Educated a gun-ignorant person

[The Wiry Irishman]

I spent a fair bit of my afternoon today getting paperwork for the upcoming Purdue/Ohio State pistol match signed, stamped, notarized and scent marked by the various offices and university bureaucracies that deal with club sports. One of the women that worked in one of the offices struck up a little idle conversation while she was doing whatever it was she had to do. It went something like this:

Woman: "A pistol match? You guys shoot caps, right?"
TWI: "Huh?" (My brain immediately discarded the first possible option as too silly, so I was thinking she was using some obscure Indiana hilljack word for some type of target. I was confused)
Woman: "You shoot caps, right? You don't use real bullets?"
TWI: .... (I was dumbfounded... did she think the Ohio State pistol team would drive four hours over here to play cowboys and Indians with Wal-Mart cap guns? Granted, it would be nice to get out of Ohio, but it still seems like a little much)
TWI: No, we use real bullets
Woman (with look of sheer terror): INSIDE?

I went on to explain that we have a very large bullet trap, and laid out how it worked. I also told her that during the second World War, they shot "Big .45s" in there on a regular basis, so our little .22s wouldn't be a problem at all. When the paperwork was done, she thanked me for explaining everything and said (pretty genuinely, it seemed) that the whole thing seemed pretty cool. Hopefully that understands guns can be used for other things besides killing babies.

 

[Thain]

Hey, we've all had our share on "brain-fart" moments when talking about a subject we know nothing about... I used to think that a 'Long Island Iced Tea,' contained actual iced tea.

Made an ass of myself in front of the "Mrs." and the bartender with that one.

You should have invited her to come down and watch!

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

When people who've never been to an indoor range hear about that they probably imagine a setting like an office building, not a big purpose-built bullet trap with some walls built up around it to keep the weather out.

 

[bluestarlizzard]

back in 4-h, we had meetings at the uva rotc building and we shot in the basement. when i told non-gun people, they were very, very startled!nobody knew that there was a little .22 range hidden in the bowls of the uva campus.

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

The building we shoot in technically belongs to the ROTC as well. The range isn't exactly hidden, though. The Armory (the building where the range is) is essentially a HUGE brick barn over a giant drill floor with the bullet traps for the range going down one side. The building gets used as a rain backup for big outdoor events, so virtually everyone on campus has been in there at one time. Most people just don't realize what the sandbox is for.

 

[bluestarlizzard]

we kids loved our range. it was the batman cave! sometimes the rotc guys would show off the flippy stuff with the garands. the only problem was that on the second floor there was an assembly hall and they would have conserts and stuff. the bass would shake the whole building when we were trying to practice. once it was so bad that we ended up quiting early and wanted to walk up (with all the gear on - guns still attached to sling to arm!) and yell "shut up!" our couch told us no though.

 

[scout26]

You should have invited her to come down and watch!

75% there.

You need to invite her to come shoot !!!!!

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

You should have invited her to come down and watch!

Definitely not. She's obviously never had any first-hand experience with guns before, so her first one should be positive. Unless you're competing, a pistol match is one of the most deadly boring things you can ever experience.

You need to invite her to come shoot !!!!!

Exactly what occurred to me on my way out. I'll try the next time I'm in there with paperwork.

 

[bluestarlizzard]

"Definitely not. She's obviously never had any first-hand experience with guns before, so her first one should be positive. Unless you're competing, a pistol match is one of the most deadly boring things you can ever experience."

hey, in europe its a hot spectater sport. the olympics that get held over there sell out seats to the shooting matches fast.

 

[Floppy_D]

Back in TX, we shot .22 in our JROTC drill room, which was a classroom on a high school campus. There was a brick wall in the back, but there were windows that opened to a large courtyard to our left. To our credit, even unsupervised, noone pulled anything stupid. Just got better at shooting.

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

hey, in europe its a hot spectater sport. the olympics that get held over there sell out seats to the shooting matches fast.

Also we have no chairs.

 

[scout26]

Start off with watching and teach as you go. She doesn't have to stay for the whole match, just long enough to understand that it's a safe, fun recreational activity/sport. Then invite her to some casual plinking and explain the difference between the two.

There's an old saying around here:

Each one, Teach one.



She might also be able to help expedite the "paperwork/scent-marking process" next time. Many years of experience in the business world has proven to me that if the secretarys, admin assistants, henchmen and evil minions like you, you can get more done, faster and your way no matter what their bosses think/do.

Folding chairs are like 5-10 bucks at Wally-World, if you can't find one/borrow anywhere on the Purdue campus....