U.S. May Lower Hunting Age To 10 — Yes, 10

Respectfully, Wisconsin, I have to ask: Are you people frickin’ NUTS??

The Senate in the U.S. state of Wisconsin has voted to lower the hunting age, the firearms hunting age, to 10. Yes, one decade old. As in, let’s give a ten-year-old a large lethal weapon and send him out into the woods.

I’ve gone through a bit of an evolution in my attitude towards hunting: I don’t do it and think it’s a pretty lame way to spend time, but I have friends who are hunters and understand the argument that if they didn’t hunt, deer would overbreed to the point of starvation. Also, I eat meat and certainly think killing an animal who’s lived its life out in the woods where it belongs is a whole lot more humane than cramming them into feedlots so I can have a cheap burger.

But the idea of saying, “Here, fifth grader, take this ginormous gun and shoot something with it” doesn’t seem all that smart. The bill requires only that a “mentor” be within “arm’s reach.” Which, if it’s a concerned father or uncle proudly passing on the family tradition of hunting to his child, okay…but I have heard enough deer camp stories to worry about that particular wording.

I understand that people who hunt love to do it and probably look forward to the day they can bring their kids out with them…but much like driving or drinking, I think this particular rite of passage can wait a little longer than a kid’s tenth birthday.

In the interest of fairness, here’s an opposing view.