BEND, Ore. — When we hike together, my oldest son, who is 5, scans the ground for the perfect “gun.” His ideal stick has an ergonomic crook in it and is a comfortable size to hold. When he finds one like that, he lifts it for a test fire — pew, pew. A mile in, he’s usually got one in each hand but is still on the lookout for an upgrade: anything smoother or more gunlike. My youngest, who is 2, isn’t far behind. He’s been saying the word “gun” for more than a year.

Should I forbid this kind of play? Ignore it? Set ground rules such as “Ask for permission before you shoot someone”? Psychologists say there is no evidence that imaginary gun play is abnormal or harmful. Still, it bothers me, as a gun owner and a hunter, to watch my children violate basic rules of gun safety, even if armed only with sticks. I want my kids to grow up to be what I am: a responsible gun owner.

Last week’s mass shooting in Las Vegas is a reminder that this is a perspective our country needs to hear more from: that of gun owners who favor safer gun laws. We should be helping lead the national conversation about gun control, because we are uniquely suited to move the debate away from polemic and toward effective compromise.

In December 2012, when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and killed 20 children and six others, I was a new mother, preparing for my son’s first Christmas. I was also a relatively new hunter and gun owner. I had taken up hunting six years before, in my mid-20s. As an environmentalist and a meat eater, I discovered that hunting was a fascinating and firsthand way to learn about wildlife and the ecosystem around me, and to sometimes bring home healthy, tasty food. It had taken an intensive hunter safety class and many hours at the shooting range and in the field before I felt comfortable handling firearms. It was an adjustment to even think of myself as a gun owner, especially in the aftermath of tragedies like Sandy Hook, when the prevalence of guns in the United States would be angrily cited as the root cause of violence.