As my daughter approaches her 13th birthday, I realize that there are some core family experiences that I have unintentionally denied my daughter. Things that were so common in my life, that I am horrified to think that she is nearly a teen-ager and she has not yet faced responsibilities that were common-place to me at a much younger age. She has cooked meals, but will not even touch raw meat - kind of goes without saying that she has not plucked a chicken, or milked a cow. What really rankles my family values, and puts her behind the curve of the kids of my childhood friends?
She has never shot a gun.
I had my hunter's safety permit at the age of 8, had already started shooting a little before that. I own the little bolt action, single shot .22 rifle that everyone in my family learned to shoot with. Dad learned at the age of 6. When we moved to the farm, we kept a loaded shotgun at every door of the house. My mom was determined that no predators would get her "babies." This is a weird dynamic, as "predators" included raccoons and owls and hawks. I can no longer conceive a place in my head wear shooting a hawk is OK, but we are talking about my childhood environs. By the age of 10, I was not allowed to go for long walks without a gun and a dog. Our chickens ran loose on 80 acres of land, sometimes Mom would gather them from their roosts at night, but more often, butchering day was also target practice. We knew which young roosters were on the block for the day, and we set out with our 22 rifles, the only rule was that it had to be a head shot.
It wasn't that my family was "fringe," everyone I knew hunted. I did not know that gun racks were not standard in pick-ups until I moved to Florida. Opening day of hunting season was a school holiday, no one, kids or teachers, were going to show up anyway. And during deer season, almost everyone brought guns to school so they did not have to run home before heading to the woods. I'm not much of a hunter; not that I am opposed. I honestly feel that a quick end to a wild life, with no waste of the animal's parts is better for the animal, and the human consumer, than the horrible way we industrialize meat in this country - but that is another rant. I am way too antsy, noisy to be good on a stand, and not a good enough shot to hunt while "pushing." But, in my world, hiking was a rare phenomenon, and hunting was a socially acceptable way to get out in nature.
Then I moved to the south. I went hunting once. Completely different - I had never used a shotgun for deer before. Out west we had long range rifles, lots of open country, and clear views of anything we were pointing at. In the south, we have thick woods, low visibility, and crazy rednecks shooting at noises. OK - I realize that all parts of the country have crazy drunk rednecks shooting at noises, but my dad ran a very tight camp. No body drank until the guns were put away, and no one pulled a trigger without a clear head shot, anything else was a waste of meat.
Now we get into the arms debate. Having spent most of my adult life in a "big city," I get a lot of the fear around guns. I also feel that much of that fear is media and politics driven. Our founding fathers did not put the 2nd amendment in as an after thought. I do not believe that a couple of centuries ago the New World was an Utopian society of no violence. In fact, I would hazard to guess that violence was more prevalent, and more personal. Oftentimes, the pro-arms camp talk about self-protection. What if my family is threatened by a home invasion? I must protect myself. This is an important argument. But the key reason we have the 2nd amendment is to stand as a populace militia against the dictatorial rule of a hostile government. Wow, pop that one around a few NRA conventions and they might lose the political support that they have.
But aren't guns dangerous? of course they are. But so are cars, and boats, and hammers and power tools, and the way I use scissors. So why the big debate? We have a moderately dangerous tool, with constitutional backing, and it is a constant freak session of rant on both sides. Why? It is the emotional element. The romanticizing of gun related tragedies. Accidental death, poetic suicide (The Highway Man comes to mind), heartless murder, mass killings. All of these things have happened with other tools, but none have the emotional impact of gun-related violence. In these incidences we blame the gun almost as much as the killer. It is never the poison's fault, or the bomb's, or the hammer's.
Very few people question the right of anyone to own a car. Can't drive one without a license. License indicates education, some level of competency, and in Florida, you have to have insurance. It is along these lines that make me fairly comfortable with most of the gun control laws. I've been in the woods with idiots, it would be nice to know there was training involved. I don't think we need more laws. I think we need more education. Teaching Gun Safety in schools would be my favorite option. I can't imagine that I would get any political backing, but seriously, if you want people to understand something, respect it, and treat it properly, registration and punishment are not nearly as effective as good old-fashioned training. I would love to see the media handle gun-related violence like all other forms. Yes, mention that a gun was used, but don't do a million back stories on gun violence, gun control debates, and unrelated tragedies, just report the facts.
What about the whole licensing for use idea? I did compare gun use with car use - and we all think licensing is great for cars. This gets sticky. We have a constitutional RIGHT to own guns - and walk around with them for that matter, but I'm really not condoning that. I think that licensing is an invasion on the essence of this amendment. We have the right to pursue domestic tranquility - but no one is seeking licensure for happiness. When something is a Right, it needs to be accessible to all, without yards of red tape and coughing up personal information. In my opinion, we are back to the education thing. More information, fewer mistakes. And oh - yeah - personal responsibility, we need lots of that. I have no problem with harsh penalties for crimes involving guns. We have a right to keep them, not threaten or kill innocent people with them.
I use to be against hand guns. Not politically, just personally. The only real use for a hand gun is shooting people (or hog hunting, but I did not know that then), and I was really uncomfortable with that. Then I spent my first weekend of school in Miami right after Andrew. I had my concealed weapons permit and first handgun (a Walther PPK .380, if your interested) by the end of the month. That gun was by my side, loaded and ready, everytime I drove anywhere alone at night in Miami. Once I was done with school, I let the permit lapse, and haven't even taken it apart and cleaned it in 13 years.
I still have no use for, and am a little freaked out by the assault weapons collection phenomenon. The people I know that have them are occasionally on a political fringe, but are completely careful about the safety, maintenance and use of their guns. If any of these people go on a spree, it will not be an accident; but, it will be significantly less messy than a car bomb. Remember that the political and constitutional reason for allowing these people to keep their guns are to prepare for an event that most of us cannot if imagine as reality. Of course, every time we get a political regime change, a different group of people imagine it vividly and loudly.
So what to do about the horrible mom dilemma? I am personally little rusty on the mechanics, and very particular about who I would allow to take my daughter out shooting, and frankly wouldn't even know where to take her. I friend of mine, a collector and expert marksman, has offered - its just a matter of getting her over to the other side of the state. And she is pretty excited about it - just to have the experience, and understanding, and lose some of that morbid fascination and fear that our society builds up over the issue. I keep thinking when I am home I should drag my brother off to the woods with the appropriate guns. Or my sister, who is probably the best shot in the family. It will happen, just not sure when.
No comments:
Post a Comment