A FRENCH CANADIAN GOES NUTS!

[tom turner]

I was at the range today and a fellow was there letting a guy shoot a Carcano, a .22LR rifle and a mule eared blackpowder shotgun.

In talking with them, I discovered that the fellow was from Quebec and was in Georgia as an engineering consultant with the other one's firm.

Evidently, Canadians don't get the pleasure of shooting like we do.

So, I dig deep and let him shoot a bunch of stuff . . . .38 snubbies, my .45ACP revolver, a Para P14.45, a Ruger MkII Target pistol.

Man, this guy was having the time of his life!!! My only regret is that I didn't bring all the guns to the range today I'd almost loaded.

I finally asked him, "Would you like to shoot an evil black rifle?" "What's that, he asked. So, I educated him on the difference between a select-fire military assault rifle and a single shot, auto-loading AR15 . . . and explained how an AR15 is simply a fun-shooting rifle for a lot of innocent purposes and why it is NOT an assault rifle. He obviously understood perfectly, which was my intent.

He was grinning from ear to ear. He wanted souvenir spent cartridges, and asked lots of questions (as an engineer would) about differences in cartidges, ammo, recoil, etc.

He was quite intellegent and inquisitive and I totally enjoyed explaining things to him.


I was almost as much fun as the day I took a friend's 15 year old nephew (from Japan) and let him shoot everything. That youngster was wide-eyed too, and grinning from ear-to-ear the whole time too.

You never know when folks from other countries may be able to open doors for others in their countries for citizens to be able to enjoy firearms!

 

[GLemon]

Nice work. Recently took 2 daughters of a non gunning friend.Not only did they have a ball and shoot pretty well when they told their mom (who is anti) she was amazed at how much thet enjoyed shooting.

 

[Andy Taylor]

Good Job!

 

[Hyperion]

Well done, Tom! I make it a point to take curious non-shooters to the range whenever possible. I supply the safety training, weapons, ammunition, and supervision. Many of them are surprised that the guns won't knock them over, bury the hammer in their foreheads, etc. that they see in the movies. And they all, without fail, enjoy themselves. Even if they never shoot again, there is one more knowledgable person out there in the world. And I enjoy it too!

 

[gaucho1]

Main thing is....you interacted with
a Frenchcanadian and everything came out right.

As someone who has a mother born and raised in
France and a father born in Canada I fully
understand the risks of such a fearless act.

Not even one argument?

Just teasing Tom,a very generous and fine thing.
Of course,we expect that with you.

 

[mississippi revolverman]

Good job guy. I always felt it was the responsibilty of a "good gun owner" to educate others in firearms and safety. To see someone enjoy one of my weapons like I do is sort of a High for me.

Agree with gaucho1 to hit it off with a French candian and an engineer to boot is a quite an act. We have hunderds of F-C snowbirds here in south Florida and they can be a might hard headed

 

[glypnir]

Just think of him as a Cajun who hasn't moved south yet.

 

[stoneman]

I had a similar experience with three chaps from England a few years ago. They came here on a ski trip, and my parents over heard them at dinner one night from the table next to them talking about the terrible conditions on Big Mountain and how they were not having much fun. So my Mom being the social butterfly that she is invited them home for drinks. Which turned into a four day bender full of drinking,shooting,and eating beef(I guess its hard to get over the pond). They were 50+ at the time and two of them had never even shot a hand gun. We all had a lot of fun together. It was an experience that I'm sure was not easily forgotten by any of us.