Do you remember the first time someone handed you a gun and helped you learn to shoot it? I do. My grandmother gave me a Remington Model 514 single-shot .22-caliber rifle. My dad took me into the back yard and showed me how to line up the sights and squeeze the trigger. I was 8.
Except under my father’s direct supervision, that gun and the rest of the guns in our house remained under lock and key until I was 18 and left home to join the Navy. Before I left, I gave that gun to another 8-year-old; a kid I babysat through much of my teen years. You read that correctly. I was a teenage babysitter, and a pretty good one, too. All of my charges grew to adulthood!
I’m proud to say I passed on my love of shooting and my understanding of firearms safety rules within months of my graduation from high school. Of course I got permission from the kid’s parents and of course I taught him the four cardinal rules and of course I taught him to clean the gun every time he used it. I’m not a savage.
It’s been a long time since I laid eyes on that little rifle, but I still think about how excited that boy was when, after burning up a box of 100 .22 shells one at a time, I handed him the gun and said, “It’s yours now. Take care of it.”
We, as responsibly armed Americans, have a duty to show others what we do and how we do it. There are way too many people chanting anti-gun slogans. Last week, I turned off one of my favorite TV shows when one of the main characters said, “Why do you have a gun? That’s not how we raised you.”
Subtle anti-gun messages are everywhere. We need to be just as active with subtle (and not so subtle) pro-gun messages. Invite your friends to come shooting. Show people, by your example, what it means to be a responsibly armed American. Teach good lessons. Be the person you say good gun owners are.
You see, it is your actions, not your opinions, that will change the world.
In the words of Sean Connery in the film The Untouchables, “What are you prepared to do?”
Do you have an extra set of eye protection and ear protection in your range bag? If not, how can you invite someone to come shooting with you? Are you familiar enough with the four cardinal safety rules to recite them before stepping up to the firing line? Have you become comfortable enough handling your own firearm that you are now ready to introduce someone to the idea of shooting? Can you even talk about gun ownership without getting worked up?
These are some questions you should ask yourself. New shooters don’t like to be lectured and yelled at. We have an opportunity now to talk with people, explain what we do, and bring new shooters into the concealed carry lifestyle.
What we do takes training and commitment. But there is always room for new participants. Everyone has the right to self-defense. Maybe people like us can be the conduit that carries new people to the range and beyond.