Pellet Guns: A Collector's Opinion

By: Scott Jarvis
Submitted: 2008-02-15 13:29:10
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There are many arguments for and against gun control in this country and with so many misusing firearms it’s not hard to understand the position of those in favor of more control or banning and those who wish to see the owning of guns remain a choice that individuals make and not the government.  I generally consider myself a fairly liberal person and while I believe there are always stronger ways to keep guns out of the hands of people who would use them improperly and to do other harm, I also believe that removing guns from society all together will only force immoral individuals to find another weapon with which to threaten us with.

In addition to traditional firearms, there has been a lot of attention of other types of non lethal guns such as pellet guns.  As a long time collector and admirer of pellet rifles and air soft guns I find it unfortunate that there are individuals who make use of blank guns and other type of bb and pellet guns to threaten and even harm innocent people.  Some of these guns look like actual firearms and in some cases are designed be an exact replica of their more deadly cousins.  I think it unfair to lay blame on these guns or any type of gun, lethal in force or not because it’s not the gun that hurt anyone, it’s the person who pulled the trigger.  Though any type of gun can be dangerous in the hands of irresponsible, angry, or immature persons, to remove firearms and even pellet guns is akin to placing a band-aid on top of a gaping wound.  It solves nothing and those who used guns to do harm in the past will only find a new weapon of choice to use against innocents.

It is all too common a practice these days for people to look for and find a scapegoat and/or a quick solution.  We as human beings should look at the tragedies caused by those with guns and realize that this is a human problem and not lay blame on an inanimate object.  There are many physiological factors that contribute to a person being able to harm another human being and those are the things we should be looking at.  This is where we should be attacking the problem because as I’ve stated before, even if we were to ban every single non-living object in the world, those with the ability to harm, maim, or even kill would still have feet and fists.  As a society we should attempt to determine what motivates a person to commit such heinous acts and find ways of stopping this.  I’m also a realist however and am well aware that there will likely never be a way to completely or even largely eradicate this type of behavior but we have a responsibility to try.

Recently I have had neighbors frown on me for allowing my teenage son to shoot pellet rifles in our back yard.  Comments such as “how can you allow a child to shoot a gun” and “that’s irresponsible” reverberate throughout my front yard on a nearly daily basis.  Sadly the majority of these people hold this position only because of what they see on the news or read in the paper.  When it comes to guns, even air soft guns, it’s a case of a few bad apples ruining the barrel.  I grew up shooting pellet guns with my dad and I like once did with me, have instilled responsibility and safety in my son before anything else.  I grew up shooting and have not one time ever thought of using any of my guns for anything but target practice in my back yard or out in the mountains.  I’m a well adjusted adult and I believe my son will one day be as well. 

The bottom line with any type of gun is this.  There are those of us who enjoy collecting and shooting for recreation.  We are responsible, level headed people who know right from wrong and would never harm anyone or anything using any type of weapon.  There are also those who will attempt to harm others out of frustration, immaturity, fear, revenge, etc.  Sadly these people will find a way to do harm whether guns of any type exist or not.  We can reduce the number of injuries though through education and responsibility and playing it safe can make shooting a lot of fun.

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