Replies

As someone who has been taught marksmanship and firearm safety from a WW2 Army combat veteran (my father) of two amphibious landings on Japanese held islands and who credited his marksmanship skills with staying alive, I grew up with firearms. My father build a Boys Life (scouting magazine) 22 bullet trap indoor gun range in the basement of our house when I was in Junior High School and he taught me how to shoot. I trained my two sons and we went through hunter safety training courses at the gun range I belong to to reinforce all safety knowledge

I have CPL’s in two adjacent states so that I am legal to carry in most of the US States and can carry while I travel to many states regionally. I have belonged to a local gun range and firearms collectors association for over two decades.

I fear for new buyers of firearms. The laws governing “use of deadly force” “brandishing” and “self defense” have little to do with common sense. Buying a firearm and becoming proficient in its use under stress requires a lot of dedication. Then adding to that the kind of snap judgments requires to be made in a deadly force confrontation is a whole other level that most new firearms buyers don't comprehend.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of an armed and well trained citizenry. I think it makes us all safer. I just fear that some people who are buying firearms and not investing in the physical and legal training are putting themselves at risk. It is not as great a risk as being unarmed, but it is still a huge risk.