Posted on 08/28/2014 7:00:11 PM PDT by DBrow
One Thanksgiving - years ago, I was a schoolgirl - the family
was gathered together for the feast at my Aunt’s house. While the Moms worked, my Dad took us children - high school age and down - just up to the woods at the end of the road and set up a target about 15 feet out. After his long, serious and detailed discussion on gun safety, we all (but one) took turns at putting holes in the target with the .22.
I still shoot with my husband. He is the marksman.
We dug our tunnels too. And, had dirt clod fights. Usually, the dirt clods would hit the ground and go off with a puff of dust. We had woods all around us and climbed the trees to the top. On a good fir tree we would slid down to the ground—on the branches. Why watch TV when there was real fun playing outside?
We never shot at each other with the BB gun. Luckily, there was only one BB gun. And, only one bow and arrow.
Today, the neighbors would have made sure we went to juvenile detention. Our only crime was to shoot at targets in a best man competition.
While I went into the sling shooting route, my brother loved shooting the BB gun and, later, Dad’s .22 and 300 mag. Whenever he went to the fair, he was shooting the BB’s at the target for a big stuffed animal. He got plenty of stuffed animals and made the arcade men mad getting so many stuffed animals with ease. When he was drafted in the Army, he scored a perfect in the marksman test and set an all time record for his PT test. All that tree climbing and football made us prime U.S. citizens fit to defend our nation.
In our day, today’s anti gun chowder heads would have been called “yellow-bellied chicken livers.” In our book, if you didn’t know how to shoot a gun, you have not grown up to be a man.
For those who would fight rather than make their point with words, we had that activity covered too. We always worked off a little energy with the boxing gloves. We got good at it. The predator bullies picking on the little guy would hear our words of warning: “Stop what you are doing or prepare to get hurt!” Our boxing skills were really, really good.
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Tragic accident? Or unbelievably stupid decision on the part of the parents and the instructor?
Nope,
He kilt him a bar when he was only three
I’m teaching my 13 year old daughter using the CZ Model 27 .32 auto that my Dad took off a German officer in 1945. She’s good with it. She has also fired my Remington 1911 R1 but doesn’t like the recoil, although she can handle it.
Should children be allowed to learn to shoot guns under adult supervision?
No.........69%........148
Yes........31%.........67
Total votes:........ 215
Absolutely, because otherwise they’ll learn to shoot guns without adult supervision.
What happened? I missed it.
A 9 year old accidentally shot the person teaching her how to use the gun. I think it was called an uzi or something like that. Sorry, don’t know much about guns. I think all good people should own one, but I’m from Canada, so my knowledge of guns is very limited.
No 69% 153
Yes 31% 69
Total votes: 222
I found the article.
I have no problems with a kid learning to use a gun.
However, if the recoil was an issue, then they had no business allowing someone who they weren’t sure had the physical strength to control the weapon, use it.
That was foolish on their part.
It’s a sad story and I hope everyone involved can recover from it, especially the little girl who now has to live with this the rest of her life.
No69%158
Yes31%72
Total votes: 230
Thanks for the Fantastic stories!
I think you are perhaps a little behind me chronologically. But, right on about guns! Our school was NEVER open for business on the “first day” of deer season. Fathers were important back then and everybody had one and they wanted to go hunting and the school board wanted to go with them so that was that.
YES! on the boxing too! Boxing was required for all boys. And, if you didn’t get your ass in the ring you were shamed unmercifully and the power of shame works! Nobody refused to get in the ring and face their opponent and I dare say that fact contributed to a class of pretty strong and tough young men. One of whom, Bobby Roberts, died at the hands of an NVA sniper while doing his duty in the USMC. He had just turned 18.
ON TV, we didn’t have one. It was work, play, sleep, eat and when mom said “read” we did! I read hundreds of library books growing up because of her edict on that.
Should children be allowed to learn to shoot guns under adult supervision?
No 68% 161
Yes 32 %76
Total votes: 237
This is not a scientific poll
At 1037 EDT 20140829
Doesn't mean he shot the beast ...
David, not Davy.
Father taught me to shoot a .22 rifle at 7 using a sawdust pile as a backstop. Later shot .22’s at day camp, overnight camp, and in a church basement in the Boy Scouts using a 1” steel plate and sandbox as a backstop. Larger calipers followed in my teens, military service, and as a private shooter. I taught all of my daughters to shoot a .22 pistol in their teens. To the best of my knowledge, none of my shooting companions has injured anyone outside of military service and none of us has suffered from lead poison.
In my opinion, if we stop teaching our youth we further weaken our ability to defend ourselves and our nation if called upon to do so. Teaching young people is important as habits and training are best ingested while young. Without a young person being taught to shoot, they will easily buy into the “guns are evil and the cause of violence” as preached by our inner city newspapers where most reporters have no idea of what they write.
Freeped
No kidding. That’s like putting a NASCAR jr driver in a Ford Formula instead of a go cart.
Children need to start out shooting a .22 or an air rifle and then move up in stages. A nine year old with an Uzi is beyond insane. I started with a Daisy BB gun and then at 11 a single shot bolt action .22 just like most kids.
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