Dangerous to treat air guns as toys
THERE is a widely- held perception that air rifles are glorified toys and not really “proper” weapons. They are lethal, as attested by this week’s tragedy involving the death of a schoolboy. Two teenagers were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after a 14- year- old boy, Ben Wragge, was believed to have been hit in the neck by a pellet in a Suffolk village. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition but died a short time later. Police are reported to be working on the theory that the poor lad was shot accidentally.
I have owned an airgun since my father gave me one for my 13th birthday. I have always treated them with the utmost respect, partly because my dad, who’d done his two years’ national service and knew how to handle a gun, taught me the inviolable rules.
Never point an air rifle at anyone, even if it’s not loaded. Always make sure the space behind your target is safe. Never cock the weapon indoors. And so on.
The power of air weapons is MOST American presidents are unintentionally funny but the current one is knowingly so. Obama’s speech to the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was a gem, full of sharp jokes and sly references. I loved his feigned regret about respect for him slipping away at home and abroad.
“It’s not just Congress,” he said sadly. “Even some foreign leaders, they’ve been looking ahead, anticipating my departure. Last week Prince George showed up to our meeting in his bathrobe. That was a slap in the face.”
Hillary Clinton could take some pointers from the President on how to deal with the odious Donald Trump: less abrasiveness, more humour. The guy’s a laughing stock so play to his weaknesses.
“They say Donald lacks the foreign policy experience to be president,” Obama deadpanned. “But in fairness he’s spent years meeting with limited by law but they can still pack a punch, especially at close range. The pellet of a “legal” rifle, ie one that doesn’t require a firearms certificate, leaves the muzzle at up to 875 feet per second, depending on the calibre. That’s a lot of velocity. A common calibre of pellet is .22 or 5.5mm, which is the same as many cartridge rifles used for game hunting.
I own several air rifles which I use for target shooting. I taught all my kids to shoot – my daughter Chloe is the Annie Oakley of the family, she can hit a bottletop at 50 paces – but I never, ever allowed them to shoot unsupervised. Kids are kids and they can get boisterous and over- enthusiastic, exactly what you don’t want on the rifle range.
After this week’s tragedy – not the first death due to an air rifle – I do wonder if we should reduce the power limits, or even make such weapons available only under a firearms certificate.
If nothing else that would underline their potential to cause lethal outcomes.
We’ll miss obama the comedian- in- chief
leaders from around the world… Miss Sweden, Miss Argentina, Miss Azerbaijan.”
The coolest president since Kennedy. We’ll miss him when he’s gone.