When I turned ten I got a 22 rifle for Christmas, at twelve a 16 gauge shotgun. These were the most meaningful gifts I received as a young man. They meant the world to me. My father, a pastor by vocation, was also a hunter to put food on the table for a large and hungry family. A part of growing up was owning and knowing how to use and hunt with a gun, target practice, and the expectation that this was an integral part of developing into manhood. It was also an unspoken rule that deadly force was one of the responsibilities of manhood, hopefully, to never be called for, but understood one’s need to accept the readiness of it. I still remember the first time I killed a small bird out of wanton ignorance of youthful bravado. It immediately shamed me, I’ve never done it since, and I’ve never gotten over it. Gun ownership and killing are a great loss for young men in America. It is one of the greatest introductions to responsible citizenship and cultural stability that we have laid aside to the detriment of our young men and our culture.
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| Our sons teaching our grandsons how to shoot. |
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