by LivingInTransition » Fri 14 Mar 2008, 13:57:30
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RonMN', 'I')n my opinion...a gun / firearm owner has the moral & ethical responsibility to see that this gun does not make it into a childs hands. To know enough to NEVER fire a rifle up into the air. To have the knowledge on how to keep it clean (or the barrel could explode killing or injuring you & all around you). Know how to handle a gun safely while climbing over a fence. To know a blank is as deadly as a bullet from close range...and many other things!
It's the same type of responsibility that a driver is obligated to know what a stop sign means...if they don't know what it means, they have no business driving on a public street.
I have never accepted the "I didn't know the gun was loaded" excuse...and if it were up to me, I would assign 75 years in prison to anybody who used that excuse on me.
Well, that's my opinion for the day.

This was pretty much my thinking. Most people I know would probably laugh at me if I told them I took a class on learning about shotguns, but screw them. I came away from the class (8 hours) understanding all of the basics about shotguns, safety, ammo types, shooting, cleaning, etc. I wouldn't have gotten that from trying to learn from my buddies or whoever. Most of them don't know squat. It's something I wanted to be very careful about. You see on the news all the time about some child that got hurt or killed because of improper firearms usage, so I totally agree that owning a firearm comes with moral responsibilities.
As an aside, I never grew up around guns or anything. My dad is anti-gun, but I found out I'm a gun nut. Maybe it's because I never learned at a young age, but shooting is FUN. I picked up a pistol and am going back to the NRA for pistol training next month. I highly recommend trying it if you've never learned.