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In the milieu from which I hail -- conservative, small town in Missouri -- gun safety was taken very seriously and you would have been thought of as a dumb redn

In the milieu from which I hail -- conservative, small town in Missouri -- gun safety was taken very seriously and you would have been thought of as a dumb redneck if you didn't get it. Always treat the gun as loaded, never point it at anything you don't wish to kill, never rely on the safety, keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to fire, etc, etc. These were drilled into my head as a child, along with never, ever, under any circumstances should you be anywhere near the gun safe without an adult present. Also, anecdotally, I once went to the range with someone who didn't grow up around these rules, who carelessly drew his weapon across the body of someone at an adjacent stall and was immediately and forcefully reprimanded and humiliated (deservedly) by one of the attendants. People do take this stuff seriously.

Merad 4y ago
IME at least people who are really into guns are also very serious about gun safety. The problems mostly tend to come from those guys who bought an AR or pistol because it seemed cool who only take their guns out of the case once or twice a year. Unfortunately in a country the size of the US there are a lot of people in the latter group. WRT to training, I'm of the opinion that if we as a country are going to maintain a relatively unrestricted right to bear arms (which I'm in favor of), the responsible course of action is to have broad gun safety training. Personally I'd make it part of the high school curriculum, just like english or algebra. That's where I start to hear objections from conservatives - they're totally in favor of people seeking training, after all those people probably already have an interest in guns and they're most likely seeking training from a pro-gun source, but they're concerned about broader required training being hijacked by anti-gun groups. And they probably aren't wrong, but I don't think we should ignore addressing the problem just because some people would abuse the solution.
zach_garwood 4y ago
Also from small town Missouri here. You're description is certainly accurate for people going to a range, but I've seen (and participated in) impromptu shooting ranges in someone's back acre, and most people I've observed had no idea how guns work outside of movies and are perfectly willing to handle a firearm while drinking alcohol. _Some_ people do take this stuff seriously. But I think they're in the minority.

Merad 4y ago

IME at least people who are really into guns are also very serious about gun safety. The problems mostly tend to come from those guys who bought an AR or pistol because it seemed cool who only take their guns out of the case once or twice a year. Unfortunately in a country the size of the US there are a lot of people in the latter group. WRT to training, I'm of the opinion that if we as a country are going to maintain a relatively unrestricted right to bear arms (which I'm in favor of), the responsible course of action is to have broad gun safety training. Personally I'd make it part of the high school curriculum, just like english or algebra. That's where I start to hear objections from conservatives - they're totally in favor of people seeking training, after all those people probably already have an interest in guns and they're most likely seeking training from a pro-gun source, but they're concerned about broader required training being hijacked by anti-gun groups. And they probably aren't wrong, but I don't think we should ignore addressing the problem just because some people would abuse the solution.

zach_garwood 4y ago

Also from small town Missouri here. You're description is certainly accurate for people going to a range, but I've seen (and participated in) impromptu shooting ranges in someone's back acre, and most people I've observed had no idea how guns work outside of movies and are perfectly willing to handle a firearm while drinking alcohol. _Some_ people do take this stuff seriously. But I think they're in the minority.