This has turned into a good thread!
LIKE
I didn't grow up with guns (shocking) but I remember when I went to stay with my cousins and they had a hunting rifle (bolt, don't remember the model, .30-06 I think) hanging over the fireplace in the den, in the open, unlocked. I was probably 11ish. My uncle showed me the mag was loaded, how to shoot it, and told me never to touch it unless an emergency.
At first that was intimidating. But then it was comforting. I knew if anyone came into that house to hurt my extended family, they would be safe, and I now knew I wouldn't be helpless too. Of course they had other guns in the house too but those were locked up!
That uncle later taught me the four rules and was the first to take me pistol shooting.
Different times.