To me, receiving the gun was no different from receiving a softball glove and bat - I thought of shooting as just another sport I could play. The gun lived unloaded in cupboard full of tennis rackets and roller skates. Being a responsible parent, Dad sent me for shooting lessons with an ex-Marine at an expensive summer camp. When he was not looking, we kids would string up some unsuspecting frog by its hind legs and fire away. We also took great delight in loading ants into the bullet chamber of the single-shot rifles, popping in a bullet and watching the curl of smoke that used to be an insect.
Kids are like that, of course.
I know with a string of target shooting awards from the National Rifle Association, a group better known for its well organised intolerance to any law that restricts gun ownership. Unfortunately, as yesterday's shooting illustrates, some kids go tragically further. And it seems that the last people to realise which children are suspect are their parents. He is not a member of the NRA and he understands the need for waiting periods and background checks. He is a reasonable man and by any standard a good parent.