Alan550 Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 I'm the contact person for our club and am used to hearing all sorts of strange requests, but got a pleasant surprise yesterday. Fellow with a Scottish accent called inquiring about some handgun instruction. Said he's on a "Fly & Drive" vacation here for a few weeks and had never had a handgun in his hand. Would someone be willing to acquaint him with the necessary safety procedures and let him shoot a bit? I jumped at the chance to be a "goodwill ambassador" for our hobby! He offered to pay (which I refused) and we started out with a .22 after the usual safety lesson. He shot at ~ 7-10 yds with open sighted and red-dot guns for a bit before I moved him on to centerfire (9mm light reloads) starting with open sights before moving on to my Open Bianchi gun. The whole morning was spent with either conversation or shooting (by him) and the whole time he grinned! If he'd died then & there, it would have taken the mortician a week to get rid of that grin! I sent him on his way with the targets that he'd fired on (all shots in the black)after a short lunch. We'd discussed the various laws both here and in Scotland, why having the right to have guns is so fundamental to us here and how much fun can be had with them. He left with a very positive reaction to his first time shooting and will be back again on his next visit to the US. He'd made a list of things to do here and on a recent trip to Egypt, a fellow traveler had told him to not miss the opportunity to meet and shoot with some gun owners here in America. I know I'm rambling, but it was truly one of my best teaching days in years. I had electronic muffs for him so I didn't have to yell all the time, kept it low-key in my instructions and all-in-all, it was a rewarding experience for all concerned. Wish I had 50 more like him to bring into our little hobby here in the states!! Alan~^~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Cheely Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h2osport Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Great story. One of the younger shooters locally has made a habbit of bringing foreign friends to the range every summer. On of the females from germany had so much fun that she went through the process of getting a gun in germany. From what I understand it was a very laborious process to get the firearm. Had she not had the opportunity to shoot in the US, she would have never been interested. Randy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Very cool! I had a chance a couple of years ago to do something similar with a colleague from Canada. He was 50+ and had never held a handgun in his life. After instruction in safety and the manual of arms of a G17, he shot a match with us that evening. He was very safe, and actually shot well (he took his time but wasn't glacial). He still talks about it with a huge grin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Have done it many a time with my wife's relatives, especially those from Hong Kong or the PRC. I even got the extra big Shoot-N-C sighting in targets so they can see their hits. They eat it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenShooterGirl Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Great story... sounds like you were a great ambassador for our sport! I'll bet his Scottish friends grow tired of hearing the stories long before he tires of showing off his targets! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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