Today, I went to the "Blocks". The "Blocks" is a place in my town where the local boys go to shoot. You either have to know someone or be known to be able to go out there and not get your ass shot. It is a powerline-right-of-way cut through the middle of the woods that can only be accessed by quads and 4WD's.
THere are always people shooting out there, but it is pretty much leverguns and shotties. The occasionial turnbolt. The closest thing these bubas (my friends) have to AW's is the rare SKS that pops up. Whenever I go out there, I usually draw a pretty healthy crowd of camo-wearing 20 year olds who come to see me (and shoot themselves) shoot my AW's.
So I was out there, and these 3 young kids, about 17, 11, and 5, come pulling up to where I was shooting. They all had H&R single 12's, and a Ruger MK2 pistol. Now before any of you react in horor that they were young, and had a handgun, please let it be known that guns are a way of life out there. People entertain and feed themselves with them.]
So I let them shoot my pet AK, and my Taurus 608. I must say that I was a bit hrrified to discover that they had the poorest gun handling skills of any humans I have ever sen. Don't get me wrong. They for damn sure could shoot. They were just unsafe as hell. The middle one kept swinging the muzzle past us with his finger on the trigger. The oldest had a habbit of pointing the loaded gun right in front of him at the ground (finger on the trigger)
Now, had they just been some kids who pulled up, and asked to shoot, it wouldn't have suprised me a bit. But they had guns of thier own. I expected at least a rudimentery level of safety awareness. Those boys are a tragedy waiting to happen. It pisses me off to no end that thier parents are so damn irresponsible that they would turn these kids loose with loaded hardware, but neglect to show them how to safely handle them.
It was a joke. I was tempted to follow them home, and yell at thier dad, but out at the blocks, that would mean a gunfight, which I don't really feel like ever getting into unless I absolutley have to. I just hope I don't read about that unusually happy 5 year old boy getting harmed or kuilled in a gun accident.