My first shot

This week, you get 2 for the price of 1. The story below, I have posted before on some of the gun forums I frequent, but I wanted to put it here as well. It is the story of how this all began. It is how I found my love for shooting and started a life-long hobby that I dearly love.

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It was the spring of 1985 and I was 13 years old. My parents had been divorced for just 2 years. My mom and I had moved back home to SC, but my dad was still living in FL. He came up to visit and took me to his sister's house. She lived WAY out in the country with her husband who was a severe gun nut. They were trying to have "adult conversation" but I kept trying to participate. They decided to distract me.

My uncle goes into his office and comes out with an old, single shot bolt action rifle. He tells me to grab 2 empty cans out of the trash and fill one with water and meet him outside on the deck. When I went out there, he was setting the rifle and a brick of .22's on the table and told me to carry both cans out to the tree line and set them down. When I came back, he carefully showed me how to operate the rifle. It was an old Winchester 67 with a scope on it. He went over how to load it and unload it... how to line up the cross hairs in the scope and how to use the safety. Then he instructed me to shoot each of the two cans once.

I fired two shots and miraculously hit both cans on the first try each. He then set the rifle down and sent me to fetch the cans. I ran out and got them and brought them back and handed them to him. He took one can and showed me the small entry hole and the small exit hole in the back. He said "That is what a .22 will do to an empty can." He then showed me the other can that had a small hole in the front and a large rip in the back that went from top to bottom. He said "And that is what a .22 will do to a human. Don't ever forget that, boy."

He then told me to grab all the cans I wanted and to shoot until I ran out of ammo or lost light. I had never had so much fun in my life. They sat in the kitchen and kept an eye on me through the window and I shot all day long. It was an afternoon that would change my life forever. A few days later my dad headed back home to FL and I thought about that rifle every day.

That summer, my dad came for another visit and we headed out to his sister's house again. My uncle handed me the same rifle, a brick of ammo and said to be careful. They had to run into town and they'd be back soon. I don't know how much time went by because I was just having so much fun shooting, but a while later I hear my uncle holler from the side of the house to hold my fire. I unloaded the rifle and set it down beside me.

He came around the corner looking a little angry and yelled "Give me back my rifle! You can't shoot it anymore!" I wasn't sure what I had done wrong, but I handed over the rifle as instructed. Just then, my dad walked around the corner holding what looked like the rifle's twin minus the scope and said "Shoot your own." I damn near fell over. My mother was mad as hell of course, and my pride and joy had to live at my uncle's house for the next 5 years. She finally let me bring it home when my aunt and uncle moved to FL.

I still have that rifle to this day and I will never sell it. Financially, it's near worthless. I've seen the same guns in pawn shops for under $100, but to me it is priceless. I have another .22 rifle now as well as plenty of other guns, but that one still gets its fair share of trips to the range.

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I hope each of you can find a young person that you can bring into our sport. We are only here for a little while and we don't want our love of shooting to die with us. Pass it along to the next generation so that when we are gone, they can stand in our place and defend the second amendment from those that would rob us of our greatest freedom.

An organization has been started called "First shots" by the NSSF to help bring people into our sport. If you know someone who wants to learn, take the time to teach them or refer them to this group. These are dark days for lovers of freedom and we need all the allies we can get.

http://www.firstshots.org/

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.