I’ve always found that the people that demonize firearms are the ones that have never been taught how to safely handle and shoot a gun. Once they’ve been safely shown how to shoot a firearm, and been introduced to target shooting, they have a whole new perspective.

When my son is old enough, I intend to start him with a BB gun and show him proper, safe gun handling. My father taught me how to shoot when I was very young and I never found guns to be “taboo” or something that I wanted to dangerously “play with” when adults were not around. It was a tool that I was taught to respect. I hope I can teach my son the same lessons and we can enjoy hunting and target shooting safely together.

Any animal is parasite ridden. We are all full of parasites and strange chemicals. Animals kept in captivity are either treated with wormers or managing some sort of parasitic load. Even in comparison to our organic, pasture raised meats, I think you’d be splitting hairs on who provides the leanest, healthiest meat. But that’s just my opinion.

I absolutely agree, guns properly handled can be deadly, but my point is that they are not definitely deadly every time you use one. And I think that’s where a lot of unbridled, unnecessary fear about guns stems from for a lot of people. (Not saying I think guns SHOULDNT be feared). I just don’t view them as dangerous killing machines. Not saying they can’t be, just saying I don’t feel they are ALWAYS.

The purpose of target to me, is to get better at putting a bullet where you want to put it. And the only thing I am likely to shoot for the rest of my life is more targets. And in the case of late night B&E or something, it is probably not going to be the proverbial “between the eyes”, hopefully it won’t be at ALL.

I could kill someone who illegally entered my house with a knife just as easily with a good throw or a slash, but that doesn’t mean every time I cut steak that I’m in some way honing my killing skillZ. It’s just not that absolute for me.

I love to shoot. It is fun. But that doesn’t change the fact that the ultimate purpose of a gun is not target shooting: it is killing. It is foolish to pretend otherwise. It is easy for someone who has never experienced the deadly qualities of a gun to tell themselves that guns are not killing machines, but that is exactly what they are.

Regarding properly handling guns: you are correct, a person who cannot handle a gun correctly should not handle a gun, ever. But a gun, properly handled, *is deadly*. That is one way of properly handling a gun. I can properly handle a gun because if someone invades my home, I intend to shoot them.

With deer getting prion diseases, the fact that wild animals are parasite-ridden, as well as all the pollution humans toss around, wild meat really isn’t the healthiest meat anymore. But it might be the happiest, unless of course the animal in question has died in fear rather than oblivion.

I don’t think that toy guns make children grow up to be violent toward other humans. But they do tend to create callousness toward non-humans, as evidenced by Bob pretending to shoot birds. My cousins all grew up shooting and hunting, and as a result they don’t really see animals as having feelings. They have no compassion for animals.

My husband and I are raising our family “in town” and do not own any guns. We just don’t have any need for one, but if we move back to the country, you better believe I’ll be buying one.

My PERSONAL feelings are that I do not want Grey to play with guns or other weapons. We don’t own firearms, I am very uncomfortable with them due to a bad experience as a child. I understand that they can be used as tools, but because we don’t have them in our lives in any useful way, I feel like G’s only exposure to them otherwise would be through media, which is most often times violent. I understand that children can turn anything into a firearm (a finger, a stick) but i feel like by not allowing him to play with or buying toy guns, we are driving home the idea that we do not condone violence. This is what works and what i feel is comfortable in MY HOUSEHOLD.

That said, I certainly would not judge you for allowing your child to play with toy guns. Especially for the fact that guns are a part of your lifestyle and because you are responsible/thoughtful parents.

I will however judge the couple that i met recently who’s son had a talking plastic robot that had a gun and said things like, “destroy the human ants!” and also had a play kitchen for their son that was a McDonalds drive through. I just ASSUME that they aren’t having thoughtful conversations with their children about firearms. Nor are then using guns to kill their own food.