Kids, Guns and Jackson County Sheriff's Dept.

Vanessa Houk, 06.08.2005 15:58

For several years now, our family has enjoyed KTVL Channel 10's Kids Day in Hawthorne Park. Our kids look forward to seeing the hot air balloon and winning prizes. It is one of many Jackson County free events we value. Imagine our surprise to see riot gear at this years "Safe Kids" day.

(click on photo to make bigger)

kids play with sheriff's guns

Jackson County Sheriff's Department Gives Children the Wrong Message About Guns
by Vanessa Houk

KTVL's Channel 10 Kid's Day was held at Hawthorne Park on August 6, 2005. Hundreds of families enjoyed free giveaways including helium balloons, books, popsicles, and much more. For many Jackson County families, this annual event is a highlight of the summer and is a opportunity for many businesses and local groups to educate children while showing community support. The theme of the day was "Safe Kids" and many of the booths reflected this including Rogue Valley Medical Center's hand washing booth and information tables for Children's Advocacy Center and Southern Oregon Drug Awareness.

So why did the Jackson County Sheriff's Department choose to offer a hands on display of riot gear that included a tear gas launcher, a pepper spray gun and ballistic helmets with a drawing of a human target that kids could aim at? Other law enforcement agencies chose a more gentler approach and were there with uniformed officers, greeting children and inviting them to look at their police vehicles, which is a much healthier message. Safe kids are not afraid of law enforcement.

According to the Center for Disease and Control, more than four thousand children were killed by guns in 1997, the latest year which figures are available. Irregardless of the issue of gun control, all parents have a responsibility to keep their children safe from violence and our law enforcement agencies must promote and encourage gun safety. If you hand my five year old a pepper spray gun, she does not have the ability to distinguish that weapon from an AK-47. As an adult, I would have a hard time differentiating lethal and non-lethal weapons, so how can we expect young children to know that "this gun is okay to hold and shoot, but grandpa's loaded gun is not". My fear is that by letting children handle weapons at a community event, we are minimizing the sense of danger of all weapons.

I hope that Jackson County Sheriff's Department has a display at Kid's Day next August as long as they leave their riot gear at home.

e-mail:: lithiasalt@cheerful.com

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Pics from 8-6-05 06.08.2005 - 17:20 Jackson County Sheriff's Dept. targets youth Kids play with weapons Riot gear out of place at Kids Day '05 Photos of Sheriff Dept.'s riot gear on display at Kids' Day 2005. pogo> War and Family @ DJ's video 07.08.2005 - 09:24 Last night I was at DJ's video store in Ashland and while walking down the family aisle on the right I noticed that the "war" section was on my left. I complained and said that the war section should be moved away from family to another more adult section, perhaps by the pornography. I said that I would boycott them if necessary, abd that I had before! this frenzy will pass but only because we are vigilant and pro-active p.s. thanx for the heads up on the kids day thing.....i will also compl;a suzia aufderheide> e-mail:: souixzan@mind.net few more pics 07.08.2005 - 11:07 Guns Gear Armor More photos of Sheriff Dept. riot gear display. pogo> See the truth about what was going on. 07.08.2005 - 15:36 The Sherrif's department was doing more than teaching kids that weapons are safe to handle. The JCSF spent the day allowing kids to make fun out of using riot gear against "human" targets, glorifying law enforcement's practice and legacy of using brutal and often deadly force to suppress the public's constitutional right to assemble, petition, and speak. In the same way that war games, war toys, and war media desensitizes young people (and adults) to the horror of warfare and leads to people actually believing that slaughtering foriegners and American soldiers is a realistic and favorable method of meeting our selfish wants; giving kids riot gear to play with like toys will do the same thing to create a general social atmosphere of acceptance towards government/corporate forced-suppression of the mass population. The Sherrif's department wasn't sending a wrong message about gun-safety. Rather, it was psychologicaly prepping our young people today to become next decade's slaves. Proletariat> scare the people 08.08.2005 - 09:18 firearms safty,drinking wisely, etc. should be taught from a very early age, i started my son at five, he has had no problem with public behavior since and is now twenty-four. the government would rather harrass and scare, the more people in jail, the fewer that can protest against the lose of legal rights. i prefer the lets sit and talk routine, but most cops want the i'm the law and your the bound for jail scum approach. karl roenfanz ( rosey )> e-mail:: k_rosey48@hotmail.com get real 10.08.2005 - 07:55 The above comments are a good example of why a large group of you folks are considered idiots by the rest of society. This showing or demonstration is much like a fire department allowing the kids to play with fire fighting gear, the intent is to teach the kids that there are real people inside that gear and explain the purpose of the gear when it is used. This helps keep the kids from being scared to death when people show up dressed in the gear. Now I can understand why some of you may have a problem with this, since you won't be able to feed you own kids quite as much BS about those dirty authority figures that are there to get your lazy butts out of the road, or stop you from destroying others property while "demonstrating your rights". But for most of us the fact that these people are hear to protect us, from the few idiots such as the ones in Eugene a few years ago, is a good thing. One day you folks will realize that the only reason you can voice your opinion the way that you do is because there are people like the police and soliders to protect our rights both here and abroad. The biggest abuse of these rights comes from people like you not the police. Get a clue. Chane Sau>