Well, I passed.

I’m now an official graduate of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ firearms safety class. I joined my son, who is 12, in taking the class this spring. I thought it would be good for me to take it along with him, and I was right. I learned a lot.

I would encourage any parent to take the class along with his or her kids. For one thing, it never hurts to sharpen your own safety practices. And it’s the best way to know for sure what your child is being taught so you can reinforce it in actual hunting situations.

Before gun safety classes were required, most of us simply inherited our family’s values about safety. Maybe mom and dad were up to speed on safety. Maybe they let a few things slide.

On the whole, the DNR’s class is excellent. Our group of about 22 students was lucky to have three good instructors.

The class is a significant time commitment six two-hour sessions plus a morning at the rifle range. The first class certainly got our attention.

A remarkably realistic video portrayed how one young man accidentally shot another. It was pretty graphic.

“That was disturbing,” my son said on our way home that night.

I agreed. The video set a tone for the rest of our classes. The message is: Handling a firearm is very serious business.

A couple of sessions later, one of our instructors handed a .410-gauge shotgun to the other. When it “accidentally” discharged, all of us jumped. The gun had been loaded with a blank shell, and the instructors had staged the accidental firing to show us how easily it can happen.

Throughout the sessions, our instructors hammered home the “10 Commandments of Gun Safety.” The class also covered wildlife management, hunting ethics, survival and other topics. And a DNR conservation officer came to the class for an hour to discuss hunting laws. Duluth Conservation Officer Dale Ebel did a great job posing situations to us and putting us on the spot.

The primary hands-on instruction took place during our morning at the range.

The shooting went well, but I think the course structure should have allowed us to spend more time in simulated hunting experiences.

As good as the course is, it’s just a beginning.

The burden of firearms safety ultimately falls to those of us who, as adults, will spend time in the field with young hunters. Our kids are much more apt to follow our examples, which they see over and over, than something they heard in a class.

I watched those tentative young hunters taking guns from a car during an exercise at the firing range, and I realized they’ll need a lot of practice under watchful eyes.

I know that when my son and I go afield together this fall, my own hunt won’t be the priority. My main objective will be to build on what we learned in firearms safety as he takes his first steps to becoming a hunter.