- Messages
- 1,245
- Reactions
- 426
to much safety?
I am often asked why my kids have guns in their rooms. Is it really safe to allow an eight year old girl to have a .223, .22, and 20 gauge at her disposal? I simply say that she has never expressed an interest in them BECAUSE she has them. They are posters on the wall, a stuffed animal on the shelf. A bike, if you will, that she knows how to ride, and what happens if she falls off. When I say grab a gun she generally goes for one of mine for me and even forgets her own until I remind that she will need one too if she is to blow up milk jugs with me (a game we play with our empty ones). My older daughter (12 now), if told were going hunting, grabs her bow till I tell her we are ground hogging in an open field.
I think today we place too much emphasis on the wrong things. We stress safety so much that it reminds others that guns can kill. However, are you the same way with a kitchen knife, or a hammer, or even a car? No, we know they can be used the wrong way, and just dont. Safety with these items is unconscious. We simply do it. That is how it should be. You should not need to stress it to the point that others are afraid of them. There is enough out there doing that right now.
The more you stress how dangerous something is, the more dangerous it is perceived to be. And then it becomes truth. Self fulfilling prophecy is a common theme in life. If you think it is, then it is. It is true no matter how you deny it that ANYTHING can be as dangerous as a gun if you make it so.
We always preach that guns dont kill, people kill. Truth has a certain ring to it. Yet, we ourselves treat a weapon like it CAN hurt someone. What is a gun in reality? It is metal and plastic and wood. Nothing more. It only becomes more if we make it so. If we simply treat it like the bike we rode as a child then is it really so different?
Think of it this way. When Ronnie (my oldest and best friend) and I were hunting squirrels, we approached it like a military operation against the little tree rats. Fitting that we both became Marines, I guess. At times we would cross in front of one another as we crept through the woods. Amazingly and without thought, the other would dip or raise his muzzle even if it already was. Just like you slow down for the guy in front of you while riding. When we handed the rifles to each other (generally Ronnie to me since I couldnt get a squirrel to save my life back then) so the other could have his hands, the action was open. Again this is done without thought, just put the foot down as you stop the bike.
I am teaching my kids to be like this. I dont remind them to be safe with a weapon anymore than I do with their bikes. I watch and stay in a position to stop anything that shouldnt happen, just like when I taught them to ride. I will do so until I am 100% sure they are as safe as me, just like them riding their bikes. I did not lock up their bikes unless they gave me a reason to (grounded for not cleaning I think was the last reason both guns and bikes were taken). I reinforce through my actions the very skills and habits I want them to have. But I dont think about the last part until I am reminded because my daughter hands me my AR with the bolt still closed and I refuse silently to take it. This way they know it is natural to be safe. As it needs to be, as it has to be.
If you need to be reminded, Or if you need to think about it, you are too new to shooting and should be taught again.
__________________
here ------ Too much safety? - THR
I am often asked why my kids have guns in their rooms. Is it really safe to allow an eight year old girl to have a .223, .22, and 20 gauge at her disposal? I simply say that she has never expressed an interest in them BECAUSE she has them. They are posters on the wall, a stuffed animal on the shelf. A bike, if you will, that she knows how to ride, and what happens if she falls off. When I say grab a gun she generally goes for one of mine for me and even forgets her own until I remind that she will need one too if she is to blow up milk jugs with me (a game we play with our empty ones). My older daughter (12 now), if told were going hunting, grabs her bow till I tell her we are ground hogging in an open field.
I think today we place too much emphasis on the wrong things. We stress safety so much that it reminds others that guns can kill. However, are you the same way with a kitchen knife, or a hammer, or even a car? No, we know they can be used the wrong way, and just dont. Safety with these items is unconscious. We simply do it. That is how it should be. You should not need to stress it to the point that others are afraid of them. There is enough out there doing that right now.
The more you stress how dangerous something is, the more dangerous it is perceived to be. And then it becomes truth. Self fulfilling prophecy is a common theme in life. If you think it is, then it is. It is true no matter how you deny it that ANYTHING can be as dangerous as a gun if you make it so.
We always preach that guns dont kill, people kill. Truth has a certain ring to it. Yet, we ourselves treat a weapon like it CAN hurt someone. What is a gun in reality? It is metal and plastic and wood. Nothing more. It only becomes more if we make it so. If we simply treat it like the bike we rode as a child then is it really so different?
Think of it this way. When Ronnie (my oldest and best friend) and I were hunting squirrels, we approached it like a military operation against the little tree rats. Fitting that we both became Marines, I guess. At times we would cross in front of one another as we crept through the woods. Amazingly and without thought, the other would dip or raise his muzzle even if it already was. Just like you slow down for the guy in front of you while riding. When we handed the rifles to each other (generally Ronnie to me since I couldnt get a squirrel to save my life back then) so the other could have his hands, the action was open. Again this is done without thought, just put the foot down as you stop the bike.
I am teaching my kids to be like this. I dont remind them to be safe with a weapon anymore than I do with their bikes. I watch and stay in a position to stop anything that shouldnt happen, just like when I taught them to ride. I will do so until I am 100% sure they are as safe as me, just like them riding their bikes. I did not lock up their bikes unless they gave me a reason to (grounded for not cleaning I think was the last reason both guns and bikes were taken). I reinforce through my actions the very skills and habits I want them to have. But I dont think about the last part until I am reminded because my daughter hands me my AR with the bolt still closed and I refuse silently to take it. This way they know it is natural to be safe. As it needs to be, as it has to be.
If you need to be reminded, Or if you need to think about it, you are too new to shooting and should be taught again.
__________________
here ------ Too much safety? - THR
