A bit of misdirection in the news
on 01/31/2008 at 01:00 PM
I can’t say I’m surprised that the kids are not allowed to fire real ammo. Disappointed, but not surprised.
Personally, I don’t think a kid should pass until he/she has not only fired live rounds, but fired them at a living creature. I think the kid should have had to take at least one good hard look at an animal that is dead of a gunshot wound, and still warm.
Does that sound cruel? Perhaps it is. But it’s less cruel than having some kid with a pistol going through his school capping teachers and students at random. I honestly believe that a child who has had to *consciously deal with* the knowledge of what a bullet does when it hits a body, has had to watch the life flow out of a creature, has had to hear the shrieks of something that was hit badly and only wounded, and had to steady his breathing and maybe even stop crying long enough to give that wounded animal the mercy of a clean shot....
...I think that kid would be very unlikely indeed to shoot ANYTHING *at random* ever again.
At some point you have to take your children out of their cartoon world and show them real life.
Good points GoF. I think there should be some live fire part of it too. But I don’t think your idea of having them kill something just to see how it dies will fly. Ever. But it makes the point of respect and responsibility that hunting is all about. You don’t just go out in the bushes and start blasting away.
Dang you Grumpy! Just when I had a nice simple comment ready to go, you made me go think. I understand your idea about watching a living creature die from a gunshot wound. It’s something that made me think when I was a hunter. After some years, in the end, I realized that the only reason I was there was to take pleasure in killing. I wasn’t there for the challenge, companionship or any of the other things that lend nobility to hunting.
That day I realized that I will never again take pleasure in killing (necessity is something else - I still shoot minute-of-a**hole at the range).Given my personal history, I think your idea is a good one. It’s not just the mechanics that they need to know, it’s the ethics.
I don’t think it’ll ever fly either. But I *do* think that’s something every person SHOULD have to face before they are allowed the responsibility of a firearm. You should have to face up to the fact that its PURPOSE is to take a life. You should have to face up to exactly what that means.
If that means you’re a vegetarian all your life, fine and good. If that means you’re a certifiable gun fanatic who only fires on a range, again fine and good. Regardless, neither laws nor firearms are there for the purpose of allowing you to escape reality.I’ve never taken a life yet other than hunting, and I’ve always eaten what I killed. Nonetheless, that’s why I’m a knife and sword nut rather than a gun nut. If I am ever in that situation, I hope to be able to do it up close, to watch the light go out in his eyes. Even if he is the most vile scum who ever insulted me merely by being born the same species, it doesn’t matter. It’s still a life, and I’ll have still taken it away. Watching him go is the LEAST I can do to acknowledge the value of what I have taken. No matter how low, I owe him that much. I owe *myself* that much.
Someone sent me an email about a discussion between a US soldier and a liberal anti gun person. IIRC he was training boy scouts to shoot on a military range. The tree hugger took him to task saying it was wrong teaching kids to use rifles. Her argument was equipping kids with the knowledge to use weapons was tantamount to making them into killers. His response was “Madam you have the equipment to be a prostitute” “Does it follow that you will therefore be one?” This shut her up.
GOF that is too close for comfort to my way of thinking. If someone breaks into your home I think a shotgun loaded with SSG is the way to go. Why take the risk of losing your own life?
Please understand, I’m not saying I WON’T blast him out of existence. I’m saying I *hope* to be given the opportunity to acknowledge that his is a life, put here for a purpose by a divinity I am not competent to understand.
I’m not Catholic, nor even Christian, but the concept of ‘last rites’ is not completely without merit nonetheless. No one is so low they don’t deserve to have *someone* stand on the near shore and wave goodbye to them, even if it’s the enemy who put them aboard and cast them off.
02/01/2008 at 08:28 AM
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