I don't disagree with most of the rest of your post but I don't really understand your point here.  I'd rather not be around a 14 year old with a gun OR a 30 year old who has never touched one before.  I'm not going to entrust my life to either one of them if I can help it.  Besides, that could easily be turned around to "a 12 year old who has never touched a gun before" which I will DEFINITLY want no part of.

Is that how our military works? No proper training? "Here 18 year old who just showed up: take this gun and jump in the plane. We're going to Afghanistan."

As as personal opinion: I don't think kids under the age of 18 should be given lethal firearms. Let them play with BB guns, pellet guns, etc.

Learning about gun safety and responsible gun ownership should be very early, take them to the range after they are physically capable of properly using a gun.

Hell here in NJ and some other states, even a bb gun requires you to be 18 or older to buy one yourself. Not sure about all these kid guns though. They should have an age limit.

I think you might be taught how to use an Assault Rifle in the Army... Here in Germany almost no one knows how to use a firearm before they are drafted, yet I don't hear reports of our soldiers accidently offing themselves in Afghanistan.

I stand by my opinion, a BB gun is more than enough for children to practice shooting with (even they are dangerous enough, pretty easy to lose an eye to it if a shot misses and hits a bystander), lethal firearms should NOT be handled by children under 16 years old.

I agree with this. It's one of the most useful skills to have, and the better you are at it the safer you will be. Of course, it was the parent's fault for not supervising their five year old kid and allowing him to control the weapon in the wrong environment. 

And kids aren't taught at the shooting ranges weapons safety and how to properly shoot? Of course they are. This was a case of irresponsible parents letting a five year old have a gun by himself. 

An age restriction on handling a firearm is bullshit. It's up to the parent to make sure the gun is locked away in a safe with the trigger lock and unloaded. I had my first .22 when I was about 9, but i was never allowed access to it without my dad taking me out to shoot. And even then it was in his possession till it was time to shoot. So this is really nothing more than the parents being negligent.

Another shining example of stupid, irresponsible parenting. It's 100% their fault, there's nothing else to blame here. This story wouldn't have nearly as much coverage if the kid had been unattended and fell out of a tree, or into a swimming pool.

I learned to shoot when I was 5 or 6. I was fine.

Ultimately, its up to responsible parents to decide how old is old enough.