Reported Post by The Defender

Elwood · Oct 2, 2008

The Defender has reported a post.

Reason:

Thread about Storm's personal information?
Click to expand...

Post: Dallas Man: "Buying my five year old her first gun"
Forum: The Red Room
Assigned Moderators: N/A

Posted by: Poodle
Original Content:

My little girl is growing up. That very special change is coming in her life. She is about to blossom into a new stage of maturity. As a father, I have to face facts.
She's 5 now; it's time to buy her first gun.
I actually picked out her first rifle back when she was just 3. It's a Remington .22-caliber rifle, just like I had when I was her age.
Except hers is pink. And it has a Hello Kitty emblem inked on its pink butt. (Just like her mom.)
That one awaits her being an age when she can handle it. I'm thinking 8, like I was.
No, her "first gun" that she'll get to keep will be a plastic BB-firing Airsoft replica of a hand gun. Preferably an H&K replica, because when she's old enough, that's probably what she'll find in all the little fast-access gun safes that may be stashed around the house. Near all points of entry and common seating areas. (You never know if a burglar will clear the string of Claymore mines out front.)
My daughter will be responsible for storing it, cleaning it and practicing the very serious rules of gun discipline I keep in the house. Which, OK, I didn't come up with, but I've lived with – like a good monk does his vows – for 30-plus years now.
Every gun is loaded. Never point at what you don't want to destroy. Finger off the trigger. There is no such thing as a safety. Check any weapon you're handed.
Her first training in this kind of responsibility actually started when she turned 4. You see, I keep all the various guns in the house – pistols, rifles, shotguns, carbines, muzzleloaders, recoilless – in either a full-size floor safe or the aforementioned fast-access safes.
But in my office, I've left something on one of the bookshelves within her reach. It's a resin movie prop gun from my favorite cult sci-fi show, Firefly. Any educated adult can tell it's not real, but to a child (or TV reporter) it looks functional and deadly.
I've drilled it into my daughter that she is never, ever to touch it. And then I do the old James Bond trick with a hair and spit.
The hair is still there.
With the Airsoft, she'll learn about breathing, aiming and point break. She'll learn a tool is not a talisman. Most important, she'll learn the rules and respect. You see, I understand that when she's older, she may rebel. She may not be a fan of the ballistic arts.
But the reality is that whatever her interest, guns will be around her. Never mind our house. There's a six in 10 chance any household she visits will have a gun in it, almost anywhere in the country.
If she grew up ignorant about guns or worse, in awe of them like they were some forbidden fruit, the world would be a much more dangerous place for her. I think it's better she not only understand that they are just tools, but that she's trained to disarm a curious kid playing with a found one. And then even fieldstrip it on the spot, rendering it safe until an adult can be found.
In no other area of life does ignorance bestow safety. Why should this be any different?
It's hard being a father. I face even more challenges in her coming teen years. Her first car. Her first date. Her first heartbreak. But I do have one challenge licked. The one about her Sweet 16 party.
I know where to buy pink fittings for the Colt AR-15 she's going to get.
Trey Garrison is a freelance writer and contributing editor for D Magazine. He can be reached through treygarrison.com.
Click to expand...

My dad gave me my first .22 when I was seven or eight, and we'd been shooting since I was five. By the time I was ten, he was giving me a lot of his old guns - '03A3 springfield, etc. Despite what a lot of you think around here, I have a very healthy respect of guns because it was drilled into me. When I was young, there were actually several times when I prevented tragedy at friend's houses by knowing how to handle a weapon safely. When we lived in Columbia, for example, our neighbor was a deputy. I was five, and friends with his kid. Well, my friend once found and brought out his dad's backup revolver and was pointing it at other children. I made him give it to me, and I took the bullets out of it. I was five, and I acted more rationally than a lot of the liberals here. There were other examples as well.

Regardless, I'm a firm believer that familiarity and training go a long way in ensuring safety with firearms.

Mostly though, this article is to get positives from my gun loving buddies here. You know who you are, and no, I'm not gonna point you out - it may be loaded!
Click to expand...

Elwood · Oct 2, 2008

Reported Post

Aurora has also reported this post.

Reason:

This is Storm's RL data! Kill it! (and no, I don't think Poodle knew)
Click to expand...

Tamar Garish · Oct 2, 2008

I Recycle Binned the thread....but I really wish Nick and Aurora hadn't made it so publically obvious the article was by a WFer.

Know one would have known for sure if it were not for ex-staff being so obvious about it.

Tamar Garish · Oct 2, 2008

I also PM'd Poodle and asked him not to repost it.

The Exception · Oct 2, 2008

Tamar Garish said: ↑

I Recycle Binned the thread....but I really wish Nick and Aurora hadn't made it so publically obvious the article was by a WFer.

Know one would have known for sure if it were not for ex-staff being so obvious about it.
Click to expand...

No, the link to TreyGarrison.com, where it has Storm's picture that he used as an avatar, and Volpone saying "Storm's real name is Trey?" didn't have anything to do with it at all. Not a thing.

Order2Chaos · Oct 2, 2008

If Poodle didn't know, then I don't see why it should be recycle binned.

Order2Chaos · Oct 2, 2008

Uh oh... http://www.wordforge.net/showthread.php?t=66559

Bailey · Oct 2, 2008

http://www.wordforge.net/showpost.php?p=1693310&postcount=14

Storm said:

It's okay.

I have it on good authority the writer's name is not his legal name, so he maintains a certain removal and operational security.

Poodle was innocent.
Click to expand...

With that being the case there is nothing in the rules that I can see to justify keeping editing links to his site out, especially since the Gray Room is filled with threads tracking what members are up to on other sites.

Elwood · Oct 2, 2008

That just says that there was no malicious intent. However, inadvertent release doesn't mean that it's perfectly okay.

It took me a moment to figure out what was going on. All of a sudden, I came out of my dungeon in cell phone hell and my phone almost melted from text messages, e-mails, and voicemails. Not to mention the hordes of PMs.

If it pops up, please continue to edit the material out.

Kyle · Oct 2, 2008

Why the hell isn't it perfectly OK? This was published (online or off, it's still an article), with a link to his web site where he freely and intentionally put up his own damn picture.

Frankly, I already found the rationale behind protecting K1A from himself to be absurd, but this is just crazy. He made himself public intentionally. And there are both good and bad consequences to that.

Tamar Garish · Oct 3, 2008

The same is true for LJ or any of the other "personal information" I've found over the years.

There is always a double standard about these things depending on how people feel about the person "exposed".

Log in or Sign up

Reported Post by The Defender

Elwood I know what I'm about, son.

Elwood I know what I'm about, son.

Tamar Garish Wanna Snuggle? Deceased Member

Tamar Garish Wanna Snuggle? Deceased Member

The Exception The One Who Will Be Administrator Super Moderator

Order2Chaos Ultimate... Immortal Administrator

Order2Chaos Ultimate... Immortal Administrator

Bailey It's always Christmas Eve Super Moderator

Elwood I know what I'm about, son.

Kyle You will regret this!

Tamar Garish Wanna Snuggle? Deceased Member

Log in or Sign up

Reported Post by The Defender

Elwood I know what I'm about, son.

Elwood I know what I'm about, son.

Tamar Garish Wanna Snuggle? Deceased Member

Tamar Garish Wanna Snuggle? Deceased Member

The Exception The One Who Will Be Administrator Super Moderator

Order2Chaos Ultimate... Immortal Administrator

Order2Chaos Ultimate... Immortal Administrator

Bailey It's always Christmas Eve Super Moderator

Elwood I know what I'm about, son.

Kyle You will regret this!

Tamar Garish Wanna Snuggle? Deceased Member

Useful Searches