I learned at a very young age. I started shooting at around 7 or 8 years old. I'm a total nazi when it comes to gun safety. I really lay down the law when i bring people to the range with me just like my father did when i was young. He is a retired Drill Instructor during Vietnam... you can imagine he taught me gun safety... :)
And do you think a govmint instructor will do likewise? Like your father did, like my father and grandfather did, and like I'm doing, it's up to parents to teach their children some things, and gun safety is one of those things.
I'm with you there, my friend. I grew up around guns, and assumed everyone else had also. I used to show people my guns, and assume that they would treat them as loaded, even though I knew they weren't (didn't want to insult anyone). I quickly realized that most people are clueless about guns, even a lot of guys who grew up in the country.
I reminded my kids of the three basic rules of gun safety EVERY time I took them shooting (there are more, I know, but these are the most important, IMHO):
1) Always treat every gun as if it's loaded
2) Finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot
3) Always make sure of your target and the backstop.
On a final note, I look like an idiot sometimes, going around exercising good trigger discipline on my cordless drill, but I know I'll never drill anything until I'm ready. :-)