“Gun it!”

I may get a fare amount of flack for this but I do not have a real problem with guns. Maybe it is because my husbands family are farm people and I have had close family with farms in the past or because in the “good old days” when you took outdoor. ed “they” (as in the school) actually took you out to the range and taught you to shoot, to take care of, and clean a gun. Either way I think when taught to use one properly it is a good skill to have. I will let my brother in law, (an avid gun enthusiast/collector) teach Vivian and Alex how to use one and, (cover your eye’s and hold your breath) shoot something like a gopher or bunny or bird or – the list could go on for ever. My reasons why are quite simple. Because they are going to be around guns probably for the rest of their lives and because at the farm they slaughter and go hunting. It is important for my children to have a basic knowledge of how a gun is used and to know that it is not a toy. (I do not let my kids play at shooting each other and I do not buy water guns, but they do have squirt bottles.)

Are their ways to teach this with out killing something? Probably, but not with the same impact. My kids will be around guns and have to know the seriousness of them, and if they end up crying because of it then I hope the message will be that this stuff is serious shit! Maybe if I tell Brian it has to be a bunny that they kill, then we could eat it and use the skin for a hat and the bones for forks or something, then it would not be quite so senseless. I don’t know if I could eat a bunny, a poor little helpless and defenseless bunny. Oh dear I just might barf at the senselessness of it all. Maybe it’s the political correctness that makes me not feel right or the fact that “we” are so far removed from the slaughter of the meat that we eat most everyday. No longer do we kill our own food, it is done for us.

I think the thought of somebody, some real person that you might actually know killed a living thing on purpose does not sit well with much of society today. Unless of course it’s that luscious 18 pound turkey that was farm raised, organic grain fed and slaughtered in the most humane way. This same turkey we most carefully break apart bread for, let dry, season it and then stuff it up the turkey’s arse till it is packed in so tight we have to sew the damn bird back together! Hmmmm, sounds humane. Then we bake it for hours on end basting the turkey in it’s own boiling juices hoping for the tenderest meat and crispiest skin. To top it all off we lovingly partner it with all of our favorite fruit, veggies and pies!

By and by, do I mean that every Tom, Dick and Harry, should own a gun or have access to one. No! I think that their should be mandatory testing – just like for your learners and then another for your drivers. Something like “Hey I just started to shoot so stay away from me.” To something like. “Hey I have been doing this for a while and am responsible and can be trusted, and probably wont kill you or myself!”

I did not think the “gun registry” was worth while only because it was put in to action so poorly, but in theory it was a good idea. I do not want every child, adult or both to have access to one. I do not think owning a gun is a “right”, and if you have been to jail you should NEVER be able to own a gun. But I do believe in raising responsible and informed children and for me, them knowing how to use a firearm is part of that.