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    Arizona gun club lets children hold high-powered guns while posing for Christmas pictures

    (Facebook)

    A local gun club in Scottsdale, Arizona is hosting an event for parents and their children to pose for pictures with Santa Claus while holding machine guns they would not be allowed to legally own. Even toddlers are permitted to hold high-powered firearms in the photos. Organizers say the event has so far attracted hundreds of participants.

    Family Pictures Taken With Santa, Machine Guns: MyFoxPHOENIX.com

    The Scottsdale Gun Club advertises the event as "a one-of-a-kind opportunity to be photographed next to Santa while against a backdrop of a stunning $80,000 Garwood mini-gun and SGC's coolest belt fed machine guns including the M60, M249 and M240." The photos are $5 for club members and $10 for non-members.

    A caption on the club's website reads: "Santa's Back With His Bag Of goodies. Get Your Holiday Picture With Santa & His Machine Guns!"

    Club member Jennifer Dove told the Daily Mail that out of the hundreds of attendees at a similar event last year, only one participant declined the option of having their child pose with a gun:

    "There's a huge community that's interested in firearms as a sport and a hobby," Dove said. "There's no reason they can't express their holiday spirit and their passion for that hobby." The club's general manager Ron Kennedy added: "Our members and guests enjoyed the concept and we are delighted to bring it back again this Holiday season."

    Arizona has been no stranger to controversial gun stories this year, including both the attempted assassination of Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the "Fast and Furious" federal gun smuggling case.

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    • Dilip Singh  •  3 mths ago
      This is the good topic to read and i like it so much-- Data
      Entry India
      Allied Data Entry
    • igor smov  •  4 mths ago
      They should go the border with that mini gun and clean out the illegals. Save taxpayers money.
    • USvetAF  •  5 mths ago
      Anyone old enough to remember hunter safety classes at school and qualifying just beyond the school yard? Funny, I don't remember all the gun play that everyone was concerned about when they started to eliminate such educational programs. Probably won't hurt to reinstate these type of programs. Each one of my kids had "real" guns and proper training growing up. So whats the point of this article beyond the so called reporters perspective?
      • don h 5 mths ago
        yep, did it in 6th grade
      • Radar 5 mths ago
        Yeah remember taking a drivers test, and purchasing drivers insurance so that if YOU hit someone you were covered. Surely everone will do it the right way and there should be no reason to worry. In fact why regulate driving at ALL. Lets just hope everyones parents decide to take little johnny out and teach him vehicle safety and responsibility.
      • hmmmmmm 5 mths ago
        Yup I did too. Thinks it's a great thing for kids to know how to handle guns so there's less chance of them being curious and hurting themselves or someone else. Knowledge is so much better than hiding them. We grew up in MT with an unlocked gun cabinet and not once did we want to get them out to show anyone 'cause we knew their power.
    • Bad Habit  •  5 mths ago
      I am a Liberal AND a gun owner.
      My father taught me how to shoot and respect firearms when I was 8 years old and I have been a target shooter ever since.

      One of the first things I did with my own children was teach them gun safety from the moment they were old enough to understand.
      Under my supervision, They were allowed to hold and examine several of my guns. I did this to remove any curiosity or mystery of firearms from their minds.

      Of my 4 children, 3 have become avid sport shooters.

      For something that is a Constitutional Right, we, as a nation, fail miserably at educating our children on the responsibility of this Right. It is the only part of the Constitution that is ignored by almost all educational systems so is it any wonder when children are hurt or people grow up not respecting the power of this most important Right.

      Currently, the only education our youth receive is via the movies and TV. Wow, I wonder why so many people suck with guns?
      • Billy 5 mths ago
        Thank you. Good post. Children SHOULD be taught about guns, the dangers of them and the safe handling of them at an early age. Too many kids become statistics because mommy and daddy didn't want them to know anything about guns, but when they go to their friend's house, where there are guns, they grab one and don't handle it properly and get killed. I started teaching my son at 3 to never touch a gun unless I was right with him. Starting in another couple of years, I'm going to start teaching him how to shoot one and all of the rules of safe handling.
      • Robin 5 mths ago
        Interesting because more people are killed by homicide than by accident !
      • Conservative One 5 mths ago
        Um i think you are a rupug and just don't know it
    • Jim  •  5 mths ago
      So what. I grew up around firearms for hunting purposes. I do not hunt but I do own firearms and target shoot as well as concealed carry everyday. I have never pointed a firearm at a person, nor shot anyone. This hysteria around firearms confounds me. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. Stop blaming the tools used for violence and place the blame where it belongs.
    • d  •  Phoenix, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Id rather hear about kids with guns and santa than J HO and the Kardashiclan any day.
      • . 5 mths ago
        Kindergarten Columbine in the making
      • Chris D 5 mths ago
        Well-worded.
      • Poopoopeepee 5 mths ago
        Really Kindergarten columbine? because that happens so often right? So with your logic: All kids that grow up with guns turn out to be murderers and all muslims are terrorists. All people on unemployment and welfare are just lazy and all people who drink are alcholics.
    • TNLee  •  5 mths ago
      I talk to my son about gun safety all the time. He knows he can only touch or play with his toy guns. If he isn't sure about one he will ask me. Everyone should take the time to teach gun safety to kids. On second thought maybe it should be taught in school also, there are things they teach I don't agree with so this would at least be productive.
      • Radar 5 mths ago
        So this sort of trivialization of guns you are against?
      • TNLee 5 mths ago
        I'm not against this...I don't know why anyone would be.
      • hellno187 5 mths ago
        I agree it only hampers your child's growth by denying them basic knowledge. Especially when it comes to something that could be the difference between life and death. To not understand something that simple is to but ignorant of the world.
    • Confused in NY  •  5 mths ago
      My kids were never curious about guns, and never covertly went to handle them as forbidden objects when they were alone. That's probably because they routinely used them during family trips to the range, then cleaned them, oiled them and properly stored them. Nothing more to be curious about than a tennis raquet, golf club, or baseball bat, just more work to take care of. Being forbidden from sports the grown-ups enjoyed would have done the opposite- they would have wanted to mess with those guns more than ever, but wouldn't have known how to handle them safely. I know certain folks want to eliminate guns believing they're not needed, but should a rabid animal comes into your yard and threaten your kids, or a criminal break into your house and threaten your whole family, I believe any sane person wouldn't want to wait long enough for help to arrive. God created man, Sam Colt made them equal...
      • dancinggirl 5 mths ago
        Funny, my kids weren't interested in guns, either and I don't have any.
      • iKara! 5 mths ago
        I was the first thumbs down on Dancinggirl's comment. What?? You either don't have kids or you don't have guns, either way, you would have looked smarter not saying anything here. Your kids will watch guns on TV and video games or hear about them at school and not know anything about them but that they are entertaining. Those are the kids that go out and shoot people. The un-educated ones that think guns are from video games and that they have 5 lives before game over.
      • ABN 5 mths ago
        IKara! is correct. I will go further and say that, if dancinggirl does have children, she doesn't know anything about them.
        Confused in NY....you are not confused.
    • Philibuster  •  Pleasanton, United States  •  5 mths ago
      I'm a child of the 1950's. In 1958, 8 of the top 10 T.V. shows, were westerns. I recently came across a box of my toys, at my parent's house. Guns, guns, and more guns. I had a blast when I was a kid. Today, my parents and I would be considered sick and twisted ,by many. It was a great time to be a kid.
    • RobertH  •  Elmhurst, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Lets get this straight... Its OK for the attorney general to smuggle guns to Mexican drug lords that are used in the assassinations of Mexican officials and US law enforcement without a word of criticism from the press but somehow law abiding citizens posing with guns is "controversial"? It's not even newsworthy!
    • Many Rivers To Cross  •  5 mths ago
      The world's largest army... America 's hunters! I had never thought about this....
      2. A blogger added up the deer license sales in just a handful of states and arrived at a striking conclusion:
      3. There were over 600,000 hunters this season in the state of Wisconsin .
      4. Allow me to restate that number.
      5. Over the last several months, Wisconsin ’s hunters became the eighth largest army in the world.
      6. More men under arms than in Iran .
      7. More than in France and Germany combined.
      8. These men deployed to the woods of a single American state to hunt with firearms, and no one was killed.
      9. That number pales in comparison to the 750,000 who hunted the woods of Pennsylvania and Michigan 's 700,000 hunters,
      10. All of whom have now returned home.
      11. Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia and it literally establishes the fact that
      12. The hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world. The number of Hunters in the state of Texas would be the largest standing army in the world by its self.
      13. The point?
      14. America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower.
      15. Hunting -- it's not just a way to fill the freezer. It's a matter of national security.
      16. That's why all enemies, foreign and domestic, want to see us disarmed.
      17. Food for thought when next we consider gun control.
    • C. Suggs  •  Baker, United States  •  5 mths ago
      A man carrying all those valuables.....needs protection.
    • Professor Cle Torez  •  Livingston, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Walmart shoppers have killed more Americans than my 870.
    • r.c.  •  5 mths ago
      Was this article co-written by Eric Holder?
    • Marc  •  Escondido, United States  •  5 mths ago
      I was born in 1961. Grew up with guns, both real and play. We played army, cowboys, etc... all day long. Dad taught us about guns and we hunted our whole lives. Cub Scouts & Boy Scouts taught us gun safety. I am a retired Marine with 4 grown kids. All my kids have hunted since they were 8 years old. Guns are not the problem in this country. Ignorant and irresponsible people are the problem. I also do the Santa thing at the military and civilian hospitals every year. I was mugged once last year in a hospital parking lot while dressed as Santa. This year Santa is packin' heat..#$%$ Grinches are gonna get lumps of coal in their stockings...and lumps of lead in their rears!
    • don h  •  5 mths ago
      The response time for a 911 cal is on average 4.9 minutes. the response time of a .45ACP is 850 feet per second.
    • INFIDEL  •  Columbus, United States  •  5 mths ago
      I recieved my first gun when I was eleven years old a remington bolt action .22...
      and I still have it after fifty years ..
    • JRK  •  5 mths ago
      Have you ever seen a little one sitting behind the steering wheel of a car and posing for a photo?
    • Poopoopeepee  •  Sacramento, United States  •  5 mths ago
      If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars make people drive drunk and spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.
    • LBC  •  5 mths ago
      Some people really like guns, and I think that's really weird, but as long as they don't kill anybody no harm is done. Some people really like guns, and some people really like cars. Others really like food or make up or handbags or horses or tennis or football or texting or WHATEVER. Live and let live. (Emphasis on the LET LIVE.)
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