Tom

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Growing up, Tom “didn’t really have a lot of experience with guns.” His family was a military family going back four generations. After his dad passed away, Tom says his grandfather became like a “surrogate father” and was “a great hero.” His grandfather taught him “all the things that normally a dad would teach me,” including about firearm safety. Tom knew from a young age that he wanted to join the Army, and enlisted when he was 18. He spent his entire career with the military, including with the Special Forces and on several combat tours. While on combat tours, he sustained several serious injuries, and once back home these experiences continued to impact him. “Once you’ve been to combat, you pretty much don’t feel safe without the ability to defend yourself even in a benign environment. It’s almost second nature.”
Tom was injured while cleaning a firearm at home when “unbeknownst to me, there was a round that had jammed in the spring mechanism and you couldn’t see it and you couldn’t feel it when you put your hand down in there.” When the firearm discharged, Tom’s foot was shot. He says his “foot’s still full of BBs, but they don’t bother me. Doesn’t affect me at all except for feeling stupid and getting ribbed by my Army buddies.” Now, Tom teaches his two children about firearm safety. “We’re very conscious about things like firearm safety in general.” He sees firearm ownership as an important means for protecting his family. “I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”
For firearm prevention strategies, Tom says “it needs to be a Veteran. When you’re dealing with weapons, you want to talk to somebody that knows what they’re talking about.” To others who have experienced a firearm injury, he shares to keep putting “one foot in front of the other. Keep your head up and just keep moving forward.”