They Grow Up So Fast

Just yesterday she was in diapers, and now she's handling automatic weapons...Not really, not quite anyway, so don't call child protective services just yet. (And for the usual privacy reasons I'm using a picture that doesn't give a good view of her face. Though this is the first time it's been obscured by an M-16.) Today, at the National Museum of the United States Marine Corps, opened last year at Quantico, I asked Sarah if she wanted me to try the laser simulator firing range, thinking she'd be amused at her Dad's inability to hit the broadside of a barn. She said no, but she'd like to try it. I asked the attendant what the lower age limit was, assuming that it would be older than seven, but heck, this is the Marines, no political correctness here, can't start 'em too young. So, with considerable help from the attendant (not in uniform but his demeanor, haircut and handling of the weapon make me think he's an off-duty Marine), Sarah set out to shoot. (And I lectured her about what to do if she ever sees a real weapon: call an adult, don't touch it, etc.) While it's not firing live rounds but is equipped with a laser, it seemed otherwise to be a full-sized M-16; she obviously couldn't shoulder it: as you can see she has the barrel resting on a brace, is actually holding one hand on the magazine, not on the barrel stock, and for whatever reason she's got her left hand on the trigger, though she writes and does other things right-handed. The attendant is steadying the shoulder stock and helping her aim. And, lacking a real round, the simulator lacked the kick of a real M-16 (though I've seen simulators that can reproduce that, too.)

Be afraid...be very afraid. Her results are at left. One bullseye. All but one of 10 clustered in the inner rings. One on the outside. Heck, that one would only have wounded you. The others would probably be lethal. Now, I'll admit, the attendant helped by aiming the stock as she pointed the weapon, and he let her shoot more than ten shots to get ten on the target, but one of those is a bulls-eye. And she's a right-hander shooting left-handed, here!

True, she had help, and he definitely wanted her to do well, but I can't do that well and today I didn't even try. I knew she had good eyesight. She can put a pattern on target pretty well as well.

Okay, I won't worry as much when she's out on dates as a teenager, provided she's packing. This is Virginia, after all, where the legislature would like to require everybody in the state to conceal carry, but has yielded to northern Virginia to merely permit everyone to, not require them to.

They do grow up so fast.