She dressed appropriately; It wouldn't have been good for this quite easy on the eye girl to arrive in something skimpy or designer...It wasn't a fashion show after all; It was a day at the range.
We sat at a café and had a coffee whilst I explained what was going to happen, how the day would unfold; I was clear to let her know it would be ok for her to call a halt to proceedings at any stage and then we headed to the range to shoot.
The set up
To put you in the picture, I was taking someone shooting for the first time; Not just any person though, a person that hated guns and was active in denouncing them, and their irresponsible mass-murdering owners.
I'd made the offer to take her to the range in a bid to help her understand things a little more clearly and potentially bring change to her dialogues, be less judgemental and more factual. My intention wasn't to make her like guns or their owners, just temper her thoughts through some actual experience. You can read the post I wrote about it here of you like.
I have created a couple of collages for the purpose of this post but none are from the range day last week. None of them include the girl I took shooting. The blonde in the images is my partner, Faith, but images show some of my guns the girl I took to the range, Sophie, for lack of a better fake name, got to shoot. When I'm instructing I don't take photos and whilst one of my mates has some they show Sophie's face and I said I would not use them out of respect.
I have to applaud Sophie's decision to accept my invitation considering how anti-gun oriented she is. I'll not go into some of the things she had said to me as none of it was very complimentary, most quite opinionated and of course almost none was based on any real data or fact as seems to be the case with those types. None of her arguments had any real relevance to Australia at all and I had my suspicions she was simply repeating dialogues read parrot-fashion on the news networks. Same old story.
It all combined to make her look like a raving lunatic and she behaved like one also. So...Kudos to the girl for putting aside her prejudice and coming to the range with me.
The beginning
As usual I began with an orientation of the range, discussions about what downrange meant, the processes and strict rules around safe areas and what the mounds were for and so on. A general orientation. All the while there was gunfire from surrounding ranges and she was flinching every time. That's normal; It was the first time she had ever heard a gun fired in real life.
From there I got down to unpacking the guns I'd brought: A couple different handguns, three different types of rifles and a shotgun. I made her help explaining everything along the way: How to hold the bags or cases, which way up to place them on the benches or ground, how careful to be and so on.
I then selected one to start with and went into the safety procedures.
This involves explaining where to point it which, naturally, is down range at all times, what each part of it was called, how it operated and aimed, how to hold it when at rest and in the process of shooting, what trigger-discipline was and why it was so important, how to load and unload it, make it safe and then finally clear it and bag it. There's more to it but I don't want to bore you too much.
All the while I could see Sophie studying intently what I was saying, trying to take it in.
At first she held the gun similar to how I suppose someone would hold a crocodile or snake, that is to say without much comfort at all. She was very nervous. As we went on though she became more accustomed to the weight, the downrange at all times direction and the trigger-discipline and she began to ask more and more intelligent, relevant questions.
The first shot
Before long it was time for her first shot. By this time there was a little audience of my mates and a few others, all intent on seeing how this anti-gun weirdo would go the first time she fired a shot. Keep in mind this is a military-run gun range so most there were active or ex-military, some women included. Of course, I had the range and was instructing so they let me do my thing. Sophie was nervous though and didn't appreciate the audience.
I asked if she wanted to shoot first or have me fire a demonstration round to show her what to expect...She wanted to do it which I was happy about; She looked pretty eager. I had purposely slowed it all down to give her the ability to chicken out but she seemed more and more keen so...
She was shooting my Warwick WFA1, a .223 calibre straight-pull rifle. I have highly modified it and it is a bloody joy to shoot. You can see it below. It's a very short rifle I have set up for run and gun shooting events and uses a red dot sight so it's simply point it, get the dot where you want the bullet and pull the trigger. OK, there's more to it, but it's simple to shoot is my point.
She aimed at centre-mass on a twelve inch steel target at 25 metres and crack she fired. No hesitation. She made a dead-centre hit.
I'd told her to squeeze off one round then stay in position, maintaining trigger-discipline. Oh, speaking of position...She looked like an operator, I mean she assumed the exact stance I would have used, the one I told her to take. She looked good. Pretty sexy really, but that's a different post altogether. 😁
So there she was, finger extended along the receiver of the gun away from the trigger, muzzle pointed at about 45 degrees to the ground, body slightly hunched over the rifle and eyes fixed down range...The rifle smoked a little and slowly she turned head to me...She was smiling.
How did that feel? I asked.
Nice, she said. The smile had split into a broad grin.
Ok, then send some more. The range is yours. She had a thirty round magazine and I let her send them all at 25 and then 50 metres.
Many, many more shots
I did the same with the shotgun and the two handguns, the same process from start to finish, with the same result. Smiles and grins. Admittedly she didn't enjoy my shotgun very much as it kicks like a very naughty mule with a bad attitude, but she put a dozen shells though it nonetheless.
She loved the hand guns and was comfortable enough to do some shooting on the move; Double-tap a target, move, double-tap, move, double-tap, move with some magazine changes in between. She put about 200 rounds downrange through both of the handguns and I even put a holster on her to give her an understanding of what it felt like to draw and fire. I also wanted her to feel what it was like to walk around with a firearm holstered.
We went on to the other rifles, a .243 and 6.5mm Creedmoor, both of which I shoot out to long ranges. We were only at 100 metres though and she managed to group quite well; The main point was to give her the experience though, not teach her how to shoot well.
Her favourite was the WFA1 though so we went back to it and she put another four magazines, some 120 rounds, through it at various ranges whilst static and mobile. She looked good, moved well and maintained all the safety disciplines. Natural? Well, it's not natural to do things like this so I avoid that term however she looked comfortable, moved well and handled the firearms confidently; Certainly a good foundation to build on and definitely not at all like someone who hated guns. 😂
The aftermath
We packed up during which others, people I'd pre-arranged, engaged with her asking questions of her and answering some she had in return. I wanted her to know what these people were like, who they were; Serving soldiers, returned veterans, farmers, hunters, doctors, professors, factory workers, a nurse, a fifteen year old...Typical people...Not mass murderers.
After the pack-up and some discussions I took her around to some of the other ranges, talked about different disciplines, the way the range worked plus licensing, gun storage and the regulations around what firearms are permitted and why. We talked about assault rifles, military and law enforcement, the perception people have of lawful firearms owners, shooting sports, illegal and criminal activity...We talked a lot.
I was careful not to bring up her own thoughts and feelings; She would do that if she chose to and I figured, by observation, that she was a little troubled, confused maybe. I mean clearly she loved the shooting as I had suspected she would. That would play havoc with her anti-gun sensibilities for sure.
I wrapped it up and drove back out of the range to drop her back to her car. We had been there for almost five hours! She was very grateful and offered me money for the ammunition...She'd shot about $260-$290 worth of it but I declined - I make my own and have plenty of ammunition so was most willing to donate some to help an anti-gunner understand firearms a little better. I dropped her off and went home to clean guns, which I should have made her do I guess!
That was last Saturday, seven days ago. Young Sophie text messaged me yesterday and asked to meet for coffee on Tuesday next week which I agreed to. She also thanked me for changing her perspective; She said, I didn't know what I didn't know, and you taking me shooting has made me think differently. Ok cool, I thought. That was what I was hoping. Let's see what the aftermath may be on Tuesday.
Is she going to like guns now? Will she get her license and become a shooter? Will she want to come shooting again? Does she own a bikini top, short denim shorts and cowgirl boots? Sorry, that last one just slipped in...😇
Seriously though...I feel my range day was highly successful and it makes no difference if she likes guns now or not. I just don't care.
All I know is that I got the chance to give a formerly closed off and argumentative person some perspective, for them to experience shooting and firearms first hand, speak to others and learn from their experiences and the chance to readjust their thought process and dialogues. I'd call that a successful day.
So tell me, would you come shooting with me? What's your thoughts on the matter of firearms and regulations around them. Do you feel I did the right thing taking her to the range? And...What's your thought on the probability of Sophie wanting to get her license now?
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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