My parents thought nothing of my using power equipment growing up, string trimmers, lawnmowers, chainsaws. I was told "read the manual" and assumed to be responsible. But not guns or explosives. Is that "bubble wrapping"? Some people draw the line at things that are too prone to instant death or maiming when you screw up.

Ever Google "pierre paul finger"?

Well I have now, and at school in Fiji there were stories of other kids blowing themselves up with homemade kerosene & bamboo fireworks. My personal opinion is that responsibility and risk are related, and if you don't have a gradual increase of both in a relatively safe environment while growing up you are more likely to wrap your sports car around a traffic light (for example) once you finally experience 100% of both at once.

Of course everyone has different opinions of what an acceptable level of risk is.

Did you ever actually "read the manual"?

Yes, it was before the internet was popular; reading books was basically all there was.

My favorite manuals of all time were the original printed Inside Macintosh volumes. They were amazing compared to, say, the documentation for the Amiga OS.