I'm just about the poster boy for the American Gun Culture, if there even is such a thing. I've owned guns almost continuously for the last 39 years. Bought a single-shot .410 from my grandfather when I was 10. Everyone I knew had guns in their house, unless they were Commie weirdos or something. We had trucks, the trucks had gunracks in the window, and the gunracks had guns in them. At school. We took them to class for shown-and-tell. No one ever gave it a first thought, much less a second thought.

Out of all the people I have ever known, including the ones in the military, I have only personally known two that ever got shot, accidentally or otherwise. One of them got shot in the eyeball a few years ago. He was in a motel room, trying to rob drug dealers. He's lucky to be alive, and he knows it. Sort of a wake-up call, he's totally legit now, doesn't even drink anymore. The other one, he got shot in cheek, bullet came out between his jaw and his jugular. Quarter-inch in any direction, he would have been dead, too. He was invading Italy in 1943.

That's it. Two people, and I think it's fair to say they were both engaged in some pretty risky behavior at the time.

And I got hit in the lip once by a ricochet from a .22, but it didn't even break the skin. Hurt like a bitch though. If you want to count that as "getting shot", well, go ahead. For something so "dangerous", and so many of them, you'd think it would be a lot higher than two.

By the way, if you ever get the chance to spend an afternoon shooting prairie dogs with .270 Magnum, I highly recommend it. Great fun, and good for the environment.