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It's up to the parent to decide when the kid is ready
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No, it's not.
I have zero interest in letting parents decide when a kid is "ready" to drive a car, drink, work in the porn industry, operate bulldozers, or handle automatic weapons.
No one has to like it, but it's a fact that a minority of adults are so damn careless or destructive that -- as in this CT case -- they'd decide that kids are "ready" for all of the above when they're 8 years old. And then there's suddenly huge danger for the kids and us.
Laws are written to protect against aberrant behavior, not the norm.
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Where do we draw the line between laws protecting kids and the government overstepping on parental responsibility and discretion?
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You're right, that's the question (except these laws don't just protect the kids; they protect adults too, and society). And that all gets worked out in the neverending debates among the public, their representatives, and the courts.