introducing people to firearms

This is an important subject for me. If you have not ready my post on Gun Safety, I would definitely recommend doing that really quick. Any time you introduce someone to the world of firearms, you must first teach them safety.

I hate hearing the stories about the boyfriends who take their girlfriends shooting. The boyfriend is really into guns, and wants to show off. The girlfriend has never gone shooting before or even handled a firearm, so they think it would be a great date. They go out to some empty field some place, forget the ear protection, and hand their girlfriend a 357 magnum revolver to fire as her first gun. Girl takes the shot and drops the gun because the noise and recoil was too much and all she wants to do is cover her now bleeding ears. She decides that guns are awful, and never wants anything to do with them ever again.

This is the worst. I hate this. One of my least favorite stories ever.

Whether you are introducing a child, a woman, or a man to firearms, there are some things you just don't do. If you actually want them to like guns, there is a certain way you need to go about introducing them.

First things first, Any time you are taking someone shooting who has never been shooting, you always want to make sure they know the five basic rules of handling a firearm. Imagine how they are going to feel about guns if they accidentally shoot their foot off... The gun community seems to have this stigma of being drunk republican hill-billies, and that couldn't be further from the truth. Those people give us other gun owners a bad rap, just because they don't have a brain. Don't be THAT GUY!

Show newcomers that gun owners are responsible, safe individuals by starting off with the five rules. Make sure they understand them and enforce them while you are at the range.

Second, I recommend going to a range that you pay for. While we don't like paying money to be a range member, ranges you pay for will most likely be nicer and cleaner. If you go to a random field, or a free range, it is going to be dirty, messy, and informal. It does not lend well to the stigma that is already put on gun owners. Take newcomers to a nice range. They will feel safer, and it will make you look like you are more professional and like you know what you are talking about.

Communicate with the newcomer about how the trip is going. Check in with them and ask them if they are having a good time. Is there anything that is making them uncomfortable? How do they like the guns? Ask for their feedback. Every newcomer is going to be slightly different and we want to make sure they have a good time and get hooked on firearms, just like we did.

Always give them ear protection. The biggest thing that turns people away from firearms is the noise. more
than the recoil or anything, it is the noise. I like only having the "in-ear" ear protection, but for newcomers, double it up. give them in-ear and over-ear protection. They may feel dumb having both, but it will be a much better experience. They may even come back to you and say "I don't need this over-ear protection, I will be comfortable with just one" and that is perfectly okay. That means the noise doesn't bother them as much as others. Many people will like the double protection.

Don't give them the largest rifle or hand gun in your arsenal. Start them off with your smallest caliber, and work your way up throughout the day. Women and children will definitely appreciate this. I brought my younger brother and sister shooting recently, and did this. My sister is 100lbs soaking wet and we started with the .22s to get her started off. She looked at me after shooting and was like... "that was it?" Yes! That is the exact reaction you want. they were expecting a big bang and a massive kick. What they got was something that felt like an airgun. They were hooked right then. "If that is what guns are about, I could totally get into that."

We were able to move up to my AR and AK, which have pretty light recoil, but create a lot more noise. they loved them. We moved up to my polymer 9mm pistol and they loved that as well. My Cannik 55 TP-9 is a great gun, but has a lot of muzzle flip. If we had started with that, they would have hated it. If I had started with my 30-06, they wouldn't have wanted anything to do with guns at all. Start small to hook them into the fun. Any time you move up, explain to them what to expect from this new gun, in comparison to the last one.

The worst true story that I have heard so far is very similar to the example I gave you above. Boyfriend was into guns, and girlfriend had never shot a gun in her life. As a Christmas gift, he got her a hunting rifle. She has never shot a gun, and he gave her a hunting rifle. He doesn't even know if she is going to like guns, and he gave her a hunting rifle. He felt that she should know how to shoot her hunting rifle, so he took her out to a field, did not give her ear protection, and had her shoot her rifle.

The girl I know is about the most skittish person I have ever met. She gets nervous driving to work every day. She doesn't like loud noises or anything. This whole thing was a bad idea, because she decided that she hated guns after that.

Thankfully, I was able to convince her to go shooting with me. I followed all of the things above and took her

out to my range. She knew how to handle a gun safely, we gave her ear protection, we went to the range that I am a member of, we started small with the .22s. I wanted to make sure that she had a good time going shooting. Even if she decided she still didn't like guns, she at least saw that the entire gun world is not what her boyfriend showed her.

As law abiding Americans, we have the right to own firearms. This is a large part of the American culture and we have to do everything we can to preserve it. Allowing everyone to think that gun owners are the stereotypical dumbass who likes big booms and large beers is not is not going to get that done. Do it right, or don't do it at all. Not everyone needs to like guns, but if you are the reason someone doesn't like guns, then you should be ashamed of yourself. That is about all I have to say on that