Exposure
Member
Yesterday my friend brought his son to the range with him. His boy is 12 years old and has been itching to shoot a high powered rifle. He had come along once before and got a real kick out of shooting my scoped 10/22.
This trip I brought my Mini-14, M1 Garand, and SKS. After a lengthy safety tutorial we started out with 1 round at a time in the Mini-14. The look on his face after the first round made me feel great! Within a half hour he was loading the magazine by himself and blazing away under careful scrutiny from his dad and I. He was extremely cautious and never made so much as a single error in the safety department! I was so impressed. He later went on to fire the SKS for a full magazine, and even took a crack at the Garand which was a little more than he was able to handle but I had taken the first 7 seven rounds so he got the satisfaction of the "CLANG!" as the en bloc ejected. His marksmanship was excellent by the way. I wish I had 12 year old eyes again!
All in all he fired about 150 rounds of .223 through the Mini and had an absolute blast. His dad and I shot hardly a dozen rounds each we were having so much fun watching him.
My personal take is that if more children were taught early on that firearms can be quite enjoyable if used safely, and responsibly then we would not have such an anti gun culture forming in this country.
Upon leaving the range he was so excited that I think he was three feet off the ground. He solemnly shook my hand and asked that we go again real soon! I don't know who enjoyed the trip more, me, his dad, or him!
All in all it was great day. I would gladly take more kids to the range if only I could get their parents to agree to it!
This trip I brought my Mini-14, M1 Garand, and SKS. After a lengthy safety tutorial we started out with 1 round at a time in the Mini-14. The look on his face after the first round made me feel great! Within a half hour he was loading the magazine by himself and blazing away under careful scrutiny from his dad and I. He was extremely cautious and never made so much as a single error in the safety department! I was so impressed. He later went on to fire the SKS for a full magazine, and even took a crack at the Garand which was a little more than he was able to handle but I had taken the first 7 seven rounds so he got the satisfaction of the "CLANG!" as the en bloc ejected. His marksmanship was excellent by the way. I wish I had 12 year old eyes again!
All in all he fired about 150 rounds of .223 through the Mini and had an absolute blast. His dad and I shot hardly a dozen rounds each we were having so much fun watching him.
My personal take is that if more children were taught early on that firearms can be quite enjoyable if used safely, and responsibly then we would not have such an anti gun culture forming in this country.
Upon leaving the range he was so excited that I think he was three feet off the ground. He solemnly shook my hand and asked that we go again real soon! I don't know who enjoyed the trip more, me, his dad, or him!
All in all it was great day. I would gladly take more kids to the range if only I could get their parents to agree to it!