Kid's love seeing stuff break, pop or squish. It is an undeniable fact of life that children have a destructive streak that never goes away. Don't believe it? What do you do as an adult when you get a package with bubble wrap in it? Thats right, you pop some of it with a gleeful grin hoping to annoy others. If not, stop reading this now, you may be a bed wetting liberal and this could change your, otherwise, dullardly existence.
I remember once when I was a young boy my dad, rest his soul, bought cases upon cases of restaurant packets of mustard to sell in his "general" store. I discovered, quite by accident, that if one foot of a skinny boy came down rapidly on the packets, they shot a stream of mustard about 3 or 4 feet. Try it when no one is looking, you should get 6 to 8 feet easy. I also found out that after 40 or 50 packets, evidence is everywhere and when a switch comes down on a boy's behind, a noise comes out of the other end that is heard approximately 100 times the distance that the mustard flew.
Remembering that lesson, I decided to get my nephew aged 10 involved in shooting. I took him to the range after a long ride in which we discussed gun safety. Instead of shooting paper targets, I blew up a bunch of balloons of all shapes and sizes. I then took a large piece of cardboard and a pair of needle nose pliers to the range. Poking holes with the needle-nose pliers and grabbing the tied end of the balloons one soon has a piece of cardboard with one side covered in balloons. Staple this brightly colored array of action targets to the backstop and then tell him what color to shoot first. The balloons pop with the slightest of impact which allows instant gratification.
Remember, as shooters, will see our Second Amendment discarded if we do not attract new shooters to the ranks. We are competing with XBOX, Playstations and Nintendo Wii's. Therefore, we must make their first shooting experience even more enjoyable than video games. We do that by harnessing the primal instinct to destroy and direct it into harmless destruction of balloons, clay pigeons, paintballs placed on golf tee's, or even tin can plinking.
Here are some things to make the first impression a good one:
1. Reliable and accurate firearm 22lr caliber (not a firearm to bruise their shoulder)
2. Plenty of good ammo.
3. Make sure to have plenty of reactionary targets.
4. Be an encourager! What you say on the first day will stay in a child's memory. Shooting a gun for the first time has a lasting impression.
More on this topic to come soon. Stay tuned.
Til next time, keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction.
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