Guns haven’t held a large position in my life, but there are some hunting memories I cherish.
On Thanksgiving Day when I was eleven, my dad gave me a Mossberg .410. We hunted the next day and I shot my first quail.
My quail hunting memories are more with friends and my sister’s husband.
Her first husband Jerry Wilkinson from Madison was the quickest and bestest shot ever. So quick he’d occasionally say “Okay, I’ll let shoot first.”
One memory with my dad wasn’t much fun, we went to work on his oil rig near Lamont on a sunny Saturday morning. I took my shotgun hoping to hunt a little. When we arrived you could hear a covey of Bob Whites sunning themselves near a grove of trees so Dad said “GO.” So I moved closer. There were about a dozen birds eating away.
Next, I made one of the worst decisions of my life as I started crawling in order to get closer to a potshot into the covey hoping to kill several. It didn’t work as all I did was send the quail flying away unharmed, but there was another problem.
You see my father had followed me on my quest and he observed my ill-advised activity. The rest of my day was very long.
Fast forward about 15 years on a September first when I called my friend John Patton and suggested we play tennis after work. He replied that it was the opening day of dove season but did I want to join his group? After some thought, I said, “why not?”
We hunted west of Olpe in groves of trees. Saw lots of doves but I could not hit even one of those little suckers. 0 for Monday!! I still had fun and it now makes a great yarn.
That brings me to today. Guns are good and even bad shots like me can have fun. What’s disturbing for many of us is the misuse of guns in our country that go unchecked. I’m of course referencing all these crazy mass shootings especially the ones using assault rifles.
Last week’s Lewiston, Maine shooting that included the killing of a grandfather and grandson who were attending “Family Bowling Night” could have been avoided.
Had universal background checks been in force it’s likely the shooter who had recently been an inpatient in a mental health facility would have been refused when he purchased the AR-15 assault rifle he used. Having a ban on such weapons could have prevented the tragedy too.
I’m not suggesting banning most guns or even registering them – let’s just adopt a national background-checking system when selling guns. It just makes sense and it’s well past due!
I’m Steve Sauder and there’s something to think about.
