8^)
Posted on 11/26/2006 9:52:04 PM PST by Slings and Arrows
Just a few weeks after one of my fraternity brothers and his girlfriend were both abducted and gunned down by an armed felon I was given a special gift by a good friend. David Lee Odom knew I was nervous about passing by the murder site every Thursday night on my way to play a weekly gig – I was a professional musician at the time - in Tupelo, Mississippi. So he bought me a box of .38 re-loaders and invited me to shoot his Model 19 Smith and Wesson as his special guest at the Starkville Gun Club.
The results were predictable. Soon after spending a Saturday afternoon plinking with that Model 19, I was hounding David to take me back to the club to put a box of .357 magnum rounds through that rugged blue-steel revolver. After a couple of times out at the range, I bought the gun from him and he replaced it with a new .44 magnum.
Years later, I would pass the gun bug on to my wife. She was terrified of guns until I put her through a little systematic desensitization – probably the only practical technique I ever learned as a psychology major - that culminated in a trip to the gun range. First, I had her pass an empty gun case to me. Next, I had her pass a gun case with a .22 packed inside. Then, I asked her to look in the case to make sure the extra magazine was inside. Then, finally, I asked her to take out the unloaded Ruger Mark II and hand it to me.
Shortly after she started to handle firearms she realized they don’t make loud noises unless you load them and pull the trigger. In other words, my wife was ready for a trip to the gun range with that little Ruger, an empty Coke can, and a box of Remington .22 Subsonics. Although she pretended she wasn’t having the time of her life, my wife soon begged me to take her back out to the shooting range. It was on that second trip that she got to put some 110-grain, .38 caliber hydra-shocks through my snub nose .357 magnum. From seven yards out, her first shot hit the 10-ring. Her second shot went through the same hole. She later nicknamed that Smith and Wesson Model 640 “Smithy” and now claims it as her own. In fact, she won’t let me shoot it without her express permission. The days of her irrational fear of firearms are long gone.
Just two days ago I set aside a few hours to convert another gun-less friend into a gun lover. But this time I added a new twist to my usual routine. Before we hopped into my car – packed with a 12-gauge, a 30-06, a .357 magnum, a .45 ACP, a .40 S&W, and a .22 semi-automatic – I wrote him a check for $200.
Scott managed to hit the bulls eye from 100 yards with his first ever shot from a high-powered rifle. He handled the 12-gauge like it was a water pistol. And, best of all, he learned that the mid-sized Glock .40 is a perfect fit for his hand with just the right amount of recoil coming from a 180-grain hollow point.
When I handed Scott the check for $200 I reminded him it was enough for a Ruger 10/22 rifle and at least one brick (500 rounds) of ammunition. And, today, I’m asking all of my gun-loving readers to do the same thing for a friend this Christmas.
There’s about a 50% chance that a gun-less person will go buy a firearm if you take him out to the range for an afternoon of shooting. But there’s about a 100% chance he’ll go buy a firearm if you hand him a check for that express purpose. Just make sure you pick someone who is at least slightly to the left of you politically – I prefer moderates and those who “vote for the best person” – and you will soon have a fellow right-wing, gun-toting friend.
Just imagine what America would look like if we all did the same thing this Christmas. Before long there would be no more Democratic Congress, no more Speaker Pelosi, and no more Internal Revenue Service. Individual freedom would win out over collectivism one gun owner at a time.
You may say that I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join me. And the whole Islamic world will know we live with guns.
John Lennon, eat your heart out.
*sigh* All of the good ones are taken.
Marvelous!!!
That's almost exactly how I lost my S & W 629.
L
My wife joined us boys for a bit of trap-shooting the day before the wedding. She shoots in the upper teens (out of 25).
But the only time my husband ever took me target shooting was right after we married almost 32 years ago, and I was a better shot than he, at the time. And it was fun.
If anyone wants to help a gun-less FReeper this Christmas, feel free to send your donations my way! :o)
I was an avid rabbit hunter in high school. My wife is a master falconer. She normally gets her rabbits with a Red Tail hawk. The 17M2 is a fine rabbit/squirrel rifle. The rabbit population is returning in southeast Idaho.
I was on the line getting ready and one of my buddies asked if the girl back there was my fiance. I told him no, but that if she was still there by the end of the day there was a good chance she would be. We've been married 14 years now.
I just don't feel comfortable at all with a firearm"
Do you feel uncomfortable with a hammer?
This is soooo on my Christmas list.
8^)
Well, yes, but my aim leaves a little to be desired. :-)
Them's some nice shootin' irons.
Good Christmas idea, no?
She likes big bore revolvers so much she bought herself one of those little Taurus 5 shot .44 spcl. Since I already had .44 dies, it's no big deal.
A couple years back I volunteered to sweep up at a gun range that was going out of business as long as I could keep the brass.
I ended up with a couple thousand .44 mag cases and half that many .44 spcl cases. I haven't had to buy any since then.
BTW, Mrs. L calls her 629 "Sweetheart". God I love that woman.
I've got to quite buying stainless firearms. She took one look at my Stainless Ranch Mini-14 and gave me that "I really want this, honey" look. Needless to say that one is now hers as well.
I put one of those little BSA Red Dot sights on it for her and it's a 'minute of pie plate' at 100 yards. Plus it goes 'bang' every time she pulls the trigger. Can't argue with that.
L
Jefferson:
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. 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.
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... such laws serve rather to encourage than to prevent homocides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. ('Commonplace Book' 1775)
Hey Mike S. Adams - I'm a lefty, buy ME a gun for Christmas. What? You say I'm not a lefty - well ok, I shoot right handed, but I can stand to your left. Huh, that doesn't count either?
But, but - I'll vote democrat if you don't buy me a gun. What's that you say? You know I couldn't possibly do that because you know about my gun collection? How'd you know about that?
OK,OK - I just thought as long as you were being generous... and I'm not too comfy about seeing a gun in the hands of a liberal, anyway. Yeah, it might work - but don't you remember that picture of John 'I was in Viet Nam' Kerry where he was fixing the sling on his rifle and it was pointed at his head? Man, what a doofus.
Happy huntin', Mike.
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