My nephew sent me an article intended to illustrate the rarely seen side of the firearms issue. The text was not necessarily pro-gun, but did try to show by many statistics, many compiled from FBI files, that the General Public is intentionally "over-fed" the negative side, guns in the hands of gangs, drug-related gun use, etc. A number of individuals affected directly by the issue of private gun ownership were illustrated. Here are two, hopefully legible, as the tinier print tells the major story.
The only experience I had with guns was my father. He learned to hunt as a child because he had to. When he moved to Ohio he went with my mother's father a few times, because they had some good hunting land. I remember one evening he came home and said he was done with hunting forever. He said he didn't enjoy killing the animals. It was not necessary anymore anyway. I'm sure my mother was glad, because I remember us skinning rabbits and squirrels in the basement when I was a little kid. He didn't lose his attraction to guns, but from that time on (~ 40 years) it was only for target practice, and not for protection from humans. He just liked to handle them. I inherited a bunch of guns, mostly long guns. Gave most of them to my cousin, who gave them to another cousin before he died.
@Nancy Hart "......who gave them to another cousin before he died." Well, I'd certainly hope he wouldn't give them to a cousin after he died! Frank
@Nancy Hart However, I did not misinterpret it at all! I simply subverted it, whatever that means! Frank
Hunting is a way of life here. I never enjoyed killing anything, but I did it to feed my family. I also did a lot of cleaning up carcasses that were hit by cars. Meat is meat and we never wasted anything. I still have self protection firearms but have never had to use them.
We love target shooting and have nothing against hunting. Love to see nice head mounts or full body mounts, like at BassPro Stores or going to an Outdoor Recreational Show.
Judy and I are target -shooters. She uses her .22 cal Ruger Mark II Target Pistol and I get attention with my .45 cal Ruger Blackhawk 6-shooter, a real Boomer! We go to an outdoor Lions Club range, where Civil War enthusiasts also meet for skirmishes, using 6-pound field cannons and .58 caliber Muskets, firing cannon and musket balls with black powder loads. Shout "FIRE IN THE HOLE!", then pull the lanyard! Judy and I both fired the cannon, which causes the ground beneath us to tremble, even with a reduced powder loading! Hal
I shot a chickadee when I was about twelve or so and felt bad about it. I've never hunted or had any interest in hunting with a gun, although hunting with a camera is attractive. That said, I grew up around guns and can shoot pretty okay, well enough that although I hadn't shot a gun in more than ten years, I qualified on the police range in the early 1990s, doing better than some of the cops who were qualifying. To do EMS support for the McAllen SWAT team, we were required to qualify and to carry. In practice, however, we were never actually called in before everything was pretty much over except for the cleanup. I have a few guns. I enjoy shooting, and I like being in the woods. If it were necessary for me to hunt in order to feed myself, I suppose I could do that. I might throw up the first time. I certainly have no quarrel with those who hunt and am saddened that so few young people are taking it up.