THE DEADLY PEA-RIFLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 351, 31 March 1910, Page 4

THE DEADLY PEA-RIFLE.

j.ao pea-rifle in the haHds of the New Ilie-aland boy is a weapon to be afraid of. Two recent messages from Dunedin ■ enow that tliere has been another death and another wounding by these means. It seems almost impossible to prevent the small boy using pea-riiles, especially as he is being repeatedly told that he must become an effective shot for the defence of -Ms home and country. It i* perfectly natural that a boy should want to "go out and kill something,'' but the painful frequency with which ■he kills or wounds people, slays cows or ; dogs, and generally proves the effective ness of a cheap weapon, suggests some ; measures for the suppression of the ! -firearms. Parents are proud of boys •who can shoot well, and it is therefore >not an uncommon thing for a fond father to hand over a pea-rifle to hi* boy on the boy's twelfth birthday. If the boy has not killed anyone by the time he reaches his thirteenth birthday, the parent should feel glad. As the parents are frequently "accessories before the fact," they need not be considered. It is, perhaps, the duty of the police to see that boys do not accidentally shoot anyone to death. If it is the duty of the police, it would be interesting to know what they are doing about it. The point is, that no pearifle should be sold to a boy of any

age, and that the seller of every firearm should he responsible for each weapon landed by him. Many people comparing the average rifle with its email brother of the "pea" variety appear to believe that it is a harmless, innocent toy. We happen to have observed boys shooting through a fowlhouse with one of these harmless toys. The bullets were of soft lead, about

three-quarters of an inch long, and tore holes through two wooden walls quite jeasily. Some fond mother probably believed that the gun responsible was related to the popgun of the nursery. The sellers of various dangerous goods are carefully watched, but not the man who •passes out death-dealing weapons to any small boy who has the necessary cash. There are too many deaths by pea-rifle in New Zealand, and as the police are (the guardians ofthe people, it would be kind of them to take a "census" of weapons of the "toy" pattern, and tak,e some steps to prevent an addition to the death-roll by this common means. A Jaw exists which prohibit* the aale of firearms to boys under the age of eighteen, but there are no * recent examples of its enforcement. It is obvious that there is slackness, both on the part of the authorities and of the police. A few examples might he made of sellers of these dangerous weapons. This might "encourage the others" to desist from a practice which helps to fill our cemeteries.