The RKBA group here at DKos has raised awareness of the issues related to constitutional, legal and human rights relating to gun ownership, but it's unimaginable to many with no experience with firearms that anyone would want to own one. This is a diary that explains some of the safety issues, and how millions of people for hundreds of years have owned guns and thought them indispensable.
RKBA is a DKos group of second amendment supporters who also have progressive and liberal values. We don't think that being a liberal means one has to be anti-gun. Some of us are extreme in our second amendment views (no licensing, no restrictions on small arms) and some of us are more moderate (licensing, restrictions on small arms.) Moderate or extreme, we hold one common belief: more gun control equals lost elections. We don't want a repeat of 1994. We are an inclusive group: if you see the Second Amendment as safeguarding our right to keep and bear arms individually, then come join us in our conversation. If you are against the right to keep and bear arms, come join our conversation. We look forward to seeing you, as long as you engage in a civil discussion. RKBA stands for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Inside DKos's RKBA group we discuss gun ownership, and why we seem to have embraced gun ownership, while many of the left has decided it's a right wing plot. And one thing that was said that resonates with me 'it's the difference between rural lefties and urban lefties'.
In almost all rural areas of the US, gun ownership is widespread and widely accepted. It might be for varmint control (which reminds me that possum in the garage is not long for this world), hunting, plinking for fun, or the fact that the police are 45 minutes away. The people in rural areas are exposed to guns early, sometimes surprisingly young, by loved and trusted relatives sometimes using methods that go back generations.
I'm going to relate the actual conditions in a rural setting I have first hand knowledge about. I married Carolyn 15 years ago, and with her came kinfolk way up the hollers in West Virginia, from the little place she was born and raised in.
One of those kinfolk is Jim who is 72 years old, and lives 300 yards from the place he was born. Jim is about a pure a specimen of an unreconstructed Roosevelt Democrat as you can find. He is because his daddy was, and that's very important to him, and this guy, who hasn't talked to half a dozen black men in his whole life, voted for Obama, because 'he's for the little man'. His father died in a coal mine in 1963.
Jim's brother Charles is 68 and lives in the house both he and Jim were born in, with some of his extended family. Charles is widely looked up to in the community, he is amazing to talk to and understands things far outside his little community to a far better degree than most there. He is warm and gentle, but is about 6'4" and his arms are the size of my thighs. When he can walk, he walks with a cane since he got a leg crushed in the same mine his father died in, 25 years later.
Sitting in Charles' house, the children come and go. As a sit there, Charles' 10 year old great grandson comes in and takes down a .270 Winchester rifle from it's place on the wall. Caleb has the right to use the rifle unsupervised. He's had 4 years of gun use, starting when he was 6, under the eye of adults at first using a .22 or .410 shotgun, and slowly over time little by little less supervision as long as safe handling and and good practice was observed. At 10 he had graduated, and as I watched he opened the bolt of the gun immediately to verify it had no bullet in the chamber, then leaving the bolt open and rendering the gun inoperable, took 4 shells out of the box underneath, and put them in his pocket. Bolt still open, he left the house. Even with an open bolt and the gun inoperable, at no time did the muzzle of this gun point at any living thing. Frankly I would happily go to the range with this kid any day, he is careful and thoughtful, something I can state I don't always see among adults in public ranges in my home. Caleb was hunting deer on the family land, and this day Bambi went home safe, and the .270 ended up back on the wall, carefully cleaned.
Caleb asked to shoot a 'real gun' at age six. The family's had a method for training members that's so old they've forgotten, but the 4 generations of the family I can talk to all do it, and I think going back 4 more isn't a stretch, so easy over a century. When Caleb asked he was told the following: 'you can shoot real guns, or play guns, but you can't do both'. Now I don't think kids who 'play guns' get confused and can't distinguish between fantasy and reality - so that isn't the point. The point is, the decision is the child's, and if he (or she, his sister hunts too) decides to take up real guns, the decision is his, he is empowered, and he looses something for it and because he sacrifices for it, this gives what he's undertaken real seriousness. At first he is allowed a single shot or bolt action .22 strictly under adult supervision. At age 7 he is allowed to come on hunts for small game. With good behavior, he is allowed at age 8 to target shoot at home, usually an adult keeping an eye on the proceedings. By age 9 he is allowed to hunt with a .410, and then at age 10, if the adults agree he's trustworthy, he is granted the right to a high power rifle or a suitable shotgun, usually a 20 gauge at this point. Hunting isn't done for sport, what you hunt is brought to the table. Where they live, I see 25 deer a mile on the back roads.
My point about this isn't to shock you with the young age of people allowed guns, it's to illustrate the most important thing about gun safety: safety is trained in. The history of this extended family going back generations, 100's of people, is that they've had more tragedy than most of any of us could bear. This is Appalachia, as hardscrable as it gets, and it's tough. But there has never been in the family a single accidental gun shooting, and even more amazing, no deliberate shooting either. They settle their differences with their fists, they don't pull out a gun, that's regarded as cowardice. A sweet leftover from an earlier age.
Before we go on to more safety, first a word from our spon... er...
Let me point out as we do in the intro on all these RKBA diaries, that we, meaning us Democrats, need to appeal to the widest possible base, especially in these days of the Teaparty narrowing the right wing's options. Charles and his family, despite having all the reasons in the world to be Democrats, are mostly Republicans and what keeps them in the Republican party is the constant refrain they get that the Democrats want to steal your guns. To Charles, guns are not a source of danger, he's been shooting since he was 7, and he's put a lot of meals on the table with guns. These are not sport hunters, they don't glorify guns, they have no gun agenda, they just have an important need to use guns, and when you tell them guns are dangerous, and need to be outlawed - well from his point of view you are from another planet. One of the ideas we are trying to get across to our fellow Kossacks is that gun control looses elections, and Charles and his family frame that debate for me.
OK, back to the subject...
Gun safety is first respect for the weapon. This respect with time becomes similar to defensive driving, it's just something you do because it's smart. I am always aware of a weapon's condition when I have it, and if something has distracted me and I've lost track, I stop for a second and verify the safety is on, there's a round in the chamber, the magazine is in, etc, about the same as a glance in your rear view mirror.
One thing that has to be thought about until it becomes habit (and still thought about) is where exactly the gun is pointing, and not only what you can see in that direction, but thinking about what you cannot see as well. So you never point the weapon at anything you wouldn't be willing to shoot. Any swelling or structure may contain people. If you are going to point the weapon up, of course being outside, make sure you point it not 20° above the horizon, but more than 45° up to straight up. The reason being by the time the bullet comes down, all the initial force propelling it will be spent, and the most bullets being light (way less than 1 oz) it will hit anything without much force. It's really better usually to point the muzzle at the ground.
Securing guns is in most areas now a requirement of law. Leaving a gun accessible with a trigger lock is not a good idea, although many guns these days have internal locks that are very good, still the best practice is keep guns locked up and out of sight. A gun safe is great, but make sure it's correctly installed, and usually bolted to the floor from inside the safe. If you have a closet with a sturdy door and you have older construction, a deadbolt might be all you need, two would be better. If you have new construction and your walls are drywall, a few pieces of thick plywood screwed into the wall studs inside the closet will enormously complicate anyone's plans for theft.
The most important security issue is of course children, and the dumbest thing you could do is make guns the Forbidden Object, and leave them no idea of what the dangers and the correct handling of a gun is. My daughter, mother of an 8 and 5 year old, has the following policy: Don't touch the guns, but you have the right if you are ever curious to ask mom or dad to see and handle them. They've been instructed at length about them, what's dangerous about handling them, never to point them, and never to touch them without mom or dad present. So along with safe storage, spend a few moments empowering your children - not to touch the guns. Your children may vary, but I think a kid should have the basics about gun safety if there's a gun in the house even if, as it should be, under lock and key.
The most important safety feature of any gun resides between your ears. Thoughtfulness is 99% of gun safety, don't rely on locks, safetys, 'empty guns' or please, don't 'hide' the guns.
I'll relate one other gun safety story I know of, one I'll add for balance in this diary.
I have a friend, an intelligent and sweet woman, who's husband passed away when she was 35. She had a 7 year old son. Her husband had a pistol, I believe a .32 automatic. Left with a pistol, and no clue what to do with it, she did manage to partially disassemble (field strip) the gun, and spread the pieces in hidden places all over the house. The bullets, in one place, the magazine in another, the slide, the frame, and the recoil spring, all in separate, very obscure places in the home.
It took her son 8 years to find all the pieces and figure out how to put them together. He shot himself accidentally, and died.
How to prevent this? First, if you have a gun, and don't want to know how to handle it safely, please give it away. If you keep one in your home, please go get some safety training, it doesn't take much time, it's not rocket science, but it will increase your gun safety and decrease unintentional accidents by an order of magnitude at least. Finally, make sure your children know safe gun handling. Not to indoctrinate love of guns as I am sure I will be accused of in the comments following this, but to make sure they have the information if ever they need it.