Deborah Woehr

My husband bought a .45 and a .36 revolver shortly after we got married 15.5 years ago. Having guns in the house never bothered me because I grew up with one in the house. It’s a guy thing. He’s always kept the guns in a safe in his closet so the kids won’t get them.

I went shooting with him and his friend once, when we were first married. I made them very nervous when the paper came back with five bullet holes in the head. He got the safe shortly after that.

Last week he told me that one of the things he was going to do this holiday week was go shooting with his friend. No problem. Twenty minutes ago, he informed me that he’s going to take our oldest along. Semi-problem: I’m a mother and don’t relish the thought of my 12 year-old holding a gun, much less firing one. On the other hand, it’s good for him (and his brother) to be educated about firearms so they will respect them.

I received my own education when I was seven years old. My family and I lived on a steep hill, which caused our backyard to be split-level. My mother had planted a vegetable garden behind our sandbox. One day, my sister and I were playing and noticed that one of the carrots was jiggling.

We freaked and ran into the house, yelling to my mother. My father came rushing out to see what the racket was about, and we told him what we saw. He told us to stay in the dining room and that he would take care of it.

The house we lived in had a big bay window that overlooked the backyard. On a clear sunny day, you could see the Pacific Ocean from our dining room. This day was like that. We huddled together in the dining room as my father carried his rifle through the house and outside.

I’m surprised that my mother didn’t shoo us away. She continued to fold laundry while my sister and I watched my dad aim his rifle at the carrot. All of a sudden, the shot rang out and the rifle bucked in my dad’s arms. Then he bent over and scooped something out of the ground.

Moments later, he returned and held up a dead gopher for all of us to see. I’ve never forgotten about that. I don’t know about my siblings, but I never had a desire to touch that rifle. I’ve told my sons about the gopher several times. They laugh like it’s no big deal. That’s why it’s important for them to learn that shooting a gun is nothing like the video games make it out to be.