I just started getting interested in guns a few months ago. My interest could have/should have started a little earlier than that. Last January, a mentally ill woman walked into the office building I was working at and started to randomly shoot the place up. She never got up to my floor, but she killed someone on the floor below. I know what a fish in a barrel feels like. I won't go through that again. It isn't any fun to stand around waiting to see if you will be the next target and unable to do anything about it. Even after going through that, I never thought about owning my own gun.
Last March, I was at a homeschooling event featuring Richard "Little Bear" Wheeler. He dresses in authentic period costume and teaches history to young people. He also brings various guns to show to the kids. He spent some time describing the way a flintlock works. Then he turned his attention to the parents and addressed the issue of gun ownership. I remember him asking the question, "If a man broke into your home and attacked your wife, what would you do?" That got me thinking! When I shared this with my wife, she decided that she wanted us to get a gun.
Before we committed to buying a gun, my wife wanted to learn as much as she could about them. She took a hunter safety course. She also brought along our 7 and 9 year old daughters to sit in on the classes. My wife borrowed several videos on guns both from the library and from the hunter safety course. Together as a family we watched several hours of videos on gun safety, including Eddie Eagle. After my wife took her shooting test, the instructor let her borrow his .22 to let my daughters shoot. They enjoyed it and hope to shoot again soon. They wanted to shoot mainly because they saw mom doing it and wanted to give it a try. They love doing anything that seems grownup. They shot rather well, which thrilled them.
The instructor also offered to teach my wife and myself the concealed carry course that is required to obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm in my state. He let us borrow a .38 snubby revolver and a 9mm semi auto, just to get a feel for them. I shot three rounds from each one before returning the guns.
After getting our concealed carry permits, we decided on two guns. My wife wanted a 20 gauge shotgun for home defense. I wanted a 9mm semi auto for concealed carry. We bought them both on the same day last September.
When I brought the guns home, I showed my kids what the 9mm looked like. My oldest daughters, the 7 and 9 year old, were shown in detail how the gun works. They even watched as I cycled live ammunition through the gun. Since this was all done on my back porch, I wasn't able to shoot. I handed them the unloaded gun and let them work the trigger, magazine release, etc.
My gun usually goes with me when I leave the house. When I am at home, it is often kept within reach. It might be on my desk, on a side table in the dining room, on my nightstand or in its holster on my hip. It is kept loaded at all times. It is for personal defense, so locking it up doesn't make sense. When visitors with kids come over, the gun is either put up on a high shelf, or it is unloaded and locked. My 3 year old son will not touch it, even if I let him. My 4 year old daughter has never tried to touch it. My 7 and 9 year old daughters will not touch it unless I unload it and hand it to them. When I hand them the gun, I always ask, "Is the gun loaded?" they always answer, "Yes."
When my 3 year old started pointing at things and yelling, "Brrrrrrrr!" (his word for "bang"), we started to teach him about muzzle control. He is never to point his "gun" at any person. When he started to put an old squirt gun in his pants and cover it with his shirt, "just like Daddy," we decided to get him a toy gun that looked more realistic. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a toy gun that isn't a sci-fi ray gun style destroyer of the galaxy gun? I finally found a plastic replica of a .45 semi-auto. When you pull the trigger, it cocks and releases the hammer. He loves it, even though he got his britches dusted for aiming it at his sister. And, yes, he carries it in his waistband with his shirt pulled over it, "just like Daddy."
To put all this in a nutshell, begin teaching kids about guns before they are old enough to pull the trigger on your own gun, should they run across it unsupervised. They need to understand how dangerous guns can be, without being afraid of them.
So why does Daddy carry a gun? Well, it is like wearing seatbelts. You see, every time we get into the car, we put on our seatbelts. Why? Because every time we drive somewhere, we get into an accident. No, not really. I've never been in an accident. But if we ever did, we would certainly want to be wearing our seatbelts, and you never know when it might happen. It is the same way with the gun. I will probably never have to use it to defend myself, but if I ever did have to, I'd certainly want it with me!
Seriously, I do not advocate trophy hunting, that to me is sick. (flame me if ya want) However, it is really hard to find venison at Kroger, but since my relatives hunt regularly, I just mooch off them. I guess I'll go out and get my own one day, but I do not have the time or money to get out of the city.