Well Shoot

"No, no, NO!" she shouted from across the arcade. Apparently this Momma thought that Weston was her son, and he was playing a violent video game. Her son was awfully wide-eyed intent on what Weston was playing. She snatched him by the arm and tried to refocus his attention on something else but it wasn't working. The boy kept turning towards Mortal Kombat shouting FINISH HIM while one character pulled the heart right out of another's chest. She eyed her little one like a hawk and he wasn't even allowed NEAR the games with guns or blood or fighting (which pretty much ruled out all of them but PacMan.) I was kind of taken aback at her strong stance in the arcade.

I grew up in a house that had firearms. I was taught about gun safety from the time I learned to read. Dad would point out large words in his hunting magazines and I would awe him when I could pronounce them and even tell him what they meant. Hunting was a nearly every weekend occurrence. We would tag along with Dad on his hunting and shooting trips from the time we learned addition and subtraction. Dad would ask "Now this magazine holds 6 bullets. I've shot 3, so how many are left?" I was taught to be comfortable around firearms, yet was (and still am) cautious enough to be respectful of the power harnessed by such.

How I feel about guns: it is not the gun that kills, but the person behind the gun. I don't feel that I can shelter my children from violence, but rather choose to teach them the proper ways to handle conflict. (In fact, I feel that sheltering children can cause more harm than good, as we are more tempted to eat the forbidden fruits.) Guns are used for much more than "shooting people" like we have to see on TV way too frequently these days. Hunting and shooting will be introduced to them for pleasure and father-son bonding. It won't be forced onto them. If they decide they are a little gun-shy, they can stay home with me and scrapbook or web surf or bake cookies. We don't have toy guns in our house. We do have video games that the boys aren't allowed to play because of their content. We flip the channel when things get violent. And we own guns, the real thing, kept locked in a safe at all times.

It's certain someone will disagree here; well shoot.