My eight year old son "gets it"...

[geegee]

I put my home defense shotgun up for sale today. It's a seldom used Winchester Defender that I would rather keep, but when you're going into month six of unemployment, some difficult decisions need to be made. It's not like I'll be unarmed, so that wasn't a concern, but rather that I may need to lighten the load a little and the shotty became expendable. Here's the silver lining in this story, however.

I was telling my wife that I had sold it, and my son was sitting in the next room reading. He looked up and said "You sold your shotgun, Dad? "Why would you sell a gun that could be used to defend our home?" Wow, I thought. This kid really understands. He really made my day, and I told him at bedtime how proud I was for him to give such a grownup answer ( I also made sure he understood that I would never leave our home defenseless... ).

We've had plenty of discussions about why Dad has guns and which guns are for what purpose. He was told long ago that he can see and handle any gun I have, if he'll ask me, and to never touch them without asking me. In the past three years, I think he's asked to see one or two of them maybe two times. There's no big mystery about guns in this house, but plenty of respect for all of them, and if you woke him up in the middle of the night, I'm quite sure he could recite the Four Rules of Gun Safety. But after his comment tonight, I couldn't be prouder.

 

[Parallax]

You should be proud, your 8 year old is more intelligent than many United States senators

 

[Sharps Shooter]

Ditto - what Parallax said.

 

[Standing Wolf]

...your 8 year old is more intelligent than many United States senators...

Probably has more integrity, too.

 

[cracked butt]

You should be proud, your 8 year old is more intelligent than many United States senators

Senators? Puh.

I'd put him in at least the to 25% of the popultion in intelligence, territory where very few sentors can be found.

 

[38SnubFan]

I'd put him in at least the to 25% of the popultion in intelligence

25% huh? I'd be willing to think that's awful high for even a BALLPARK estimate!

-Snub

 

[Missourigunner]

My eight year old son "gets it"

That Young man could teach Millions. There are not many Eight year olds that think like this. Great Kid!!!

 

[Mr. James]

Excellent. Reminds me of when my eight-year-old ranted about the "thieving socialists" in Washington. I think those two boys would get along famously.

 

[mbs357]

Buy him a pizza and a box of ice cream.*
*edit: Er, carton. >_<

 

[sturmruger]

He kind of sounds like me when I was 9.

When I was 9 my little brother and I were worried about burglars. We drew up our own self defense plan for our room. After my Mom got to see all the scary things we hung above the windows with fishing line trip wires she made us take it down. We still kept our BB guns loaded and flashlights around. My Dad had several real guns so he probably was more protection then my brother and I. Bottom line is even at a young age my brother and I were tyring to help with the defense of the home.


Congrats you did something right in raising him.

 

[Bear Gulch]

Sounds like a smart young man.

 

[BlackCat]

Hell I'm even proud of him!

Take him shooting, if you don't already. He's plenty old enough.

 

[geegee]

Guys: Thanks for all the kind words. Needless to say, this thread will be printed out and saved for when he's older (or even for when I'm older! ).

Take him shooting, if you don't already. He's plenty old enough.

Yup, he's had a couple of trips to the range, and we're putting in regular time with his BB gun. He's already shot a Ruger .22 pistol, and even fired one shot with my AR15. I'd be ecstatic if he takes an interest in firearms and knives like me, but for now, his level of interest and respect for both are very satisfying.

 

[mbs357]

Hopefully when he turns 21 he'll want you to take him to the gunshop instead of the bar, like me. =D