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Got kids? Lock up your damn guns. Theirs too. [Before passing judgement on the wisdom of allowing a young child—ANY young child—to handle a firearm without supervision, please make the jump for a still from another video where Chloe shows off a Red Ryder BB gun.]

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48 COMMENTS

  1. Why? Chloe didn’t do anything egregious.

    She didn’t violate any of the rules of safety.

    Clearly she is comfortable around firearms. Notice the bolt is open, notice she never touched the trigger, I don’t know how old she is, but she’s showing more firearms discipline than many adults I’ve seen in gun stores.

    I guess I’d be outraged if I automatically panicked at the idea of children and guns. Of course I would be making some pretty condescending assumptions about children if I were to do that.

    It may be that your personal crumb cruncher isn’t responsible enough to handle firearms safety. It maybe that they’re too young, or it may be you’ve failed as a parent to teach them about safety and responsibility.

    Personally I’d prefer not to speculate on the competence of other peoples children.

  2. I got my first Red Ryder when I was… four? Something like that. I waved it around instantly like a foolish kid and my new toy was promptly taken from me for an indefinite amount of time. I dont think I even had a chance to load the first BB. Clearly, I wasnt mature enough yet to know what I had and my parents quickly realized this. Two or three years later I had my first Marlin .22, had went through the local hunters safety course, and was very concious of what a weapon was. I got my first shotgun and with that my first deer at 9 years old. I wasnt allowed to have free reign of my rifle and shotgun, but I could certainly take it out whenever I wanted with permission and my dad around (god bless being raised in the country)

    By 14, other than my dad, I was the only other person in the house that knew the combination to the gun safe and could take out anything I owned at anytime.

    I suppose what I’m getting at, is that its purely a case by case basis. My parents were by no means in the wrong by letting me take out a .22 into the woods as a kid (alone) because I had grown up with weapons. They weren’t taboo. They weren’t scary. They were tools, and tools to be respected. I had friends I would take shooting that would break more rules and show general ignorance towards weapons at 18 than the neighboring 10 year old boy.

    If the kid is mature enough to handle a weapon, thats the end of story. Case by case basis only, but I dont see how the parents above were irresponsible at all.

  3. I agree with the other commenter. I saw nothing in this video that signaled irresponsibility to me.

    First of all, I don’t think it can be universally stated that no children are responsible enough to keep their own firearms. How in the world is a kid supposed to go hunting in the wee hours on a Saturday morning if he has to wake up mom and dad every time he needs his rifle or shotgun?

    Second, nothing in this video even indicates that this little girl had 24-hour access to that rifle, or that her parents don’t lock their guns up. For all we know, her mom and dad got it out of the family gun safe so that she could make this video.

    Maybe the Mr. Farago could explain why he was so judgmental in titling his post as he did. I don’t get it.

    • “How in the world is a kid supposed to go hunting in the wee hours on a Saturday morning if he has to wake up mom and dad every time he needs his rifle or shotgun?”

      What planet do you live on? I wasn’t allowed to go play outside in our suburban front yard before my parents woke up, much less go shoot things alone.
      Even responsible adults sometimes hurt themselves hunting; a child is unlikely to have the mental/emotional wherewithal to handle, by themselves, the things that can go wrong with a gun and wild animals.

      • “I wasn’t allowed to go play outside in our suburban front yard before my parents woke up, much less go shoot things alone.”

        LoL @ sheltered upbringing.

      • In Missouri, an 11 yr old is allowed to take the Hunter Safety Course. Once so certified, they can legally hunt on their own. I would wager that the young lady in the video is approaching that age.

  5. So whats wrong here I see nothing, at the very least she knows not to shoot inside the house like Chris said the bolt is open she clearly stats its unloaded. I’d say she did better then some guys I use [use] to go to the range with.

    • After watching the next recommended video apparently her little brother got a red ryder BB gun what do you have to say about that Mr. RF, you have no kids I can tell. Their smarter then people give them credit for.

  6. I see nothing in the video that shows her doing anything wrong.
    If you want to see dangerous gun handling just go to your local outdoor range on the weekend when staff is not around and watch the men-children break the rules.

  7. In another video with Chloe which can be clicked on from among the other vid choices shown on screen, she shows off her little brothers bb gun. At around 30 seconds into it she looks down into the muzzle. Chloe also comments that she can show you more guns but you must subscribe to her first. The age of the person who is supposedly downloading these vids on youtube is claimed to be 24 years old.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Syxtbqa1Gtw#!

    • I might have preferred she cleared the action before looking down the barrel.

      The problem is that with an air gun, opening the action is also cocking the mechanism which makes it fire. Once cocked, they cannot be de-cocked.

      When I inspect the crown on my rifle I will look down at the barrel in a similar fashion. Of course I remove the bolt first.

      I’m still not outraged by this.

  8. Agree with the other comments, with one more thing to add… How did you manage to find this video? It only had 16 views when I watched it 4 hours after this IGOTD was posted.

    In general I do agree that guns should be locked up, especially around children. But there are documented cases of children defending their homes (i.e. this one, where the girl was probably using the same model rifle) with firearms that weren’t locked up. As another writer on this blog posted… it really depends on the kid.

    The only complaint I have (and some people will disagree with me on this) is that this girl is publicizing that there are guns in her house. But I’m the type that puts gun conversations in the same category of sex, politics and religion conversations.

    • When I saw it the first time it had only had 3 views. I don’t know what that means but it seems odd.

      Poor Chloe is going to wonder why she is suddenly getting so much attention.

  9. You guys would not believe Grandparents farm house when I stayed with them ( which was much, much more than my parents ) as a small child. Guns and ammo readily accessible throughout the house. You know I thought this was all normal at the time. Hey, Grandfather explained and showed everything to me. No problem. I could shoot the guns if he was with me. Great Uncle went one better and had loaded guns throughout the house, but he would tell you they were loaded and not to mess with them. He had some unloaded guns upstairs that I could look at and examine.

    • +1
      I don’t really get it either. I grew up on a farm in Kentucky and at her age I was hunting with a 12 ga. double.

      JD, Member gun cultures 1.0 and 2.0

    • Same here guns are only deadly to self inflicted damage if the one operating them has no training. To out right and say shes a kid and clueless is just jumping the gun. no pun intended. I had firearm training at 7yrs old I had a .22lr rifle I keep in my room I had no ammo but I did keep it for myself.

  10. The neat thing about Great Uncle’s house was that he had all sorts of real Civil War Collector Guns including a very nice Colt Percussion Pistol Collection with presentation cases and possibles.

  11. …and for her birthday, update the buttstock to a Hello Kitty motif.

    Good for Mom & Dad, train ’em young, get them to the range often, and when they deem the young miss to be mature enough, get her a barbie gun locker so she can secure it, yet gain access if/when needed.

    sarcasm and kidding aside, really, good for Mom & Dad. Saw a young lady with a very similar rifle (pink) @ my range a few weeks ago. I missed that opportunity with my daughter by about 10 years.

  12. I love to teach my godson and my nieces about guns, but I would never let them touch any gun without an adult in the room. These kids are respectiful and very responsible for their ages, but kids will be kids and I would never risk endangering them or anyone else by not locking up ALL my firearms. It only takes one stupid mistake and someone you love or another innocent person could be killed because you gave a kid access to any gun. This little girl didn’t handle the rifle in a dangerous manner and hopefully one of her parents helped her with this video, because it would be irresponible of them to allow her unsupervised access to this rifle and in some states they would be arrested. I agree with Todd that you should train them at a young age and teach them how to shoot, but Robert made the correct call about her parents being the IGOD.

    • It sounds like that’s the right choice for your kids.

      I didn’t see her handle any ammunition. I also don’t know that her parents weren’t in the room quietly supervising her videography…

      Again there are a lot of assumptions being made about her. What I can see of her indicates she is competent and responsible.

        • I did watch it. I’ve also inspected a barrel crown in much the same way. I remove the bolt first, but looking at the barrel end doesn’t always constitute a safety violation.

          I would have preferred she cleared the BB gun before she looked at in that way.

          However had she opened the action the on the BB gun she’d be effectively loading and cocking it and since there is really only one way to de-cock a BB gun, I can see why she might want to skip that step.

          Also those Red Ryder guns are only capable of like 350/fps… might put out an eye, maybe, but wont punch through her skull.

          I think people are exaggerating the hazards of glancing at the muzzle of a BB gun. Let’s not make out like she put it in her mouth and started fumbling for the trigger.

  14. I just watched Chloes’s video with the Red Ryder BB gun and she could have lost an eye if she had a ND or she could have lost her life if the same ND were to happen with the pink rifle. Her parents better not live in MA or a state with tough guns laws or they’ll be in for some big legal problems because of these videos. Here’s the BB gun link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syxtbqa1Gtw&feature=related

    • “Her parents better not live in MA or a state with tough guns laws or they’ll be in for some big legal problems because of these videos.”

      She mentioned her dad bought the scope in Oklahoma City.
      Me thinks it unlikely he traveled to OKC from a neighboring state for that.

  15. It’s up to the parents to lock up their guns.

    When I was 12, I was hell on wheels. So yes, my parents locked up their firearms. To each their own. But if it were my kid, I would be freaking out if I saw this.

  17. I passed my State’s hunter safety course when I was in middle school. After that my parents trusted me to be responsible with my own firearms. I was and have been ever since.

  18. I got my first real rifle when I was twelve. I think that I slept with it for a month (unloaded, natch. Dad kept the ammo under lock and key, not that it would have mattered). Guess what? I’m still alive.

    Lighten up, people, before you turn into what you despise.

    • Ralph, you were never in any danger sleeping with your rifle because it’s really difficult to have a ND with a flintlock. I slept with my BB when I was ten, and if I had a real rifle I would have still done the same because I’ve always loved guns. I get what you mean about lightening up, because sometimes I do get a little carried away (I know it’s hard to believe). I reread some of my posts, and I’m starting to sound like one of Mikeb’s gun grabbers. I just noticed that RF added a still photo of the BB gun, and that picture says it all.

    • +1 000 hey the way your going about it sounds like the Brady compain [but with comments] “eeeeew look a child with a gun lets take all the guns away from everybody”. Come on people how do you know whats really going on here the parents can be sitting in the back ground running the camera. They may know the gun [BB gun included] are safe. Your just jumping to conclusions. Like I don’t know the gun grabbing nuts that are out there.

      • The gun may be safe and the parents may have been in the room, but her looking down the barrel is a fact and is UNSAFE! I’m going to bed before everyone thinks I turned into a gun grabber, because I love guns and I don’t see anything wrong with kids handling guns as long as all the safety rules are followed.

        • Except when your inspecting or cleaning the crown…

          The point being that in the proper context you can safely look down a barrel and not have it blow your head off. I’m 100% safety oriented but I think hysterics are counter productive to safety.

          A girl glancing at the barrel of a BB gun is not equivalent to a NAVY SEAL putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger.

          If I had seen her do that at the range, I would have quickly intervened and we would have had a polite and calm conversation.

          Also some of my comments don’t seem to be posting…

  19. I agree with your points Chris because they do make perfect sence. I do tend to go overboard at times, but at least we’re both all about safety.

    • I’m sorry but concessions are not allowed on the internet. When someone makes reasonable counter points to your arguments you’re supposed to insult their hygiene and spelling.

      It’s a rule. 😉

      Have a good night.

  20. My wife and I agreed, part of feeling that our oldest is responsible enough to stay home alone with the younger two is allowing her access to her .22 if and when she needs it. Her and her younger brother already know what to do in the event of a fire. She’s uses the fire extinguisher like we showed her while he calls 911. This is just the next step our kids being able to protect themselves.

    Having said that, she won’t be allowed to access it for things like showing it off on youtube. But how do we know her parents didn’t get it out for her so she could make the video?

  21. Once again, nothing particularly unsafe. As with others, I’ve seen many adults handle guns with less knowledge and discipline.

    When I was a kid, from roughly the same age as this girl, I was entrusted with the keys to every weapon and bit of ammo in the house. As my father was a collector and part time gunsmith, that meant 50+ guns and thousands of rounds of ammo.

    Key word: Entrusted. My parents did their job properly, and hence I didn’t end up on the nightly news. I also would not have ended up on the nightly news had some bad guy decided to break in, as I would have been able to stoke up a 1911 and dispatch some youthful indignation rather than call 911 and hope for the best.

    In this case, and as is clear by the relatively few number of incidents involving kids and firearms, the vast majority of parents do as good a job.

  22. Wow seriously? Robert being a drama queen again.

    Oh yeah and no one has said anything about the TV lying flat on the ground behind her.

    The whole thing has a feeling of just moved in or something… either way its a BB gun.

    • Actually, If you look closely at the T.V., you will notice that it has been split in half. It appears there was a struggle in that location, rather than the T.V. being placed on the floor. Just my 2 cents.

  24. I’d be a hell of a lot more worried with the fact that she is posting video of herself on the internet, the bolt was open on the gun.

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