New Shooters

Over the last couple weeks I brought two folks shooting who had never been before. One was a graphic designer from the agency where I work. It was a nice day, so I brought this selection of firearms to the Wooser Mountain outdoor range south of Danbury

SW 686
Browning Hi-Power
SW 1911 SC
Kimber Rimfire ( a .22 on a 1911-size frame)

Ruger 10/22
M-1 Garand
Mosin-Nagant Carbine

So we aerated a few targets and made a lot of noise. Very fun.

The second guy is architect trained in France, he's originally from Tunisia, and now works in NYC. His wife is an editor for a large publishing house, and has been friends with the lovely and talented Mrs. Meataxe since high-school.

Since it looked like rain, we went to the indoor range for an hour, and Malik shot my 10/22 and a 9mm carbine the folks at the range rented us. Both of them put a big smile on his face, and he was a pretty good shot, too.

The interesting part of the visit happened when I was pulling stuff out of the safe for our range trip. I put on my holster with my carry gun (Para Companion LDA .45) and got the expected "holy shit" from him.

I laughed and explained that between the 2 of us we had money and guns -- two of the 3 things that bad guys wanted, so a little personal protection wasn't a bad idea.

His wife wants to know why I would "need" that, and I mentioned that if only 1 guy at Virgina Tech had been packing, the body count would probably have been much lower, only to have her respond with "well what if people were killed in the crossfire?"

This woman is scary smart, too. But the mindset that a person could take responsibility for their own safety, and improve the safety of those around them is not the result of high or low intelligence --  its the natural outgrowth of a particular approach to life.

I hope that by bringing new folks shooting, more people will ultimately take more responsibility for their own safety.