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All I can say is that I'm glad I live in a part of the country where "training in deadly firearms" isn't a typical rite of childhood.
Thank God for the few progressive parts of the country! My kids will hopefully never pick up a firearm, ever.
We-ll.......
.............I always said my 16th year sounded like spy school. I was in JROTC on rifle team and in Rangers. I learned to fly a small plane. One of the courses I was taking in High School was French. I was into my 6th or 7th year of judo.
When I was in the Navy, I was shooting excellently on a rolling deck. What I learned in high school Rangers probably assisted me in conducting forest operations on a shore station. How to handle an airplane in an emergency probably helped me in learning how to handle an emergency situation such as a dropped special weapon. I was training Navy police troops in unarmed combat.
Now, on one side of the coin, one might say a lot of that high school stuff all led up to being in the business of killing people.
But on the other side of the coin, I was learning how to approach and control life. Marksmanship, for example, teaches one how to use discipline to calm the mind, how to use the mind to calm the body, so one can accomplish a task at hand. Years of judo enabled me not only to be acquire new physical skills rapidly, but also how to fall without worry because I knew that which had been trained into me to the point of instinct would save me.
One side may see it as training in deadly firearms but another side may see it as a way to train the body when it is easier because it is younger and will repair more quickly.
Just like one should learn how to ski, which I don't know how to do, when they are young because it is less distance to fall to the ground.........and less distance to get back up.
Last summer, shortly after my son turned 8, he and I went to a father-son camp. Part of the experience was shooting rifles (I believe they were .22's) for target practice, under the supervision of a range officer. I impressed upon my son the cardinal rule of gun safety (always treat a gun as if it is loaded) and also told him that if he didn't follow the instructions to the letter, I would pull him off the range without any warnings. Well, my son made me proud by handling that rifle exactly as I would want him to.
As for when I will let him use my own gun? Don't know. Despite his good performance there at camp, I still don't think he's quite ready for regular shooting. But we'll be going back to the same camp next week, so we'll see how he does with the rifles then.
never. there is no reason for it. We will not shoot animals for "fun" and I don't want to contrbiute to the gun violence and gun culture plaguing this country. And for the record, we live in Texas and I ask every single person whose home my kids visit about whether they own guns and how they keep them. I want people to ask us too. I'm sick to death of the kids accidentally killing themselves with guns.
Does one occupy the moral high ground if he kills squirrels and chipmunks with a trap or poison rather than with a firearm?
We really don't have reason to kill anything - animal or human. When we had a problem with squirrels in our attic - not uncommon in wooded areas - we called in a humane exterminator and had them use "Have a Heart" traps to trap and release the critters into a nearby woods. We then repaired the place where the squirrels had entered.
Simple. No poison. No guns. No violence.
We coexist with other beings. It's just another way of looking at things. And, they were here first.
I'm just curious, reflecting on the training over the years, the hours a day (when I was a teen) of slow, steady practice, of knowing your energy limits and when that comes to an end...........
...........of the beginning, because you have been trained and have put in the dedicated practice, of being at trainer and instructor for others...............
.........I'm just curious, if it wasn't because they were firearms (or "heavy" martial arts), would those who are saying "Absolutely Not!" be agreeable to this type of physical and mental training? Training that can be used in the decades down the line for applications other than the initial reasons in the long past?
As I have remarked in another thread, I am having minor surgery soon and in the days leading up to it, not only am I prepping for that, for my recovery and coverage at work, but also the various aspects, minute details of my life. Part of that includes securing access to my arsenal.
While one might say, "Well, if you didn't have guns,you wouldn't need to think about such," I alternately say, "It is because of having guns over the years that I constantly think in such terms and if were not guns I was locking up, so it could be something else." As it goes, there are a few types of items I am locking up.
But back to the point and to clarify, it is probably because of a life time of martial training that, in part, I think like that, considering so many aspects that should at least be addressed. It is because of such training and perhaps a painful but not too costly lesson here and there that I have the restraint I have, that I am reluctant to use the power I can access for I know or at least appreciate the extent of the results. I even look ahead to avoid situations that may invoke such such.
So it is asked, to teach the next generation methods of self control, if it were not because they are firearms, would such training be allowed for one's children?
Secondly but really only for individual thought, if the above answer is "Yes", then what form of training might that be and with what goals. Ie, one might be on a swim team for physical training but the team's focus may be on competition. If one does not want to compete, then a goal conflict might result (a situation I did encounter when I was a teen).
I'm just curious, reflecting on the training over the years, the hours a day (when I was a teen) of slow, steady practice, of knowing your energy limits and when that comes to an end...........
...........of the beginning, because you have been trained and have put in the dedicated practice, of being at trainer and instructor for others...............
.........I'm just curious, if it wasn't because they were firearms (or "heavy" martial arts), would those who are saying "Absolutely Not!" be agreeable to this type of physical and mental training? Training that can be used in the decades down the line for applications other than the initial reasons in the long past?
As I have remarked in another thread, I am having minor surgery soon and in the days leading up to it, not only am I prepping for that, for my recovery and coverage at work, but also the various aspects, minute details of my life. Part of that includes securing access to my arsenal.
While one might say, "Well, if you didn't have guns,you wouldn't need to think about such," I alternately say, "It is because of having guns over the years that I constantly think in such terms and if were not guns I was locking up, so it could be something else." As it goes, there are a few types of items I am locking up.
But back to the point and to clarify, it is probably because of a life time of martial training that, in part, I think like that, considering so many aspects that should at least be addressed. It is because of such training and perhaps a painful but not too costly lesson here and there that I have the restraint I have, that I am reluctant to use the power I can access for I know or at least appreciate the extent of the results. I even look ahead to avoid situations that may invoke such such.
So it is asked, to teach the next generation methods of self control, if it were not because they are firearms, would such training be allowed for one's children?
Secondly but really only for individual thought, if the above answer is "Yes", then what form of training might that be and with what goals. Ie, one might be on a swim team for physical training but the team's focus may be on competition. If one does not want to compete, then a goal conflict might result (a situation I did encounter when I was a teen).
I'm trying to figure out what exactly you are saying here. Is it that weapon training and marital arts have been the path to self control in your eyes?
If so, I'll say that sports and academics have done the same for my kids. Their "powers" were athletic skill and intelligence. No guns necessary.
I'm trying to figure out what exactly you are saying here. Is it that weapon training and marital arts have been the path to self control in your eyes?
If so, I'll say that sports and academics have done the same for my kids. Their "powers" were athletic skill and intelligence. No guns necessary.
Point noted. I am not going to debate that much for I asked a question and it was answered.
I do ask one other thing, however. As that both my judo and rifle team started out as a sport, are there some who do not recognize such?
I think I handled my first BB gun around age 14. I didn't get into real firearms until age 30. Friend took me to a range, and I was hooked. Got my license and got a few guns soon after.
I only use them at the range though. Not really into hunting (not opposed) and not really into making political statements with them here in the liberal Northeast, so my firearms stay locked in the cabinet except for a few guy-weekend range trips here and there. It's a fun hobby to me.
As for when my kids will go shooting? Not yet. To me it's a hobby, and i'm not quite ready to start pushing my hobbies onto my kids. I wouldn't take my 6 year old into the garage and start teaching them to rebuild a small-block V8. It's one of those things where I will need to see where their interests are and assess what sort of responsibility they can handle. I have a few BB and .22's we can start out with...when their ready. They might not even express an interest in it ever...and I'm fine with that.
never. there is no reason for it. We will not shoot animals for "fun" and I don't want to contrbiute to the gun violence and gun culture plaguing this country. And for the record, we live in Texas and I ask every single person whose home my kids visit about whether they own guns and how they keep them. I want people to ask us too. I'm sick to death of the kids accidentally killing themselves with guns.
I was just going to ask if this sort of questioning at play dates is the norm? Would people be offended if I ask them if they have guns in the house?
As someone who doesn't come from this country & will possibly be moving there shortly (CT), I'm terrified of the gun culture. It's honesty bizarre, other worldly to me. Nice to see some try to do the right thing by their kids tho.
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No violence.
