5 year-old kills 2 year-old sister with gun ‘ideally sized for children four to ten years old’

ThinkProgress: On Wednesday, a five-year-old Kentucky boy accidentally shot and killed his two-year-old sister with a gun he’d been given as a birthday present. The weapon, a small rifle, was manufactured specifically for children’s use.

The boy’s weapon was a “My First Rifle” .22-caliber gun from Keystone Sporting Arms’ youth branch, Crickett. Crickett’s website markets itself “especially for youth shooters.” The firearms come in several neon colors, and the website even has a “kids corner” featuring pictures of small children with guns…

Crickett does not manufacture bullets. The company offers books for “Grades 2-3 and up,” and says their guns are “ideally sized for children four to ten years old.”

Yeah, this is real and there’s no shortage of morons who think this is “responsible gun ownership.” Teach the kids about guns early, the reasoning goes, and they’ll be safer gun owners. This same reasoning would put a five year-old behind the wheel of an SUV or in the cockpit of a plane.

Unfortunately, companies like Crickett can get away with selling these things to extremely stupid people because gun manufacturers are immune from liability lawsuits and no consumer safety laws apply to them. Why? Because the NRA, that’s why. They don’t give a fuck if some kid shoots his baby sister with a dayglo kid-gun. They’re just happy someone was stupid enough to buy the bullet.

Again, this is what the NRA and all the gun freaks out there believe is the very best America can do when it comes to firearm regulations. This is the very best way to deal with guns — to not deal with them at all. Look at those photos; some of those kids are basically babies and mom and dad stuck a gun in their hand because they’re that fucking stupid and because the gun culture promoted by the NRA and the Republican Party led them to believe that it was OK.

Do we need laws to protect people from themselves? Yes. And even more importantly, we need to protect children from their braindead, gun-happy parents. This is not the best we can do.

And fuck you if you think it is.