Cap Guns & kids.

[Lookatmeknow!!]

I want to say something about kids and guns.  We own guns.  My girls are around their dad when he uses them.  I don't see a thing wrong with them.  We used to keep one close to our beds while we sleeped.  Not sure why my husband did this, but we did.  When our second child came along, one of the questions during a well check was if we own guns and if so do we own gun locks.  I had to lie.  I felt bad, but we don't have gun locks and I really don't even know what they are.  I have shot a gun, but not very much at all.  I know that they have safetys on them, and all are guns are on safety.  I think as parents now a days, one must teach them how to respect them.

[dnalexander]

To those that find guns wrong, dangerous, scary etc. I ask you to consider this, guns are prevalent in our society. No matter what your beliefs about guns everyone would benefit from a gun safety and handling course. My dad was an NRA instructor and taught many people that hated guns how to safely handle, shoot, and secure a weapon. One family friends mom was completely against guns of all kinds toy or real. Her son was a bit of a wild child. My dad convinced her to let him teach Mike target shooting and take him with us to our weekly shooting outing at the gun range. I ran into Mike a couple years ago and was suprised to see a basically juvenile delinquent turned into a very responsible person. After talking to him for a while he related to me that my dad teaching him how to target shoot was the most transforming moment in his life and that my dad was a big influence on "setting him straight". The conversation made us both feel good.

David

[srkruzich]

To those that find guns wrong, dangerous, scary etc. I ask you to consider this, guns are prevalent in our society. No matter what your beliefs about guns everyone would benefit from a gun safety and handling course. My dad was an NRA instructor and taught many people that hated guns how to safely handle, shoot, and secure a weapon. One family friends mom was completely against guns of all kinds toy or real. Her son was a bit of a wild child. My dad convinced her to let him teach Mike target shooting and take him with us to our weekly shooting outing at the gun range. I ran into Mike a couple years ago and was suprised to see a basically juvenile delinquent turned into a very responsible person. After talking to him for a while he related to me that my dad teaching him how to target shoot was the most transforming moment in his life and that my dad was a big influence on "setting him straight". The conversation made us both feel good.

David

I never went to a training class nor did any of my kids.  I taught them safety as did my dad for me and my grandpa and my ggrandpa ect.
To this day we have never had a gun accident in our familiy ever.   We have never locked a gun nor hid one.  There usually is two or three loaded ones in the house, since a unloaded gun is nothing but a club, and none of the kids are in danger as they are taught to respect them.

I did for the first time in 2005 take a gun safety class because the state of georgia determined that anyone born after jan1 1961 had to to get a hunting license.  I was born feb 61.  I never got one and never quite frankly have ever been asked for a safety card all these years. 

But i took my son to the class and got him one and i took the class along with him.
Figured it wouldnt hurt
I haven't been a NRA member in years. I left the organization when they started selling us out. 

[dnalexander]

Also to reply to the original theme of the thread. Parents are the "Supreme Court" what they say goes. If you want to change the rules there are ways to do it. That is why good parents stick together on a rule even thugh both don't support it to the same level. As soon as kids know they can divide and conquer they are more than smart enough  to do so and take a type of control over the situation.

David

[Teresa]

I haven't been a NRA member in years. I left the organization when they started selling us out. 

Someone said it best when they called the NRA "Our 800 pound gorilla on capitol hill".
I don't agree with everything they put out and they can be quite shrill about stuff, but they DO get the attention of these knucklehead politicians, and that is important.
What organization out there is better or has more influence than the NRA?  Tell me and I will join them today.  The NRA is the only game in town, like them or not.  Yeah, they have done things in the past that they should not have done...that had people riled up.. http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=9899
But they basically tried to stay out of politics completely until the 60s! 
If not for the NRA, you would have no gun rights today, period.  People can choose to not believe that if they want to, but that is the truth.

[larryJ]

Later on, my oldest brother and some of his high school buddies had returned from rabbit hunting.  He was sitting in the living room talking to them while cleaning the gun.  It went off and through the armpit of one of his friends.  As there are a lot of blood vessels in the armpit, he bled profusely and they rushed him to the hospital.  My brother was always responsible about guns and this just happened to be an unfortunate accident.


In looking at the replies posted here, i should probably say that it has been 50+ years since this happened.  It is possible that he wasn't cleaning the gun.  He might have been unloading it, or it could have been dropped, etc.  My memory is dim along with parts of the rest of me.  Suffice to say, if the gun had not been in the house, the kid would not have been shot on that day at that time.

I live 20 miles east of Los Angles.  I worked for the Los Angeles Times for 34 years.  Everyday when I wake up and turn on the TV the news stories are mostly about who shot who (we have a lot of gangs around the area).  This is broadcast media and they are limited to the amount of stories and time that is devoted to them.  So they tell the attention grabbing ones such as murders and other crimes which makes the greater LA area look like crime is a huge problem and it is in some parts of the county.  It is not a true representation of the whole greater southern California area.  Broadcast Editors have to pick and choose and they choose the crime stories.  With print media, Editors have a greater latitude in that they can tell the crime stories and also the othe "good news" stories and they are not limited to space for the most part.  Hopefully, Rudy will back me up on this one.

Point is-----If you have guns and you like guns, more power to you.  I just don't believe in them and if the day comes when someone shoots me then I probably won't and can't care!

Larryj

[Roma Jean Turner]

After the Candlelight Ride last night,  (Aug 23), I realize that I probably could strap on the guns.  I have come to the conclusion that there are a fair amount of eccentric bicyclists.  There were people with all kinds of lights and stuff hanging off their bikes wearing lighted beanies with little propellers on top of their helmuts.