Grown-ups can learn a lot from
children, especially 9-year-old
Shyanne Roberts of Franklinville,
N.J., and that’s why we are
recognizing this courageous young
lady as the Gun Rights Defender of
the Month.
She earned it.
In an interview with Point Blank,
Miss Roberts, a student at Main Road
Elementary, became a standout for
her generation. She did that while
telling a room full of adults a lot of
things they should already know.
When Miss Roberts testified before
a legislative committee discussing
a new gun control measure in the
Garden State, there was only the
honesty of a child with a love for
the shooting sports.
She reminded lawmakers that
instituting a magazine capacity limit
“was punishing me instead of the
other people that did something
wrong.”
“I started shooting in my dad’s lap
when I was five,” she told Point Blank,
“and started competing when I was
seven.”
Miss Roberts has become an icon on
YouTube. She has her own Facebook
page that her dad, Dan, monitors
because some adults simply cannot
control their foul sentiments toward
even youngsters who support gun
rights.
Shyanne competes with a Ruger
10/22 semi-auto rifle, a Walther P22
pistol and a bolt-action single-shot
Cricket .22-caliber rifle. She is moving
up this year to an AR-15, a Remington
11-87 shotgun in 20-gauge, and a
Glock 19 pistol.
She was nervous, but was willing
to go for it after having seen 15-yearold
Sarah Merkle testify against
restrictive gun laws in Maryland last
year. As with Merkle’s case, the video
of Shyanne’s remarks went viral with
tens of thousands of views.
Her fellow students were “stunned,”
Shyanne recalled, that she had been
able to testify, and one of her teachers
told her, “Girl power rocks!”
Indeed it does. When she was
finished, the crowd broke out in
applause.
Miss Roberts told lawmakers that
if they adopt new magazine capacity
limits, it will seriously handicap her
ability to compete in some matches,
where speed and accuracy count.
Having to reload in the middle of a
relay will cut seconds off her time,
her father noted.
Shyanne has two older sisters and
one younger brother. She will turn 10
in August, and she is already thinking
about one day trying to earn a
national title in shooting competition.
Dan Roberts told Point Blank
that, because he owns firearms, he
wanted his children to learn to be
safe around them.
Shyanne appears
to have inherited his interest, but is
definitely developing her own knack
for defending not only her rights, but
everyone else’s in the process.
“I just walked right up and testified.