Carey Hart, husband of the singer Pink, has defended his decision to let his daughter shoot a rifle.
The dad-of-two, who is raising his children to be gender neutral with partner Pink, took to Instagram to share footage of his seven-year-old daughter Willow shooting a large rifle in an open field.
‘Haven’t poked the parent police bear in a few days,’ he wrote alongside the controversial video.
‘Willz and I shooting the 22 rifle. She is getting pretty good. Can hit a 12 inch pie plate from 30 yards. Started her shooting at 3yrs old.’
The 43-year-old, who has previously caused uproar over a 'dangerous' video of his son, went on to defend his decision to teach his daughter to shoot, writing: ‘For the record non of us hunt, just enjoy shooting for sport. I’m raising the kids with knowledge of fire arms, how to handle them, shoot them, store them, and avoid them in uneducated hands. #knowledgeispower’
Naturally, however, critics took to the comments section of the post to voice their strong opinions about whether they felt that this was appropriate or not.
‘Normalizing guns only makes the problem of gun violence in our country worse,’ wrote one Instagram user. ‘It’s people with attitudes like yours that prevent sensible gun reform and keep America stuck in the wild wild west mentality instead of moving us towards civility.’
‘The second amendment is outdated,’ added another. ‘Nobody should be allowed to purchase and own a gun that shoots hundreds of rounds of bulletproof for the sole purpose of slaughtering innocent civilians!!’
Another critic followed suit, claiming that his justification isn’t reason enough, writing: ‘You may not be using guns for hunting and I respect that, but I see no reason to teach a child to shoot for “fun”. Especially with a rifle. You want fun, give her a water gun, not actual bullets.’
While another simply commented: ‘Moron parents!!!’
However there were those who defended the former Motocross competitor, with one commenting: ‘he is teaching respect and safety for them! I am anti guns yes but people he is not an irresponsible parent!’
Another agreed, writing: ‘I’m not a fan of guns but I am a fan of you teaching them responsibly.’
What do you think about Carey's decision? head over to our Facebook page and let us know.
