Ogden Standard
Examiner, Thursday October 14, 1999
The family that hunts together...
Kenny Martinez and his sons spend every fall out in the fields and hills
Thursday, October 14, 1999
By JIM WRIGHT
Standard-Examiner staff
In some circles, owning a gun, even a hunting rifle,
has a tinge of political incorrectness about it. But it's not that way
for a lot of families in Northern Utah, especially those who have a long
tradition of taking part in the fall hunting seasons together.
"I've had these guys training in gun safety their
whole lives," said Kenny Martinez of Ogden, as he nodded toward his two
sons, Adrian, 14, and Phillip, 16. The Martinez family was sitting around
a campfire with family friends Kevin Hubbard and Charlie Stoll on Monte
Cristo on Friday before the opening day of the general bull elk hunt.
It's a tradition Martinez said has been going on
for years.
"These guys have been around hunting and around
guns since they were 5," he said.
Climate of safety
Martinez said he doesn't preach gun safety to his kids,
but he and his friends constantly remind the boys and each other of simple,
common-sense safety concerns -- making sure of your target, checking the
weapon's safety, carrying the rifle properly -- so there's always a climate
of safe and responsible gun use.
"It's not just me that instills it in them, it's
being around these guys, too," Martinez said, pointing toward his friends.
"It's a good group of people, and they all basically take part."
The Martinez boys have been through Hunter Education
training, required by state law before they can hunt, but Kenny said education
is an ongoing process for any hunter.
"Safety always comes into it," he said.
The Martinez family hunts regularly from September
to December, Kenny said.
"It's something they grew up with, something I grew
up with," he said.
The push for gun control, while of concern to these
and other hunters, hasn't caused this particular group to worry about someday,
somehow, not being able to use rifles to hunt. Stoll said he's been a member
of the National Rifle Association, but he let his membership lapse, not
out of indifference toward the organization but just because he didn't
get around to renewing his membership.
"I don't think gun control could happen here," Stoll
said. "The hunting seasons are too big. The whole family thing, with thousands
of families hunting, is big for the state's economy."
People control
Still, he said, responsible gun owners are taking the
heat because of the criminal activities of a relative handful of people.
"If they started checking on the guys who are doing these sort of things,
most of them aren't getting guns legally anyway," Stoll said.
"I think we need people control, not gun control,"
Martinez added.
The Martinez boys said they've never had anyone
in school or elsewhere suggest there's anything wrong with them hunting
or using guns.
"The only thing I've ever heard is guys saying,
"You guys are lucky,'" Adrian said.
Hubbard said his sons have had similar experiences.
"As far as my kids, I've had their friends ask me
if they could go hunting with us if their dads say it's OK," Hubbard said.
But it's a different world today, he said.
"It is different for my kids," he said. "When I
grew up, and all through high school, I had a lot of hunting buddies. They've
still got friends who hunt, but not as many."
Hubbard said a bigger threat to the future of hunting
in Utah is the disappearance of country in which to hunt.
"With more and more land being closed off, it's
getting harder and harder to hunt," he said.
Hubbard said he rarely thinks about gun control,
or about the possibility he or his children might not be able to hunt.
"I've just been brought up with hunting, and my
kids have been brought up with it," he said. "I don't even think about
it. I don't think it'll ever happen in Utah."
You can reach reporter Jim Wright at 625-4266 or jwright@standard.net