Hamburger Helper Hill

"Hey Mom!"

"Yes, sweetie-petey," I got a bazillion nicknames for my little guys.

"Do you wike guns?"

"No, not really."

Pause.

"Do you like pistols?"

"Nope."

"Do you like bazookas?"

"No."

"Do you like grenades?" (Sheesh kid!) "Everybody likes grenades!"

"No. I really don't like things that kill people or animals."

"Rillwee. Hmmm..."

"You don't even wike blowing up fings?"

This was a conversation in the quiet evening hours with my six year old. Really.

It occurred hours after a rather unfortunate shooting incident at the Wal-Mart. Okay, before you check your headlines to see if I was involved in a shooting, it was at the video arcade.

My six year old is actually quite a fantastic driver for video games. These are so high tech and real I was yelling and dodging imaginary obstacles while I watched him play.

As a reward for letting me get a long shopping trip done, I bribed him with the promise of two games at the arcade. Most of the time it's a no to any arcade. He's six and most of the games are definitely to violent or babe-filled for his age.

He wanted to do the safari game. It was a shooter game. We pressed the wrong buttons and he couldn't do it. Being the budget conscious chick I am (now), I didn't want to waste the two quarters by not having the game played. So I began to shoot virtual wildlife on the African savanna. It was gross. It was bloody and I flinched with each shot.

Unfortunately, I am, quite by accident, a good shot. Early in my marriage I shot a finch from over 100 yards from my father in laws porch. I'm a regular Annie Oakley, sorta.

I am all for the second amendment. I don't think the government should prevent someone from owning and properly using a gun. I do think you should have to wait a little to buy one so they can check out if you have a few screws loose. I, as a personal preference only, choose not have guns in the house. I don't like them. I especially don't like them around children.

In a previous life, when I had too much time and too much 'book' knowledge instead of hard earned Mommy-wisdom, decreed we would have a gun-free home. That our little haven would not have fire arms of any sort. Yeah, right.

If they don't have the gun to shoot with they'll find something. Even my littlest guys does. It comes with the territory of birthing and raising boys.

A friend told me a story of a friend of his who absolutely prevented any guns and/or gun references or gun shows from being displayed in his house. They didn't even call them guns, but shooters. One night over dinner, their little darling picked up a floret of his organic broccoli, pointed it at his dad and announced, "Look dad! It's a shooter!"

Maybe the point isn't to make them gun averse. Rather, should I ask him why he likes guns/pistols/bazookas/grenades so much?





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