D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
April
2008
Where Do You Stand?
Would you let your child learn to shoot a gun even if you hate guns? How about hunting or trapping? Take Larry's quiz.
Starting in the beginning of last November and going through mid-January of this year, I was "down in the back" — literally. At one point in my period of back-pain agony, I slept on the living room floor with Dawg at my side; I suppose that he wanted to comfort me and give me moral support.
That entire affair put me down on the rug mentally, too, since I was missing one of the best quail seasons in a decade, a terrific predator season and some eastern New Mexico duck and feral pig hunting. But those are other rabbits to chase and I know many of you readers would just as soon not hear of such truck!
Which brings me to what I really wanna talk about: During this abysmal period of time I had a heck of a lot of time to watch the NFL Network, Outdoors Channel, ESPN, Discovery and local TV channels. On one occasion I even turned on "The View," a program where five ladies tell the audience all about what they think on various topics.
This particular day the women were verbalizing about whether they would allow their hypothetical young son to wear a dress or forbid him to do so. Say what? Unfortunately (in my opinion), four of the five (God bless Elizabeth Hasselbeck!) said that they would allow the boy to do so, saying they were basing their answer on the "need" of the child to have free expression and explore who he was. Say what?
Now, as you can imagine, this old country boy was beside hisself and badly wanting to call and ask: number one, about a daughter doing that with boys' clothing, and, number two, would these same mostly liberal-leaning women allow their son or daughter the opportunity to explore playing with a toy gun?
I mean, c'mon, where is the equal and opposing point of view here?
So here comes the fun part. I wanna hear from you readers about what you think about the following questions. Based on free expression and exploration of children's tiny selves. . .
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- Would you allow your son or daughter (age 3-10) to play "cowboys and Indians"?
- Would you allow him/her to play with toy guns and bow-and-arrow sets?
- When the son/daughter reached the pre-teen years, would you allow your offspring to pursue real shooting sports — such as the local 4H teams, sponsored by the High Desert Sportsmen club — using real air rifles and .22 rimfire rifles?
- Would you allow your child to take an approved hunter safety education program, if he or she were interested?
- If your son or daughter passed such a course, would you allow said offspring to own a gun and use it for hunting or shooting under adult supervision?
- If your appropriately aged son or daughter passed the course, would you allow him/her to go hunting, if he/she had a strong desire to do so, even though you may be totally against the proposition?
- Would you allow another hunter-adult to take your child if you didn't want to go?
- Even though you might disagree, would you heartily support your child's efforts to hunt and shoot, or would you allow such activities, but stay "hands-off"?
- If your child showed strong interest in pursuing trapping, would you allow and support his/her interests or forbid them?
I find it interesting that so many folks consider themselves to be open-minded and "enlightened" when it comes to social issues, politics and religion — but are they really, when the rubber hits the road? Are they truly liberal or even progressive when it comes to others expressing themselves? So I challenge you to review where you really stand when it comes to disagreeing attitudes and actions.
You can send your answers and comments to letters@desertexposure.com, mail them to PO Box 191, Silver City, NM 88062, or fax to 534-4134. Or you can fill out and submit the reponse form beside the questions without leaving the comfort of your browser. Besides sharing all your feedback with yours truly, the editor of this fine publication promises to print the most interesting, thoughtful and provocative responses in an upcoming issue.
About 10 years ago I had a customer who by her own admission was against guns and shooting, period! A couple of months later, I happened to be doing a story on the 4H shooting programs in Grant County, and was out at the public range. Imagine my surprise to see her there in the stands!
Well, I was quite taken aback, to say the least, and so went to say hi and ask what in the world she was doing there.
With her usually gracious smile, she told me that both of her sons had expressed a strong interest in shooting, and so, she had consented to allow them to join the program. But she went a step further and decided to support them by coming to every practice and formal event and cheering them on.
The boys became very good at the events and placed well in competitions. The woman supported their interests for many years while they were in the programs. I strongly suspect that they did well because of her cheering them on.
My admiration and respect grew and grew for the lady. In my opinion she displayed real class and embodied what this article is talking about. She indeed was a true liberal and progressive!
So how about it? Will I hear from you on the subject? I'm eager to know your thoughts.
As always, keep the sun forever at your back, the wind forever in your face, and may the Forever God bless you, too.