A reader writes about a recent life-changing experience:
Yesterday, me and my wife took the second step in buying a gun — attending a four-hour Basic Firearms Safety Course . The first step is finding out whether your town’s police authority will give out gun licenses. Since [State] is a “shall issue” state, forget about getting a licence in [Big City] or another large city, forget it unless you’re well-connected. The instructor said that this de facto ban was illegal, but what are you going to do?
All 40 seats were full. This facility hold this class every day. The instructor said that ever since the Paris attacks, they haven’t been able to keep up with the demand and would hold a second class if they had the range time. The demographics were quite telling. There was a 50/50 gender mix with six other couples. There was one 18 year old guy and only one other guy under forty. The rest of us were middle-aged and middle-class. And… we were all white.
I wasn’t alone in having trouble practicing loading/unloading the full-sized guns. My hands weren’t big enough, and I ended up waving the barrel around too much while trying to release the magazine clip. Oops. And my index finger ended up sliding down from alongside the barrel into the the trigger guard. Double oops. And I pointed the revolver up in the air when unloading it. Nope nope nope. Beginners mistakes; easily identified and fixable with training.
On the range, I got a very good cluster. The instructor was astonished that I’d never picked up a handgun before, and my last time firing a gun was a 22 for the Boy Scout merit badge.
I really enjoyed firing. I lined up the sights, felt an adrenal rush, stopped thinking, slowly squeezed, and watched bullets hit the target. It was a shock when the gun went ‘click’ instead of ‘pop’. So here’s my problem. All my life, I’ve been told guns are evil and as a upper-middle class white guy, I shouldn’t use one. But it was fun, dammit!
Next step is to get a licence. And more classes, leading up the practical purchase of a pump-action shotgun with an 18-22″ barrel that both my wife and I can handle.
The American militia is awakening. I have no doubt it will be ready when the time comes. None at all. Will it be enough? Only time will tell.
And if you haven’t armed yourself and your family, what are you waiting for? You can’t possibly say that you haven’t been warned. Repeatedly.