A Special Newbie in the Fold

[jaybet]

My sister from San Diego had not been back east in 15 years. We'd had some rocky times but we got close again and she came back to visit. It was a great visit and I realized how much I love my little sister. She works at a school and was a non-gunnie...not an anti, just not a gunnie.
Picked her up at the airport and the first thing she asked was, "So...do I get to shoot some guns"?
She didn't know anything but the mainstream BS. I showed her how my 1911 works and then showed her how the AR works exactly the same way...no magic, no spraying bullets...she learned that there are a lot of lies out there.

In ten days I took her shooting three times. She shot a .22 Golden Boy, S&W 686 including .357, M&P9, Sig Pro2022 in 9mm, Sig 1911, SA XDS, my 12 ga over under, and my .223. She shot very well, ESPECIALLY well for a newbie, and she didn't shy away from anything. The only thing she found unpleasant was the XDS - a tiny gun for 45 acp.
Pretty much the bigger the boom, the better the gun, in her book. I'm proud of her and happy that she is planning to go gun shopping when she gets home.
It was a great visit, a great reunion, and it's great feeling that I brought her into the freedom fold.

[jnevis]

Excellent example of a little education goes a LONG way.

[Magoo541]

Well done. An ounce of prevention l, too bad she lives in Kalifornia and the limits on firearms she never knew she had to endure but she does now. 

[jaybet]

Well done. An ounce of prevention l, too bad she lives in Kalifornia and the limits on firearms she never knew she had to endure but she does now. 

It's just as bad or worse here.

[tombogan03884]

Another FORMER potential victim. 

[Sponsor]

[Cabby]

Always good news to hear of a newcomer to the shooting sports from San Diego.  And the family reunion is even better!

My dad bought me my first gun(which I still have)a Marlin single-shot .22 rifle for $30.00 at the Sears & Roebuck then located on University Ave. in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego.  No licenses, permits, and 14 year old boys could buy .22 LR ammunition no questions asked.  This was 1965.   I shot that rifle all over the canyons and mesas of the then-rural-except-for-Miramar-NAS Mt Soledad/San Clemente Canyon/RE Hazard Ranch area of San Diego up until 1969 when the area just got too developed. 

Believe it or not there were mule deer in San Clemente Canyon in 1965 along with a heavy population of quail, dove, meadowlarks, cottontails, jackrabbits, roadrunners, and red tail hawks.  Today the Canyon is a "park" with a freeway running through it surrounded by housing developments, shopping malls, and medical centers.  Often on my trips into the canyons in those days the only other living human soul I would see would be the engineer waving from his cab of the daily Santa Fe passenger train coming down from Los Angeles.

The last time I went hunting in San Diego County was out in the desert washes and canals near El Centro.  It was opening day of Dove Season 1987 and with the first faint light of dawn the sound of gunfire filled the desert air with a racket i had nothing to compare to until the initial air strikes on Baghdad during the Gulf War jogged my memory.   The noise was incredible, hundreds and hundreds of "hunters" up and down the washes,  some actually carrying bird guns and hundreds of others firing all manner of black guns, handguns, etc., into the banks of the washes.

The only dove i saw all day flew across our campsite looking like a 450 knot fighter-bomber doing nape-of-the-earth terrain/flak avoidance.  I took one shot with my Winchester Model 12, missed, and called it a day.  We went to a cool, dark tavern in El Centro and drank beer and listened to Mexican music until sundown. 

The Sears in Hillcrest is long gone, in fact Hillcrest has become the gay neighborhood of San Diego, and there are no longer any roadrunners, mule deer, or 14 year old boys carrying Weaver Rimfire scoped Marlin .22 rifles in San Clemente Canyon.   

[TAB]

Showing people the good side of guns is what will win us the war. 

[twyacht]

But after the "evil" hi-cap mag is empty it doesn't work anymore.....what now?

 

Good post jay, always a pleasure to see folks have an "epiphany" moment aside from MSNBC, CNN, and the White House's talking points....

[PegLeg45]

This was a great thing to read about, Jay!!

I love to hear stories about enlightenment when it comes to firearms.... and re-connecting with family is even better.

[Strider]

Nice job!!! The only way we will ever keep our freedom is to bring others into the fold.