No state is an island...

I love the strange insularity of state legislatures.

Now, no state in which I've resided had a specific minimum age for children to handle firearms under adult supervision. In Indiana, Tennessee, and Georgia, one needed to be 18 or older to own a handgun or long gun, but minors could use them under adult supervision for various enumerated activities. (Ref: O.C.G.A. § 16-11-132, TCA 39-17-1319, I.C. § 35-47-10-1)

Iowa, however, had a restriction that nobody under age 14 could use handguns, no way no how, not even with mommy and daddy standing right there. Long guns? Sure. Handguns, though? Nope.

Someone noticed this was a little odd, and took steps to correct it, and the predictable wailing and gnashing of teeth occurred:

Opponents questioned the lack of age limit under the bill.

"We do not have handguns that I am aware of that fit the hands of 1-year-olds, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds to operate handguns," state Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt, a Democrat, told legislators during debate.

"We do not need a militia of toddlers," Marquardt added.

Did anybody think to look at the states around them to see if there were plagues of pistol-waving preschoolers shooting up the landscape? Nope, we go right to the ol' "There'll Be Blood In The Streets" thing, as sure as the sun rises in the east. It's like they can only say one thing when their string gets pulled.
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