Gun enthusiasts offer
answers other than new laws

By Andy Paras
STAFF WRITER
George Morrow of Greer remembers when he and 17 other students walked
into their school armed with loaded shotguns.

They weren’t there, on that day 30 years ago, to shoot other students or
threaten their teachers, as has happened so often across the country in
recent years. They were armed to help their agriculture teacher get rid
of a pack of wild dogs that killed his feeder calves.

“When we went to school, this type of thing didn’t happen,” Morrow said
of school shootings that have grabbed headlines.

Gun owners who, like Morrow, attended this weekend’s South Carolina Arms
Collectors Association gun and knife show at the Palmetto Expo Center
said legal gun owners are feeling stuck in the middle of a debate that
is getting squeezed tighter by illegal acts and more proposed laws.
Morrow and a friend, Vince Ethridge of Easley, two of several hundred
hunters, collectors and other legal users of guns who attended this
weekend’s show, feel increasingly targeted by the mainstream media and
“liberal” lawmakers.

In the Expo Center, dozens of vendors sold knives and guns that ranged
from early-1900s German Lugers to some of today’s most advanced
firearms. Collectors could find Civil War-era clothing or peruse a copy
of “The Anarchist’s Cookbook,” a guide on how to make bombs and other
weapons.

Many gun owners feel there are already too many gun laws on the books so
many that it makes it difficult for officers to enforce them all.
Some collectors, like Stanley Lott of Saluda, feel those who commit
crimes with guns should receive harsher prison sentences.

“Don’t impinge on people’s rights to own a gun,” Lott said.

Fred Jones of Chesnee, a former arms instructor, said many of the laws
are ineffective because of their language and have too many loopholes.
“There’s been a law on the books for a lot of years that says, ‘Thou
shall not kill,’” Jones said. “If a man can’t obey a law written by God,
a man is not going to obey a law written by man. It’s a sad commentary
on the heart of mankind.”

Morrow and Ethridge, who recently bought his four grandchildren
memberships to the National Rifle Association and fondly remembers
learning how to shoot a gun from his grandfather, said they were pleased
to see the number of children at the show with their parents.
While many of the children were much younger than those who have walked
into schools across the country in recent years and shot and killed
teachers and classmates, Morrow said it’s up to parents to instill the
proper mindset and personal responsibility into their children.

Bob O’Shields, manager of the show, said the association often has
programs at the shows to teach children responsible use of guns.
Jones said it’s important that parents demystify guns by teaching young
people how to use them responsibly. He said he told his children that
any time they wanted to use one of his guns all they had to do was ask
him and he’d accompany them.

“I don’t think it does any good to try and shelter them,” he said.

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Doug T.

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