(09-06-2024, 09:04 AM)flsprtsgod Wrote: My son has been gifted with half a dozen fishing poles, a cast net, a Savage.22 bolt action, a Ruger 10-22, a Ruger .22 revolver, and a Glock 44.

He's 10 and we're country folk.

His guns live in my vault that he has no way to access (biometrics) and we shoot them together whenever we can. All of my kids have seen, handled, and learned about guns and gun safety since they were elementary school age. It's a way of life and not one of my family going back generations has ever shot a single person outside of military service or one case of self defense in 1991 (my uncle was jumped while delivering bread in the very early morning).

Guns are tools that have a legitimate use for both daily life and in times of crisis. The issue is not the guns, it's the fathers who aren't engaged with their children instilling good habits, respect for life, and duty to their neighbors and community that is the problem. It's the Society of Big Government Dependence that's forced fathers out of their homes, nurtured a generation of men who won't accept their duty as fathers, and incentivized a generation of women to single motherhood over a healthy two parent home. It's a cultural problem and few have any interest in the actual fix because that fix takes away much of their power.

Same here.  We live out in the middle of the woods.

My grandson was gifted a Ruger 10-22 when he was about the same age.  It stays in my gun safe and the only time he gets to use it is when we are doing some shooting on my shooting range.  He enjoys shooting my AR-15 and really wants one, but he is still too young (he is 13).

When I was in 5th grade we were offered a Hunter Safety course at our school.  It was taught in our school cafeteria by our P.E. coach that included handling guns right there in the school.  Upon completing the course I was able to get a hunting license and was able to carry a 30-30 Winchester (saddle rifle) while hunting with an adult.  That rifle was not mine, but my grandfather's.  I got my first rifle, a .22 bolt action when I was 12 years old.  My friend and I were allowed to take it and his .22 rifle out riding our dirt bikes out in the desert shooting rabbits.

Part of the problem is the lack of education and experience.  Instead in today's world kids get in trouble for eating a pop-tart into the shape of a gun, or pointing their fingers like a gun.  They are taught to be afraid of guns rather than learning the proper, safe use of them.

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