“The gun lobby assures us kids are safe with guns. My son, when 11 years of age, could not avoid pointing a torch into the eyes of those around him. The idea he could avoid pointing a gun is absurd.” – Gun Control Australia spokesman Roland Browne quoted in Girls leading way in new gun trend as parents tell anti-gun lobby to back off [via couriermail.com.au]
” National Firearms Agreement”
I wonder who agreed to the law.
Did you teach him “torch safety” before letting him handle one? If not, you’re an irresponsible person. I’m pretty sure the local Vampire population would appreciate it if you educated your child before one of them was seriously injured. Do you know how many vampires die because of people being careless with flashlights?
Easiest way to stop this behavior: point a flashlight at him.
This does not apply to firearms. That would be stupid.
I have a strong hunch that junior would no longer shine bright lights at people’s faces if junior’s parents busted his/her chops for shining bright lights at people’s faces.
The antis are famous for firearms pessimism. Their policies and ideologies are based on Sandy Hook and the 11 year old with the Uzi. Hey antis, people are human and they make mistakes. Medical errors account for more deaths in the US than gun homicides. Yet I’m still going to go the hospital if I need another surgery.
If the antis bothered to look at facts, which they won’t, they would see firearms related accidents (negligence) are at a historic low.
Of millions of firearms owners in the US, and roughly 100,000 schools, there will always be issues with guns. Get 100,000 people to drive for a year and some will be involved in serious accidents (caused by driver negligence). That doesn’t mean we ban cars.
Why can’t I be judged by my own mistakes (and successes) rather than by the mistakes of someone else?
Because guns are evil and scary! Duh…
Normally, when you raise a little blowtorch wielding monster, it’s taken as proof you are a bad parent, and shouldn’t be trusted to give advice on the matter. In Australia, it qualifies you to actually demonize and punish other peoples kids, when they have done nothing wrong. I hear the water swirls the other way in the toilet, too.
Small distinction, but in Australia torch=flashlight. That doesn’t mean his kid isn’t blowtorching faces, but does decrease the likelihood.
Wow. So… he was talking about a flashlight… so it makes even less sense… it’s even STUPIDER than I thought… I’m dizzy…
” I hear the water swirls the other way in the toilet, too.”
You need a body of water a lot larger than a sink or toilet for the Coriolis effect.
Nope, you actually don’t. When I was in Uganda this last summer (where EVERY rent-a-cop carries an AK-47 or SKS… and a few were carrying Lee-Enfields), we stopped at the equator, and the guy that ran the local monument demonstrated it with with a big funnel and about 5 gallons of water. 20 *feet* north of the equator, it rotated clockwise, on the equator it didn’t rotate at all, and 20 feet south the water rotated counter-clockwise. It was really quite cool, considering there was only about 40 feet difference.
I find your lack of parenting disturbing.
Its too bad we have a gun lobby instead of some helpful group offering us advice about how to teach our kids about gun safety.
If I was making such a program, i might use a cartoon character that appeals to kids. Maybe a cartoon eagle would be appropriate. Maybe with an alliterative name like Eddie?
Im sure if such a program existed this guy would be all over it, because keeping kids safe is obviously his agenda.
I know. And wouldn’t it be great if someone provided grant funding for this program, or instructors who are willing to teach these classes for free. Heck, some of us who frequent this site may even spend the money to get certified to teach the class. 🙂
Heck, millions if people might join such a mythical organization, even if they didn’t trust the theoretical views in American Rifleman.
Yup, I really hope Shannon Watts can finally find some responsible billionaire with gunsense to fund MDA so she can create that gun safety program for kids she’s always talking about.
Its just a shame the way the gun lobby won’t let her save those children.
“The gun lobby assures us kids are safe with guns. My son, when 11 years of age, could not avoid pointing a torch into the eyes of those around him. The idea he could avoid pointing a gun is absurd.”
Guns are not torches(flashlights in Australian English). Nice logic there, gun grabber.
My sons is 21 months old and loves to play with daddy’s flashlights (aka illumination tools, aka torches). He likes the same alluminum body lights that dad does – Surefire 6P, Olight M30/31/20, etc. If he shines the light in someone else’s eyes the flashlight gets taken away and he gets a time out.
I’m teaching him flashlight “muzzle discipline” before he’s even 2 years old, and it is working. He doesn’t like time outs and doesn’t like getting the light taken away.
So if your child lacks discipline, that’s a parenting issue. That’s not a gun issue. Don’t blame me that your liberal progressive parenting concepts result in abject failure. I’m a conservative, and believe in personal responsibility.
Wow my 5 year old can avoid eyes with some coaxing… What’s wrong with YOUR kid?
Kinda pathetic how the libtards admit to poor parenting skills on national TV. This 9-year-old could kick his son’s butt!
Yes, it’s obvious you’re all about gun safety when you try to prevent parents from teaching their children to safely use firearms. Twit.
You were a god awful father and your son a god awful person. How dare you think you can tell millions what to do because you and your sons are complete idiots?
EDIT: Okay so a torch is a flashlight in australian lingo….
That is incomparable to a firearm as a flashlight won’t kill or harm anyone, maybe annoy their vision. I point flashlights at people as jokes for fun.
“I point flashlights at people as jokes for fun.”
You probably shine laser pointers at aircraft and helicopters in flight for fun, too.
So you are no more intelligent than Mr. Browne here. Flashing a buddy with a flashlight in our house while watching TV is the equivalent to possibly blinding an aircraft pilot by pointing a laser at them. Got it.
You obviously _don’t_ ‘get it’.
“I point flashlights at people as jokes for fun.”
The Derp is strong with this one…
Perhaps Australians should have a law against kids under 18 handling more commonly used deadly weapons like knives, hammers, and bats.
“Gun Control Australia spokesman Roland Browne told The Courier-Mail that is was rubbish to suggest that champions cannot be created after the age of 18.”
So says the guy whose country did not produce a single medal winner among either gender, in any shooting event, including air rifle, at the 2012 London Olympics.
Even China and Cuba won medals. When actual, real life, police states are kicking your butt in firearms proficiency, something has gone seriously, woefully, tragically astray in the land down under.
Actually it is quite common for communist states to produce winners. For sports that they feel that they can win, they have dedicated camps just to Olympic hopefuls. They eat and breath the sport, not having to worry about anything else.
While western countries the hopefuls might have support, but only a rare few have enough support that training for the sport becomes their full time job (at least until they get a few medals to their name).
But regardless of either case, the Olympians are started at a young age.
You’re right about that. It’s almost inhuman the resources and demands put toward some of the commie athletic programs, especially gymnastics. They start them off as soon as they can walk and train and train and train, whittling away at contenders until they produce winners.
In the U.S., you’re pretty much on your own. There are college scholarships for some sports, but that’s far late in one’s athletic career, only goes so far and only lasts so long. Plus you’d still have other commitments. In some fields, like shooting, there’s virtually no hope of ever attaining the celebrity status that would return riches suficient to compensate for the years of work and expense you put in. Even the U.S. team’s site mentions that.
Still, out of the 45 shooting event medals awarded in 2012, the communist countries Cuba and China combined for eight; about proportional to their share of the global population. Smaller, noncommunist counties medaled. Australia’s running out of excuses for reconciling their anti-gun hysteria with this man’s claims that it’s irrelevant to competitive success.
Didn’t they do good in the “grilling shrimp” competitions, though?
Ah the classic ban video games argument. “I’m a bad parent and my kids an idiot so everyone’s kids must live their lives in bubble wrap”
As has been mentioned, the truly phenomenal thing is “I’m a parent, and my kid is an idiot” is followed up with “So, let me tell you how to live and how to raise your kids.”
And even MORE phenomenal is that of those listening to his tripe…a significant percentage WILL buy into it.
Interestingly, many video games happen to be banned/heavily censored down under.
Holy crap! That guy just gave me a great idea for teaching kids (and gun-newbs) muzzle-discipline!
Mount a tac-light with a narrow focus beam onto a blue-gun so they visually see what they are flagging with the muzzle. It gives them a reference with immediate and safe feedback, without having to watch them like a hawk for a chance to correct them.
I have found that it can be very hard to train anyone new to a firearm to be conscious of where its pointing at all times. Its just not something you have to do everyday with most things you handle. I think the light on a blue gun (or any safety checked gun, for that matter) could be a great tool for that given the instant visual feedback.
^^^ Brilliant.
I thought Australia outlawed all guns?
My father defended his home against three home invaders when he was 11 years old using a single-shot .410 shotgun. I’m sorry Mr. Browne’s son is not so responsible.
So because this guy doesnt know how to raise his son, we’ve got to punish everyone else havent we? Makes a ton of sense…(sarcasm)
So if his kid is a retard (no offense to people with actual retardation) then other kids are too?
Dear Politicians,
More laws do not make bad parents become good parents.
Signed,
Everyone
I would go even further. No Australian should be allowed to touch a firearm. Period. And the next time jihadists want to take some Aussie heads, they can start with baldylocks.
What a sad and pathetic individual. “My 11 year old son points torches (flashlights) at people, obviously he can’t be trusted with a gun!”.
Wow! Just Wow!
So for myself at eleven, I had a tube fed pump action .22lr in my closet I could take out and shoot anytime I wanted without needing to ask permission of my parents and I was driving tractors five miles down the road hauling bins of apples to the cider press among other activities that could easily injure or kill myself or others.
Was I the lone unique freak child capable of handling such dangerous and life threatening tools? Nope. My neighbors kids all were like that. We were just taught from an early age to handle these types of dangerous tools responsibly while working with our parents in a rural/agricultural environment.
It’s what I keep seeing; the entire gun-control liberal/progressive cult is based on adults in an arrested childish state transferring all their immature irrational fears on everyone else.
That’s funny because my kid, an 8 year-old girl, gives the counter staff at Cabela’s the stink-eye for their shoddy muzzle discipline. Maybe yours are defective. Does that socialized medicine do returns?
ETA: Last time we were back east visiting family we went shooting with my brother in law. He scans the range and whispers to me “Hey, if anyone asks they’re all 12 years old, mkay?” It hadn’t even crossed my mind that there’d be a law that my 8 and 11 year olds wouldn’t be allowed to touch a gun. Anyhow, because New York.
Anti logic:
Because I can’t teach my eleven year old son not to be a dick, I assume all children to be reckless irresponsible and willfully disobedient. This is why no child should ever have nice things.
Hey, why don’t we just pass laws banning shoddy parenting, and leave the rest of us alone?
My son, when 11 years of age, could not avoid pointing a torch into the eyes of those around him. The idea he could avoid pointing a gun is absurd.” – Your kid which is your problem. Not everybody is as dysfunctional as your family.
This Aussie has been actively target shooting for over 25 years, and competing in service rifle for over 20 years.
My son has practically grown up going to a rifle range. He is now 6 (nearly 6-and-a-half) and has been going to the range since the age of 3. He is well versed in firearms safety, and certainly more than Mr Hoplophobe. My son is respected by the other shooters for his absolutely perfect behaviour and is considered a part of the organization. He is not talked to as if he is a child, but as someone who belongs there. He knows I trust him to do the right thing and he has repeatedly demonstrated he can. Trust and responsibility surprisingly go a long way with young boys.
And going to the range with dad is something he looks forward to every weekend. After I have finished the match and finished cleaning the rifle, we kick a ball around in the area behind where the cars are parked. And then he helps myself and other people in serving people in the canteen, and it is also a wet bar with beer available.
My son is eagerly looking forward to turning 12 where he can get a junior’s permit, which allows him to compete under licensed adult supervision. And I am looking forward to teaching him how to shoot. He is already asking questions, which is also a good thing.
Gun Control Australia is a very small player in the gun control industry. So small in fact that during a recent Australian Senate Inquiry, when asked a direct question about membership, Roland Browne refused to answer the question about how small the membership base is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Control_Australia
As per the above Wikipedia article, one of their members (hilariously with the surname Crook) had to pay legal costs to the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia after slanderous comments.
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