GUN EDUCATION FOR THE EARLY LEARNER

Gun education is lacking.

Skip this learning moment and there may not be another one.

Based on the number of school shootings, there’s a gap between gun ownership and using it, between walking the walk and talking the talk.

And don’t kid yourself, the gun talk is a tough one because the focus is on adults.

Adult gun talk starts with, “Why do you need so many guns?”

It’s a good question, but you’re off on the wrong foot. Asking “Why” creates an attitude.

Gun education comes from all sides, from politicians, to police, to the guy next door.

Let’s hear from another group.

Army veterans need to address gun issues with a gun talk. Where to begin?

Start with your life partner, wife, husband, the people in your house.

I’m an Army guy, so I’ll go first with my wife.

Let The Gun Education Begin

“Do we have guns?”

Because I don’t have a gun fetish it’s a fair question. We don’t live in an amateur armory.

“From standing here, we’re fifteen seconds from locked and loaded.”

That’s fifteen seconds between a perceived threat and an armed response.

“Really? One thousand one. One thousand two.”

“You’re going to count me off? Okay.”

2

After a quick dash to other rooms, a gun and ammunition appeared on the table.

“One thousand eighteen. Pretty fast. Is that gun loaded?”

This is a particularly loaded question. Trained gun people always know the answer no matter what.

“Yes.”

Any gun new to you should be considered loaded and treated like a loaded gun. In other words, don’t fuck around and find out.

“Did you check?”

“I don’t need to check. It’s loaded.”

“How do you know that gun is loaded?”

“Because every gun you see is loaded until you check to see if it’s unloaded. Open the action and stick a finger in there. Do a visual exam.”

“What do you feel for?”

“An empty chamber. Too many people get shot with unloaded weapons to do it any other way.”

“Where’d you learn this?”

“From my Dad, from Boy Scouts, hunter safety courses, the Army. It’s all the same message. Gun safety.”

Continuing Gun Education For The People

Older people, and baby boomers are older people, have a responsibility that comes with age.

It starts with showing what you’ve learned and passing it down. Call it continuing education without the college credits.

Older veterans have an even greater responsibility.

It starts with learning how to pass down what you’ve learned about guns when no one wants to hear about it.

In America we know all there is to know about guns. Just ask some jackass for a jackass answer like, “I’ve got a gun because no shit will go down on my watch.”

Expect to hear, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” or, “Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have guns.”

This isn’t an argument or discussion about guns and the 2nd Amendment, or impotent old guys who like the feel of cold hard steel in their hands to distract them from their impotence.

Ads about erectile dysfunction and enlarged prostates land in the sweet spot, and it’s not their holster.

Having a heater on hand makes up for the loss?

The Veteran Difference

Every veteran reading this, every veteran you read it to, send a link to, have all made it through school without getting killed in a classroom shooting.

Every kid in the images on this post deserve the same educational advantage.

Veterans can help.

It’s not about comparing guns and caliber. But it is asking veterans to stand up.

So talk to your wife. Let her know about guns in the house if you trust her.

Talk to your kids. Do they have guns? Do their roommates?

Veterans talking about gun safety holds more weight than your avid outdoorsman talking about his gun vault arsenal housed under a wall of elk head trophies.

The main difference is that every veteran’s gun education involved targeting ‘the enemy.’

It doesn’t matter who the enemy is with a veteran. They train on a human shaped target with head and shoulders, not a bulls eye target, a deer target, or a duck target.

From the beginning veterans learn how to zero in on the target, then they qualify by shooting a three bullet pattern the size of a quarter.

Pump three rounds into a human problem and it’s probably solved.

All veterans train with a gun; some take the training into the field and use it on human targets.

They call it war.

With the number of shootings and fatalities, shootings and injuries, shootings and destruction, you might call it war here. Why not draft veterans as the counter balance.

Talk the gun talk, veterans. Talk to your friends. You’ve already got the platform. Use it.

Start With The Basics

Two men were talking about guns in a group.

A few women listened until a third man decided to take the floor.

The first man was a career Army man with MP experience in Korea.

He was the authority.

The second man was me, an Army medic during a two year enlistment in Philadelphia.

The third man was a skinny old guy pumped up just listening until he decided to set everyone straight.

“I have an AR-15 for personal protection and hunting.”

He didn’t say his gun was a substitute for a limp dick and a clogged pisser.

“It’s my right to own a legal weapon.”

The MP took this argument and put it where it belongs.

“Nobody needs an AR-15 for personal protection or hunting. There are better alternatives.”

The weasely old guy wasn’t having it.

2

“I’m sick and tired of people like you telling me what my legal rights are. I have the right to own any gun I choose.”

“So you chose the gun used in school shootings? That’s a bad choice.”

“I don’t need your preaching to me.”

“Yes, you do. So does every other jack leg wannabe who thinks owning an AR-15 makes them special. They think gun ownership means they own people who support gun safety.”

“I support gun safety.”

“No you don’t, otherwise you wouldn’t own what you own. You are an irresponsible gun owner headed down a bad path.”

“What about you. You’re a gun owner?”

The former Military Police officer ended with:

“That’s what people like you fail to understand. The only person who needs to be concerned about guns in my house is the person who doesn’t belong there in the middle of the night after breaking in. If that’s you, then you’d have an answer. If that’s not you, then you don’t need an answer.”

“So you won’t answer?”

“I gave you an answer. Now it’s mind over matter.”

“How’s that?”

“You asked a question, I answered. But you don’t like the answer. I don’t mind because you don’t matter.”

“Hey, wait a minute there.”