Don’t be a dick. There’s some solid advice for you. Bring it in and take a knee, because we’re going to lay some knowledge on you.
Being a dick doesn’t do anyone pro-gun any good. Plus, it makes you a dick.
If there’s one thing that drives us stark raving mad, it’s assholes who take new shooters out to the range and set them up for failure. You know who you are, asshole. You’re the dick that takes a new girlfriend, a reluctant wife, work friend, or kid brother to the range for the first time and lets them shoot a 3 1/2 turkey load through a pump shotgun. You let them stand all wrong and contorted, hold their face off the stock and pull the trigger for the first time knowing full well what’s gonna happen. Be it a revolver filled with 5 rounds of .38 special and just 1 round of .357 +P, a 300 win mag bolt gun, or a 30/30 scope held too close to the novice’s eye….you’re being a bag of shit, and you need to stop.
We have all seen the stupid “epic fail” videos on YouTube, where girls (or someone) hurt themselves shooting a shotgun and proceed to drop it as the camera man laughs. Sometimes it’s a powerful revolver and the front sight comes back to cut the person’s face. Other times it’s “pirate eye” from the scope being too close.
Congrats, you tricked the shooter. Well done. Now they are scared to ever shoot again.
Lying to the shooter that its “not a big deal, its just a small cut” is not going to help them embrace the shooting sports. The laughter and humiliation will make them never want to ever pull a trigger again. “Don’t be a pussy!” is not the phrase of encouragement a 13 -year old kid needs to hear when shooting something bigger then a .22 for the first time. They have probably already seen the same videos on YouTube, watched the large gun violently push back when YOU shot it, or just don’t know what to expect at all, and that anticipation has them nervous.
Why the actual fuck is it that every time we go to a public range we see some dickbag do one of these things? Is it seriously that funny? If you gave someone a chainsaw, knowing that they didn’t know how to use it, and they cut their leg would that be funny? You, the “experienced” shooter are handing someone a device that has the ability to take life in the blink of an eye. You take something that should be handled with reverent safety, respect and caution, and you let them proceed to be dangerous with it. Dropped guns, bruised shoulders, cut faces, and embarrassment.
Wow. Hilarious.
Here’s a thought: teach them the right way. Set them up for success. Teach them to shoot a .22 before moving on to the big stuff. Guide and mentor them. Enable the shooter to learn at their own pace and gain confidence. WIN THEM OVER TO OUR SIDE. Make supporters of the Second Amendment out of them. Help them be proud they’re exercising one of the great rights of our country. Teach them to be safe, responsible and accurate.
Seriously, the next asshole we catch doing this to a new shooter is going to get monkey stomped.
Don’t rely on us. If you see it yourselves, fix it. Don’t be a dick.
Rant over
Mad Duo, Breach-Bang & CLEAR!
For a similar, if perhaps more eloquently phrased, sentiment, please go right not and read this article on Active Response Training.
Don’t be a dick this year, and don’t let your friends be dicks.
Selah.
The thing that used to piss me off the most at my local range was he-man types who’d show up to teach the little lady how to shoot- with a 3″ .357. No, just no. I used to just hand them my .22 and a couple boxes of ammo… it was a little spendy in ammo, but amazing how many smiles I got out of it.
There is one statement made that I must protest about “You, the “experienced” shooter are handing someone a device that has the ability to take life in the blink of an eye.” If they are in fact an experienced shooter then they would not do such ignorant and outright foolish bullshit to someone. So they are in fact a total shit bag and need a serious ass kicking. I have taught many family and friends who had zero experience how to safely and accurately shoot. These ass hats piss me off for the same reasons you have stated and when I’m at the range I watch for these douchebags and correct them post haste, I do not want or need to see some one get hurt or shot, myself included.
+100. People who do this shit are sadists.
As a woman who was introduced to guns by my husband, this article is spot on. I was almost afraid to shoot and if my husband had humiliated me I would have never pick up a gun again.
Yes! Hell yes!
Amen!