who just weren't properly trained in firearm safety because their parents don't know the first thing about firearm safety this could be beneficial.

this- "leave it up to parents to teach their children that ALL guns, even fake non lethal guns should be treated as deadly weapons and thus handled as if they were lethal weapons"

 

[dsdmmat]

There are times and places for airguns. I ran a paintball team for 5 years and there are some pretty realistic paintball markers out there. Like Air Soft they should not be played with unsupervised (in today's world). When I was growing up all of us kids on the street got BB guns for Christmas one year, it wasn't long before we were having BB gun wars and by the end of the summer none of us had BB guns any longer. Needless to say all of our butts were warmed with a belt and we learned quite a few lessons that year.

My kid was into airsoft when he was about 9-10 years old I bought him the MP-5 and M-9 setup from Gander MTN (in clear plastic) so he could play with them in the back yard with all the other neighborhood kids. Wasn't long before he got tired of getting shot with plastic BBs and arguing who shot who first (that is why paintball is better). Air Soft is just like any other game, there is a time and a place for it and the more real it looks the funner it is.

 

[Holdover]

When were talking about children were talking about a whole different level . Law enforcement cannot determine if a weapon is real or not in a few seconds from a distance in the dark , it s a shoot or dont shoot seneario. Tragadys have already happened with replica toys.

I had plastic guns and I dont feel I lossed anything because they were not replicas . I think this is a child and law enforcement safty issue . not because of what the child does, so much as how an adult could respond to a percieved threat.

location ,location, location, if you live in the suberbs or out in the sticks, I would hardly see a reason to be to concerned, but if you live in the city like I do, I dont think its a real good idea. people have been , and could be hurt.

 

[BlazinJ]

I have to agree with some of you. I recently just bought a air soft pistol to train with before I get my real one. It looks and acts just like a real handgun and thus should be treated as such. (wow is it powerful) Most parents today feel that "oh well it's just an air gun" and don't' teach proper use of a firearm. The same thing for the safety pointing it in the direction of someone because well "it's not even loaded". It DOESN'T MATTER. That projectile could still, for instance take out an eye! Regardless of the firearm, air soft or not, should be treated with respect like a real weapon. Like one poster had posted before, how they handle an air soft gun could be the way they handle a real firearm.

 

[StarKannon]

Airsoft guns are about like a cross between a paintball marker and a bb gun. Doing milsim skirmishes and paintball games with them is a hoot. You guys should try it.

That all said, I have airsoft guns, I have real guns, I have been around both since I was very young. I also watched predator, aliens and a host of very very violent movies, played Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty. Given all of that, I turned out JUST FINE .