My father has been an IMPD officer for 8 years and he was a Marine for 11 years before that. He had to learn to do many tasks in order to accomplish this, including how to use a gun. When my sisters and I were younger my dad showed us his guns, where they were (in the safe) and how they worked. He wanted us to be aware of them and to never be afraid of them. If we wanted to see them or shoot them all we had to do was ask.

Many people are against guns and fear them because of what they CAN do. I on the other hand am not scared or afraid because I grew up knowing and learning about guns. Guns don’t need to be feared. If everyone knew the mechanics of a gun and how to use and not use a gun, they wouldn’t be feared. I believe that everyone should be taught the different parts of a gun, how to use a gun and the rules and restrictions of guns.

I may believe this because growing up with guns has made my perception of them different. Many people are scared of them and believe that they are the cause of death and destruction. I believe that guns are just like anything else, they have the potential to be dangerous if wielded incorrectly.

To me, it is the person behind the gun, not the gun itself, that causes of death and destruction. A person wields a gun the same way they wield a pencil. Both can cause damage (one more than the other), but it’s the person wielding the object that causes the damage. A gun doesn’t kill anyone as much a pencil doesn’t write on its own.

In 2018, there have been 1,205 reported unintentional shootings and 2,094 teens (12-17) killed or injured from gun violence, according to Gun Violence Archive.

A lot of these deaths can be attributed to a lack of knowledge about guns. People should know how to use a gun in order to understand it and not be afraid of it. For people that have no idea what could happen when using a gun, knowing how to use a gun could be a good thing.

If everybody knows how to operate a gun, such as knowing that in a handgun the magazine is where the bullets are and the safety makes sure the gun doesn’t go off accidentally. But, it is important to remember that once the trigger is pulled, the bullet travels through the muzzle and into whatever it is aimed at. By knowing how to handle a gun people can be safer.