My first rifle: how young is too young to operate a gun?

In early 2017, a video went viral of a 10-year-old girl named Presley receiving a gift. In the back seat of a car, Presley’s parents hand her a box at least half her size; it might be some kind of musical instrument. Presley, though, overcome with emotion, seems to clock what’s inside instantly: her very first gun.

It’s a 686 Silver Pigeon, an over-under shotgun used primarily for hunting. Beretta, the Italian manufacturer that makes the 686, went on to promote the video on its Facebook page with the caption: “She opens the Beretta box. Her reaction will make you cry.” It added the hashtag #BerettaJoy.

The comments section on the post, with more than 20m views, is reliably tribal. Some called the shotgun a “disgusting gift for a child” and others rebuked “anti-gun people” ignorant of “the level of skill and personal discipline that young lady had to show before her parents bought her a tool”. The viral clip got coverage, too, in the Mirror, Yahoo, and Breitbart, making Presley and her parents lightning rods for the kinds of fractious debates inspired by guns and those who oppose them.




Source: theguardian

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