The Number One Way to Help the Firearms Community

You’ve asked yourself once about what you can do to help gun ownership as a right and a hobby survive, haven’t you? You then thought about how much of a pain it would be to actually do something and never bothered to think about it much again.

It really is more simple than you could have imagined. It’s not donating money, it’s not joining clubs, it’s not climbing the legal ladder of legislative power (though of course that one helps). You probably have already done it, and it’s so simple and easy that you likely didn’t even think about it.

When was the last time you went shooting? We all enjoy shooting, or at least I assume you do if you’re reading this. It’s extremely relaxing and as long as you’re safe there’s no chance of injury. But here’s the biggest question: Did you go shooting alone? Of course there’s nothing wrong with going shooting alone; at times it’s even preferable. It can be so quiet and relaxing, but I’m not here to discuss relaxing moments alone at the range.

Recently my roommate asked me if I wanted to go shooting sometime during one of the upcoming weekends. That doesn’t sound all that unusual until I tell you he used to be very resistant to the idea of shooting. He was one of the “nobody really needs guns, especially those scary ones” kind of guys. So asking to hit the range was quite a change.

So what had happened? I took him shooting once, bringing along a bunch of my rifles from small to large calibers and teaching him how they worked. I demonstrated that really they’re all the same thing regardless of size, and how they work is both amazing and simple. I turned a scary unknown into a fun afternoon. Apart from getting a little “ringeye” from the 30-06 scope he enjoyed it a lot, everything from the fudd-friendly moose hunting civilian rifle to scary black vz58. In one simple afternoon I turned an anti-gun into an understanding person. And he’s not the only one either.

Unless you have horrible social interaction issues I’m sure you’ve done it at least once now that you think about it, with a family member or a friend. All it takes is a fun day out target shooting to get them to understand that their knowledge of guns acquired from movies, games and news stations is completely wrong, and guns are only as dangerous as the people wielding them make them.

That’s the meat of the topic. If you truly want to preserve your hobby and right make sure you convert as many people as possible. That’s our biggest problem when facing anti-guns. They dislike guns because they don’t know how they work, they don’t know how to be safe with guns, and they don’t know how much enjoyment and peace of mind you have as a firearm owner. That leads them to believe firearms are the cause of all problems and violence in the country. Next time you’re chatting with someone who’s on the fence or isn’t all that comfortable with the idea of people having guns, offer to take them along for an afternoon of target shooting. You could maybe even let them bring a friend or two to put them at ease. It works every time.