"A .22 For Christmas"

In May 2000, Brian C. Sheetz, Associate Editor of the NRA's American Rifleman magazine declared, "Nowadays, no parent has to settle for anything less than a youth-specific first firearm. A fine-quality lineup of youth long guns specifically designed and marketed for smaller shooters is available from main-line and specialty firearms manufacturers."⁷

Sheetz offered a definition for the youth gun:

Exactly what is a youth-specific long gun? While no hard-and-fast definition exists, the key thing to look for is a firearm that will make shooting safe and enjoyable for the beginner. Some youth guns are simply abbreviated versions of their adult counterparts while others are proportionally scaled-down designs that would be as inappropriate for an adult shooter as an adult gun is for a slightly built youngster.⁸

Firearms designed specifically for children and youth tend to be rifles or shotguns. There are several reasons for the lack of youth-specific handguns�

• The larger size of typical long guns make them more difficult for children to carry. Handguns are easier for children's smaller hands to grip, as Andy Kemp noted with regard to his eight-year-old daughter, "Courtney's small hand is able to comfortably handle the Walther TPH while her older sister, Samantha, is able to handle the larger Colt with the .22 Conversion unit."⁹ As a result, children can simply use smaller, "adult" handguns.
  
  
• Federal law prohibits handgun possession by juveniles with several exceptions. On the other hand, while long guns cannot be purchased by those under 18 years of age from a licensed dealer, there are no federal restrictions on juvenile long gun possession.
  
  
• Even some pro-gun writers see the dangers of arming children with handguns. As Clair Rees explained in Handguns magazine, "Handguns and very young shooters are a poor combination. When they're excited, it's too easy for youthful handgunners to point that short barrel in the wrong direction."¹⁰

"A .22 For Christmas," SHOT Business, November 2001, pp. 20-22.

Despite the lack of models designed exclusively for young shooters, the firearms industry and gun lobby aggressively market handguns to children�

• The NRA youth magazine for junior members InSights routinely carries ads for firearms, including the Harrington & Richardson 929 Sidekick revolver.
  
  
• The United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA),^c actively recruits children to join its ranks. The organization's Junior Program features a web site "Dedicated to America's Finest Youth."¹¹ Wally Arida, one-time publisher of the magazine GunGames, dedicated to combat shooting, stresses, "We must involve our children into [sic] our gun games. As an industry, we must build the structure for various youth shooting programs."¹²
  
  
• The Single Action Shooting Society recruits kids for its "Cowboy Action shooting" events. Cowboy Action shooters dress up like "wild west" cowboys and shoot at targets over a course designed to approximate the look and feel of the old west. As explained in the NRA youth magazine InSights, "The horses are made of wood and the bandits are silhouette targets, but the spirit of this fast growing shooting discipline is as true to the Old West as you can get."¹³ Cowboy Action shooting requires the use of both handguns and long guns, and the minimum age is 12 years old.
  
  
• The NRA offers a marksmanship qualification program for handgun and long gun shooting. According to the NRA's web site, "The NRA Marksmanship Qualification Shooting is perfect [for] people of all ages�children and adults." Courses offered include handgun, shotgun, light rifle, and high-power rifle qualification.¹⁴

"Girls and Guns," Handgus, August 2001, pp.50-54.

c) "Practical shooting" is a euphemism for combat shooting, an event where competitors conduct their activities over a "run-and-gun" obstacle course where they face a variety of "real-world" shoot/don't shoot situations, such as firing at the human silhouette of a "hostage-taker" while sparing the "hostage." For more information on "practical shooting," see Josh Sugarmann and Philip Alpers, Gold Medal Gunslingers: Combat Shooting Targets the Olympic Games (Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 1999)

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