mlive.com posted the above the image of a rifle-toting child above their story As gun advocates rally outside Michigan Capitol, lawmakers debate guns inside schools. (More on that later.) Obviously, the kid was a black swan (i.e., it wasn’t a children’s crusade for gun rights). You may see nothing wrong here. Hell, you might even be proud that there’s a guns 3.0 heading our way. But the paper’s editors knew the picture of a child openly carrying an “assault rifle” would shock some readers’ delicate sensibilities; readers who would fail to notice the gun’s orange tip, indicting that it’s a toy. Equally, the shot exemplifies and justifies the editors’ anti-gun bias/agenda. Which is under assault (so to speak). Meanwhile, will someone please get the lad a toy rifle with a shorter stock?
I’ve been shooting since my dad and uncle took me at age 6 . Somehow I survived, sadly now that would be child endangerment.
I see kids under 10 at shooting ranges pretty regularly. Nobody has called CPS yet.
Exactly, these anti gun people need to go get a life. My uncle was a Marine firearms instructor and was teaching me to shoot at 4 yrs old, along with gun safety. By 10 yrs. old I was very good (expert) with rifles, shotguns and handguns. I knew far more about guns than the average person, and you would have been far safer walking next to me with a loaded weapon than most of the adult gun owners. I knew all about firearms and was being taken around to shooting ranges and shooting perfect scores. Please people if you know nothing about guns hold the negative comments.
What irritates me more is the knuckle head walking at the low ready next to the kid. I support open carry. I open carry then it’s appropriate, but as a veteran I can’t stand these call of duty, video game wannabes.
That bothered me as well.
SAME! He has no reason to be “ready” at that moment. If he has to hold that rifle because it moves to much for him then he doesn’t know enough to be carrying it anyway. When I’m wearing across my chest, my rifle doesn’t cause an issue. If I was a cop, I would be questioning why he has to have his trigger finger ready to go like that…way to draw unneeded attention to yourself!
I was there at the rally, and i saw the family in the pic above. I’m probably only a few steps behind them.
The guy on the right is the older brother of short stuff, teenaged I’d guess. He was at the low ready the entire time. Never touched the trigger that i saw, seemed well trained, neither of them pointed their rifles (toy or otherwise) at anyone or anything other than the earth under their feet.
I was happy to have them at the rally, happy their dad, on the left, had obviously taught them well. Was low ready called for? Probably not, but it wasn’t threatening.
I watched adults at the rally dropping mags (a beta in one case) and reinserting them, dropping rifles (mosin or sks can’t remember which; she had a sling malfunction), and the like. These two children were well behaved.
Just my. 02 –
Yep, that bugs me too. I’ve shared a number of concerns about people who open carry like they are patrolling the streets of Afghanistan.
+100
Exact-Fvcking-Ly
Mall Ninja mentality. No matter how well trained.
“Hey, I know… as a CHL holder, Ill switch from concealed to open carrying my handgun in Sul while I march….when there is no legal articulation and threat validation to do so.” Because. Mall Ninja.
I personally would not carry in the low-ready configuration. And yet there really is nothing wrong with it as long as his demeanor is calm/relaxed/pleasant, he hasn’t pointed at anyone, his finger is off the trigger, and he hasn’t expressed any intention to harm anyone. Furthermore, this was in the context of a Second Amendment rally at the state capital with hundreds of other open carriers and even police stopping vehicular traffic at intersections for the march.
Given all of those conditions, I don’t have a problem with it. After all, police and national guard carry at the low ready all the time and no one freaks out about them. Why should we be any different?
+1
^ I’m still active duty and that shit make my eye twitch
That wasn’t just you. I know it’s MI, but it’s still a long way from the Mog, or Fallujah. Sling your damn rifle if you’re not heading into a fight. Nutsack.
And anti-gun people claim this isn’t the wild west, so there is no need to walk around with a firearm at all.
Should the people of the gun actually be making the exact same arguments are those who would seek to ban all civilian firearm ownership?
As long as the person isn’t actually endangering someone, flagging or or such, getting upset over HOW the firearm is carried is no different than Mom’s Demanding Action getting upset over just seeing firearms.
Personally, if you are not intent on using it, sling it. The low ready indicates you are ready to engage the enemy at any moment, and to do it within this particular context is out of place. It’s like carrying around a knife unsheathed. Fight smarter, not harder.
As soldiers we usually carried with our mag in our pocket, rifle slung, unless we were on guard duty or outside the wire. Police rarely carry long guns unless something is going down, and guardsmen hardly ever have weapons issued and if they do they probably don’t have any ammo. Just saying, a pro 2A rally should be a celebration of our freedom and heritage, not an excuse to think act like you’re tacticool sniper ninja seal. That being said, kudos to good trigger discipline.
Always remember kids, if you don’t have a sling, don’t participate in a rally defending your rights!
It might be relevant to not that there is no sling attached to the rifle in question. Perhaps this particular gun rights advocate simply doesn’t have a better way to carry his rifle. It seems awfully petty to focusing on this when there are much more significant issues at hand.
. . . and thank you for your service!!
Which one of the four rules is he violating, exactly?
You people against “low ready” need to REALLY take a look inward at your own threat assessment process.
Yep
The kid having an airsoft gun doesn’t bother me, he has “adult” supervision. I’m with you. These guys look like they are patrolling streets in Iraq mostly. Most of the time we see them dressed head to toe in tac gear. If you want to bring attention to your cause. Don’t look like a unit on patrol in a warzone (actually in a safe neighborhood) Carry signs, pass out literature, wear your guns in a non threatening way, and LOOK like you are there to bring attention to a cause. Look friendly, these guys are dismissed as nutjobs instantly based on their looks mostly. (they are white I can say that)
Let’s see, kid, muzzle pointed down, booger finger not on bang switch, were good…
“will someone please get the lad a toy rifle with a shorter stock?” As long as it’s ‘just a toy’ somebody set up a go-fund-me account to get the kid a M203. c’mon, it’s for the kids.
+10!!
If it was my kid, he’d have his Ruger 10/22 (unloaded, with a chamber flag) slung over his shoulder.
I bet that was a fun day for him though.
why not just lock the action open and forgo the chamber flag?
Why not just keep it loaded like it should be. If you trust him to open carry a rifle it should be at the ready. An empty rifle is no more than a baton.If not teach him how to carry it loaded the right way.
While a quite kid, this is wrong in so many ways. It gives the anti’s ammo to say we are just all crazy, and don’t care about school shootings. While complete BS, it still gives them the ammo. IMHO 🙂
I think people don’t remember what it was like just a few decades ago.
Daughter and I just watched an episode of “Leave it to Beaver” and in one scene the Beaver keeps pulling out a very realistic looking six shooter while in casual conversation with Wally. It had nothing to do with the story and there was nothing sinister about it. He even blew on the end of the barrel like they used to in the movies.
But today, you’re saying that just carrying a toy gun give anti-gun people “ammo” to take our guns away? No!! It helps return us to a time when people were not afraid of guns.
You cannot accept the premises of the anti-gun, anti-mind, anti-life progressives because their end game is to put those who love freedom into gulags. Do not grant them any concessions because each concession becomes the basis for further concessions.
While a quite kid, this is wrong in so many ways. It gives the anti’s ammo to say we are just all crazy,
Gee, when I was a kid, I had a toy M-14. So what?
Eating a pop tart gives them ammo. Sooner or later you decide to stop caring about their reactions and do what works for the moment.
I approve this message!
The first time I shot a rifle I was with my grandfather. In Brooklyn. And I was 8. That kid is way ahead of the game.
Ammo for the antis? I don’t give a sh1t about what they think. Let them worry about what we think.
Ammo for the antis? I don’t give a sh1t about what they think. Let them worry about what we think.
^^^ This.
“Ammo for the antis? I don’t give a sh1t about what they think. Let them worry about what we think.”
Yep. A thousand times this.
Is it just me or is the tip of the childs rifle orange? Airsoft anyone? BB gun? I am not buying it was a real gun at all. The idiot walking in the low ready bugs me more than a kid with a toy.
If you read the text, you’ll find that this is already pointed out.
So..what is the big deal? I don’t get it
Exactly.
I keep muzzle caps on my ARs. Red plastic, can be shot off. And they look exactly like that.
They make actual orange caps (for safety at the range, like a barrel plug in paintball)for airsoft rifles that look exactly like your red caps.
How conditioned we are to interpret an orange tip as a toy. Suppose he was locked and loaded for real even covering the bolt so you could not tell if the weapon was charged or not? You see a kid w/ a toy; I see a jihadi w/ a determined look on his face. Age is no prerequisite for devotion.
30-some-odd years ago I had a plastic m-16 with no orange on it anywhere. It was actually pretty damn realistic. I also had a set of revolver capguns. I ran all over the neighborhood armed like this, and no one blinked. My friends and I chased each other up and down the street with toy guns. I remember stuff changing around that time (1986). It is amazing how different things are now.
Same here. Around the same time frame and in NYC. Nobody said a word and the cops were never called. Now, even in the same middle class neighborhood, I would expect a tactical response.
OMG! A Chuck E. Cheese ninja! Carrying an assault toy! At “low ready!” OMG!
Just a matter of time before the hyperventilating, hypercritical POTSanctimoniousG show up and blow up. Oh wait.
Do you guys get some kind of group discount on pearls, or what?
Cool kid. Great family. Rock on.
To the other commenter who was actually at this march, good job, keep on keeping on, my friend.
+1
🙂
“Do you guys get some kind of group discount on pearls, or what?”
Concern trolls gotta concern troll.
Airsoft is a great gun gateway drug.
Yes I approve being inyour face like a rioting THUG. And winning elections…
Someone is reading history. Civil rights warriors in the 1950’s placed children in front and within their marches. Also anti abortion groups did the same thing in the 1980’s. Glad to see more people read and apply history lessons.
Hey, Iran did that in the Iran-Iraq war. And there were real bullets involved there.
Good for the Kid, kid probably knows more about guns and gun safety than most Anti’s! reminds me when I was that Age and took a Shotgun to school on the bus, stored it in my locker with shells, got off bus a mile from home and went grouse hunting!
Ya I know, I’m ancient!
People who are sane, would certainly find nothing whatsoever offensive about a picture of a child holding a toy gun. I also believe that there is nothing wrong with a young son or daughter using a firearm, as long as it is legal to do so, have been properly trained in safe handling and operation of the weapon, and have their parents permission or are under their supervision. You know REAL “common sense” stuff. Not that crap the bloomberg socialist groups advocate.
That’s me standing directly behind him carrying a fleece pullover. He was really a cute kid, and wicked smart, giving the reporter some great lines. Dad taught him well. As far as how rifles were being carried, it seems to be the trend to have rifles slung from the front shoulder. Of the hundreds who showed up, I think I saw but a single example of a rifle slung on the back, and it was a person in full military camo regalia.
The ones chastising the low ready are possibly the Same ones chastising about not carrying with a round in the chamber.
Who cares how it’s held as long as it’s done safely?
In fact, at the low ready, he knows and has full control of both the trigger and the direction of the barrel. Among many other factors that the moms demand action follower types might lose their shit about, and the keyboard feelz commandos here might complain about.
Well said.
Statist mindset, that is, a “control them” attitude, exists in all circles. PTOG are quite often no different.
Good gun safety translates to good safety practices in other matters and should be a childhood fundamental.
Comments are closed.