Pay It Forward

$.89 for a box of Saltines from Aldi
$3 for 3 bags of balloons from the Dollar Store
$15 for 550 rounds of .22LR
2 - .22 Rifles
2 - 11 Year Old Boys
One Day of Pure Fun Shooting

Priceless

(There was also a 1911, 150 rounds of 185gr .45ACP  and a steel target, Thanks Craig, for the loan!!)

Reactive Targets.  Kids get bored after about 10 rounds of punching holes in paper.   Steel  is a bunch of fun.  You know right away whether you hit it or not.  It's called BANG and CLANG for a reason.

Robert brought along one of his friends who lives around the corner from us and is also a member of his Cub Scout den.   Good kid, listens well, was very safe, and follow directions.  I have always encouraged both kids to bring their friends out to shoot with us.  It's not an activity that other kids get to do, unless they have relatives "downstate" or somewhere out "in the country".  But most suburban kids never get a chance to shoot and that's a shame and it's a problem.   I know, I've worked our club's Civilian Marksmanship Program when we had ROTC cadets come out and shoot our AR-15's (semi-auto, civilian version of the Army's M-16) to get some instruction in Basic Rifle Marksmanship, along with some live fire practice.  Well over half the kids had never had a real firearm in their hands before in their lives.  Ever.  And in 2 years or less, they were going to be somewhere in the ass-crack of the world, with real bad guys shooting at them, they are expected to complete the mission and bring home the 30 or so folks they had brought with them.  

That's a problem.

So I try to introduce as many kids as I can to the shooting sports.  Even if they don't ever pick-up another firearm in their lives, I want them to remember the one time they did.  

And that it was fun.

Because at some point they are likely to be standing in a voting booth.  And maybe they'll remember that time they busted clay pigeons, shot crackers and popped balloons, and they WON"T vote for the guy that wants ban guns.  Maybe they read the Constitution and learn what the Founding Fathers intended for this government, the limits they (tried) to put on it.  Maybe instead they'll vote for the person that wants to preserve all our rights.  And get us back to limits that the US Constitution places on government.  Maybe.

Anyway, that's what I hope, for everyone's sake.

Each one, Teach one.