Of course, the first thing we did was go over the 4 rules. After that, I gave her a rundown of firearm parts and different actions. Sadly could not show her a lever or pump action, but hope to own them soon. After explaining safety and gun types, we headed out into the yard (I love living in the country) and went over aiming and shooting. After that we let some lead fly!
For her shooting, we went up to about 5 yards. Seemed like a good place for someone who had never been exposed to firearms, especially since I'm still tweaking the sights on the S&W. This is her first target with about 40 rounds through the pistol.
Worked with her some on shooting form. She has a strong tendency to lean away from the pistol and shoot high, then let her arms get tired and start shooting low. That's why there aren't 40 holes actually in the paper. The next target was a little better with 30 rounds being fired.
Five of the six holes in the orange (a 3" sticker) she got on her first magazine. She had a really good form on that one which got interrupted by some FTE's in later mags. My guess is that they were the result of 300 rounds of .22 without a cleaning. The first 290 shot with only one hitch, and that was a weak round, not a gun failure. She could have done much better without those failures as it was hard for her to find her position again. (note to self: have firearm clean before shooting with a new person.)I also let her shoot my Springfield M6 scout. As she is quite petite, even holding up this light rifle made her arms tired, though she liked shooting the .22 rounds through it. I let her shoot a couple of .410 shells through it too, which she didn't care for so much due to recoil.
Overall, an extremely successful day at the range. She wanted to keep the targets and is taking them back to Korea with her. I'm facebooking her the picture of her with the pistol. She said it would scare her friends, to which I replied, "Well, you can tell them it was a lot of fun and no one got hurt. You can teach them." She's hoping to come back to the states for grad school, so hopefully there will be another opportunity to get her out.
Ah, now to the delicious smell of gun solvent!
15 comments:
Guns won't make you free. Try some education and culture.
4 Rules, range safety, Smith & Wesson. That IS education and culture.
First off, I still don't understand how believing in guns makes lack culture and uneducated. However, you should consider studying the history of this nation a bit more.
The founding fathers knew that the only reason they were able to throw off the oppressive British government was because they had use of their arms. History has played this case out time and again. Let me give two examples.
First, look at Germany around 1939. The first thing Adolf Hitler did was ban guns among the Jews and Gypsies. After he did this, these people started disappearing from the countryside, and we know what happened next.
Also, look at Russia when, I believe it was Stalin who came into power, outlawed guns. over 20 million people were killed for simply dissenting from the government. These are not the only cases. In the past century or so, over a hundred million people have been slaughtered by their government immediately following . . . gun bans.
Let me provide a couple of quotes from the founders of this nation that shows how they viewed firearm ownership and freedom:
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the outcome of the vote.
-Benjamin Franklin
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who comes near that precious jewel. Unfortunately, nothing
will preserve it but downright force. When you give up that force, you are ruined.
-Patrick Henry
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in Government."
-Thomas Jefferson
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."
--George Washington
You can try to tell me all you want about what the founders of this country believed about guns, but I look at what they said.
Now, in part I will agree with you - guns themselves won't make you free. However, they are tools which in determined hands can be used to preserve liberty. They are the best tools, and the tools which the founders intended for us to keep and use if the need ever arises.
BS... guns don't preserve personal liberty in this day and age. Maybe during the era of G Washington, not today. Grow up. Get some intelligence. Your guns are not going to help you if you fear the gov't. Maybe they'll help you get in a shootout with the Feds where you'll die. Better get a nuclear weapon, then you might have a chance.
You are right, guns don't preserve liberty - the spirit of resistance within the people who have the proper tools (ie guns, etc.) preserves liberty.
Again look at more recent history, since you want to say "in this day and age". Vietnam. How did a rag-tag army drive out the most powerful country in the world? The answer: a spirit of resistance and some tools (guns). Funny how that's exactly how we drove out the British in the 1700's. 200 years and the same principle won the war.
Besides that, do you really think that those of us who own and use guns only know about guns? Believe me, there is a vast knowledge store of how to make arms much more destructive. The key though is the spirit of the resistance and the will to die should need be in order to preserve liberty.
And no, I don't fear the government. I'm using my voice to fight them before it comes down to any other fighting. If I feared the government, i would have already gone on a shooting spree and taken as many of them with me as possible. I refuse to fear. That's why I speak out.
Besides that, do you really think that those of us who own and use guns only know about guns?
Thank you Timothy McVeigh. now go blow up a gov't building.
NUT JOB ALERT!!
"guns don't preserve personal liberty in this day & age."
Really? That must be why every genocide perpetrated in the past ~75 years has seen the side being slaughtered disarmed 1st.
Also, I dare you to tell anyone who has used a gun to defend their home, life, or the life of a family member or child that having a gun did not help enable them to "preserve personal liberty."
Matt - Sorry for the long comment. Good job with the new shooter! I'll add you to the blogroll.
It seems to me that some of these anonymous people are forgetting that Lexington and Concord were sparked by British attempts to confiscate arms and powder from the colonists.
While guns don't have anything per se to do with education and culture, they have been intimately involved in this country's freedom.
First, to the anonymous who called me a domestic terrorist . . . please take everything I say in the context in which it is written. My statement which you quoted was in the context of a theoretical war, not peace, and in the context of a military conflict, no murdering innocents. Therefore, your implications of me being a terrorist and a nut job are invalid on the basis of context.
Mike, anytime you want to comment and make it long, feel free to. From your blog and your comment here, I could use your help. Thanks for the add and the link.
Sovereignty, protection, freedom, patriotism, paranoia... all excuses to enjoy a gun fetish. If somebody really wants to shoot you or your family, they'll do it before you can reach for your gun. Chances are you will never use it for protection. Far greater are the chances you'll make a mistake and you or your kid will shoot himself or a friend.
It's good to see the fear-mongers have showed up, wouldn't want to leave them out.
So, anonymous, could you provide citations to back up your stance?
Why don't you tell the estimated 2 million people each year who defend themselves with guns that chances are you will never use it for protection, like these people.
Why don't you look up the statistics concerning accidental deaths and see where guns fit into it. Kids are 65 times more likely to die in an auto accident. Their bicycles are more dangerous to them than my guns. If my guns are so dangerous, why haven't I shot anyone yet?
Gun safety for children as well as adults stems from education. I grew up around guns, and was taught at a young age that they are not toys. I was not allowed to touch them without an adult, but if I wanted to see one, I asked an adult to get one out. We were taught safety around them. There was no "oooh, what's that" mystique around them, so we never played with them. You know what? My brother and I never shot anyone. It's just like any other dangerous thing - education, not fear, is the only way to be safe.
Chances are you will never use it for protection.
I certainly hope not. I will be very happy if I never have to draw, much less fire my gun in self-defense. As far as not being able to get to it in enough time. Well if it's useless becauase criminals will just get the drop on you, then I assume you think it's also useless for cops to carry guns. Maybe we should disarm them, since carrying a gun won't do any good, right?
My gun is on my nightstand not even an arms length from my pillow each night. Round chambered, full mag & a spare right next to it. No safeties to have to worry about under stress either. Each morning before work it returns to the safe. Are you really saying I won't have time to pick it up if I need it? You're kidding right?
That's not paranoia it's preparedness. Unless of course you live in fantasy land where break-in's and home invasions don't happen in your neighborhood. I live in a family of cops & law enforcement, so I know for a fact that such things DO happen, even in "good areas" like where I live. When things happen in my neck of the woods I hear about them and am reminded that I am ultimately the only one responsible for my own safety and that of my family. (especially when the nearsest police station is at least 10 minutes away)
1. Those that shoot having higher incomes and education levels than non-shooters.
2. Throughout history those with education and culture have loved guns.
3. If guns are so ineffective, why does the government love them so?
4. I'm keeping my guns as they are my civil right and there absolutely nothing the government or anyone else can do about it.
I'll have to disagree on point 1, but other than that, that's about right.
Actually Mr Anonymous poster, the far greater chance is of suicide rather than homicide with a gun. Proper storage of weapons in homes with children and proper gun education reduces the chances of a child tragedy to extremely low. They are in much more danger in a car or on a bike. Plenty of people don't use car seats correctly, does that mean we should ban them? No, it means we need to educate people better in how to use them. Same with guns.
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