(YouTube Link)
At the age of six, Miko Andres from the Philippines is thought to be the world's youngest competitive practical shooter. Practical shooting is a sport in which participants shoot rapidly at multiple targets around an obstacle course. His father says:
"As a growing, normal kid, Miko is also into other children's games. He enjoys the company of his schoolmates.
"Miko is very young but is determined to excel in the practical shooting sport," says Mike.
"He has been taught a lot of discipline and respect.
"Miko, I and his team coach, constantly talk about the dangers of the sport and we are always reminding him that he is in a 'big boys' game and that safety of of the utmost importance."
Link via Samizdata
one thing i did notice with the kid in the video is.... he is not paying attention to how many rounds he is shooting. The magazine of his pistol holds 8 rounds. He shoots the 8 rounds, then "dry fires' it, thinking there are still bullets to be fired. He did that on EVERY magazine. NOT A GOOD THING in my opinion. Not to mention, most competitive shooters are taught to holster their weapons while moving to the next shooting area. HE IS RUNNING WITH A LOADED WEAPON!!!!
I am a firm believer in the rights to own guns. Though I do not disagree with this child shooting, I don't think he is being taught all of the safety rules that he should be taught.
my son gets pretty excited, as do most children, so working with him to remain calm while handling a gun is on the top of our list.
Safety Safety Safety.
My kids will shoot guns from an early age on. Teach them safety. Teach them it isn't a toy. And then show them how fun it can be to have that kind of possibly life-saving (both hunting and self-defense) skill throughout their life. And remember, blaming a gun for the death of an individual is like blaming spell check for spelling errors.
looks kinda funny, and about learning at young age, 12 is still young. this is just pushing it.
A police chief and a Massachusetts gun club have been indicted for involuntary manslaughter in the death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself with a Uzi at an October gun expo in Massachusetts.
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8-year-old shoots himself in the head at a Massachusetts gun show.
Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury owns COP Firearms & Training, which sponsored the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club, where 8-year-old Christopher Bizilj accidentally shot himself in the head in October after losing control of the 9 mm Micro Uzi submachine gun.
It looks like his hands are so small that he's holding the gun with his right hand and pulling the trigger with the left.
Before we all go apeshit, do you know how many kids under 12 die every year in accidental shootings? About 40, compared to about 1200 per year in cars and 600 by murder.
I'd venture a guess that almost all children who grow up in rural areas have learned how to handle firearms by age 10. IMO, they're safer for it, simply because they'll know enough to stay out of trouble WHEN (not if) they come across a loaded firearm in a friend's house.
Would your kid be able to unload a semi-automatic handgun if a friend put it in his hands?
And there is the difference: Somewhere in our society's past development, weaponry went out and was replaced by stricter social control because over all we became more peacefull- First no carrying of weapons allowed within city-walls, after that, no weapons allowed everywhere. And with reason- It takes a strong policeforce and unarmed citizens to keep a more or less peacefull society.
In such an environment it seems ludicrous to teach any person old or young to carry and use arms.
And then there is this sport of the use of arms for target-sports. There the weapon is taken out of its context of harmful instrument of death and destruction and it is used solely as an instrument of accuracy.
Only it still is an instrument that if not used properly can kill and destruct.
But so can gocarts, horses, small and bigger motorbikes or even bicycles- Those all can cause death and wreak havoc if used wrongly. But there we hardly see any problem if four-year old children use them.
So no I see no problem whatsoever if this kid gets a gun to do this sport and if he turns out to be a champion at shooting at his age. As long as he keeps doing it only while practising that sport and not outside that domain.
More kids die from being fat, TV watching, big mac eating slugs than from any kind of gun accidents.
Let me try to make my own statement:
Very few children die petting lions -> allowing children to pet lions is a good idea.
Do you have any idea how many children get into hospital from bicycle-related accidents....?
...And then still maintain that this kid should not me allowed to shoot guns in a sportive environment...?
The Lad is in league with the Two year old Chinese smoking prodigy.
This is why America is so beautiful and so very wrong!
P.s. - Wonder what his grouping is like?
The kid in the video does a great job handling the gun, considering it appears to be a .45 1911 of some sort. In any case, still probably not a great idea. I can't say I'd ever let any child of mine shoot a handgun anywhere around that age.
Awesome. I hope the kid keeps at it. Looks like he'll be a champ.
On the other side it's also a sport, albeit a disturbing one here.
Counting comments, tabulating opinions.
I'll try to speak more clearly, then, so you don't think I'm advocating six-year-olds driving cars or getting married.
A child is physically capable of smoking; a child can operate a voting machine; a child can operate a drill press or a table saw.
Simply because the child is able to do something, does that mean he should be allowed to do it?
There. Is that less extreme for you?
I think there’s no need for a booger eatin' moh-ron child of your age to be dictating which rights and constitutionally protected activities your fellow FREE citizens choose to engage in and enjoy.
Reducing the lives of others to only the things that you think anyone "needs" is a sure sign of an authoritarian socialist communist of the worst kind. The Nazi's didn't think the German citizens "needed" their guns, so they took them. Then when the people couldn't fight back, the Nazi's decided the Jews didn't "need" their businesses, so they closed them. Then then Nazi's decided the Jews didn't "need" their money, gold, artworks or any kind of assets, their freedom, health and in the end their very lives, so they took all of those too.
Whenever I read or hear anyone using the "need" argument I smell the stench of Nazis, and I can smell you from all the way out here in L.A.
Thankfully, whenever the "need" Nazis get out of hand with controlling what others "need" there are always a band of free, brave, clear thinking men and women that can see that the world doesn't "need" people like that and we rise up and kill as many of you as we can to return oppressed people to a state of freedom.
As a free man I proudly stand in front of, beside and behind this man and his son and all of my fellow free American citizens in the free enjoyment of our right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness and self determination.
And that's all that "needs" to be said about that.