Posted on 08/01/2004 6:28:14 AM PDT by Saundra Duffy
REPORT OF LADIES HANDGUN SEMINAR
Ojai Valley Gun Club, Ojai (Ventura) CA - Saturday, July 31, 2004
The best Ladies Handgun Seminar ever!! I left home (Fresno) at 4:30 a.m. and arrived at 8:30 a.m. Whew! What a drive! But worth every mile; believe me. The Ojai Valley Gun Club is located smack dab in the middle of Los Padres National Forest. The Club leases the range from the feds. What a fabulous setting!!! You cannot imagine how beautiful it is – and they even have flush toilets.
When I first arrived, I was greeted by the awesome sound of someone shooting a .50 caliber!!! It was music to my ears but nevertheless some people had ear protection on even in the parking lot. Ha!
We started at 9 a.m. with registration/sign-in, coffee and donuts – meet and greet – official welcome. I gave a nice packet of SAS materials to each of the ladies. There were 14 students and as many coaches and several other volunteers and cooks. I LOVE GUN PEOPLE!!! All of the outside participants who brought their own gun had it inspected. You’ll be happy to learn that my .38 revolver was found to be safe and in good working condition.
Steve Marcus gave opening/welcoming comments followed by yours truly. I said a few words and then introduced Nina Neuron. SAS presented Nina with a basket of goodies and we gave Steve a hat - to thank them for all their hard work in organizing this event. Those two pulled this thing off so beautifully. Steve had prepared a get-well card for my husband, Scott, who had surgery on 7/23, which almost made me cry.
There were two ladies from the media - Stephanie from the Ventura County Reporter and C.J. Songer who is a writer and photographer. C.J. writes a monthly column, View From the Home Front, for the California Rifle & Pistol Association’s Firing Line. C.J. is working on an article that she hopes will be published in Dillon’s Blue Press which has a circulation of over 250,000. She took lots of photos and had everyone who wanted to sign a release form. Check out CJ’s web site - www.CJSonger.com – she’s a pro!! I hope all this will bring attention to SAS and our mission. Yahoo!
Jon Browne gave a gun safety lecture that was one of the best I’ve ever been privileged to witness! I’m sorry for using so many exclamation marks but I can’t help myself. It was such an awesome day. After Jon’s lecture each of the ladies was paired with a coach. That’s right! Each lady had her own personal coach. It was unbelievable. This Ojai Valley Gun Club is absolutely stupendous.
Following the one-on-one instruction on safety and the fundamentals, it was off to the range. Each line coach accompanied his/her student to the range. This was the fist time I have ever seen this kind of one-on-one instruction. Not only were the ladies treated to their own personal coach, but there were safety supervisors overseeing the entire shoot – pacing back and forth to make sure it went off without a hitch – which it did. What an awesome sight!
Then it was chow time and the Club had prepared a wonderful BBQ meal for us. We were treated like royalty. They even served apple cobbler for dessert that had been baked in a dutch oven!
As if that weren’t enough, Steve Marcus then gave a 45-minute course on how to clean and care for your pistol - both semi automatic and revolver. We were all grateful for this very useful information!
Dr. Bruce Krell approached me about having a Ladies Handgun Seminar in Los Angeles area in the future. He’s with the Angeles Shooting Ranges, Inc., from San Fernando, CA. Sounds good to me. Let’s roll . . .
Nina, Steve, Andy (he’s the guy who bought all the grub) and I had a meeting of the minds to settle up all the financial stuff. Turns out we pretty much broke even. And so I hopped into my Saturn Vue and headed for home. Took a different route on windy back roads and shaved off some time. Arrived home around 6:30 and found Scott doing just fine, thank the Good Lord!
Can’t wait for the next Ladies Handgun Seminar! By the way, the Ojai Valley Gun Club wants to do this again next year and I say AMEN to that.
Saundra Duffy-Hawkins, California Coordinator, Second Amendment Sisters – www.2asisters.org
Here's the link to the announcement about the event in the first place:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1162790/posts
Glad you had such a successful event. I'll keep my eyes peeled for the article in the paper. By the way, if you are still in the area - BBQ at my house this afternoon. Trip to the Reagan Library this a.m.!
Bang Ping
Safe and sound at home in Fresno. I want to visit the Reagan Library again! It was awesome but I visited BEFORE he was buried there. I want to go again. Next time!!
Most excellent, dudettes!
Thanks for the ping.
I'm showing this to Mrs. Lurkin.
Why, thank you very much, FReeper dude.
Yahoo!
Saundra- Congratulations on such a successful Ladies Shoot!! You make us proud that you're our CA Coordinator. Sounds like everyone had a great time.
Prayers for Scott's continued recovery.
If I shaved my face and legs, I'd fit right in!
Heck, you don't even have to shave your legs! You would have loved it!!! Maybe next year.
It was awesome!!!
Way cool, Saundra! Keep the skeer on 'em out in Kalifornia. (Hugs!)
Isn't that a cool aerial photo?! Thanks for posting it.
Click on this and see the Club's web site, including the aerial photo: http://www.dock.net/ovgc/
Everyone--please add Saundra's husband, Scott, to your prayer list. He has a very serious medical condition, and needs lots of prayers.
I look forward to working with you and all of the other ladies @ SAS. Btw, thanks for sending the application. :-) Kristy
Thanks, Sis. It was a blast! I don't think I should get much credit for this, though - it was the Ojai Valley Gun Club who did all the work. I just kind of showed up.
Thanks for your prayers for hubby. When I got home from the shoot, I found out he had MOWED THE LAWN! This is against doc's orders. Men! I chastised him up one side and down the other. He's supposed to rest today, all day. Sheeeesh.
Thanks again for EVERYTHING!! This shoot was so much fun. Wish all the SASsy sisters could have been there.
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