My son, Andrew, and I had a chance to spend the whole day together last
Sunday as Mom and baby brother were out of town. We started by running errands
and paying bills for a while and then touring the local gun shops to window shop
and pick up some extra ammunition. He did a great job of following instructions
and staying safe. He even reminded me that he'd been paying attention to Eddie
Eagle [http://www.nrahq.org/safety/eddie/index.shtml]
by saying "Daddy, I don't touch guns unless you're with me."
We also went through one toy store where a ten year old was running about the
store pointing a toy gun at everybody in the store and pulling the trigger.
Andrew - with wisdom that I'd thought was beyond his three years of age - told
him "You shouldn't point guns at people." Did I ever smile inside.
It's amazing what sinks in, and when you find out it did.
I asked him if he wanted to go shooting with me after dinner and his eyes lit
up. We had been on opposite schedules for a while with me working too many hours
and the new baby taking the rest. So, after green chili enchilada plates, we
grabbed the old Springfield .22 caliber single shot rifle that I had learned to
shoot with and went up the road to practice.
It was a blast to see his eyes light up when he pulled the trigger and
realized what was happening as the bullet made puffs of dust on the berm. We
even hit some of the cans left behind by previous plinkers. We're working on
muzzle coverage and finger/trigger control, but three year olds have a ton of
energy to learn with. We are already about halfway through Jeff Cooper's Four
Rules of Gun Safety [http://www.recguns.com/XIIIA4.html].
He did his best to mimic every move or action I made including trying to pull
back the hammer when I already had. We've both got a lot to learn.
Our shooting outing got cut a bit shorter than I'd have liked though as the
next car onto the range was driven by a guy trying to down his large Foster's
Lager can in time to use it for a Tec-9 target. Prudence dictated that we had
picked up enough trash and spent brass.
On the way home, Andrew said he wanted to go shooting again soon. I told him
I am not working next weekend, how about then?
Gun safety starts at home.
