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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:01 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts

Once more, I find myself embroiled in a discussion about gun and hunting safety. Some of you think me too harsh and unsymathetic about the VPs' recent hunting accident. One poster asked if I've never made a mistake with a gun. Yes I have. And most fortunately, no one else was around, and no one got hurt. It bothered me for a very long time too. I volunteered to retake a hunting safety course the next time it was offered in my area. It certainly helped too, even if just to make me more aware of my responsabilities.

You and I cannot afford to make these kinds of mistakes. Nor can we condon or pardon them. The consequences are too grave, the effects on lives too far reaching. Not only would your or my life be ruined if we severely injured or killed someone accidentally or carelessly, so would other lives be affected, some for generations. A fatherless child is at a great disadvantage in any society. A family with a permenently disabled member is too.

Auto accidents kill and maim thousands of us every year. If we continue to drive carelessly or under the influence of licquer or drugs, our driving privileges are curtailed or revoked. Just like gun accidents, vehicle accidents are mostly preventable. Unlike hunting and shooting, most of us drive a car because it is necessary. Our pastimes are not necessary. Therefore, they are much more succeptable to public scrutiny and banishment.

If we who hunt and shoot do not police ourselves and our associates, then society surely will. Every time a gun or hunting accident happens, we lose a little more public respect and good will. The more these accidents happen, the faster our rights and privileges will be done away with. To us, our pastimes are important parts of our lives. To the public, they are simply pastimes and not nearly as important as a human life, or even that of a pet's.

Fortunately, hunting accidents are less frequent today than even a few years ago. Thanks to the efforts of those who have promoted and or taught hunting and gun safety, we have actually gained lost ground in many areas. Lets not lose what has been hard won back through carelessness, complacency, indifference, or sympathy. The ultimate price of careless, casual, or misguided attitudes toward gun and hunting safety is no guns and no hunting. You folks think this one over real careful.

PS: I was wrong to state I'm done with this. I hope I never will be. All cheap shots aside. I'll take them in stride if I can prevent just one careless or thoughtless accident from happening. Its well worth it to me. I also would think its worth it to all of you. 16GG
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hoashooter
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 6:12 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 08 Nov 2005
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Location: Illinois

When we are around something long enough with no accidents we start to become lazy with safety.Motorcycles,firearms,etc. it often takes a close call to shake you back into reality and realize death or injury is only a step away.We need to remained focused at the task without becoming paranoid.
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mod11rem
PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:40 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 20 Nov 2005
Posts: 117
Location: Jonesboro, AR

I agree with 16GG that efforts to ensure and teach gun safety have helped. However, In ARK the hunter education deal for youngsters is a joke. My son had to take it and was bored to tears. He said it was nothing more than common sense and they didn't teach him half of what I'd already taught him. We've all had close calls if we've messed with guns at all. I know I have and all of them have involved me alone and generally were because I wasn't paying attention. The lesson I remember the most was losing my shooting/hunting priviledges for an entire month when I was about 14. I left my shotgun leaning against the back door while going in to raid the fridge to keep from starving. My dad came home and checked the gun and found it loaded. No shell in the chamber, but nevertheless loaded. That was a long month for me and there wasn't even an accident.

Most of gun safety is about paying attention and making sure everyone else is too. Just ask old Dick.

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If I can't throw lead from a 16, I'd just as soon throw rocks.
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:34 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 12 Mar 2005
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Location: massachusetts

Your son is very fortunate to have dad that not only shoots but has passed the lore, knowledge, and tradition on to him. Like so many post WWII folks, I was not as fortunate. My dad was a DAV, a city kid, and did not care for hunting and fishing. He was not anti-gun but did not care much for them due to what he experienced in that awful war.

My interest has to have come from race memory being part NA on my mom's side. I was just plain born this way. I was prowling the local fields, woods, and waterways from the earliest age I can remember. It used to give my mom fits until she realized that trying to discourage me was causing more harm than good. She also came to realize that I seemed to have an uncommon amount of sense about what I was doing out in the woods and fields for a youngster. So I was fairly free to explore.

It was also a different time, place, and society. Kids did not face human predators as much then as now. Plus, my woods craft and ability to look after myself came fairly easy and I would probably been a greater threat to a scum bag in the woods than he to me once I grew a bit. I was always armed with sharp sheath knife and a bow and arrows from age 10 on while on a foray and could hit anything out to 40 yards or so. I could also run like a deer and could easily outpace most adults through any wood lot or broken terrain. In short, I grew up woods savvy, independant, and wild in the best sense of the word.

However, firearms became part of my life later on and I had to learn much of what I needed from reading and from the kindness of others. Joining a gun club was one of the wisest moves I've ever made. I was able to take several firearms safety courses through those clubs. I still like to take one every 5 or so years just to refresh my memory and keep me safety oriented. Besides, I like most folks and enjoy the company of gun people anyway.

Many of today's youths and young adults, as well as quite a few older adults must rely on gun or sportsmens' clubs and state F&W programs for what they need to learn. Some courses and instructers are better than others. I have taken one in MA. voluntarily and have sat in on others. A good instructer will make all the difference in the world. Not everyone teaching these courses is a trained educator or even an inspired one. They do the best they can. Its a lot better than nothing.

Hunting safety and gun safety courses have also seemed to have a positive affect since hunting and firearms accidents are down all over the country. from a decade or two ago. Most states have made them manditory out of necessity. Its one way to pass on knowledge that was once a family matter but is no longer so. 16GG.
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