Wyoming babies are born with a gun in hand

Ok, we don't actually come out with a gun in our hand, but many Wyoming kids, still, grow up learning respect for and learning how to shoot guns as a normal way of life.

I haven't written a thread in a long time, and I came across this article in our local paper today. I decided that with the gun debate going on, this would be an excellent time to introduce a majority of y'all (no twang) to a way of life that I grew up in.

The article covers a wide array of how we think about guns. I'm just pulling some of the paragraphs out, in some kind of particular order, and adding my own thoughts. The article is quite a write-up, and encourage everyone to read it in it's entirety:

Guns: A way of life in Wyoming - Wyoming Tribune Eagle Online

One instructor, Sheri Olson, sits with Madison Merrell, 9, of Cheyenne.

“What are the three R’s?” Olson asks.

“Respect, restraint and responsibility,” the girl replies.

“And what does restraint mean?” Olson prods. “I think it may be really neat to shoot the light out, but is that something I should really do?”

“No!” comes the response.

And thus another generation of Wyomingites is inducted into the state’s gun culture, where guns aren’t weapons, they are a way of life.

And Old West tradition continues

~The tradition of teaching kids how to responsibly use a hole-punch! No, I'm not joking. A gun is made to put holes in things, and when a living thing has a hole in it, it dies... that is how you hunt. I'll get back to that.

According to FBI crime statistics, in 2010 there were only eight murders in the state, five of which were committed with guns. That works out to fewer than one gun murder per 100,000 people.

By comparison, in California, a state where only about 21 percent of households own guns, 1,257 people were murdered with firearms in 2010, a rate of 3.4 gun homicides per 100,000 people.

In other words, while Wyoming may have more guns per person than anywhere else, citizens aren’t using them on one another. Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak acknowledged that fact, pointing out that it may be due in part to Wyoming’s rural character and general lack of the large urban areas where poverty and guns frequently form a deadly mix.

~Yeah, they went there. They go there. The statistics are pretty amazing, though... right? I got done reading American Sniper not too long ago, and in the final pages Chris Kyle says this:

"I began teaching my son how to shoot when he was two, starting with the basics of a BB rifle. My theory is that kids get into trouble because of curiosity - if you don't satisfy it, you're asking for big problems. If you inform them and carefully instruct them on safety when they're young, you avoid alot of the trouble."

When I was a child, my mother took me out to the prairie with her .22 and shot a gopher. I cried. I was old enough to understand death.

“There’s a joke that when kids are born in Wyoming, they automatically come with a gun,” Wharff said. “I know several guys, they’ve bragged about their grandchild; they’re not even born yet, and they’ve already bought them a rifle or a handgun.”

But he said even just tagging along on a hunt can help children learn to respect the power of guns, and the difference between shooting a living thing and “shooting” something in a videogame.

“It makes a big difference when you’ve actually seen something die versus what you see on TV,” he said. “There’s consequence. There’s no reset on life, and I think you get that when your dad comes home and he’s got a dead animal and you see how it gets made into steaks or roasts and you end up eating that animal. I think the understanding is more in-depth than what kids in the city are exposed to.”

~Or, in my case (and many other kids I grew up with), you go out hunting with your parents. I saw where meat came from, and what guns do.

Nostalgia time: We'd have butcher parties where several people get together and process the meat. When I was old enough, I got to wrap and label. It is like Christmas or Thanksgiving, in a way. It's the finale to Hunting Season. Friends get together and celebrate the hunt and prepare it for storage.

Now, I understand that lots of people from all over the place hunt, and you probably know exactly what I am talking about. It's a bit deeper than just that, though. My next tattoo, I decided about 6 months ago, is going to be "Made in Wyoming" to look like an ink stamp with our bucking bronco. It is totally a pride thing. We do have a slightly different view of things around here. For example:

“It’s deeply ingrained, not only from the right to use, but the idea of doing it responsibly. We don’t like people who are cavalier with firearms,” he [Dave Freudenthal] said. “My father would blister my butt if I was swaggering around with a firearm. That’s not what you’re supposed to do.”

~Something that makes me wince every time is when I see some **** pull up his shirt to show he's got a gun. I have seen people get beat down before they even had a chance to act tough just for trying something so stupid. It's not right, never was. You conceal carry? You don't want it seen. We allow open carry around here. It just seems so pitiful and stupid.

In his seven years as U.S. Attorney for Wyoming, Freudenthal said he enjoyed popular support when enforcing the federal gun laws in place here. Special Agent Brad Beyersdorf, a spokesman for the ATF’s Denver Field Division, said the feeling is mutual.

“We focus on crime guns, not firearms, and there’s a big difference,” Beyersdorf said. “The primary statute enforced in Wyoming is generally 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), a felon in possession of a firearm. The ATF has always worked well with the Wyoming U.S. Attorney’s Office, and they have supported us in accepting those types of investigations.”

~We really don't get much flak about our guns from the Feds. We cooperate (until you try and take them away).


(continued)

I absolutely love Wyoming. I-80 had me crossing it countless times over the years of trucking. I never tired of that. It was a special treat when I could find a load with a valid reason to go North from Cheyenne to Montana and across. Good land, Good people and just Good living. If it wasn't for the BAD winters ( ), it'd be a place I'd love to retire.

Great share! S/F

And now the darker side of living in Wyoming and having guns around:

But while Wyomingites tend to be respectful of guns around other people, the same may not hold true for themselves.

While Wyoming has the highest gun ownership rate in the nation, it also has the highest per-capita suicide rate, with Alaska coming in a close second in both areas.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wyomingites commit suicide at a rate of 23.2 per 100,000 people. By comparison, New York comes in last with a suicide rate of eight per 100,000, with a gun ownership rate of just 18 percent.

~Ok, the thing you'll need to understand is that both Alaska and Wyoming have open areas, long distances between settlements, and other factors that cause extreme isolation. The article goes on about other things, and as I said before, I encourage you to read the entire thing, but it doesn't mention some key factors that I feel are important.

As I mentioned, isolation is a big component to the suicide rate. Not just because of distance alone, but because of other factors. In Wyoming, we get a lot of wind. Fall through Spring are very harsh times to be outdoors, so you stay in where it's warm and not windy. This causes what is known as "Cabin fever". Imagine you and your loved one have a fight, and he or she leaves and you've already been indoors for 3 or 4 months. You've already just about gone crazy, hence the fight (generally over nothing). You just want it to end,

Guns are just one method of taking it to the end, so to speak. It's the fastest, and you don't give ourself a chance to contemplate much. I'll admit that. With such a high suicide rate, guns' quickness to resolution could bump the numbers a bit. Consider that an overdose could be contemplated and regurgitated, and a person could survive it, but the gun was a faster and more sure way of going. The numbers probably are higher because of that factor, as well. I'll admit that. However, people choose to isolate themselves and each other. I don't believe the form of suicide should be judged by the statistics anymore than the gun can be blamed for causing a crime. If you ever hear someone say "you gotta be tough to live in Wyoming" you had better believe it! Texan "tough" is muscle and bone. Wyoming "tough" means the whole person, Heart, Soul, Body, and Mind.

So, we have Wyoming Pride. To some, it's just a native thing. To others, it's something that keeps you alive. Pride is something that is integrated into learning to shoot. When you get older, and life seems to be failing you, being proud of something can make you have a second thought about what you are about to do. It gives you a feeling of importance to the world.

Shooting also comes with something known to the martial arts world as Restraint. Discipline. Respect, not just for the tool, but for yourself. I can't really explain it any better than that.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Lol... yes... the winters, indeed! I grew up in Laramie and Cheyenne. Laramie sits in a long basin that funnels arctic air from the north, and allows it to settle in the bottom. I have a couple pictures of morning after frosty storms came through, not even snow, just humidity combined with the cold temps. Lots of the snow actually evaporates rather than melts, as well. No humidity, or air

reply to post by Earthscum

That brings back memories. My wife is from Bozeman, Mt and staying with her for awhile after we'd met was educational for the California boy I was back then. I lost $10 betting her it wouldn't .. couldn't..snow on the 4th of July. This was a week in advance mind you. She couldn't have known by weather report alone. Humility....the act of handing over a $10 spot in a falling snow, with a bag of fireworks in the car. Yes. That was a wakeup..

Now your fine state is where I learned cold can injure people. No one mentioned to me that one should wear facemasks when it's deep sub-feezing. Out at the truck stops east of Cheyenne, no one there apparently knew that either. So, I thought it was great! It was so cold, it didn't feel cold. You know what I mean. It becomes a physical sensation like a slap on skin rather than a shivering cold feeling. My lungs got seared though. The things you learn in the far North. lol.... I still loved it up there. Hopefully I get back someday. So much I could never see from the truck.

reply to post by Earthscum


What about all the kids growing up that stay indoors for days and weeks on end playing video games. They get cabin fever too? Maybe the reason people kill themselves in Wyoming is there are no others around. Whereas in big cities, cabin fever urbanites take their guns to the movies and school with them.

I think that either or, people that do kill themselves or others want to do it the quickest way possible, hands off preferably. The gun is sure fire. Regardless if you are brought up right or not. Life does not end up the way it begins.

reply to post by intrptr


My opinion is that the kids that stay indoors playing games either WILL get cabin fever and express it through the games they play, or rely on the game's interactive characters to suppress the cabin fever. Long video game sessions definitely disconnect you from reality, and make it harder and harder to actually go out and reconnect with nature or people. This is spoken from first-hand experience, 12 hour sessions of playing EverQuest, where I'm only "virtually" interacting with other people (same can apply to chat room addicts)