South Dakota Says 'No' to Letting 10 Year-Olds Hunt February 14, 2007

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Earlier this week I told you about a bill backed by the gun fanatics at the National Rifle Association (NRA) that would have lowered the legal hunting age from 12 to 10 in the state of South Dakota. If the NRA had gotten its way and this bill had been made into law, fifth graders in the state would have been allowed to go out into the woods and shoot and kill small animals in the name of "tradition" and "recreation." Let's call it what it is—hunting is murder.

Yesterday, this ridiculous bill came before the House for a vote, and South Dakota's legislators did the right thing. Only 20 representatives voted in favor of lowering the hunting age, while 49 (nearly 75%) voted against the "Guns 4 Tots" concept.

Any sane person can agree that we should not be putting guns into children's hands at a young age. Today, hunting—which was part of human survival, like, 100,000 years ago—is nothing more than a violent "sport" that is unnecessary for the survival of the vast majority of hunters. Hunting has contributed to the extinction of animal species all over the world (look at the Tasmanian tiger and the great auk for example). No matter how much they may attempt to claim they are "controlling wildlife population," the truth is that many hunters just get off on violence, and take out their "manhood" problems on deer, rabbits, and other animals that can't defend themselves.

Aside from the fact that it is cruel to animals, hunting teaches children that violence is acceptable and puts them at serious risk of being injured or killed. As Vince Weber, a gun safety instructor from Sioux Falls, put it when he addressed the South Dakota House on why he opposed lowering the hunting age, "How many of you, with all the best intentions of the world and standing right at their shoulder, are going to let your 8-year-old grandson run your table saw?"

-Noah

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