Killing innocence

American States, and Arkansas is no exception, set minimum age limits to vote, drive, drink alcohol, hold a job, watch or participate in pornography, enter contracts, run for public office, and more. The reasons for this run the gamut from public safety to mental health; it just stands to reason that children are not ready for major responsibilities nor can they envision the consequences of their actions – some never will.  Why, then, is it legal, condoned, and even celebrated in the “Sportsmen of the Week” [Arkansas Democrat Gazette] to have children as young as six, armed to the teeth?

Posing next to their victim, these children smile for having stopped a beating heart just because they can. Is a six or sixteen year old Nimrod capable of grasping the gravity of taking life, any life? Can the immature brain be trusted to walk the hairthin line that separates “glory” from “felony” depending on the species of the victim?  Of course not.

As for adult supervision provided during the hunt it is only as good as the judgement of anyone who’d put a compound bow or a .243 rifle in the hands of a kid.

Let’s face it, hunting at any age is a perversion.  Society should not condone, much less encourage a practice that harms others and, in the case of children, the killer itself; not unlike kiddie porn, which is a felony, because the victim is innocence.

(A version of this was published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 28 January 2014)