enichols
Member
... how not to let annoying people spoil your day.
I just wanted to share my range experience from yesterday.
When we first started dating, I told my girlfriend (of a little more than a year, now) that I was into shooting. After we were going steady for a few months, I finally got the opportunity to take her to the range, and she LOVED it. Now, she goes with me pretty much every time I go to the range and she wants to get some firearms of her own (In her own words, "I hate going to the range and not being able to bring my own stuff"). I tells ya, I love this woman. Shooting is now one of the many things we have in common.
Anyway, her mom and brother were here from out of the country this weekend, and she thought it would be a good idea for me to take her bro out shooting while she spent some time with her mom. So my brother and I picked him up and we all headed out to the range.
As we were en route, I explained the four rules, plus any other safety items (like keeping the gun pointed downrange) that I could think of. Upon arriving at the range, we grabbed three benches and unpacked all of the stuff. At the benches next to us were a father and his two sons, who were probably 10 and 13, respectively. Before I even allowed my g/f's brother to handle any of the firearms, I went over the four rules again and explained the functioning and aiming of the rifle (a 10/22) and stood no less than 2 feet away from him while he went through a couple magazines.
Now, all this time Dad and Juniors were watching and listening to me intently. As soon as I stepped away from g/f's bro for a half a second, this Dad grabbed me by the arm and pulled me aside. I'm one of those people who gets really... defensive... if someone I don't know touches me, much less grabs a hold of me. So this was already not very nice. This guy proceeds to tell me "Look, I can tell your friend hasn't done this before. Just make sure he keeps that muzzle pointed downrange." This is AFTER he's listened to me explain all of the safety rules, so I said "Um, I just finished talking him through all of the range/firearm safety and etiquette and supervised him through a few magazines. What more do you want me to do?" Guy responds rudely: "WELL, I've got two young kids here with me, and if he sweeps that near them I'm gonna be pretty pissed off", and proceeds to march off back to his bench. Oy. First off, my g/f's brother is 18... not like he's a little kid. Second, I didn't let him fire a shot without me supervising. What else could I do? Oh well.
Well, at any rate, my brother, g/f's brother, and I all go on with our schuetzenfest and spend the next couple of hours killing paper. Man, it was fun. My g/f's brother was having a blast (no pun intended) and wasn't doing a half bad job on his target, either! And, not once did I have to correct him as far as range/firearm safety. So we left the range, and as we're driving back to my place my g/f called me. I talked to her for a couple minutes, and handed the phone to her brother. The first words out of his mouth? "Shooting is FUN!" During the rest of the drive home, he kept ranting about how much fun he had, how awesome shooting was, etc, etc. Heh. Another convert.
So, I guess that I learned something yesterday, too... how not to let obnoxious people ruin your day. It was such a fun trip, it would've been a crime for me to have let that guy's comments spoil an otherwise awesome range session. Obviously, my brother and g/f's brother didn't seem to care too much... they were just having too much fun shooting. And I had a great time myself. I guess it really pays to focus on the good stuff.
-Nic
I just wanted to share my range experience from yesterday.
When we first started dating, I told my girlfriend (of a little more than a year, now) that I was into shooting. After we were going steady for a few months, I finally got the opportunity to take her to the range, and she LOVED it. Now, she goes with me pretty much every time I go to the range and she wants to get some firearms of her own (In her own words, "I hate going to the range and not being able to bring my own stuff"). I tells ya, I love this woman. Shooting is now one of the many things we have in common.
Anyway, her mom and brother were here from out of the country this weekend, and she thought it would be a good idea for me to take her bro out shooting while she spent some time with her mom. So my brother and I picked him up and we all headed out to the range.
As we were en route, I explained the four rules, plus any other safety items (like keeping the gun pointed downrange) that I could think of. Upon arriving at the range, we grabbed three benches and unpacked all of the stuff. At the benches next to us were a father and his two sons, who were probably 10 and 13, respectively. Before I even allowed my g/f's brother to handle any of the firearms, I went over the four rules again and explained the functioning and aiming of the rifle (a 10/22) and stood no less than 2 feet away from him while he went through a couple magazines.
Now, all this time Dad and Juniors were watching and listening to me intently. As soon as I stepped away from g/f's bro for a half a second, this Dad grabbed me by the arm and pulled me aside. I'm one of those people who gets really... defensive... if someone I don't know touches me, much less grabs a hold of me. So this was already not very nice. This guy proceeds to tell me "Look, I can tell your friend hasn't done this before. Just make sure he keeps that muzzle pointed downrange." This is AFTER he's listened to me explain all of the safety rules, so I said "Um, I just finished talking him through all of the range/firearm safety and etiquette and supervised him through a few magazines. What more do you want me to do?" Guy responds rudely: "WELL, I've got two young kids here with me, and if he sweeps that near them I'm gonna be pretty pissed off", and proceeds to march off back to his bench. Oy. First off, my g/f's brother is 18... not like he's a little kid. Second, I didn't let him fire a shot without me supervising. What else could I do? Oh well.
Well, at any rate, my brother, g/f's brother, and I all go on with our schuetzenfest and spend the next couple of hours killing paper. Man, it was fun. My g/f's brother was having a blast (no pun intended) and wasn't doing a half bad job on his target, either! And, not once did I have to correct him as far as range/firearm safety. So we left the range, and as we're driving back to my place my g/f called me. I talked to her for a couple minutes, and handed the phone to her brother. The first words out of his mouth? "Shooting is FUN!" During the rest of the drive home, he kept ranting about how much fun he had, how awesome shooting was, etc, etc. Heh. Another convert.
So, I guess that I learned something yesterday, too... how not to let obnoxious people ruin your day. It was such a fun trip, it would've been a crime for me to have let that guy's comments spoil an otherwise awesome range session. Obviously, my brother and g/f's brother didn't seem to care too much... they were just having too much fun shooting. And I had a great time myself. I guess it really pays to focus on the good stuff.
-Nic
