This is how it was when I was in school, too. In high school, a lot of the guys drove the family pickup to school, and the rifles were in the rifle brackets in the back of the cab. At least some of them were probably loaded and ready to shoot a deer, should they see one on the way to school. The principal was a hunter, as well as some of the other teachers, so they stood around the trucks and all looked at the rifles and told hunting stories to each other. Students were excused from school to go hunting camp with their dads, and would sometimes miss several days of school. Nobody thought anything of it back then, and the worst thing that ever happened at school was someone sneaked cigarettes in somehow, and hid out and smoked them at noon break.
Our high school closed for the first week of hunting season. I know that wasn't a statewide thing because I had friends in a neighboring high school in a larger city, and they didn't get that week off. We had a student smoking area outside one of the doors to the school.
Not to go away from my thread, but, the high school I went to, which was a consolidated one of two townships and grades 1-12 all in the same building. Grade school, junior high and high school divided by a medium length hallway for each. We got out of school for the summer two weeks earlier than the Ft. Wayne schools did. We got out towards the end of May, while the Ft. Wayne schools got out in the middle of June. IOW, they got a week off for Spring Break and Christmas and we didn't.
Apparently, the video is "No longer available." In my opinion, some parents push their kids into things too early. Like this dad: He has his young daughter fire a 40 caliber Glock when she is much too young to control it. Watch how close it comes to hitting her in the head. And note the insufficient hearing protection:
I agree. Or the videos where a bunch of guys hand a woman a .44 magnum and laugh when it goes flying after she shoots it. I only went hunting with my father a couple of times (my parents had divorced when I was young), but I recall one time we pulled up to a place and there were men emptying their shotguns into squirrel's nests, and beer cans strewn all around (at 6AM.) We wouldn't even get out of the truck.
In Alaska, it is illegal (?felony) to even handle a firearm when you are impaired. Not to say it doesn't happen, but it doesn't happen openly.
Remember that so called RSO at the Nevada range who was killed when they wanted their little girl to shoot a full-auto Uzi? He was doing a number of things wrong and was killed when she couldn’t control the muzzle and it recoiled back over her left shoulder shooting the guy in the head. That was purely idiot parents wanting to show what their little girl could do. It’s a child, not a pet to perform tricks.
Yes, the details in that tragedy are important. With the short barrel of a Mini Uzi, a full-auto firearm requires a firm grip to prevent muzzle climb. I have had young people fire my semi-auto Uzi which has a 16 inch barrel & only fires one shot per trigger pull. It is heavy, has very little recoil & it is impossible for the muzzle to climb; the little recoil it has is straight back. It also has a grip safety & is actually very safe for beginners to shoot.
Virginia says that it is illegal to hunt while intoxicated or to carry concealed while intoxicated. We also have a stupid law that says if you carry concealed into an establishment that serves alcohol (that would be a restaurant, since we have no true bars here) you cannot legally have alcohol, BUT if you open carry, you can. Ex-governor Tim Kaine issued an Executive Order exempting law enforcement and commonwealth attorneys from "drinking while conceal carrying," and we got it overturned in court. Dems sure love to spit in the face of citizens they dislike, and Kaine was always at the head of the line to do that very thing. (I'm getting angry all over again, and this happened nearly 20 years ago. I'll always loathe that SOB.) It used to be that you could not conceal carry into an alcohol-serving restaurant at all, whether you drank or not (but you always could open carry and you could drink.) It was a real battle to get that fixed, and the "cannot drink" rule was the compromise (not that many of us support mixing the two.) Much of this is because one could always open carry, and "Shall Issue" did not happen until 1990 or thereabouts.
The range where I was an RSO for a while rented full auto. I personally don’t care for them much but we were all required to receive instruction on each of them and demonstrate ability to fire them with control. It takes practice and concentration to control them. That was an inexperienced child. Irresponsible IMO.
Another issue I have with some gun owners is what constitutes safe storage. Some parents think nothing of storing guns in drawers, accessible to everyone in the house, including visitors. They'll tell me how "mature" their young kids are, how they taught their kids about gun safety, how their kids never disobey them, & they leave firearms around to prove it. My sister was one of those parents. I argued with her about storing her gun on top of a cabinet. She'd tell me how "Grown Up" her 10 year old son was & how he's "smarter" than other kids, so she doesn't have to worry about it. I said, "What about his friends who visit; can you vouch for them, too?" She'd say, "My son doesn't have any stupid friends." She almost learned the hard way. Her son described an incident while his mother was at work. His friend was visiting, he found the loaded gun & pointed it at her son as a joke. Luckily, he didn't pull the trigger; it was fully loaded. When I told my sister about the incident, she came to her senses & purchased a quick-access lockbox; the type I use: Takes 2 seconds to open, but not accessible to others:
Ft. Knox, exact same ones I have (2 of them). I like the old school simplex lock, good security, no batteries, quick to open, plus the Ft. Knox seems heavier built than many.
Ft Knox boxes are good; I also have two, but "Am Sec" & "V-Line Brute" models have a better piston that lasts longer & keeps the lid open more securely.