I've pondered this question a lot over the years.
Growing up in a rural area, there wasn't a lot of things to do on the weekends. In High School, the run of the mill weekend was going to someone's party and drinking a lot of beer.
Now, at said parties, EVERY SINGLE one of us had a gun in our vehicle. That was just the way it was around here. We all grew up in firearms-owning families, we all hunted, and many of us had handguns as well.
At 15-16 years old, my family had enough trust in me that they were not concerned that I kept a Ruger Security Six .357 Magnum under the seat of my truck. Granted, I can't imagine that they knew just how much "partying" that I did.
But to the point...
So we had anywhere from 50-200 people at a party, most drinking, and a significant majority with firearms close by.
Fights occassionally broke out. I broke up a few. I was in a couple. And yet, NO ONE EVER pulled a firearm, shot anyone or anything, and life moved on.
When I got into college, I can essentially say the same thing about my college fraternity. It was a running joke in our fraternity that we had a member that worked with Public Safety. He'd call us to let us know when the Fraternity houses would be "surprise" inspected for contraband.
It was not uncommon to see SUV's pulled up behind our house while everyone loaded up firearms to be transported to some member's off campus apartment.
And yet, we never had anyone pull a gun, shoot a gun, or whatever at our parties-- even though we had some absolute FOOLS in our fraternity (on occassion-- with proper incentive-- I was one of them)
It comes back to this:
How do you raise your children? Children raised in households with firearms learn what a firearm IS and what it ISN'T. They learn that is NOT a toy and that it must be handled with care and responsibility.
These kids grow up holding power in thier hands. They learn about the consequences of using that power as they are taught responsible behavior.
Once they are out on thier own, those lessons are the foundation of their principles. They become an instinctual process.
Now, that isn't the sole issue. I will not discount the direction of our society in terms of glorifying "thug" culture, or our-- what seems to be-- increasing lack of respect or empathy for others. I won't discount what I see as a trend of not considering the consequence of actions.
But I do see that ALL of these things start in the home, with the parents. There are external environmental pressures, sure. But the home is the foundation. And this foundation is crumbling.
FYI: the period of time I am referring to regarding my high school and college was the mid-80's through '95.
-- John
Growing up in a rural area, there wasn't a lot of things to do on the weekends. In High School, the run of the mill weekend was going to someone's party and drinking a lot of beer.
Now, at said parties, EVERY SINGLE one of us had a gun in our vehicle. That was just the way it was around here. We all grew up in firearms-owning families, we all hunted, and many of us had handguns as well.
At 15-16 years old, my family had enough trust in me that they were not concerned that I kept a Ruger Security Six .357 Magnum under the seat of my truck. Granted, I can't imagine that they knew just how much "partying" that I did.
But to the point...
So we had anywhere from 50-200 people at a party, most drinking, and a significant majority with firearms close by.
Fights occassionally broke out. I broke up a few. I was in a couple. And yet, NO ONE EVER pulled a firearm, shot anyone or anything, and life moved on.
When I got into college, I can essentially say the same thing about my college fraternity. It was a running joke in our fraternity that we had a member that worked with Public Safety. He'd call us to let us know when the Fraternity houses would be "surprise" inspected for contraband.
It was not uncommon to see SUV's pulled up behind our house while everyone loaded up firearms to be transported to some member's off campus apartment.
And yet, we never had anyone pull a gun, shoot a gun, or whatever at our parties-- even though we had some absolute FOOLS in our fraternity (on occassion-- with proper incentive-- I was one of them)
It comes back to this:
How do you raise your children? Children raised in households with firearms learn what a firearm IS and what it ISN'T. They learn that is NOT a toy and that it must be handled with care and responsibility.
These kids grow up holding power in thier hands. They learn about the consequences of using that power as they are taught responsible behavior.
Once they are out on thier own, those lessons are the foundation of their principles. They become an instinctual process.
Now, that isn't the sole issue. I will not discount the direction of our society in terms of glorifying "thug" culture, or our-- what seems to be-- increasing lack of respect or empathy for others. I won't discount what I see as a trend of not considering the consequence of actions.
But I do see that ALL of these things start in the home, with the parents. There are external environmental pressures, sure. But the home is the foundation. And this foundation is crumbling.
FYI: the period of time I am referring to regarding my high school and college was the mid-80's through '95.
-- John
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