Shock as German soldiers let kids play with machine guns

                                
The German Defence Ministry is taking flak after pictures emerged of soldiers letting very small people play with some very big weapons.
It all started at an open-house event in Stetten, Baden-Württemberg at the weekend, where civilians were invited in to learn about the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr.
But on Tuesday the advocacy group German Peace Society - United Opponents of Military Service posted pictures on Facebook showing small, pre-school-aged children being offered the chance to handle some powerful guns on their own.
 The guns in the pictures included a G36 assault rifle, a USP pistol, and a MP7 submachine gun, but Bundeswehr rules dictate that children under 18 should not be allowed to handle handguns.
 "Unfortunately this was not an 'isolated case', but a structural problem: the German military today aims to speak with children and adolescents about their enthusiasm for technology in order to promote themselves,"-German Defence Ministry