New NRA President Takes Control Today; Interview with Therese Sirles
COSTELLO: Today a new man takes control of the nation's most popular gun rights organization. Incoming president Jim Porter will guide the NRA during a very contentious time in the gun debate. Like the organization he'll lead, Porter is no stranger to controversy. Once calling the Civil War, quote, "the war of northern aggression." His term comes as the federal government and several states consider new gun control laws. But at this weekend's convention in Houston, Porter made clear his aim is squarely on the president.</s>JIM PORTER, INCOMING NRA PRESIDENT: There is something Obama will never, never understand. The Second Amendment. The freedom of our republic trumps the Chicago political machine and its gun ban agenda every time.</s>COSTELLO: The NRA capped its convention by hosting a youth day and, as you might expect, gun control advocates took issue with that pointing to what happened in Kentucky just last week. A 5-year-old Cumberland County, Kentucky boy accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old sister. Authorities say the boy was playing with a rifle marketed to children. The gun is called Crickett. Here is how the company advertises that gun.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My first rifle, a moment you never forget. With a safety promoting design, the Crickett is the perfect way to give young, or small-framed shooters started right. Crickett - find yours online or ask for a Crickett rifle at your local dealer.</s>COSTELLO: We did reach out to the company. It denied its marketing to children, but the controversy goes on. Therese Sirles is the director of child advocacy at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, welcome.</s>THERESE SIRLES, DIR. OF CHILD ADVOCACY, KOSAIR CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Good morning, Carol.</s>COSTELLO: In your mind when you watch this Youtube video with that marketing campaign, is that company marketing to kids? Because it says it's not.</s>SIRLES: Well, when you look at their website and you look at the guns that they have available for children, these guns are in colors that would be very attractive to young little kids. So in a sense, they are marketing to children.</s>COSTELLO: But it's the parents who have to buy the kids the gun.</s>SIRLES: It's absolutely the parents have to buy the children the gun. But if kids see other kids with these lethal weapons that are embodied in very colorful cases, they think that's very cool and very trendy and will encourage their parents to buy the gun for them.</s>COSTELLO: No charges have been filed against the parents in the Kentucky case. The coroner called it a crazy accident and that's a direct quote. But there still may be charges filed. None have been filed as yet. What do you think should happen?</s>SIRLES: You know, Carol, I hate to speak to that because this family is going through unimaginable horror. It's not up to me to judge. It is up to me as an advocate to prevent this from happening through intervention and education. And that's really what we need to talk about. We need to talk about the fact that we have a 2-year-old that is dead and a 5-year-old that killed his 2-year-old sister. And what we can learn from this as a society and as a nation?</s>COSTELLO: Well, a lot of people in that county own guns. In fact there was a quote from a law enforcement official that he said that probably every single family in Cumberland County owns a gun, and their children use guns. They grow up with guns. So, what's wrong with teaching your child at a young age to handle a gun responsibly.</s>SIRLES: Teaching your child about gun danger is absolutely the responsibility of a parent. But let's talk about a 5-year-old. Let's talk about growth and development with a 5-year-old. A 5-year-old is just now learning how to tell time. A 5-year-old has gone from holding a big crayon to now holding a little crayon. A 5-year-old is learning how to use blunt scissors to cut squares out of a piece of paper. You have to think of where these children are mentally and physically before you can even begin to teach them. At Kosair Children's Hospital, we have a safety curriculum in which we teach 6,500 second graders gun safety through two retired police officers here in the city of Louisville. After that education, would we give a second grader a gun just baced on our training and education? No, we would not do that at all.</s>COSTELLO: You know what gun rights advocates are going to say. You're just using one isolated tragedy to fight for what you personally believe in.</s>SIRLES: Oh, Carol, there is more than one isolated tragedy. If you look online, you will see that just a few months ago, a 5-year-old in Michigan killed himself. If you read the articles, 3-year-olds, 2- year-olds, 5-year-olds, 10-year-olds, they are all killing themselves, and killing others with a gun. The American Academy of Pediatrics in their 2012 statement states very clearly that the only safe home for a child is a home without a gun. And it's up to us if parents choose that right and have that privilege of owning a gun that they have to step up and take responsibility for that gun and for the ammunition within their home.</s>COSTELLO: All right. Therese Sirles director of child advocacy for Kosair Children's Hospital in Kentucky, thanks so much and I do have some statistics to pass along to you just in case you're curious. In 2009, according to the CDC, 114 children and adolescents under 20 died in unintentional firearm-related injuries. Sixty-six of those deaths were teenagers. Still ahead, marijuana is a booming business in Colorado. And it will only get bigger with recreational pot sales. That's leaving many marijuana business owners feeling very nervous. We'll tell you why.