Iowa’s House of Representatives voted 62-36 to allow children the right to possess “a pistol, revolver or the ammunition,” with parental supervision of course—what are we, animals?
The bill — which was debated among other gun proposals and is now headed to the Iowa Senate — has been a polarizing issue.
“What this bill does, the bill before us, allows for 1-year-olds, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds to operate handguns,” State Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt (D) said, according to CBS-affiliate KCCI. “We do not need a militia of toddlers.”
When ISIS comes to Iowa, trying to behead ears of corn, you’ll be thanking Republican patriots like state Rep. Jake Highfill.
State Rep. Jake Highfill (R) said the new bill, which passed 62-36, “brings the code in line with long guns and shotguns” by allowing children to possess a firearm under direct supervision from a parent or legal guardian.
“Allowing people to learn at a young age the respect that a gun commands is one of the most important things you can do,” Highfill told The Washington Post. The alternative, he said, is “turning 18 with no experience.”
To be fair to Republicans, kids under 14 are already allowed to possess long guns or shotguns. State Rep. Highfill wants to give the power of death back to the parents of Iowa, where it belongs.
“It returns the power back to where it belongs -- back in the hands of the parents to make the decisions they are entitled to do instead of the government,” Highfill said.
Besides the fact that we all know parents with guns are responsible people one hundred percent of the time, there is the wisdom that every parent of young children (or teenage children for that matter) knows—young children are masters of their inner emotional states, always in control of their impulses and anger.