I really don't want to get into the politics of it, but things really are very different than they were when I was a kid. I started shooting regularly at age 5, by which time I knew enough about guns that I wouldn't THINK of pointing a gun anywhere but downrange, or leaving a rifle on the bench with the bolt closed. I expect many people today going for their CCW permits have never handled a gun before, and no one has given them anything like the indoctrination that my father gave me from the time I could walk. Some of these people are sincerely trying to learn, others just want to feel cool carrying a gun. It really would not be a bad thing to have people understand and respect the power of the machine they're carrying, as they should when they drive a car. The people who are killed by carelessness and ignorance in both cases are real people.
Now, how you go about that ..... I don't know. It would certainly be better if we were all brought up in households where we were taught these things, but it's often not the case.
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