MatthewVanitas
Member
Today was the beginning of good things on campus.
MacPelto and I were out on the West Mall of UT handing recruiting for the formerly-defunct UT Rifle and Pistol Club. This was a formerly formidable organization which won national awards, but has dwindled down to almost nothing, despite having experienced retired coaches, a full armory, and smallbore range right in the middle of campus.
So MacPelto got us registered as a club, printed some fliers, and we handed out about 150 over lunch today.
Felt a bit odd at first to wander through milling crowds of students, calling out "Free Shooting Classes! Guns and Ammo Provided!"
Reactions were mixed, but no extreme negatives and quite a few extreme positives:
--Only two tasteless comments regarding the fact that we're recruiting right under the UT Austin Clock Tower (of Charles Whitman massacre notoriety)
--One "Oh, I'm like a total pacifist"
--Variety of folks who apparently assumed this was a performance art project or Brady Campaign parody skit
However tons of people who seemed really intrigued. Had quite a few folks that would blow me off like all the rest of the folks handing out fliers for rallies and clubs, then would spin around and say "You're doing WHAT? There's a range here on campus? Free shooting? I'll take a flier!" One guy even told us "I've never, ever accepted a flier before, but I want this one!"
Was also gratifying that those expressing interest were pretty much an even spread across University demographics. A good sign for the future of shooting sports, and not a bad sign for a single male student.
Wednesday is our first free class, so we'll see whether we get two loners wandering in, or have to turn folks away at the door.
In the meantime, if you know anybody on UT Campus, turn them on to us. We have classes for new shooter, and we can get experienced shooters going in a variety of disciplines. If we get enough good shooters, we can go and shoot against A&M next year.
If anyone has any good ideas, or has skills or contacts to contribute, feel free to email me or MacPelto. We're hoping to do a big Skeet/Clay fun shoot sometime in late April or early May, so if anyone knows a club that could give us a good deal on a student outing and rent us a mess of shotguns, that'd be great.
A lot of folks complain about the future of the shooting sports, but I think this could be an outstanding opportunity to expose a lot of people to the basics of shooting. Even if 20 folks come by and only one becomes a member, that's still 19 folks who know that shooting a gun isn't a frightening experience. This could become quite interesting.
Best of luck to all, and I hope that other college folks out there are having good luck with their shooting clubs as well. Take care,
-MV
MacPelto and I were out on the West Mall of UT handing recruiting for the formerly-defunct UT Rifle and Pistol Club. This was a formerly formidable organization which won national awards, but has dwindled down to almost nothing, despite having experienced retired coaches, a full armory, and smallbore range right in the middle of campus.
So MacPelto got us registered as a club, printed some fliers, and we handed out about 150 over lunch today.
Felt a bit odd at first to wander through milling crowds of students, calling out "Free Shooting Classes! Guns and Ammo Provided!"
Reactions were mixed, but no extreme negatives and quite a few extreme positives:
--Only two tasteless comments regarding the fact that we're recruiting right under the UT Austin Clock Tower (of Charles Whitman massacre notoriety)
--One "Oh, I'm like a total pacifist"
--Variety of folks who apparently assumed this was a performance art project or Brady Campaign parody skit
However tons of people who seemed really intrigued. Had quite a few folks that would blow me off like all the rest of the folks handing out fliers for rallies and clubs, then would spin around and say "You're doing WHAT? There's a range here on campus? Free shooting? I'll take a flier!" One guy even told us "I've never, ever accepted a flier before, but I want this one!"
Was also gratifying that those expressing interest were pretty much an even spread across University demographics. A good sign for the future of shooting sports, and not a bad sign for a single male student.
Wednesday is our first free class, so we'll see whether we get two loners wandering in, or have to turn folks away at the door.
In the meantime, if you know anybody on UT Campus, turn them on to us. We have classes for new shooter, and we can get experienced shooters going in a variety of disciplines. If we get enough good shooters, we can go and shoot against A&M next year.
If anyone has any good ideas, or has skills or contacts to contribute, feel free to email me or MacPelto. We're hoping to do a big Skeet/Clay fun shoot sometime in late April or early May, so if anyone knows a club that could give us a good deal on a student outing and rent us a mess of shotguns, that'd be great.
A lot of folks complain about the future of the shooting sports, but I think this could be an outstanding opportunity to expose a lot of people to the basics of shooting. Even if 20 folks come by and only one becomes a member, that's still 19 folks who know that shooting a gun isn't a frightening experience. This could become quite interesting.
Best of luck to all, and I hope that other college folks out there are having good luck with their shooting clubs as well. Take care,
-MV
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