|
When I was seven or eight my father caught me with a toy cap gun. He took it and broke it in front of me and told me that guns weren't toys. A few days later we sat on the back porch with a remington .22 semi auto and he let me shoot it for the first time off the deck. A week or so later he gave me a silver/black bb gun and a milk carton of B.B's. I can't remember how many times I cut the grass and picked up rocks in the yard to "get my allowance" I was hooked... He let me shoot his .50 cal muzzleloader when I was 12 (with a much ligher load of powder that I now realize) I always thought it was weird as a kid that I never had toy guns, cap guns, or even water guns... When I was 15 he told me about his experiences in Vietnam and it started to make more sense. Firearms are a tool to do one thing, and that they should always be treated with respect and aren't a toy. To this day I still have that ole BB gun (even though it is inopperable) in the gun safe next to my modest collection. Whoever lives in that house now is probally still finding BBs and .22 casings even today.. I think I shot one of the two almost every Saturday after my morning cartoons. Every holiday the family usually goes shooting rifles at their new place. Dad always watches from the deck but enjoys "us kids" going out and having fun... he told me he did enough shooting in his day and hopes he never has to fire one again... man I love my pops...
|