My Dad gave me a .22 rifle for my 11th birthday. I would ride my bicycle with it to the bayou at the back of the neighborhood along with my friends with their .22.s BB guns and pellet guns to shoot snakes or whatever. Nobody called the cops on us "armed band of youths" and it never occurred to any of us that we should take our guns to school to shoot our teachers or classmates
I got a .410 shotgun for Christmas when I was 11. I was taught gun safety from the start. I never shot anyone accidently or otherwise. The gun wasn't locked up in a $2000 safe either. It was proudly displayed on a gun rack in the kitchen along with my Dad's shotguns and rifles. Shoot teachers? We wouldn't even chew gum in front of our teachers. And when the principal walked by we'd nearly freeze at attention for fear we'd do something wrong. Now they call the principal by his first name.
Yeah, all our guns where easily attainable for me when I was growing up. You know why I didn't play with them unsupervised? Because of the ass kincking my dad would have thrown on me for it. I grew up with a healthy appreciation and fear of guns. I grew up in the 80's and 90's, but for some reason my neighborhood had that good ole days quality. Anyone else have a treehouse in the woods.
we didnt have a tree house in the woods but we did have regular spots that we hung out at. Oh and our prize out there, was a hollowed out tree where we kept a nudie magazine that we took from a friend's dad. HAhahaa, those were good days.
I also grew up with a health appreciation of firearms but not with a fear of them. Nobody needs to fear guns, only to fear the criminals and idiots who misuse them. Anybody who wants to protect our constitutional right to keep and bear arms against the anti gun zealots like John McCain, Joseph Lieberman and Hillary Clinton should join and support the National Rifle Association if you haven't already done it. There are already a number of states with laws that greatly restrict their citizens right to protect tehmselves. A friend of mine who used to live in California told me that in that state if you have a gun in your car you have to keep it unloaded in a locked box in the trunk and any ammo has to be kept in a separate locked box. "Excuse me for a minute Mr. psycho serial killer while I open the trunk, unlock a couple of boxes and load my gun" Thank God that the state of Louisiana considers your automobile an extention of your home and you have the same rights in your car that you have in your home. We don't want to end up like the guy in New York who had legally purchased a pistol in Florida while he was a resident of that state and then applied for a license after he moved to New York. The paperwork for the license was still in beauacractic limbo who a burglar with a multi page rapsheet broke into his house and was threatening to kill his son. The guy defended his home and family by shooting the intruder and then got arrested and prosecuted for possessing an unlicensed weapon.
