Marc, American hunters now need to pass a safety course. Not nearly as rigorous as the requirements in some European countries. But back when most of us who are 60 or over started, we were "trained"--for better or worse--by older male relatives: Father, uncle, older brother, etc. My father shot pheasant out the window of our car. That was illegal, even then. But other than that--and I quickly decided I didn't like that method of "hunting"--he did follow the law and did a good job of teaching me safety. Back then, there was still a military draft in this country, and a lot of men got their first exposure to firearms, safety, etc that way.