Tears in my eyes of admiration of the excellent parenthood MrFM portraits... How I wish I could teach my children the noble art of weaponry, allas, not untill they turn 18 in this country, in which time their intersts might have changed. However, "play"-bows can be quite a dramatic teaching tool as well... ("Stop crying, son, better think with daddy how we are going to explain to your mother how you happened to kill your sister's pet-rabbit with this alleged toy your father bought you... Don't mind your sister, we'll buy her the so much sought after pink shotgun (when she turns 18, that is... Bloody Harry-Potter-country we live in...))

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2007/10/01/pink-shotgun-from-re.html

If I have a quibble with your otherwise excellent upbringing of your children, I would say, "Why have you waited so long with your daughter? Proper arms training for her should have started at five"

If, on the other hand, it is because she really is waiting for that perfect pink shotgun, then my profound apologies for daring to question your sensible decisions.

As for your correspondent, I'd have to say celebrating the death of scumbags who do their best to make life hell for the law abiding is a celebration of Life!, not death.

Dear Will, you type well for a blind, deaf and dumb boy! " your resultant society would consist of barbaric, self-centred and paranoid brutes." is a pretty fair description of your powers that be in brussels, law and order, as we would like to know it has been erroded to the point of irellevence so armed vgilllanties, at least know where to put a bullet in a child diddler! grow up.

Just a quick question for Will, Why are you Here?

From when I recently started becoming a visitor to Mr FM's excellent site, I like most of the others who comment, could Identify easily with the views and the comments. My sympathy is with Mr FM and not with your views.

The views of the site are quite clear so I ask again why are you here? If it offends then go else where.

As for the sniper and his shot - A damn fine shot and I'd gladly stand my hand for a Dram with him. I live in a world where such men are valued and considered good friends and comrades. If you think otherwise then you are not worthy to be in the company of those that serve their country and defend your right to free speech.

PDW,

I have found, as a general rule, that girls "mature" later than boys in terms of gunniness. Even so, Mr. FM has posted pics of his Daughter taking her first steps towards shooting, and I see no reason why the process will not continue as she desires. So we have no reason to fear for anything.

As for the Boy, he shows a commendable bloodthirstiness and willingness to take lives -- albeit at the moment only of feral vermin -- but I have no doubt whatsoever that Mr. & Mrs. FM will soon be instructing him in the necessities of removal of human vermin from society.

I see Sandhurst in his future... assuming that there is still a British Army when he comes of age, and not instead regiments with names like "1st Hampshire Bureaucrats" and "King's Brigade of Social Workers".

As for this Will person -- and I have to assume it's a man writing, although the style thereof is distinctly feminine -- I have no doubt that he will soon slink off to his Islington flat, there to fulminate against "Country Murderers" in frequent letters to the Guardian.

"Think of the effect that your mind will have on the upcoming generation."

Hopefully the effect will be broad and the impact noteworthy.

Carry on Mr. FM, carry on.

You shouldn't pick on Will. Being Will is bad enough.

Lucky Will (not that Will, the other Will) - by now he must have at least two years worth of dinner table "holding forth" material on the subject of your and your readers' general bloodthirstyness. I can only admire your unselfish regard for his deepest needs

As "the other Will" in this proceeding, let me just say, "Well done all!" (not my usual response when identified as the respondent I feel compelled to confess).

Wait ... Which Will am I?

Will's missing the point - the society we have now consists in great part of barbaric, narrow, self-centred brutes - try just about any High Street on a Saturday night. Hardly Mr FM's fault, since, alas, he ain't in charge. Perhaps Will would care to address his complaints to those trough-snufflers who are?

You might want to look up a post by Mark Kloos.

Victim Disarmament guarantees a brutal society. If you want a gentile society, then you need to advocate pistol carry.

I am sure that visitor Will has a good heart. The trouble is that his naivety about bad guys leads him into the error that has helped make the UK an increasingly unsafe and unpleasant place.

(I should guess that it took the regulars here no time at all to realise the "stab vest" was the explosive vest of a suicide murderer.)

The firearms confiscations, and the increasing surrender to the criminals and parasites in our society have convinced our criminals that they can do what they like, which is indulge themselves at the expense of the rest of us.

I find it hard to believe that the tide can be turned without restoring the right of decent people to keep and bear arms for our defence.

Otherwise, re-read A Clockwork Orange: that is where we are going.

I totally agree with the majority of the posts in this thread.This country (UK) seems to be the playground of both petty and major criminals who have more protection under the law than the poor law abiding citizen.As to Mr FM's parentng skills.....any person who can teach a 12 yr old boy to shoot accurately and safely is doing his country a great service and a great job as a parent. As to his daughters need for fire arm training,has he considered a paintball marker?They come in all colours, shapes and sizes and for just a couple of hundred quid a gun could be aquired which is light enough for a young lady and yet could come with semi/auto,burst fire(3,6,12 shots per trigger pull)or Full auto!I have used paintball with all my children to teach them team work,target aquistion skills and the joy of combat and they love it!

Dear Mr. FM
Be it known that I felt terrible shooting my first duck (age 12), but then it did taste good after roasting and the feeling quickly passed. The U.S. navy took care of the rest of the training a few years later. I would not hesitate to fire upon a threat to family or country. As you have observed, of late certain bereft-of-morals politicians and crooked lawyers (but I repeat myself) seem to be making every effort to reach the status of targets. Carry on Sir.

At present the law of this country prevents the law abiding from carrying weapons. Therefor the only people carrying weapons are not law abiding.

I seriously question the wisdom of mandating that loan sharks, thieves, and illicit drug dealers can be armed with no more penalty than they would suffer for their crimes anyway, whereas those who would abide by the law cannot.

Presumably Will would have been even less happy had the photo been of some robbery victim, rather than a loan shark who had presumably been dealt with illegally as the forces of law had failed to arrest him.

Off topic, but our insistence that only criminals can deal in drugs seems equally crazy- given the money we spend maintaining their monopoly.