Farm use gives different scope to guns issue
Ownership and the use of guns has become an issue that won’t go away.
There are those who believe if guns were banned, murders, holdups and other criminal use of firearms would cease. If only it were that simple.
I was born on a farm, the son of a man who had earned a marksmanship medal in the First World War. He taught his three sons that a rifle was a tool like a hoe or a bucksaw.
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It was to be used properly, to reduce the population of pests like gophers and crows and to shoot game meat for the table.
We also shot small fur-bearing animals for the fur they were bearing.
If there was to be a butchering, one of us would be designated to shoot the pig or steer that would provide meat for winter.
I spent one school term working for my uncle as a butcher’s helper.
Now we have had two generations of people who have had no exposure to animal agriculture or to game hunting for food.
These generations have had considerable exposure to Peter Rabbit, Jimmy Skunk, Winnie the Pooh and the other cute and cuddlies.
Naturally they are revolted by the sort of lifestyle I’ve just described.
As for game hunting, what is this urge to go out in the cold and wet and bring down a deer or moose?
If you want to know how primeval an instinct this is, try this experiment:
Get some fresh partridge or other wild bird meat and put it in a dish. Place it in front of your sleepy, well fed, long-domesticated house cat and see what happens.
It will startle you.
