indra said:
It's been shown that people who abuse animals (and this is abuse -- there is no purpose to it at all) and far more likely to abuse other people, including those innocent children you are worried about.
Mass-murderer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer killed neighbors' pets and impaled a dog's head on a stick.
Patrick Sherril, who murdered 14 co-workers and then killed himself, stole pets, then tied them up and allowed his own dog to mutilate them.
David Berkowitz, the so-called "Son of Sam," shot his neighbor's labrador retriever.
Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," shot arrows into boxes of trapped cats and dogs.
Brenda Spencer, who fired 40 shots into a crowd of children, murdering 2 and wounding 9, had a history of setting the tails of neighborhood cats and dogs on fire.
Edmund Emil Kemper III, who murdered his mother and 7 other women, used to abuse cats and dogs.
Carol Edmund Cole, who murdered 35 people, admitted that his first violent act was strangling a puppy.
Richard Allen Davis, kidnapper and murderer, doused cats with gasoline and set them on fire.
Nobody known has yet participated on internet hunting/shooting and later went off to kill a human being. And no, I wasn't specifying children in particular. Those who have tendencies towards hostility on other human beings may very well abuse animals. I don't see it beginning with animal hunting.