First, thank you for posting this.
<<SNIP>>
>
>We need to stop blaming the weapons used to harm people and start
>concentrating more on the morals and the
>motives that create and propagate misuse of them. It is true that guns don't
>kill people. but people with
>guns kill people.
>
<<SNIP>>
The first high school I went to was in rural northern York County,
Pennsylvania. Back then, the nature of the general population was such that we
would occasionally see smoke rising from stills. Corn, apples, and dairy were
primary agricultural products. Biggest extracurricural organisation was the
FFA (Future Farmers of America). Very little in the way of gentry.
Firearms were everywhere. Some families had heirloom Pennsylvania and
Kentucky long rifles that were NOT replicas and had been handed down from one
generation to the next.
Despite the general nature of these people, there was never any concern
about improper use of a firearm. Occasionally a student would bring a weapon
to the school to repair it in the machine shop, usually to remove a stuck or
broken screw. Rule was that you first brought it to the principal, who was a
former Penssylvania state cop. He would check it, then escort the student to
the machine shop where the weapon was placed in locked storage.
I first learned about firearms while there, and got to handle and fire all
sorts of interesting weapons. My first experience with a coach gun
(double-barrel breech-loaded 12ga shotgun) knocked me on my ass and left a nice
bruise on my right thumb. Over-unders (16ga or 12ga top, 30-06 or 30-30
bottom) were interesting, and were the favourite weapon for deer and bear
hunters and later special forces snipers in Viet Nam. I recently saw one that
was 12ga top and bottom with just a single trigger and hammer.
Basically, these kids had grown up around these weapons, and consequently
they had a decent amount of respect for them. They were tought that directly
and indirectly. They were a tool for hunting, and hunting put meat in the
freezers for the family through the year. Once in a while we were given a
roast of deer, and I still like venison over any cut of beef.
Chris
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