You know who you are…. the guy or gal at a dinner party or social function that people with no firearm experience whatsoever seem to look at with, “the look”. Usually they stare with a pre conceived notion that you own several Elmer Fudd hats and you spend your day’s hunting the Wascally Wabbit..

This particular group I was with, were just regular parents and our bond was our kids played sports together. Some one started talking about their son lining up the night before at a local electronics store to get his hands on the latest version of the video game Halo 4, and all then the talk turned to video games and guns. No sooner did the conversation and opinions start flowing some say’s “talk to him, he’s the gun guy” …..que the looks.

OK admittedly I love engaging/debating people about gun related matters, and yes more times than not I’m going head to head with someone who is way smarter than I am, but on this subject I think I can hold my own. I field all kinds of questions from “aren’t those illegal” to “were do can you buy one, were do you go shooting”. Usually after a typical Q&A secession I feel most people have a little bit better understanding of firearms in general and I hope I haven’t totally made myself out to be that zombie apocalypse guy.

We all have different areas of work and play were we are ” that guy or gal”. Some days I wish I was “the computer IT guy” so I could figure out computer related matters without Google. Ya that’s not going to happen any time soon, maybe I could ask some one here? I think I saw someone wearing a pocket protector for their pens.

Sure I am. I’m the one who did all the research and wrote a book on kids and gun safety right! who could this man or woman be that is cutting my grass and giving a talk to my fellow piers? Then my friends it hits me…..

I or maybe I should say “we” are the part of the problem in the firearms community. We are one of the most passionately opinionated groups known to man. We stubbornly believe our way is it, and the other guy is wrong. Come on admit it,we have opinions on everything gun related. Some believe the Weaver stance is old school and no good, others will argue this gun or that round is superior and we seem to forget that almost 99% of us got into this passion through some sort of mentor.

A large number of us were introduced to a firearm by a family member of friend of the family, others through local organisations like Boys Scouts or Cadets. To most, firearms have given and will continue to give wonderful years of hunting or sport shooting, yet somewhere along the line we as a group started to become more private and close our “doors” to the outside world. Some blame the anti gun community and their lack of understanding towards firearms, others blame the growth in our communities that has forced local gun ranges to close and limit the access to a safe environment for new shooters to learn.

We have to put our gun related opinions aside for the moment, and open up to helping young or old new shooters into our community or we face more a steeper up hill battle.

As for the person giving the talk on kids and guns at the seminar, I will just bite my tongue sit on my hands and try to learn something new….

Stay Safe.

It was then my friend gave me the “snap out of it look” and asked again: what do you think of this toy gun, I’m buying it for myself. Oh sorry, its for you not one of your kids.

I suspect half the battle parents have deciding if toy guns are good or bad is their own experience as kids. Back then we climbed trees, played with pocket knifes, and were told to get lost and stay out of the house until dinner or darkness; whichever came first. We played with BB guns, shot tin cans and generally turned out OK. I have yet to meet a parent from my age group that didn’t throw a water balloon, light a fire cracker break a Coke bottle or did something that as a kid today would most likely land you in big trouble or in the spiraling world of political correctness in jail.

Toy guns teach kids to point a firearm real or not at some one, so why not use this time to teach them about safety do’s and dont’s and how to stay safe. Really aren’t we as adults the ones buying these toys?

Oh and don’t forget to ground them if they point it at the dog.