TexasCHLforum.com

You know , I was thinking a while back (yea , it happens occasionally ) and got kind of hacked off . I'm a little sick of mad mothers / mom's want action or whatever catchy , scary name they come up with . Why not a new group called MAD DAD"S DEMAND ACTION ! I'm sick of hearing story's of children accidentally through lack of proper firearm education shooting themselves or someone else . All responsible parents teach their children how to swim , not to touch a hot stove , not to run up to a big strange dog , how to handle a knife , don't get in the car with a stranger , etc . So why in the world would you not teach them how to properly respond to a situation involving a firearm ! Even if you hate guns it does not eliminate the fact that Texans live in a gun culture that is not just going to go away because you don't want to enjoin .

Just a short story ;
My sister's husband died about four years ago and she moved in with her daughter in FT Worth . After she sold all her household she came to our house . She asked me if I would take the gun's that belonged to her husband , told her they should go to her daughter , she said the daughter didn't want them . I took them and called her daughter the next day .
I told the daughter she should take them that her own daughter should have them . Her dad's shotguns , her great grandmothers Winchester pump 22 , her grandfathers M 1 from WW 2 , along with some others . I asked her if she remembered all of us prairie dog hunting on the Waggner Ranch and that she always used the pump 22 . The day her dad said he could hit a mallard duck about 110 yards off with that 22 and I told him if he could hit it I would swim out and get it . Danged if he didn't do it and they laughed their heads off when I had to swim out in that 30 something degree water to fetch it . She still said NO ! I will not have a gun in my house . I still have the guns .

It is irresponsible NOT to teach a child gun safety .

Didn't know you could hunt on the Waggoner Ranch, bet that was fun.

That was 30 something years ago , my brother in law sold them fuel and oil , they let him shoot prairie dogs west of lake Diversion . LOL , the duck happened over by Iowa Park on Connie Grozier's place .

That is a sad story and yes, all children should be taught firearms safety. When my wife and I got together, she had never so much as shot a BB gun. Needless to say, her son and daughter, now my kids, knew nothing of guns or gun safety. My step daughter still isn't really into guns but does shoot occasionally, knows how to handle firearms safely, and is a pretty decent shot with a pistol. My stepson really enjoys shooting and is not only safe and proficient but will be getting his CHL before long. A couple years ago, he was at a friend's apartment. The friend is an idiot. Someone gave the idiot a shotgun but he was never taught how to use it. The idiot decides to show it off and starts muzzle sweeping his friends, most likely with his finger on the trigger. My son immediately stepped out of the way, had some words for him and took the shotgun. It was loaded, the safety was off, and it had a round in the chamber. None of the other boys there said or did anything. Thankfully my son had been taught better as the outcome could have easily been tragic. Btw, that was his last visit there.

It is irresponsible NOT to teach a child gun safety.

True, that.

My Dad had a bolt action Marlin .22 rifle. I know, because of which house we were living in, that I was four years old when he supervised me handling and examining his rifle.

It's now 55 years later and I can still remember the evening I went into his den and asked if I could play with his rifle. He wasn't angry but he let me know in precise terms I would never be welcome to play with any firearm. If I wanted to check its condition and verify it was clean and properly stored, he had all the time in the world to keep watch while I did that. But play? Never.

Lots of hand-wringers would say it's not appropriate to expose a four year old child to guns, but the rifle was just the medium. The lesson was discipline, as couched in terms of guns always loaded, and muzzles always in a safe direction, the kind of discipline that isn't stern, but enabling.

The guns in our home were never on a high physical shelf. They were on a high moral shelf, and I have always kept mine there.