To all and to some specifically...
I didn't by any means say I wouldn't kill someone if I ever had to.
I also never implied that I don't know how to train rather than just punch neat little holes into a piece of paper... To me, where I live, having kids, I don't get nearly the time I would need to become anything like an expert. Let's face it, even without kids and a range in my backyard I know I wouldn't get enough range time for my own highest of all standards.
I am proficient enough with any given rifle to hit what I aim at from the muzzle out to 100 yards, with steady, aimed fire. Scoped and open sights.
For hunting, that's all you really need here in southern Vt. because you're generally never going to get a shot of more than 75 yards. I had one deer walk within 10 feet of me and the only reason I had to not shoot was because I didn't dare breathe much less try to swing the rifle around. The wind stayed just right and he walked into the field of fire, but he didn't follow my great plan of him coming into the clearing from the other way. After about twenty minutes of calculated movements between me and him I dropped him at less than 10 yards, final estimate was like 20 feet!
We used to be able to practice at further distances but thanks to out-of-state-now-own-property-here-types of complainers, the local sand pit is totally off limits to free firearms practice... We used to be able to measure out a 985 foot range and shoot at soda and soup cans with old bolt-action WW1 vets with "lobbing sights" or with the season's newest optics.
The 500 meter range at the local club is tempting, but $75 yearly seems a bit steep for the few times I get to go out shooting nowadays.
I shoot at another range about 20 miles away, near where I grew up that has a decent 120 yard range, a 30 yard pistol range, and a clays field...
Occasionally I go to a good friend's house over there where we "play Hollywood" We shoot two handguns at the same time, fire shotguns one handed, and generally horse around in a totally safe but prohibited at mainstream shooting events/ranges manner. Targets include, but are seldom limited to: a junk car, a huge maple tree, a 4 foot square of 1/2" steel plate, a 55 gallon drum of rainwater, etc. Before you all cringe and tell me I'm nuts I must add that he lives 5 miles from anyone on a private road, owns 35 acres, and nobody goes up his driveway without calling him first.
I've always practiced with pistols a little differently.
Usually I jog in place for twenty seconds, do a dozen push-ups then stand and draw down on three separate targets, 5-10 feet apart and from 5 to 20 feet away and try to get center of mass hits on all three in less than 2 seconds. This might not be a totally realistic technique but it gives me a unique situation where my hands are shaky, my heart is beating 1,000 times per second and I'm sweating bullets. (pun fully intended) Three factors that have accompanied EVERY schoolyard scrap and potentially life-threating situation that's ever come my way since I was born. Sometimes I'll try quick-draw double-taps at one torso target, and then a single aimed shot at another target that's partially covered by a piece of colored paper or a clean torso target... If you can hit a soda can from 30 yards with any firearm you name, that to me, is tactically qualified for self defense.
I seldom stand and shoot one target, arms straight out, double clasp of the hands, aiming for perfect scores...
I'm not a competitor, nor do I intend to be.
I'm not a victim, nor do I intend to be.
When it comes to firearms, I feel that it is the same as for vehicles.
Everyone should be entitled to own as many as they want, openly or concealed, mint factory condition or in several pieces.
Each individual reserves the right to choose whatever brand-name and/or features that they, the individual, personally may happen to like.
It is the sole responsibility of the users to treat other users and non-users with courtesy and respect so that the "Foul machines of noise and death" don't take a human life, but remain a possesion for pleasure and leisure.
I get a little upset with the people who will openly limit the "need" or "use" of any given firearm or to insult an enthusiast of a certain type.
On one hand you got the guy who religiously hunts every year and on the other you got the "I'm strictly a paper target shooter." Somewhere in that mix is the collector, the customiser, and the citizen who thinks his personal defense weapon should be more effective than a baseball bat or a 911 call.
Arguing what gun is proper in a situation and in which way is best for it to be employed by everyone, is a moot point.
We are all different, this is a free economy founded on Trade, Enterprise and Capitalism, and we all deserve the right to be able to choose wisely and within our means. I think a flintlock muzzleloader is just as dangerous and just as gorgeous as tomorrow's plasma rifle might one day be.
I can only hope that when that day comes, that not only will there still be a United States Of America where a free citizen can legally own a plasma rifle and/or a flintlock, but that my many great-great grandchild will tell his son about the man who wrote these words and then they'll go out and be able to fire off a few rounds from an AK-47 or a Colt .45 at a paper target, or to be allowed to experience the thrill of the hunt with a scoped (not to be confused with a sniper weapon) hunting rifle. If we're lucky, and there is an afterlife, maybe we'll all meet again in some cyberforum of the future and we can still chat freely about whether or not the fake wood or the original black plastic stocks look better on that plasma rifle.
Respectfully, jim
