Hallo there!
As you may know, these are bad times here in Italy. General uneasiness is leading to unrest, which is embodied in strikes and demonstrations.
Sometimes, luckily not so often, those strikes ends in riots, with policemen charging the protesters, and some of the protesters answering with violence.
During the last riot in Val di Susa, some protesters used slings to face the police.
Now.
I belong to an association which organizes strikes, and we managed to gain a community center.
A close friend of mine will soon celebrate her birthday, and as she saw me slinging, she was immediately fascinated by the sling (not by me, unfortunately  >:( ).
I would like to give her a sling for her birthday, but she's a little younger than me, and still hot-headed. I don't want her to eventually use her sling against another human being, for example during a strike.
I was thinking that the better way was to talk with her, and try to explain that using violence during our strikes, would delegitimize them.
What else do you suggest me?
I would really like to let her know the pleasure of slinging... without damaging anyone!
Greetings,
Mauro.

I would go with your instinct on this one. It's never a great idea IMHO to give a weapon to someone who is controlled by their emotions to an extent that they might use it in violence.

You might be doing her a big favor by not giving her one. No matter how much someone says they understand about the danger involved, when they get in the heat of the moment, they can do some really stupid things.

I just wouldn't chance it.  

Perhaps it's better to wait for her to mature?
Greetings,
Mauro.

I agree with Morphy.  Unless you want the same laws and regulations that firearms, knives, spears and other weapons have, I would wait a while until she matures a little more and learns to control her emotions.  Bill

Mmmm... agree.
Luckily, she seem to be on the way to do so  :)
Greetings,
Mauro.

Wait a bit until she's ready for the responsibility...

I'm going to go with waiting a bit. Also, ignore age entirely when it comes to gauging maturity, there are some very young level headed people who use slings responsibly, and some older people who shouldn't be trusted with so much as a nerf gun.

Oh yeah, this's true, age doesn't matter!
I'll wait until I see her mind has evolved  :)
Greetings,
Mauro.

I would give her some flowers and ask her to go to a movie with me. Then find a movie with slinging. ;)

1. Give her the sling. Teach her how to sling. Tell her not to sling at people or things during demonstrations. Gives you a chance to talk to her a lot.

OR

2. Do not give her the sling, and tell her why. Gives you the occasion to talk to her a lot, too.

OR

3. Talk to her a lot to decide whether you should give her the sling or not.

If you give her the sling, make sure she has the OMG moment with it before you let her loose ;).

That's the moment most of us have had when we realize the sling really can kill people. The first time she gets the timing right, probably.

Good luck in all your endeavors ;D.

@ bigkahuna: ok for the flowers, but she's not the movie-loving type. Perhaps I'll ask her to go watching at the stars with me. We've got this isolated mountain, the Conero, and there're plenty of wonderful viewpoints. It's somewhat mysterious and suggestive, very romantic at night. If wolves or boars don't come close.  ;D

@ Thearos: number 3 done. Now to give her flowers and ask for a walk at the Conero  :D

By the way, wanderer gave me an idea.
The OMG moment.
I got it after incindentally killing a cat, and another terrible event that taught me to hate violence.
Perhaps she needs to kill some animal first?
Perhaps she needs to understand how it feels to hurt someone?
What do you think, ho do you avoid violence? And why?
Greetings,
Mauro.

Fear is not the greatest teacher, especially for women...Show the power of the sling without killing anything...Try a slinging in the starry night :):):) I personally avoid violence using understanding of the situation(here on the Balkans we have a lot of misunderstanding and cliches )

Know what, I'm thinking about it... perhaps we've gotten unused to violence?
I mean, I've been studying some African tribes for my thesis, and in these context violence is part of everyday's life.
Perhaps for this reason, they've got a bigger respect for living beings than we have.
Look, you might fall on the sidewalk, and citizens passing by would ignore you...
I don't know, I'm just making assumptions... but I've had a car accident that taught me a lot... maybe it's different for each of us...?
Greetings,
Mauro.

Mauro Fiorentini wrote on Sep 8^th, 2011 at 6:25am:

... The OMG moment. I got it after incindentally killing a cat, and another terrible event that taught me to hate violence.

I don't think violence is necessarily part of it.

In my case the OMG moment came this way.

I spent quite some time a few years ago walking along  a canal which marks part of the Roman Empire's northerly border (not the whole thing, just a little bit repeatedly ;)) and had just made my first sling.
For several days I had managed to throw stones about as far as I could throw them by hand. Sometimes they even just got over to the other side of the canal.
Coming back tired after a long walk, I had a shot at a forested hill on which those pesky Romans had built one of their forts. The timing came just right for the first time, and almost effortlessly the rock (probably about 70gm) flew across the canal into a tree. It hit with a sound like a sledge hammer, birds flew out of it, and leaves fell off it. After that I had no doubt the sling was a lethal weapon and I realized I had to be careful with it.

As far as us moderns being shielded from violence, I agree to a certain  extent. I think there would be a difference in many people's attitudes towards violence if they spent a few nights in a hospital emergency room, or witnessed the results of a serious car crash, for example.

Sorry, but are you Paul Elliot, by chance?

By the way, I had several OMG moments... the first when, as a kid, I used to watch little swallows precipitate during their first flights.
I live in a condominium, and swallows have always build their nests just under the roof, slightly above my windows.
Watching the older swallows, I soon learned when younger ones were ready to fly... or at least to give it a try. They often managed to do so, but sometimes some of them were not ready yet, so they precipitate.
In that period of the year, I used to spend a lot of hours on the sidewalk, watching for their efforts. Sometimes a young swallows didn't manage to fly, and I once watched one that died after a violent collision with the ground.
I mean, that was not my first meeting with death (I already had funerals, and saw some of my relatives dead), but I felt somehow older.
Not old enough, though: years later, I killed a kitten while I was violently "playing" with it.
This made me feel bad, but the most important thing was that mom didn't know of the cat's death. So I was not mature.
I think I really grew up last year, when I had my car crash: it ended up ok for me, but the driver had a concussion, his head was spitting blood from a microscopic wound. I tried to save him, to stop the blood, but he died in my hands.
The worst part of it was to meet his mother after I was discharged from hospital.

I now have a huge respect for life, even if I sometime enjoy go fishing, thus killing some animals. But I eat them, so their death is justified.
Having knowledge of the pain caused by death, I am now very submissive about violence, and am certain that I'd use lethal violence against humans only in certain situations (for example if somebody would harm my child).
Greetings,
Mauro.

Mauro Fiorentini wrote on Sep 8^th, 2011 at 11:02am:

Sorry, but are you Paul Elliot, by chance?

No, I'm not :).

I seem to remember that Paul Elliot used to be around, under his own name, but not in the past few years. He may still be around under another name - who knows?