atk
Member
On the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the Haverhill Hound Rod and Gun Club (http://www.hhrg.com), and Gun Owners Action League (http://goal.org) ran a Women On Target class. I was privelaged to assist.
The most recent HHRG work crew did an excellent job. The grounds were beautiful, and the clubhouse was very clean. As a member of the club, I really liked how it looked, so I imagine our visitors had a plesant (sp?) drive in.
We had about 15 ladies in attendance. I didn't get to speak with them all, but they all seemed to have a pretty good time. One was a lawyer who writes action/adventure novels, and wanted experience with real firearms so that she could write accurately. Another was an interested school teacher. Another was from England, now living in the US, and had never really learned to shoot, but her mother was a great shot.
Jon Green (GOAL Education Guy) ran the event overall. We started at 10:00 with an hour long welcome and explaination of gun safety. Then the ladies were split up into three groups (A, B, and C) and each went to a different discipline (rifle, pistol, and skeet). Between 12 and 1 was lunch, from 1-2 the women practiced a second discipline, and from 2-3 they got to try out the third. Anyone who wanted to stay to fulfill the Massachusetts liscensing requirements (I think everyone except one or two people) went back to the clubhouse.
I helped out on skeet. The head shotgun instructor is a female nurse who works in the area, and was one of the only people openly carrying. She hunts and seems extremely good with a shotty.
We had five shotguns (sorry, I don't remember brands). There was a 28ga over-under (browning, I think); a 20ga over-under (model 1100, but I didn't get the make); a 20ga semi-auto; a 12ga semi-auto; and my evil black 12ga mossberg 590 (pump) with ghost ring sights with the "Made in USA" sticker still on it.
All but one shotgunner hit clays, and all but two of them (including the one with bad luck) seemed to love it. They all really liked the 28ga over-under. Only two tried the 12ga shottys, and they both thought they were great.
It was a lot of fun watching the ladies as they learned to shoot. One of the ladies took her first shot, paused in thought, grew a grin and said, "That was fun!" When she hit her first clay (dead center), and watched it explode, her mouth dropped, eyes widened, and she just stood there. After a moment, she was smiling from ear to ear, and absolutely thrilled to keep going.
So, my D-Day was celebrated by helping to teach a group of women - many of whom had never been around guns - to shoot, and getting a lot of new shooters. I suppose you could say we celebrated by getting new supporters - and affirming other supporters - of the second ammendment.
So what did you do?
The most recent HHRG work crew did an excellent job. The grounds were beautiful, and the clubhouse was very clean. As a member of the club, I really liked how it looked, so I imagine our visitors had a plesant (sp?) drive in.
We had about 15 ladies in attendance. I didn't get to speak with them all, but they all seemed to have a pretty good time. One was a lawyer who writes action/adventure novels, and wanted experience with real firearms so that she could write accurately. Another was an interested school teacher. Another was from England, now living in the US, and had never really learned to shoot, but her mother was a great shot.
Jon Green (GOAL Education Guy) ran the event overall. We started at 10:00 with an hour long welcome and explaination of gun safety. Then the ladies were split up into three groups (A, B, and C) and each went to a different discipline (rifle, pistol, and skeet). Between 12 and 1 was lunch, from 1-2 the women practiced a second discipline, and from 2-3 they got to try out the third. Anyone who wanted to stay to fulfill the Massachusetts liscensing requirements (I think everyone except one or two people) went back to the clubhouse.
I helped out on skeet. The head shotgun instructor is a female nurse who works in the area, and was one of the only people openly carrying. She hunts and seems extremely good with a shotty.
We had five shotguns (sorry, I don't remember brands). There was a 28ga over-under (browning, I think); a 20ga over-under (model 1100, but I didn't get the make); a 20ga semi-auto; a 12ga semi-auto; and my evil black 12ga mossberg 590 (pump) with ghost ring sights with the "Made in USA" sticker still on it.
All but one shotgunner hit clays, and all but two of them (including the one with bad luck) seemed to love it. They all really liked the 28ga over-under. Only two tried the 12ga shottys, and they both thought they were great.
It was a lot of fun watching the ladies as they learned to shoot. One of the ladies took her first shot, paused in thought, grew a grin and said, "That was fun!" When she hit her first clay (dead center), and watched it explode, her mouth dropped, eyes widened, and she just stood there. After a moment, she was smiling from ear to ear, and absolutely thrilled to keep going.
So, my D-Day was celebrated by helping to teach a group of women - many of whom had never been around guns - to shoot, and getting a lot of new shooters. I suppose you could say we celebrated by getting new supporters - and affirming other supporters - of the second ammendment.
So what did you do?
