My daughter wasn't much into shooting, but knows how. She kept a .357 for protection as a teen when I had to be away at night.
Her brother got some instruction from me, but I think he was more impressed when Jo Anne Hall coached him in her back yard one afternoon, on using the Colt .45 auto.
If you can't place her, she was both a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and the world champion in IPSC competition, ladies division.
Her then-husband was a friend of my pharmacist, and I had an assignment to write about her for the Colt Handgunning Annual.
If Jo Anne sees this, I want her to know that the skills she taught my young son helped him in battle in Iraq, years later.
I think she taught him more pistolcraft in one day than the Army did. And she was a lot easier on the male eye than are Army instructors.
My daughter came, too, but was more interested in playing with the Hall poodle than in learning to operate a .45 gracefully, with great speed.
My own parents didn't like my interest in guns, although my father took me hunting occasionally, I think to impress his business partners. He did buy me a few guns, but they came with no instruction, other than him being worried that I not shoot anyone accidentally.Gun-wise, I was "raised" by men like Jim Corbett, Dr. Roy Chapman Andrews, and a host of well known gun writers. Their books were good instruction, and as an adult, I met a number of those writers in person.
They were far better mentors than were the rock singers and athletes that most of my boyhood friends adored.
I've been very pleased by my son's continuing interest in firearms, knives, and binoculars. And he has a couple of swords, too, and knows quite a bit about ancient warfare, studying Roman and Viking tactics. He wrote an item on the Battle of Hastings that appeared on an arms and armour site.
He and his wife reproduced recently, a son, and I think this lad will grow up learning about both guns and history. I suspect that he'll shoot his first deer by age 10 or 12. And know how to cook it. His dad is also an accomplished amateur cook, who knows wine pretty well, too.
