A new so-called “study” out of VPC attacks the firearm industry for marketing to children:
The study offers a number of examples of how the firearms industry and lobbies target children, including:
Creating and marketing guns specifically to children, including the use of mascots like Crickett rifle’s “Davey Crickett;
”Promoting 22 caliber assault rifles with plastic incorporated into the design for “less recoil and lighter weight;
”Marketing guns in “child-friendly colors,” including pink, purple, orange, red, yellow and blue;
Encouraging parents to introduce firearms to their children “at the earliest possible age;
”Producing a number of “marketing research publications” that urge manufacturers and dealers to “target programs toward youth 12 years old and younger;”
And including children and teens in “3-Gun competitions,” where shooters “use three types of firearms on a timed circuit.”The study also includes several recommendations for policymakers, which include:
Revising firearms laws so that possession standards match sale standards – 18 years old to possess or purchase long guns, and 21 years old for handguns;
Having the Federal Trade Commission investigate whether or not the industry is “inappropriately marketing firearms to children” or if any manufacturers are violating “applicable advertising standards” by placing products in video games marketed to minors.
Requiring gun manufacturer and vendor websites to have similar age restrictions and criteria to access as alcohol and tobacco sites;
Repealing the section of the Toxic Substances Control Act that prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating the lead in ammunition;
And developing and implementing an effective public education campaign to warn youth and parents of the dangers associated with the “presence and use of firearms.”
Source: Gun control proponents claim gun industry is marketing to kids
This sort of complaint is really nothing new. Gun grabbers, all the way back to the British generals during the Revolution, have long noticed how early American kids acquired the comfort of skill at arms:
- “there is no Custom more generally to be observed among the Young Virginians than that they all Learn to keep and use a gun with a Marvelous dexterity as soon as they have strength enough to lift it to their heads.” (Wm. Blathwayt, auditor general of the colonies, 1691)
- “The People there are very Skilful in the use of Fire-Arms, being all their lives accustom’d to shoot in the Woods. This, together with a little exercizeing would soon make the Militia little inferior to Regular Troops.” (Robt. Beverley, 1705)
- “A well-grown boy at the age of twelve or thirteen years was furnished with a small rifle and shot-pouch….Hunting squirrels, turkeys, and raccoons soon made him expert in the use of his gun.” (Scharf’s History of Western Maryland circa French & Indian War)
- “For the defence of the colonies, the inhabitants had been, from their early years, enrolled in companies, and taught the use of arms….Europeans, from their being generally unacquainted with fire arms are less easily taught the use of them than Americans, who are from their youth familiar with these instruments of war.” (Ramsay’s 1789 History of the American Revolution)
- “Should Victory declare in your Favour, yet Men trained to Arms from their Infancy, and animated by the Love of Liberty, will afford neither a cheap or easy Conquest.” (The Twelve United Colonies, by their Delegates in Congress, to the Inhabitants of Great Britain, 8 July 1775)
- “If every American militiaman was not a crack shot, he was certainly a good enough shot with his fowling piece, musket , or rifle, to terrorize the finest army in Europe at the time. This level of competence did not come from a few weeks of training at the start of the Revolution, but from long experience using a gun.” (Clayton Cramer, Armed America)
- “The people of the colonies are accustomed to the use of fire-arms from their earliest youth, and are, in general, good marksmen. Such men, placed in a house, behind a wall, or amongst trees, are capable of doing as much execution as regular soldiers: And to these advantages, which they possessed during the greatest part of the nineteenth of April, we may attribute the inconsiderable losses sustained by them, compared with that of our detachments.” (British Army officer Charles Stedman)
- “A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves and include all men capable of bearing arms. To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.” Richard Henry Lee, Initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights. Additional Letters From the Federal Farmer 53, 1788
- “Every boy, as soon as he can lift a rifle, is constantly practicing with it, and thus becomes an astonishingly expert marksman.” (Blane, 1822-3)
- “The long rifle is familiar to every hand; skill in the use of it is the highest accomplishment which a southern gentleman glories in; even the children acquire an astonishing expertness in handling this deadly weapon at a very early age.” (Gosse, 1830s)
- “Every man , or nearly every man, in these states knows how to handle the axe, the hammer, the plane, all the mechanics tools in short, besides the musket, to the use of which he is not only regularly trained as a man but practised as a boy…” (Frances Wright, 1830s)
Back then of course, Thomas Jefferson, frequently at odds with the NFL, actively lobbied kids on behalf of the NRA:
- “A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walk.” (Thomas Jefferson)
But even today, there are dozens of examples of kids using real firearms to defend themselves and their families.
Obviously, the Left is scared kids will learn to enjoy guns. The Left will stop at nothing to prevent this — even, as in California some years ago, blocking the funding of gun safety training (pediatricians in CA blocked this, if I recall correctly).
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David R. Duringer, JD, LL.M, is a concealed firearm instructor and tax lawyer specializing in business and estate planning. He is managing shareholder at Protective Law Corporation, serving Southern California from its Laguna Hills (Orange County) headquarters and a satellite office in Coronado (San Diego County).
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