Hunters at Samohi

Micol AzcarateStaff WriterWhile for most of us the only knowledge we have about hunting comes from “Looney Tunes’” Elmer Fudd, students Collin Knybel (’13) and Masa Petrovic (’15) are experts on the subject. Having been brought up in families of hunting enthusiasts, both Knybel and Petrovic have lifelong experiences with guns and the world of wild animals.Knybel first held a gun when he was three years old because his father wanted to carry on their five-generation-long family tradition. Petrovic instead has never shot a gun, but grew up immersed in a culture where hunting is “the norm.”For Knybel and Petrovic, hunting is “simply a sport, and a great way to bond with family,” Knybel said.However, due to our liberal surroundings here in Santa Monica, it’s easy to label hunters as “rednecks” or “radicals.”“No one hunts around here and that’s why Santa Monica is not as accepting as, for instance, people in Europe. When people here say they hunt, they’re looked upon as terrorists and animal abusers. In Europe however, it’s far more established,” Petrovic said.Knybel and Petrovic’s views are in fact far from those of a pro-gun conservative. Both agree that the only guns people should own are shotguns and rifles because that’s the only type of weapon that should be employed while hunting.“Handguns and assault rifles are for killing humans, and I don’t support the killing of a human for any reason,” Knybel said. “What people need to understand is that these types of guns can’t be used for hunting because they would destroy the animal which defeats the point of hunting for food.”Both find it ironic how despite appearing open-minded, Santa Monicans can be very quick to jump to conclusions when it comes to hunting.“For the most part hunters are quite conservative, but I myself am not a radical conservative or on the right-wing,” Knybel said. “People just assume hunters are rednecks, but in reality I’m just another person with another activity.”mazcarate@thesamohi.com