It was a different world Fernando.
Yes, within the segment of society that I grew up in, it was expected that little boys would discover pain, blood and death pretty early in life. How do you cut a pig's throat, or a lamb's throat if you can't see a rabbit off?
How do you survive in life if you can't handle a broken bone or the loss of a bit of skin?
I had my own rifle, along with responsibility for it at age 8, I'd used borrowed rifles at a much younger age, but I didn't get turned loose unsupervised with firearms until I was about 11 or 12. Thus the need for self manufactured firepower.
The whole ethic of society was different to now, quite simply if it grew, you cut it down, if it moved, you shot it.
We walked miles and miles through the bush and were gone all day, sunup to sunset. Never got lost. Committed all sorts of anti-social acts --- by today's standards.
My grandkids are supervised out of existence.
My grandkids, who are 7 through to 16 are not permitted out of their own little local neighbourhood, and they've got this touchy-feely tree hugging attitude. I gave a couple of them pocket knives --- which they were permitted to have --- under supervision. This is 8 and 10 year old kids I'm talking about. I had knives from the time I could walk. When I was 5 or 6 an uncle gave me a monster bowie that he'd made.One these young blokes carved his initials into a tree. Crime of the century!!! His pocket knife got confiscated by his mother (a school teacher) until she deemed that he had learnt that trees are to be cherished. That woman never has quite come to terms with my attitudes. She thinks I'm a barbarian.
People who don't learn to use knives young tend to cut themselves.
People who don't learn to use firearms young tend to regard firearms as something other than tools.
Yeah, I'm a dinosaur --- along with most people in this country of my generation. The thing was this:- in the late 1940's and early 1950's Australia was flooded with refugees from war torn Europe. Every family had lost men in this war, the Japanese were on our doorstep in Papua New Guinea. The Japanese did not invade Australia, principally because it was considered that the rifleman ethic of Australians would result in too high a loss of Japanese life --- plus the fact that they were stopped on our doorstep. We were raised with the fear of war drummed into us, along with the fear of invasion from the north. Essentially the way kids were brought up was so that if necessary they could go to war and survive.
Like I said:- it was a different world.
After 1996 and Port Arthur --- a Black Op if ever there was one --- our beloved PM decided guns were a bad idea and Australians suffered a significant incursion on our freedom.
Best if I leave this subject right here. I could well make some politically unacceptable, anti-social comments and get myself banned from this Forum.
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