Missouri student enters middle school with gun

There has been another school shooting, this time in Missouri, and fortunately no one was hurt. A middle school student fired one shot into a water pipe, but left instead of carrying out his detailed plans.

I think there are two important elements to this story. One is the media's desire to point out that the gun in question was an "AK-47." I'd be willing to put money down that it's not as scary as it sounds. The other is where the gun came from.

A true AK-47 is a fully-automatic machine gun (you hold down the trigger and it keeps shooting rapidly), basically illegal in the U.S. for more than half a century (it is possible but rare to get a permit). But gun manufacturers often make civilian versions of automatic weapons; these knock-offs look pretty fearsome but really have no mechanical advantages over deer rifles -- they are semi-automatic, meaning that one bullet comes out each time you pull the trigger. They're basically militaristic-looking hunting guns.

They're no more powerful than deer rifles, either -- indeed, 7.62 mm AK-47 ammo is finding its way into hunting weapons because it is inexpensive, and the SKS, which uses the same ammo, is cheap too.

Judging by the fact that only one bullet came out when the student shot into the air, I'm guessing it was a semi-auto remake, not a true AK-47. Unfortunately I've never shot an automatic weapon, so I'm not sure how easy it is to squeeze out a single round.

The article isn't inaccurate in calling it a "high-power firearm," as rifle hunting requires killing from long distances, but it does send the false message that this gun was abnormally high-powered. This idea is further implied when the Associated Press feels obliged include the information that, to those hicks in Joplin, Missouri, it is "not uncommon for people" to own such curiosities -- as if all of rural America were some kind of militia camp.

All this does nothing to minimize the fact that a young man entered a school with a gun, but it does show the media's desire to blow anything pertaining to gun control out of proportion. The story really should have mentioned the gun was an AK-47 remake, not the real deal, if indeed that is the case.

Second, there is still a valuable question in, "where does a seventh-grader get such a gun?" I've long been an opponent of gun control, but where children are at issue I'm definitely of the "locked or on you" persuasion. If you own a gun in the presence of kids, it should be under your direct supervision whenever it's unlocked. Carry it around all day, sleep with it under your pillow, fine. But don't leave it sitting around for your mentally unbalanced son/son's friend/neighbor/whatever to get in trouble with while you're away.

And contrary to now-and-then NRA doctrine, people who don't follow these guidelines should be held responsible.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.

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