Turning 21 - Guns and Liquor

My oldest turns 21 this week. He commented that he will now be able to buy guns and liquor, not necessarily in that order. But I wonder if we really do our youth a favor by keeping both off limits until they are this age. I have a theory that responsible use of both at a younger age would go a long way to a lifetime of responsibility. Proverbs 22:6 comes to mind:

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.

I have read that countries such as Italy where children can drink with their parents at meal time have a much lower incidence of alcoholism than say Ireland, where both teetotalling and alcoholism rates are much higher. I think glamorization or a forbidden fruit syndrome contributes to higher rates of youth drunkenness and underage drinking.

But we also can't forgot the allure of danger and swagger to young men. Being able to handle one's liquor is a phrase I learned early in my stint in the Navy. It proved you were tough. The redneck culture of some of my friends carried this to an extreme. I remember driving back to Seminary one fine evening, with my roommate at the wheel of an orange Dodge Charger. We both might have had a few beers in Georgetown and the woods around Highway 50 seemed deserted enough, so he thought nothing of popping off a few rounds from his .22 pistol into the woods. It all sounds incredibly stupid in hindsight, but for the life of me I have never been able to muster up any guilt over it.

No way to put a bow on this article, just some things to think about.

H/T to A Keyboard and a .45 for the photo. Maybe best name for a blog, ever.