Of Red Ryders and Marine Mammals

It’s Christmas and on TV, Ralphy is saving the day plinking Black Bart’s gang with his trusty Red Ryder BB gun. I grew up with this movie, and I grew up with that gun. Mine was handed down from my Grandpa John who served in the army, so when he gave it to me, I felt especially proud. In my ten year old mind, I was inheriting a legit service weapon. Bad guys beware.

Dad setup a target box in our basement that caught fired BBs and I’d spend my spare time down there taking turns with my brother attempting accuracy with what I know now to have been a hopelessly inaccurate, underpowered gun. Sometimes you could watch the BBs dip and weave on their way to the target.

There’s something in the nature of boys that call us to shoot things. Barn windows, street signs, squirrels, hedge apples, it doesn’t matter. There’s something instinctively satisfying about impacting a target, even more so if it blows up.

But instinctive desire doesn’t always lead us to do the right thing. Shaping and disciplining that urge is just one leg on the long journey to manhood. It provides the motivation to work on our shooting as marksmen and the restraint to pass on risky, unethical shots.

For one juvenile this Christmas, in the Gulf waters off the coast of Florida, his lack of restraint is carrying a hefty penalty.

Photo credit:  NOAA Fisheries
Photo credit: NOAA Fisheries

A recent press release from NOAA details how a bottle-nosed dolphin was found dead on a beach in Orange Beach, Alabama with a deer hunting arrow tipped with a broadhead stuck in its back. Through the coordinated efforts of NOAA, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the public, a young suspect was identified who later produced a written confession detailing shooting the animal.

According to NOAA, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 calls for fines topping out at $100,000 and up to one year imprisonment per offense. No word yet on how that law might be interpreted for a minor. Like Ralphy when he spilled the lugnuts while changing the tire, I can only imagine that initial visit by law enforcement at this family’s home eliciting the mother of all swear words. “Ralphy, did you shoot a dolphin?!?”

“Oh fudge.”

But sometimes these kids grow up without someone or something to instill in them the discipline to stop playing and start getting serious about the results of pulling a trigger. Mostly these people are called poachers, taking too many animals and doing it out of season. Hopefully this youngster in Florida has learned his (expensive) lesson. With the youngsters in your life, teach them the power and responsibility behind each trigger pull and they’ll truly appreciate the satisfaction of a well-executed, ethical shot.