[masraum]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

"A teacher?" Just who might be teaching kids in a somewhat remote wilderness-ish locale like Bella Coola? What are the chances that this teacher (or these teachers) are avid outdoorsmen (or women), hunters, and very skilled with firearms? We have no idea. Teachers have lives outside of the classroom.

Right, no reason to assume that teachers are NOT hunters. I saw something online the other day that said that Wisconsin has something like 600k hunting licenses each year. Texas is 1.1million licenses each year. Hell, even Rhode Island has over 8000 paid hunting licenses. Presumably, folks in Canada hunt too.

Kids' only aversion to firearms or being around firearms is learned from adults who themselves have some kind of an aversion. Kids who grow up around them have absolutely no qualms about being around them. My family is a great example of that. For generations now, we have all been exposed to firearms from a very young age. I had my first "real" gun at twelve years old (and an air rifle at eight), and God only knows how young my father did before me. My own sons each received .22 rifles on their sixth birthdays. My six year old grand daughter already has hers, and my four year old will have hers in two years.

Parents who shield their kids from firearms do them a huge disservice. They instill in them this "forbidden fruit" syndrome. No good ever comes from that. Far better is a familiarity, satisfying their natural curiosity, and instilling in them a healthy respect for what they can do. Especially if the parents have chosen to live in a wilderness setting such as Bella Coola, knowing that they are absolutely in "bear country". They are living in their (the bears) house, under their rules.

My grandsons have watched and played video games that have "Army" guys running around shooting things (I'm not sure what games). They have toy guns, swords, battle axes, etc... and play various "army" type imaginary games.

Their dad has guns, although I'm not sure how much the boys are exposed to them.

I have guns and have shown them one. I have also taught them various rules surrounding guns. I have exposed them to archery and they have a BB gun that they shoot (under supervision). They know the "rules" of guns and can recite them. I think I could leave my guns laying around and they wouldn't touch them, but I would never do that. When the boys are around my guns are on me or locked up, because there's no way that I'm trusting small kid temptation to small kid will power in something this important.