Another conversion, welcomed my dad to our club

[E-Rock]

For at least twenty four years (as long as I've been alive) my Dad has held the belief that guns weren't necessarily bad, but he wanted nothing to do with them. My Mom held a more rigid view that gun ownership was a "warning sign" that someone may be dangerous. So growing up I had no guns, but we compromised on archery.

When I moved out I started exploring the shooting sports and bought guns for different occasions. Parents weren't thrilled, but weren't going to stop me. My brother moved out two weeks ago and now my parents have an empty nest. I had taught my brother to shoot and have taken him to the range on numerous occasions, it was our "brother hobby." (this is going somewhere, wait for it)

After a week of a silent house, my dad called me and said he couldn't live like that and he needed a hobby. Before I could offer, HE asked ME if I would take him shooting. Yep.

Took him to the range this weekend with a .22 rifle and a .45. I went over the basics and left him to shoot to his heart's content; apparently I didn't bring enough ammo (he blew through 250 rounds in an hour, with a bolt action .22, with only one magazine). He didn't care much for the .45, but loved that rifle. When we got back home I showed him this year's Savage catalog and he read almost every page, but at the end decided he wanted a .22 pistol, "...since we already have a .22 rifle." He wants to go again next weekend

And to top it off, my mom was looking over his shoulder at the Savage catalog when he came to the page with the pink rifle. He said to Mom, "Look honey, we could get a pink one for you," to which she replied (and I got a big kick out of this) "No, I don't want a pink rifle...I'd want a black one." She's coming next weekend

 

[jordan1948]

That's awesome man.

 

[sophijo]

Dad

...there you go! Good job! Reloading will keep him happy too!

 

[ByAnyMeans]

Heck of a good job. Sounds like you got two if your mom likes it.

 

[MrCleanOK]

Nice! So many people have a negative or neutral impression of guns or gun ownership because they only exposure they've ever had is what they get from the media. Sometimes all it takes is one little dose of reality to turn things around

 

[stevek]

Congrats, and way to go!

 

[bnkrazy]

Awesome!

 

[Mohawk]

Good job, E-Rock. One more convert to the fold.

 

[E-Rock]

It's not so hard to get people on our side. A lot of people just don't know where to start. At school (law student) my girlfriend and I make an active effort to tell people when we are going to the range. A lot of people like the idea of trying shooting sports but don't know how to go about it because they don't know anyone who shoots. Guns are cool so long as people feel they are in a controlled and safe environment with stable people who are willing to spend time with them.

We've got a trip coming up with 3 or 4 first time shooters coming. We bring some .22s (pistol and rifle) and some bigger calibers, handguns, rifles, shotguns, scary guns (EBR) and let them try them. Most people want to stick with the .22s for their first time even after shooting bigger guns, so its not like you'll be out $$$ shooting up all your .45. They either like it or they don't, but most people like it. Don't direct people, lecture them, or pressure them; just let them shoot. A lot of the fear of guns is just inexperience. Out of a dozen or so people I've brought shooting, only two have said they still didn't like it afterward. Two others have since become gun owners

 

[bigalexe]

That's good to hear.

In the household I live in its a very similar situation. I think if you left me and my dad to our own devices though we would purchase a small armory of weapons. My mom's more rigid opposition to guns and also level-headedness with the check book put a halt to it though. For now I'm stuck buying what I can afford with my own money which isn't much.

My dad is in a kind of goofy situation for me in that I want to get him hunting (as a ploy to get him to buy himself a gun) but he is rather opposed to the idea of killing something. He fishes and eats the deer I shot but doesn't really want to do it himself, I guess its just his background.