The Michigan House is considering legislation that will change the state’s rules for kids and BB guns.
For generations they’ve been a rite of passage for young children in Michigan: Your first BB gun. They’re considered an important learning tool in a state where hunting is a tradition.
Bridge Michigan reports that two years ago, a 12 year-old boy from Galesburg named Deven Free was shot in the head with a BB that struck him in the right eye and lodged in his brain. After a number of hospital stays, Free died of his injuries last summer.
His story prompted a House Bill that would require anyone under the age of 18 using pneumatic weapons like BB and pellet guns outside their homes and yards to have adult supervision. A similar act was repealed in 2015.
49 comments
Yet you can hunt with a shotgun alone at 14? I received (and still have my Daisy BB gun at the age of 5 I learned never to pint a gun whether it was a toy gun or not when I was about 4 when my father busted my toy gun over his knee and whooped my @$$ for pointing it at someone. It’s all about firearm education and it should start early and be taught in school just like driver Ed and boaters safety. Government is too busy brainwashing our kids instead of teaching them life skills. Schools don’t have shop class or home ec
Indeed like I shot my bb guns outside and I knew. How to be safe but yet my sister was a stuck up bitch she told my mom and dad well dad didn’t ground me because I was in the right. I love paint. Balling and airsofting but yet were pointing guns at people this country is fucking retarted and I hope there will be a war between the dumb fucks
What, you want a civil war?? How wrong is that? Instead of threatening people maybe it would be better if all you warmongers would get in to peaceful protesting or using legal means to change the system. And yes, I own weapons and you will not take them away from me but I have never found the need to own a weapon that can kill 40 or 50 people at once, that is called being inhuman.
Thanks for your input FUD. Some good points but you ruin it with saying only MY guns are good.
I have never seen a weapon kill 1,10,40 or 50 people or anyone by itself. I have seen humans do it.
I agree with you 💯 👍
Excellent for your dad. Yep, that’s part of the problem-this pansy parenting. First, we need dads in the homes, and yes, more discipline. What idiot came up with counting or time out? My mother gave us time out- to figure out how to not get your ——beat again. This world is becoming a pathetic place. Instead of a BB gun, they give the boy a training bra.
When I went to school all of us kids had to take hunters safety and it was taught in the school and the target shooting was done on the school grounds.
Exactly!!! Firearm safety should be taught k-12 period. When Firearm safety was taught in schools, there was no such thing as school shootings, mass shootings etc . Kids were educated young to respect the tools as well as each other !!!
No. Gun safety shouldn’t be taught in schools. Fundamentals are more important than guns.
If you enjoy freedom, guns are pretty fundamental.
If you’d rather be tax chattel, then by all means skip those classes.
Exactly right
More liberal B.S. one person dies and the libs want to change things. I’m sorry this young man died. But don’t you think more get killed riding there bikes near a busy road.
Absolutely right! We should ban cars as well!
It is an unfortunate that the young man passed away my condolences to his family. But a gun is just a tool you can’t blame the gun, okay for an example that’d be like me blaming a fork and spoon for making me fat!!!
Like adult supervision will keep this from happening! Adults who don’t teach their children are the problem, not the solution!
Of course there’s always the chance a child will be dumb, freedom to do dumb things is how we learn.
I think we should ban vehicles they kill people every day, More than guns, people are just ignorant today, talk about safety there is no seat belts on a bus for our children?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to make hunter safety a requirement then?
Or require the parents to take hunter safety and teach their kids hunter safety!
My Uncle taught me hunter safety when I was 5 years! Number 1 rule never point any kind of gun at someone unless you or your family is in danger!
Contact your local reps and get involved. They will just keep criminalizing everyone. We need better access to education on Firearms in school, it is a right and they are everywhere so why not teach kids proper use in grade school?
Through the use of the sporting goods tax the state SHOULD offer FREE gun safety courses to juveniles 8-17 if they make this a law.
I agree with what Tim & Tom stated in the comments, Tom “Through the use of the sporting goods tax the state SHOULD offer FREE gun safety courses to juveniles 8-17 if they make this a law.” and Tim “Yet you can hunt with a shotgun alone at 14.” My Comment To Legislation “MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!”
They cannot make it make sense, the entire gun-grabber position is illogical and stems from feelings not facts.
The schools used to offer hunter an snowmobile safety clases.
Not sure about nowadays.
You’ll shoot your eye out
Poor taste.
Quick, ban BB guns, that way no more of them will magically become autonomous and murder all of us.
Perhaps a gun safety course in school would stop these tragedies. But no, the tyrants in the Michigan government always go for the most aggressive method to solve what should be a parental responsibility. A gun safety course in school should be a priority over DEI, ESG, and CRT.
What bunch of Crap, anything and everything to Disarm America, It’s Beyond time to Stand Up against, these Looney Leftist Progressive Liberal Democrat’s!
All I can say is I’ve never seen a gun magically float by itself,load itself and go out and shoot someone or something by itself – Don’t blame the gun, any gun. It takes a person to do all those things . Some people just need education, the ones who perform these acts of murder are to blame. My condolences to all the families who lost someone to gun violence.
Bring back the boy scouts. We that were in the 99% unmolested. Received badges / patches on craft , life , wilderness , swimming, rope and knot tying , knife sharpening use and safety . Swimming , hunting ( for eagle scouts) how to assemble , disassemble, proper firearm handling and safety . Use of bow and arrow . And above all Honor , integrity , respect, intelligence reading, math , quick thinking problem solving in the event of emergency
There are 6 Eagle Scouts in our family. They have safely hunted for years and we’re taught gun safety very early in life, before the Scouts eligibility age. Parents need to take responsibility for teaching their children the most important skills.
A lot of whining about something that legitimately won’t even affect most of the people posting here.
Getting mad over our government trying to keep kids safe… With arguments like ‘Sad that kid died, BUT MY GUNS!’… or ‘But hunting with a shotgun alone at 14 is ok?’ Shouldn’t be. And hopefully won’t be for long.
You want to own a gun. Fine. You want your kid to own a BB gun. I’m cool with that, too. But I wouldn’t trust half of you reading this to educate yourself, let alone your kid.
So, to quote a good majority of you, “Buckle-Up, Buttercup!”
P.S. I really WISH they would ban cars… And every pickup truck while they’re at it.
Thanks for the comment slaver. Bow down to your government god.
I’m glad you’re content to lick the boots of your overlords. More people have died to governments than have died from private gun ownership. Remember, you won’t actually ban guns, you’re just banning anyone but your rulers from having them.
Listen to what your saying! THE GOVT trying to keep OUR kids safe. Why does the govt have to be in control of us or our kids. It sounds like a duck it is a duck. Communism is just around the corner. No one has the right to tell me what, how, or when I can handle any firearm. You give up one freedom you give up them all! Give me liberty or give me death. Amazing how easily people have forgotten how this country was born.
Idiots
This is absolutely absurd. Wake up Michigan. The problem doesn’t lay within the BB guns or firearms in general, the problem is the video games and the violence in the games that deprogram kids and teenagers of the value of life.
My uncle took my BB gun away from me and sold it, so when i saw him at the park I shot him with my slingshot and stole his backpack and weed
People better wake up. These crazy liberal leftist are passing stupid laws everyday.
Always trying to take our rights away …..not happening lock stuff up and train your kids period
It’s not our guns, it’s the Libtard’s son’s.
lots of ignorant people commenting here. I see nothing wrong with requiring adult supervision when minors handle any weapon, whether it’s a BB gun or an actual firearm.
The government keeps changing the definition of adult and minor. 16, 18, 21, 25, what next? Maybe, just maybe, some things are the responsibility of the parents and not the government.
The government is the parent now. They enjoy screwing us people so much we could all file a paternity suit against them.
Deven was a member of my family.
I grew up shooting and being shot by bb guns. My older brother was merciless. We never were seriously injured. It was fun.
Deven was a good kid. I think bad things sometimes happen to good people, which was the case here. The bb passed through his forehead and much of his brain. I have never heard of or witnessed anything like this. For a year, he suffered from severe brain injury and complete incapacitation. It was terrible to see.
We should not regulate everything that hurts or even kills someone. We could outlaw chairs, steps, ladders, shovels, knives, and the list is endless.
Keep your kids close. Make sure they are safe. But regulating everything is not the answer.
I’m sorry for your loss, and appreciative of your wisdom.
The real crying shame for Michigan is, the liberal blue counties re-elected Governor Gretchen Whitmer last November. She’s on her way up the democratic ladder to the White House.
Sounds like mandatory safety glasses while handling an air rifle could have prevented this a whole lot better than this proposed law.
🔥 Oh my, I’ve never seen so many comments posted about a story here before. I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of BB guns.