Must read for all conscientious gun owners

[kragluver]

Outstanding article and excellent discussion!

[C-dub]

A friend of mine, that I had never been shooting with, talked about a Hi-Point .45 he had and liked until the day he shot another friends XD45. He did what he could as soon as he could to save money and acquire his own XD45. He said he never realized just how unreliable his HP was.

[gthaustex]

Great article. Thanks for posting. I think that experienced shooters helping others when possible is one of the best ways to spread goodwill and win someone over for the future.

[TXBO]

Nice read.... and a good lesson.

[Cedar Park Dad]

Should be required reading for all gun owners.

[Commander Cody]

Thank you. That is the best post I have seen in a long time.

[maximus2161]

What an excellent post. I think most people have looked down upon people shooting these lesser quality firearms at some point. I know I have before. But one of the first guns I ever owned was a Jennings .380. Think I got it at local gun show in Ft Worth for $75. Why? Because that is all I could afford. It was a TERRIBLE gun and that is why I came to loathe cheap guns.

When I used to teach CHL classes I was doing a class for a group in someones house and a gentleman had a Hi Point 9mm. This guy didnt lack for money but just didnt know anything about handguns and he asked my opinion about his gun. I could have lied about my thought or be honest. I chose to be honest and he appreciated that. I didnt put him down or make him feel stupid. I just told him my experiences.

Once at a local Ft Worth gun range a few years back I was enjoying an afternoon of shooting when a young guy came in with his girlfriend to shoot. I remember he came in with his gun in a paper sack. I dont judge people how they dress but I will on how they act. He thought he was a tough guy, gang banger (and did dress that way). I see that every day and ignore it. Until he got on the firing line next to me. He was trying to impress his girl I guess by holding his Hi Point sideways and I kid you not he was verbally yelling "BLAM! BLAM!" every time he pulled the trigger. I began packing up immediately to go ask for a different lane when he pointed his gun at me not once but twice because he wasnt paying attention to where his gun was pointed. Normally I would correct someone in a helpful and friendly way but just had him thrown out. Some people do not need guns.

But other than these few situations I always try and be helpful and do whatever I can to help a new shooter. As responsible, law abiding gun owners I think we have to set the best examples we can for others new to owning or shooting. Because I look at like this: That one person I fail to help who is new to shooting or isnt experienced at it might do something really careless that could put all of us at risk for losing the privilege to own or carry. It only takes one mistake by one person to ruin it for the majority.

When I married my wife she was not a fan of guns at all. She was a hardcore Democrat. She believed all the anti gun propaganda she had been told. How did she change her mind? Through education, safe exposure, and positive reinforcement.

[jimlongley]

I will admit to a small amount of the discrimination described, but one of the moments I remember most was the time I looked down my nose at the kid in the next lane with a .454 Casull - HE COULDN"T SHOOT!

I was at Bullet Trap in Plano sighting in new sights on my .45 and just generally shooting my .22. This young fella pulls into the next lane with his girlfriend and her mom, with the express purpose of showing them how much fun shooting is, etc. He lays out this expensive revolver and a bunch of ammo and proceeds to blast away downrange, mostly hitting the paper but rarely in the black, while commenting on how much fun this is, "ain't it?"

While he proceeded to try to get his girlfriend to enjoy his loudenboomer as much as he did, mom wandered over to watch me. I was shooting my Ruger .22/45 at that point, and she actually asked me how was it that I managed to keep all of my shots in a nice little cluster like that, so I put on my "Ambassador/Trainer" hat and explained a few things to her. While "junior" continued in the next lane, girlfriend came over to watch mom while I got her on paper, and then down to some pretty decent groups, and then it was girlfriend's turn, and things proceeded quite well.

I am sure that mom and girlfriend left with a pretty good impression of me, and how much fun shooting could be, and, I hope, with determination to eliminate junior from their lives. I will always look down my nose at slob shooters like that, no matter what they are shooting.

I did observe that junior was obviously pretty scared of his gun himself, as his flinch when he dropped the hammer on a fired chamber, was huge.

[rentz]

nice article something i wish people would read before heading to the range. While the vast majority of people are courteous and know what they are doing there is always the person who seems new and can't hit a thing.
I've briefly said something to someone who was having a problem before with their pistol and have offered them to try mine but usually everyone sticks to themselves.

I for one would welcome someone coming to me and saying hey i see you're doing X when you are firing, try this out and see. Just friendly advice goes a long way.

I was at elm fork once right before my CHL came in the mail and I wanted to get used to the carry gun I purchased a lil pm9. Still fairly new myself to the sport and certainly new to firing something so small I wasn't doing too hot.
Everything was on paper for sure and I wasn't a danger to anyone but I could do better. Thats when the gentleman next to me approached me during a target change and asked about what I had, etc and we had a friendly conversation.
He then said he saw me flinching some during my trigger pull and offered some advice on how to avoid that. The rest of that afternoon was probably the most pleasant experience I've ever had at the range, we were talking the entire time tried out each-others pistols and I came away knowing more and having improved my skills with my new carry weapon.

[myntalfloss]

Good article. Glad to see all the positive responses. I've had similar experiences, a notable one was;

My wife and I were Eagle Peak gun range shooting pistols and a group of 5 or 6 young guys came up, sharing the stall next to my wife. They were a wedding party down from NYC and this was their first time to shoot guns. They had rented a 1911, a S&W 357 revolver and some other semi-auto (I don't recall). Apparently the checkout consisted of showing them how to load them and making sure the credit card went through. I should mention there was not a range officer in sight.

Anyway, as I watch them playing slap & tickle with no concept of muzzle security, I moved my wife into my slot and took hers. Initially, I was a little annoyed, as I usually am, with anyone who horses around at a gun range, but soon realized these guys had no idea what they were doing and were as scared as I was about them handling guns. Fortunately for all of us, the first gun they decided to shoot was the 1911 and on or about the 3rd shot of the first guy, they got a double feed and couldn't get it fixed. So, I approached them, allowing that so many guns are different and that I had trouble sometimes sorting them out and I showed them how to clear a double feed and then just took it into a "Guns for Dummies" seminar in a conversational way. They all paid close attention and ended up shooting safely if not well. We chatted about all the places to see and do around Austin and as I had been to NYC many times, developed a camaraderie. I think and hope that they went home with good will toward Texans and guns. I think a lot of those folks, not growing up around guns, don't realize how much fun shooting is.

I think we all need to be ambassadors for guns (which leads me to the OCT folks which I think are the antithesis of ambassadors. Sorry, I digress.)