Learning gun safety from a young age is one of the best ways to gain discipline, confidence, and respect. When I was about eight years old, my father began my shooting education. I thought we were just having fun and shooting guns, but what followed has been a lifelong journey towards the aforementioned character traits; discipline, confidence, and respect.
My father was focused on firearm safety. That first rifle at eight years old was a Red Ryder BB gun. We set up a shooting range in the basement, and with that BB gun, he taught me proper safety practices and shooting techniques. Eventually, we went to the local gun range and I learned to shoot a single-shot bolt-action .22 rifle, and then a few years later a 10/22 semi-automatic .22 rifle. As a young boy I thought of each rifle as “super cool,” but now I realize that with each rifle came more risk and more danger. I had no idea what he was doing, but my dad would not let me move forward in my shooting experience until I displayed confidence, know-how, and above all, safety with each successive rifle.
By the time I was shooting 12 gauge shotguns and .45 caliber rifles and pistols, my father’s slow introduction and firearms education had produced a deep respect for the dangers of guns and a deeper passion for firearm safety. I was confident handling these guns, and that confidence and passion for safety combined to produce discipline. And what started as discipline when handling guns, transferred to discipline in other dangerous, high-risk, or contentious scenarios. I knew what I should and should not do when cleaning a rifle, for example, and had the confidence and discipline to act accordingly. So when my high school friends were all swinging on a rope-swing, cliff jumping, or riding dirt bikes, I could identify potential dangers and their associated risk, evaluate my own abilities and how they affected that risk, and then have the confidence and self-assurance to either participate safely or not participate at all.
My father began by teaching me gun safety. But the education extended far beyond a safety talk. What he eventually and actually taught definitely keeps me safe as a shooter, but it extends beyond shooting sports and into my character and identity as an adult. His lessons built discipline with my actions, confidence in my abilities, and respect for powerful situations.
Berkeley is a shooting instructor in Jackson Hole, WY.
