Posted on 02/18/2013 8:22:34 AM PST by billorites
MERIDEN — When I pulled into the parking lot of 35 Pleasant Street, it looked like any other suburban office building — the kind of place where podiatrists look at feet and optometrists look at eyes. What removed it from the ordinary was a laminated sign in the lobby directing me to my destination. It depicted the white silhouette of handgun on a red background. Underneath was written “ctpistolclass.com,” with an arrow pointed to the elevator.
On the third floor, Michael Pear, an NRA certified pistol, rifle and shotgun instructor, was preparing to teach the NRA basic pistol safety course in which I had enrolled, the first step toward acquiring a state pistol permit.
“The goal of the class, the stated course goal, is to teach the basic knowledge, skills and attitude necessary for owning and using a pistol safely,” Pear said, “That pretty much says it all, and I believe in that.”
Inside the classroom, diagrams of firearms and cross sections of cartridges lined the walls of the otherwise stark room. A long, white table sat 17 people, including myself.
I don’t know quite who I expected to see sitting at that table, but it most certainly was not the stereotypical bunch of yahoos that the unfairly presumptuous might imagine. Half of the class were men, half were women, some of whom had never fired a gun before. Young adults sat next to senior citizens. Couples had brought their aged relatives.
“I’ve had people as old as their early 80s take the class. So it pretty much runs the gamut. The ethnic diversity is right there with the population. We have the business owner, the dock worker, the factory worker who loads trucks all day for a living, the waitress at the diner,”
(Excerpt) Read more at nhregister.com ...
“Typical lib. Brings his own prejudices, writes a “I, I, I” story. Reveals his ignorance about stuff we’ve all known for years.”
We have failed the yutes by letting the libs run the school system. He is only parroting what he was taught in school.
I had read the whole article. You’re right in that it’s written for a lib audience, and thus must be taken with that grain of salt in mind.
But my point is he shows up with typical lib prejudices, and while he soon finds many of them untrue, he’s pushing the “guns are for killing people and the firing range” shibboleth.
The worse are men who have done a little shooting and think they know it all.
re: “Give the kid some credit. He went into this thing biased as hell, but in the end he learned a great deal. This is how we win this fight. We have to educate people.”
Thank you!! I was ready to post a similar observation until I saw yours. You are exactly right! Several posters here on FR are every bit as small, biased, and mean as any liberal I’ve ever read or met.
Come on Freepers - celebrate a small victory instead of dumping on this kid. Good grief!
If you read the entire article, the guy ended up enjoying shooting and intends to purchase a rifle and join a shooting range. He decided not to get his CC license because he didn't feel a need on his part, didn't want the responsibility that comes with a CC license, and he didn't want to spend that much money. That's his choice of course, but he did not criticize other people who want to carry.
Overall, a positive article.
There is a disturbing yet unsurprising commonality of experience in all of these “reporter meets gun” stories.
The reporters think and write of gun ownership as a foreign culture. They might as well be writing a story about going to a Nigerian basket weaving class.
Yes, yes, nice to give them some exposer, but how telling that they all seem to come from backgrounds devoid of firearm use.
“Okay, now I would say bring it down, turn it, rack the slide, drop the mag.”
Hopefully this was just faulty memory or a typo. If you do that you now have an “empty” gun cocked with one in the chamber. Correct would be: lower the gun, eject the magazine, turn the gun so the ejection port points down, rack the slide.
Still, not a bad article from a liberal reporter of a liberal rag.
Sure it’s stuff that gun owners already know, but this story is reaching many more than just existing gun owners. There are probably a lot of people reading that article who have a distorted notion of pistols, and especially AR15s. Reading something positive can help dispel some of the negative notions held by the un-informed.
Let's be realistic here and take what we can get. Guns are, by their very nature, a machine that is designed to kill, though not exclusively people. He didn't make the distinction and say "people." But it's an irrefutable fact. They are also "fun to shoot". He said that. Where do you go to "shoot for fun"? We don't go to Rush and Division in downtown Chicago do we (thugs and criminals excepted)?
To win any logical debate, you must know and be able to make points on both sides of your argument. As conservatives we fail repeatedly on any number of debates because we get easily fooled into debating farcical and irrelevant, peripheral BS that has nothing to do with the logical issue.
Let's accept that guns actually are for killing and shooting at a range. Next we can argue about the responsibility that goes with that, the laws that are in place currently and the constitutional authority that governs an individuals right that shall not be infringed.
“He now understands that my Ruger P-94 isn’t going to jump out of the closet and go on a killing spree.”
He never really thought that in the first place and while he might have loved his shooting experience he will still cow to every liberal he associates with and continue repeating the same crap he always did. He is too cowardly to stand up to his fellow loud mouthed liberals.
Fair enough. Good points all.
I’m inclined to think that women have a different eye/hand connection that just works well.
My daughter was near the top of her class at the (police) academy with a shotgun. In the middle with a handgun.
My cardiologist told me his wife was hell on wheels from the get go. It was funny to hear him describe her.
During one of our class breaks, I spoke with a middle-aged woman who identified herself as a teacher, but did not wish to be named because of the stigma associated with owning firearms.Hey, reporter boy. Any "stigma" regarding gun ownership has been deliberately created by you and your fellow "reporters".
I think this is a balanced, well-written article. Thank you Mr. Bellmore.
Now, prepare to catch absolute hell from the hoplophobe libtards who read it and HATE YOU for firing a gun.
Decent write up for a ‘nOOb’
Right near the end he wrote “ I do not perceive the need, nor do I wish to take on the responsibility”
OK, let’s dissect that.
“I do not perceive the need”. He is a Naif or a Polyanna. Once crime becomes real to him or someone he cares about, he’ll get it.
“nor do I wish to take the responsibility” Actually, good for him. He realizes it IS a big responsibility to carry and potentially employ a carried firearm, with that attitude, however wrongly placed it might be. In his mind, he has not taken responsibility for his own life and liberty, nor that of the people he loves and cares about with or around him.
I think his comments on the AR15 demonstrate a lack of understanding of the intent of the 2nd amendment.
Of the AR-15, I’ve heard it asked, “Why would anyone need a gun like that?” And the answer I’ve heard most is self defense.
Really, though, the AR-15’s most practical and often-used application is for it to be fired at a range. And shooting an AR15, or any other gun for that matter, is a lot of fun.
An AR15 is a "militia rifle". It is just the type of weapon envisioned by the founders with which the people would (if necessary) resist a despotic government. A government would be much more hesitant with 10 million AR15 owners than with 10 million 22 handguns.
Like many, he does not realize that "self defense" applies to much more than criminals. There is a very good reason why the government is so rabidly anti AR15 and wants to confiscate them.
However, I was surprised by the almost moderate tone. Probably about as surprised as the reporter was by the fact that shooting is fun, and people who do it aren't all redneck Klansman wanna-bes.
You're being totally unfair. I'm sure he's made a fist at some point in his life, probably even in anger.
It's just that he really also needed someone there to whisper subtly in his ear, "Dude...thumbs go on the outside of the fingers."
Isn’t he an actor on “Big Bang” comedy show? If not he could play the part.
I like the last line where he says .22 ammo is cheap. He obviously has not seen the price of .22 lately.
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