Not Your Dad's BB Gun (Washington Post)

[Griff]

Rite of Spring:
Get BB gun.
Get safety lecture.
Shoot bird; watch it die.
Cry.
Understand, respect, remember.

If kids don't experiment with kiddie toys when they're younger, human nature seems to indicate that they'll do those same experiments with bigger, better, faster adult toys when they're older and the only people around to spank them are the cops.

Would you rather Little Johhny learn to ride on a Big Wheel or a Heritage Softtail?

 

[lotus]

My parents were not gun people in the slightest. They barely tollerated my (vast) collection of toy guns and would not abide with the thought of me getting a BB gun. Luckily for me they didn't have the same irrational conceptions about bow and arrow.

We bought a Victorian house back in the late 70s that had a carriage house converted to a garage. Up in its' loft I found an old Daisy air rifle that worked like a charm. Didn't say a thing to the parents, collected cans and shot them off the rafters. For about three weeks. Then my parents found out and we had a "little talk".

The last laugh is on them, however, as I have vastly over-compensated in adulthood and now have many thousands of dollars worth of firearms!

 

[Dbl0Kevin]

A BB a 500 FPS can penitrate a skull?

YEAH RIGHT!

I remember several years ago when I first got my pump air rifle (Which shoots BBs 650-700 FPS with 10 pumps) I decided to see how deep it would go into an old dog kennel. It was made of plastic and was no thicker than 1/8 inch or so.

I shot it from 10-15 away and heard the loud sound of a BB hitting wood. It turns out that the BB bounced off the kennel (leaving a barely visible mark) and hit the garage door behind me.

Also, at 650 FPS, a BB wouldnt penitrate more than 1/4 inch into hardwood.

I never tried with a BB, but with a lead pellet from my Crosman and 10 pumps it nearly went through a 3/4" block of wood. Was poking through the other side and barely hanging by it's tail. That seemed enough to penetrate a skull to me.

 

[feedthehogs]

I got shot in the back from my brother more than once.
He also played jump and I'll catch you of which most of the time he did not and I hit the concrete floor.
I never went to the ER.
If I told my parents, he would beat the crap outta me later.

I gotta think the reports are because of the feminization of men and boys these days and to make sure a report is made for a possible lawsuit.

My estranged sister's ex husband threatened to call the police on me for buying his son a BB gun many years ago. He said his kid didn't need guns or knives to express himself. He just needed to be in touch with his feelings.
And this was from a guy who was a competitor on the old American Gladiator show.

Go figure.

 

[Glock19Fan]

Yesterday I shot a steel stool (made of about the same guage and strength steel as the folding chairs) with a Super Colibri from my Marlin 60. Advirtised velocity for the 20 grain pellet is just over 500 FPE IIRC.

It made a nice dent and was enough to blow the paint off but it still didnt penitrate it.

My Crosman airgun with 10 pumps barely made a dent.

Metal isnt the same as a skull, but comparing the two, and being 99 percent sure that a Colibri would penitrate the skull (since ive seen direct hits from .22 shorts only get lodged in), I dont think a 7.9 grain pellet at 650 FPS would have a chance at penitrating a skull.

It sure would hurt, if not knock someone unconscience.

It would kill though.

 

[captain obvious]

This article has a bit of a personal bearing on me, as no fewer than 4 friends of mine from High School and earlier, all Northern Virginians, have been arrested for shooting people with air rifles (all incidents were when they were of college age), and one is currently in a Pennsylvania state prison as a result of it.

I don't understand why someone would shoot any anyone with anything without any reason as was the case with these people (the one serving time in PA fired from his dorm room window). However, in our area, growing up, most parents had the view that firearms were evil, and not to be touched, let alone owned or trained with. My parents were that way until I was 18 (and *taught my father* how to shoot), and I knew parents of friends that would not let them own even supersoakers.

My best guess as to why NOVA kids have acted like this in seeming droves lately is that they have little or no instruction with firearms (or bb guns, or air rifles), no concept of their power and effects, and, at least the case of the aformentioned 4 (coming from the Langley/McLean school districts, thus more affluent), have little sense of personal responsibility.

This is NOT the fault of "powerful" BB guns, but the unreadable when partisan Washington Post will never come out and say that.


Now to get one of those Daisy Powerlines before they require an FFL transfer....

 

[Mikul]

Teenagers and mischief go hand-in-hand. If you give an airgun to your average teenager, you should expect that some mischief will happen especially if this teenager has no idea how much damage his vandalism anonomyzer can really do.

Parents, if you think your kid is likely to do something stupid with an airgun, don't buy it for them. Buying them something they refuse to be responsible with and then hoping for the best is not good parenting.