I grew up on the farm, and we always had guns available. I loved Western movies. Here I am, four or five years old. My brother left a gun in the milk parlor where the cows’ milk goes, and I picked up the gun. My brother and sister were in there with me. They told me to put the gun down, but the more I turned around, the more scared I got ’cause they looked real nervous. I just thought it was a play toy.
I shot the gun, and it put a hole in the window and did not ricochet in the cement room we were in, thank God. But why can’t we have better gun safety rules where it’s mandatory to put guns away, so children can’t get their hands on them? That day I got three lickings, and my brother got beat so bad for leaving the gun where it wasn’t supposed to be that he ran into the woods and didn’t return until the next day. There’s got to be a better way to talk to people about gun safety and gun laws.