Good afternoon. If this isn’t the correct place for this, Mods feel free to correct my aim.
I suppose any one of us on social media has witnessed their feed fill with vitriol and blame for the actions of one flawed, evil being. Mine sure has. But one (my next-door neighbor, who I know votes blue) posted a sincere post, desiring input from our side of the discussion. Knowing that engaging his question on social media would most certainly devolve into a pseudo-religion mud-slinging(by others on his feed, and not him), I simply replied, “let’s discuss Saturday, at the range”. He quickly accepted.
I like to exercise my freedom early, so we began in my kitchen at 630,over coffee. We spoke of gun safety, discussed the parts and functions of each, then loaded a paper target and some steel plates in the car and headed out. At the range, I introduced him to range etiquette and safety rules. We set the target up at 100, and put the steel down range at 300. Got him comfortable at the bench, with sandbags and put 1round at a time in the mag. Talked him through basic sight picture and trigger squeeze. The Grendel did what the Grendel does, and After a few shots, he had a smile on his face. He put 20rounds through paper, before I switched with him. 10rounds later, I put him back in the chair, and directed him to the steel “waaaaay down there”
His first comment was, “no way”. But a couple shots later, we were hearing that satisfying “whack” of Wolf vs Steel plate. Repeatedly. He was smiling, and asking how much “one of these things” costs to buy. 4boxes of Wolf went downrange this morning. Other shooters arrived and set up. We watched a family do a Tannerite and chalk powder baby gender reveal (pink), and we talked. We talked about individual rights, public safety, mental health, public perception vs the reality he had now personally experienced.
Is he going to vote Red now? Doubtful. Is he going to buy a black rifle? Possibly. Is he going to buy some ammo and join me at the range again soon? Definitely! My point in posting this is that within every vitriolic newsfeed lies an opportunity to interact with those few genuinely reasonable people, who is capable of listening, and whose mind might be changed. We are the only ones who have a hope of giving willing, inexperienced people an opportunity to see what guns are, and what they are not. If they’re interested in listening, we need to provide something positive to listen to, or else the television and internet will fill them with carefully-crafted misinformation, masquerading as facts.
Your mileage may vary.
I suppose any one of us on social media has witnessed their feed fill with vitriol and blame for the actions of one flawed, evil being. Mine sure has. But one (my next-door neighbor, who I know votes blue) posted a sincere post, desiring input from our side of the discussion. Knowing that engaging his question on social media would most certainly devolve into a pseudo-religion mud-slinging(by others on his feed, and not him), I simply replied, “let’s discuss Saturday, at the range”. He quickly accepted.
I like to exercise my freedom early, so we began in my kitchen at 630,over coffee. We spoke of gun safety, discussed the parts and functions of each, then loaded a paper target and some steel plates in the car and headed out. At the range, I introduced him to range etiquette and safety rules. We set the target up at 100, and put the steel down range at 300. Got him comfortable at the bench, with sandbags and put 1round at a time in the mag. Talked him through basic sight picture and trigger squeeze. The Grendel did what the Grendel does, and After a few shots, he had a smile on his face. He put 20rounds through paper, before I switched with him. 10rounds later, I put him back in the chair, and directed him to the steel “waaaaay down there”
His first comment was, “no way”. But a couple shots later, we were hearing that satisfying “whack” of Wolf vs Steel plate. Repeatedly. He was smiling, and asking how much “one of these things” costs to buy. 4boxes of Wolf went downrange this morning. Other shooters arrived and set up. We watched a family do a Tannerite and chalk powder baby gender reveal (pink), and we talked. We talked about individual rights, public safety, mental health, public perception vs the reality he had now personally experienced.
Is he going to vote Red now? Doubtful. Is he going to buy a black rifle? Possibly. Is he going to buy some ammo and join me at the range again soon? Definitely! My point in posting this is that within every vitriolic newsfeed lies an opportunity to interact with those few genuinely reasonable people, who is capable of listening, and whose mind might be changed. We are the only ones who have a hope of giving willing, inexperienced people an opportunity to see what guns are, and what they are not. If they’re interested in listening, we need to provide something positive to listen to, or else the television and internet will fill them with carefully-crafted misinformation, masquerading as facts.
Your mileage may vary.
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