Firearms in the family: The role guns play in American lives

Times Herald ^ | 12-28-13 | BIANCA PRIETO

[smokingfrog]

A high schooler in Colorado hunts for food, carrying on a family tradition. A father devotes his life to sparing others from his son’s fate. An elementary school student in Michigan takes careful aim, making his mother proud. A mother in California grieves a son gunned down.

These are the stories of young people across America whose lives have been shaped, for better or worse, by guns.

A great rift divides Americans over gun laws, ownership and restrictions. A year ago 20 elementary students and six adults were killed during a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., sparking a national debate about gun laws and mental health.

In the days after the shooting, public support for stricter gun control was at 58 percent, according to a Gallup poll. But nearly a year later, fewer than half of all Americans believed that gun laws need to be tightened, the same poll showed. And only 26 percent of respondents believed private handgun ownership should be banned — a record low.

In advance of the Sandy Hook shooting anniversary, Digital First Media spent several months this year traveling the country from Michigan to California to Colorado, meeting families and learning what role firearms play in the lives of their children.

Each family agreed that responsible gun ownership was imperative, but definitions of “responsible” varied widely.

[TexasBarak]

Good going! I’ve taught my kid (who is 12) to check the load state of any firearm she picks up, even if she just saw someone do so- and that if anyone objects to this, they are *wrong*.

[Georgia Girl 2]

You hit that one right on the head. There is a reason that revolution has now become acceptable cocktail conversation.

[OldMissileer]

She will clear the gun, even though she saw it empty when I had it in my hands.

I taught this to my wife and two children.

My Father, older brothers and sister all impressed on me that immediately clearing a gun after accepting it from another, even after that person just cleared it, was not a sign of disrespect but one of courtesy and safety.

When I hand over a gun to someone I clear that gun and I then make them clear it if they do not do so immediately upon receipt.

[Red in Blue PA]

Aussies used to be a strong and proud people. Now they are wimps, and that is being kind.

[Arrowhead1952]

I learned that from the LTC who was in charge of our NG unit’s pistol team. He insisted on every shooter clearing each weapon when they touched it after getting it from another shooter.

[KeyLargo]

George Zimmerman Gets His Paint On

By Tim McNabb on December 30, 2013

"Color me flabbergasted. George Zimmerman, a man who’s been brutalized by the media, the justice system and his own post-acquittal misjudgments seems to have done a remarkable thing. Rather than demand to see life’s manager or hire engineers to develop a combustible lemon to burn down the house that is his life, he’s taken to the solace of art . . .

As a guy who likes to write and has endured a certain amount of grief (mostly self-imposed) I can appreciate a guy who does something positive despite the heaping pile of rotting lemons that have been handed to him.

Moreover, the painting sold on Ebay for over $100,000.00. With 96 bids, that means a lot of people out there were willing to lay out some serious scrilla for a painting that could probably be had for about ten bucks on sale at Hobby Lobby. While I’m sure the notoriety of the painter had something to do with it, I have to think that a good portion of that figure was a citizen extending some love to a benighted man.

That makes me feel pretty damn good about the people of the gun."

Via: http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/12/tim-mcnabb/george-zimmerman-gets-paint/#more-283521