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Category: Allies
Editor’s Note: The following is a syndicated article by author Beth Alcazar that first appeared in USCCA’s Concealed Carry Magazine Volume 12, Issue 3, April 2015 under the title, “Like Mother Like Daughter: Teaching My Little Girl to Shoot.”
My palms were sweating, and I felt a little queasy as the metallic door to the indoor firing range at Hoover Tactical Firearms closed behind me. I walked up to the assigned lane — Lane No. 3 — and I set down my equipment. I heard several shots on both sides of me, and my heart started racing. I took a deep breath and willed myself to keep going, not walk out, not call it quits … not when I was this close.
As I prepared my firearms for shooting and stood at the firing line, my mind was reeling, wondering if I’d forgotten something or if I’d done anything wrong. I went over the safety rules in my head, trying to reassure myself that all would be well. I took another deep breath. I quickly glanced around at the other shooters and tried to capture the moment in my brain. After all, it’s not every day that someone takes her very first shot.
From all the anxiety and excitement that was pulsing through my body, you would’ve thought that this was MY first time shooting. But it wasn’t. It was my 12-year-old daughter’s. And I was clearly a pleased, nervous, proud and blessed mom relishing in the opportunity to teach my child about responsible gun ownership and to be right by her side when she took her first shot.
Why Girls Need Guns
When I was growing up, it would have been a bit odd to friends and family if I’d been out at the shooting range with my parents. That just wasn’t the norm, especially for me, growing up in a home without firearms. My mom and dad didn’t own guns or know anything about them, for that matter. I never even held a gun until my senior year in high school, when my boyfriend at the time thought it would be fun for me to learn how to shoot. I didn’t touch a gun again until about seven years later and didn’t get my permit to carry a firearm for almost another 20.
Fortunately, girls and guns aren’t such a rarity these days. Especially here in the South, I see moms and dads taking their daughters outdoors all the time, teaching them how to hunt and fish and how to enjoy and appreciate the outdoors. And in addition to participating in things like martial arts or team sports, more females are adding the still-male-dominated shooting sports to their list of hobbies, interests and accomplishments.
Of course, whether or not a girl participates in shooting competitions or grows up and decides to own a firearm and/or to carry concealed, I firmly believe that every female needs to learn how to shoot, just as much as any guy, if not more so.
Since females are more often the targets of domestic abuse and violent crimes, girls should be taught from a young age how to defend themselves. And they should be taught to be proud of their Second Amendment rights.
When to Teach Children
Of course, teaching young people about firearms can be a touchy subject. The most important aspect is safety for everyone involved. And I believe that all children should learn about guns, starting as soon as possible. This doesn’t mean that children should be handling guns or shooting when they’re little, but they should be exposed to the safety rules, repeatedly, just as if you were teaching them not to touch the hot stove, not to run across the street without looking carefully or not to talk to strangers.
Gun safety needs to be an everyday, normal conversation — for boys and girls — so when young children are old enough, they will be ready to learn and develop their shooting skills and join the growing number of responsibly armed Americans.
The period when a child is actually ready to learn how to shoot is another in-depth conversation. Different children will be ready at very different times based on a variety of factors. What’s right for one might not be right for another. Each family needs to carefully consider their children’s ages, attitudes, physical abilities, aptitudes, interests, maturity levels and cognitive decision-making skills. There’s much more to it than simply saying, “OK, my daughter is 8 years old. She is ready to shoot now.” Don’t be afraid to really ask yourself if she is responsible enough. And don’t be afraid to ask your children their thoughts as well.
Personally, I felt like my daughter was ready when she had matured socially and emotionally, could appreciate and handle instruction with grace, actually showed a genuine interest in firearms and had gotten over some of that tween awkwardness that comes with growth spurts, hormones, body changes and insecurity. All of these happened to come into alignment right around the time of her 12th birthday, so for us, we knew it was a good time to move beyond the basic rules and actually teach her how to shoot.
How to Teach Children
Anyone who has taught others how to safely use firearms knows that this is a big responsibility. Our three children go over the gun safety rules repeatedly in our household. And my husband and I are careful to model responsible gun ownership as well. It’s one thing to say it; it’s another thing to live it, day in and day out, no matter what. Those little ears are listening, and those eyes are watching, even when you think they aren’t.
When we felt our daughter was ready to learn how to shoot, I actually made her sit through one of the USCCA courses I taught. Granted, some of the information was probably beyond her level of comprehension, but I wanted to give her the opportunity to learn about situational awareness and personal safety, along with the basics of how a gun works and how she should properly hold it, aim it and shoot it. We also worked on stance and grip and practiced with unloaded firearms, so she could get the feel down and be comfortable before even setting foot on the range.
When we arrived at our local indoor range for the big day, my husband asked, “So, are you nervous?” I replied, “Yes,” before realizing that he was not addressing me. My daughter chimed in, announcing that she was not nervous, just excited. But I made her say the safety rules again out loud before we headed inside. More than once, I asked her if she had any questions. Too many times, I reminded her what to expect when we got into the range. And repeatedly, I checked her eye and ear protection. Finally, we paused for one quick picture, and then we went inside.
It was an honor to watch my daughter carefully take the .22 revolver in her hands, line up the sights and pull the trigger. I only loaded one round that first time, but you could tell by the look of joy on her face that she wasn’t ready to stop there. Since we’d gone over how to load the gun many times, I watched her do it this second time. She had the odd wobbles and fidgets of a beginner, but she was careful to follow the safety rules with the muzzle pointed toward the target in a safe direction and her finger off the trigger. Again, she gripped the revolver, lined up the sights and shot at that hot-pink target in front of her, smiling as the bullets punched through dotting the paper.
Undoubtedly, being at the range with my eldest daughter was an incredible feeling. But I know that I won’t always be able to be there by her side. I won’t always be around to guide her, help her or protect her. She’ll be on her own one day all too soon. And that’s exactly why I teach my daughter how to be a responsible gun owner and why this won’t be our last trip to the shooting range together.
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Shooting Guns with Ann Coulter
Steve Scalise says he’s still pro-Second Amendment despite being targeted for his political beliefs in a violent shooting. (Photo: Scalise)
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) was all about the Second Amendment before he was shot last year. Today he’s still all about the right to keep and bear arms.
That’s what Scalise said on television during an interview with a “surprised” Whoopi Goldberg. She said he doesn’t “have an idea that there may be some more gun control that we need to work on with stuff like this.”
Scalise was one of many Republicans targeted at the 2017 Congressional baseball practice shooting. He told her that he’s gotten that question a lot since and that his stance remains unwavering.
“Three and a half months later I came back to Congress and got to get back to work again and I had people that would ask me, ‘You know so are your views different on gun control?’”
“I’ve got deep-rooted conservative beliefs but they’re rooted in what the fundamental foundation of this country is based on,” said Scalise.
“I mean, when the Constitution was written initially they didn’t have a protection for guns because our founders just thought it was an assumed right,” said Scalise. “Later they added it in the Bill of Rights as the Second Amendment [because] they felt very strongly that every American has the right to defend themselves.”
The View✔@TheView
Rep. @SteveScalise explains why his views on gun control have not changed since he was shot last year: “I’ve got deep-rooted conservative beliefs, but they’re rooted in what the fundamental foundation of this country is based on.” http://abcn.ws/2CcjBVI
“There are bad people out there you know whether they have guns or knives or bombs, [and] there are a lot of laws on the books,” he continued. “If somebody goes and uses a gun to commit a crime they’ve broken a series of laws to get there … so let’s enforce the laws better.”
Scalise said that people need to treat violence as a health issue in addition to enforcing existing gun control.
See Also: Second Amendment Foundation: Scalise Shooting Result of Democrat Hate Speech
“There’s usually a common thread in a lot of these shooters that there are mental health issues,” said Scalise. “We just passed new laws, and they were very bipartisan so they didn’t get a lot of attention, but laws that help close a lot of those loopholes and coordinate a lot of the mental health problems in this country so that if somebody does have serious mental illness they’re going to be taken care of in a better way.”
He affirmed his position by citing the landmark Heller decision, which holds that people have a fundamental right to own guns for lawful purposes including self-defense.
“The Supreme Court, by the way, answered this question a few years ago,” said Scalise. “It was a 5-4 decision – which is concerning, it should’ve been a 9-0 decision – but the Supreme Court said very clearly that you can own a gun not just as a member of the military but also individually to protect yourself … that is the true meaning of the Second Amendment.”
Basket Of Liars & the Division of a Country
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- This may seem to be a dark, angry diatribe, but it is not a call to arms. It is, instead, a call to wait and grow stronger. And, at the same time, it is a call to refuse to compromise with the liars.
Years ago, when most of you were just young pups, gunnies were already being demonized by folks who were afraid of our guns. They called us names because we called out their lies. But they never stopped lying about us and our firearms.
Right now our country is enduring an earthquake of lies. These lies, of commission and omission, are so great and damaging to the culture of freedom that we hold so dear, that there is little solid ground upon which to stand.
After this past midterm election, we remain genuinely amazed that so many fellow Americans could believe the lies, some of which are preposterous on their face. There are limitations to the human psyche, but it appears that upwards of half our population has gone bonkers, and our Republic is being torn apart by the Left Wing Party and the dangerously corrupt Main Street Media (MSM).
The majority of their lies are so obvious that it’s painful to see our fellow countrymen fall for them. And it’s difficult to accept that these countrymen are our family and friends. We don’t recognize them anymore. The unfortunate fact that remains, is that these critters are gullible, and ever eager to follow the smooth talking liars.
There are many people, many of whom we know, who firmly believe that President Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. There are many who think that Justice Kavanaugh is a serial gang rapist. Were they indoctrinated by an evil MSM who colluded with the left? Are our News Media willfully engaged in destroying our nation?
The MSM responds angrily when President Trump calls them out as the enemies of the republic. But, they are intentionally working to take down a duly elected American sitting President, and that does undoubtedly make them enemy number one.
Still, events have not fully unfolded and, we cannot know the future. We must wait patiently. We know that we cannot be disarmed, but we must understand that once violence is unleashed, everything changes.
The years of compromise of laws must end. Congressman Swalwell opened his mouth and admitted the truth about the intent of the left. They propose to forcibly buy back semiautomatic weapons on the way to civilian disarmament.
Molon Labe Swalwell! Come and try to take them, but get to a psychiatrist before you nuke us, and our land.
Will there be a compromise with people like Swalwell? You can bet your sweet bippy there will. After the Trump era, our timid politicians will be happy to keep their jobs by kowtowing to the politics and press of the day.
But we must know that we can never compromise with liars. We must know deep, deep in our bones, that 99% of gun laws are harmful, and usually quite useless.
We need to reflexively know that the Black Market will subvert the promise of a peaceful society, “if only we compromise.” We have been lied to get us to accept the laws that promise a peaceful outcome. These laws will put our names on lists, and the only significant result of them will be a thriving Black Market. The black market is here now, always ready to make a buck.
We must be aware of the many lies told about guns and gun owners. Many of these lies are not so obvious. Instead of an explosion of lies, gun owners have been subjected to a steady stream of smaller lies.
We can’t even begin to know them all. For example, Gary Mauser, a Canadian-American economist wrote an article entitled The Number of Violent Crimes Involving Guns Has Been Exaggerated By An Over-Inclusive Definition Of Gun Crime. If a crime is committed in or outside of the home of a firearm owner, it becomes automatically firearm-related in Canadian statistics. Any researcher who uses those statistics will likely not realize or care that he/she is producing fake conclusions.
Any lawmaker using such false information to propose yet another law will not know or care.
Our gun laws are based on dreams and the lies of the power-mad. According to them, we always need more, because the ones we have don’t work. Say it again, and say it LOUD! “The Black Market is always at the ready.”
We propose a war on GUN LAWS. We recommend a massive reduction of our tens of thousands of gun laws. Gun laws can only label the acquisition, possession, or use, of a weapon as legal or illegal. Laws cannot prevent a criminal, or an insane person, from acquiring, possessing, or using, a weapon.
With all the thousands of local, state, and federal, firearms laws in our country that attempt to keep us safe and under control, why do we still need more? Just asking for a friend! That’s because the LEFT is trying to control us. They seek that complete power.
Gun laws have been designed, from the get-go, to control and destroy our culture. We can legally comply, or we can become felons.
- How many of us have carried illegally?
- How many of us are sure we comply with all of our laws?
- How many of us knowingly don’t or can’t comply?
The left resorts to lies, to manipulate outcomes, that are beneficial to themselves only. But these lies usually result in the destruction of our Rights and the Constitution, and more often then not, they transfer more power to the socialist mob.
The current, and coming, battle is between felonious cowardly liars and We The People. They want to control the US nukes, and luckily, the hard-working Conservative folks are now waking to this harsh reality.
We are to blame. Over the last 45+ years, we let the Left into our schools and media. We accept many of their lies. Too many of us believed that ‘sensible’ gun laws existed, and would help to reduce violence.
The lies were insidious, designed to advance their narrative that we and our guns are dangerous to our families and society. Its difficult for many average persons to know that something, that sounds so reasonable, is a deliberate lie designed to sow suspicion on the very foundation of freedom.
All of us need to be skeptical and always on guard. We must not be shy to be unreasonable and question an intent. We are in the right.
Back and support President Trump, but stay alert and be prepared.
About the Authors:
Alan J Chwick has been involved with firearms much of his life and is the Retired Managing Coach of the Freeport NY Junior (Marksmanship) Club, Division of the Freeport NY Revolver & Rifle Association, Freeport, NY. He has escaped from New York State to South Carolina and is an SC FFL (Everything22andMore.com). – AJChwick@iNCNF.org | TWITTER: @iNCNF
Joanne D Eisen, DDS (Ret.) practiced dentistry on Long Island, NY. She has collaborated and written on firearm politics for the past 30+ years. She has also escaped from New York State but to Virginia. – JoanneDEisen@cs.com
Landlord Tells Harvard Student to Move Out Over Legally Owned Guns
Roommates searched room for guns after finding MAGA hat
Leyla Pirnie
BY:
A Massachusetts landlord told a Harvard University graduate student that he wanted her to move out of her apartment because her legally owned firearms made some of her roommates uncomfortable.
“Since it’s clear that Leyla wants to keep her firearms, it would be best for all parties if she finds another place to live,” Dave Lewis, president of Avid Management, said in an emailto the household obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The request that the student, Leyla Pirnie, move out came after her roommates searched her room while she was not home and found her firearms. That prompted one of the roommates to email Lewisrequesting he verify that Pirnie was in compliance with applicable firearms laws.
“We discussed with Leyla that all of us are uncomfortable with having firearms in the house, and that their presence causes anxiety and deprives us of the quiet enjoyment of the premise to which we are entitled,” the roommate wrote to Lewis.
Pirnie said she feels her roommates violated her privacy and now they and her landlord are trying to violate her rights.
“A few weeks ago, I came back to my apartment from a weekend trip and was confronted by one of my roommates who asked if I had guns in the house,” she told the Free Beacon. “After being told far too many lies to count, my roommates finally admitted that they searched my closet, under my bed, and all of my drawers in pursuit of finding my guns.”
While she was given several different explanations for why the roommates entered and searched her room, the 24-year-old said she felt her political beliefs and where she is from played a significant role in the roommates’ actions.
“When I asked them why they were in my room to begin with, they each came up with completely contradicting stories (none of which made any sense), but one comment struck me in particular: ‘We saw that you had a MAGA hat and come on, you’re from Alabama… so we just kind of assumed that you had something,'” she said. “I asked why they didn’t just call me and ask me before intruding. One of the girls responded that fear took over her body and she felt compelled to search my room until she found proof… I cannot make this up.”
Pirnie said she had been living in the apartment since September without incident, and she kept her political beliefs to herself before the incident. But she did have a Make America Great Again hat in her room.
In response to the email from Pirnie’s roommate, Lewis contacted Captain James Donovan of the Somerville Police Department to inspect Pirnie’s firearms and ensure they were in compliance with Massachusetts law. Pirnie agreed to allowing the police to inspect her firearms and said she was told she is in compliance with all applicable laws. Lewis acknowledged the department’s conclusion that Pirnie was not breaking any gun laws in his email telling Pirnie to move out.
Captain Donovan told the Free Beacon he could not comment publicly on the matter. Dave Lewis and the roommate who emailed him did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Pirnie said the roommates confronted her about her firearms and she explained to them she was a legal gun owner who is trained in the safe handling of firearms. She said the roommates weren’t concerned with Pirnie’s handling of the guns but rather that somebody might break in and turn the guns on them or the guns “might go off on their own.”
She said her landlord’s concern over some of her roommates being uncomfortable with legally owned firearms is misplaced and his request that she move out is inappropriate.
“What I find uncomfortable is coming home to find out that six people I barely know went into my bedroom without permission and went through every single one of my drawers, without any regard to my privacy whatsoever,” Pirnie said. “My landlord’s e-mail, though carefully crafted, showed tremendous prejudice against my right to legally have firearms.”
Pirnie said her motivations for owning firearms have been ignored even though she shared them with her roommates. While an undergrad, she said she was in a physically abusive relationship. She said the experience is part of what drives her to be armed.
“Nobody has bothered to question, ‘Well, why do you want to have protection? Could it be because you’ve experienced something where you need to protect yourself as you see fit?'” she said. “I have a real and legitimate reason as to why I want to protect myself.”
When Pirnie and her father rejected Lewis’s request that she move out in the middle of studying for finals, Lewis responded by saying his request “was based strictly on practical and not idealogical (sic) terms.” He then warned that if the other roommates moved out Pirnie would have to pay their rent.
“If the other roommates were to move out, Leyla would need to find roommates to share the place or foot the entire $6000+ monthly rent herself,” Lewis wrote in an email to Pirnie and her father. “Obviously it would be much easier for the others to stay and just fill one room (and I’m confident—were this to happen—that the remaining housemates will release Leyla from any further responsibility under the lease) and that’s why I proposed what I did.”
Pirnie feels she’s being punished for being a gun owner.
“I’m still very much so being threatened out of my apartment,” she said. “Either I leave and incur moving expenses or my roommates move and I incur their rent expenses… Doesn’t seem right.
“Not only is this a blatant violation of my privacy, but it’s also a violation of my rights.”
My Heart goes out to the respectable Gun Owners of Washington State! But at least somebody up there has a couple of brass ones & a brain! Grumpy
REPUBLIC, Wash. – In this small town, near the Canadian border, Police Chief Loren Culp has become a celebrity after announcing he would not enforce a new sweeping gun control law passed by state voters in November.
“I felt it was such a blatant disregard for constitutional rights that I felt like I had no choice but to stand up for the people that I served, and that’s the citizens of Republic,” Culp said.
Initiative 1639 touches on many areas of gun control. It bars 18 to 20 year olds from buying semi-automatic rifles and makes it a potential felony if your gun ends up in the wrong hands.
The law also creates enhanced universal background checks, mandates firearms training before buying a semi-automatic weapon and defines an assault rifle as “any rifle which utilizes a portion of the energy of the firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge.”
Voters across Washington state approved the measure 59-41. But in Ferry County, which includes Republic, nearly three out of four voters opposed it. Republic Mayor Elbert Koontz is among them.
“Everybody in Republic has a gun,” said Koontz. “We don’t have a giant crime rate because nobody in their right mind would come to a house where people have guns and know how to use them.”
Chief Culp went even further than saying he would not enforce Initiative 1639, he also drafted an ordinance that would make Republic a gun rights sanctuary city. It would bar city employees from enforcing any gun law that infringes on the Second Amendment right to bear arms. When Culp announced his proposal to a recent city council meeting, most of the 250 residents attending gave him a standing ovation. It was a massive turnout, considering the city’s population is about 1,000 people.
But in Seattle, the reaction was very different.
“We are a society built on the rule of law,” said Renee Hopkins, CEO of Alliance for Gun Responsibility, which led the campaign for I-1639. “If we have leaders that are responsible for ensuring the laws are enforced, picking and choosing which laws they get to enforce, we have a huge problem.”
The 2nd Amendment Foundation, based in Bellevue, Wash. with 600,000 members nationwide, has joined the National Rifle Association in suing the state of Washington, seeking to overturn the new gun control measure. Its leader sees poetic justice in the political right getting into the sanctuary business, which up until now has been reserved for illegal immigrants.
“I guess it’s a little unprecedented,” said Alan Gottlieb, President of the 2nd Amendment Foundation. “We’re moving into some unchartered territory in terms of defense of rights. In politics, there’s always pushback. When you try to take people’s rights away from them, they rebel. And that’s what you see in Republic, Wash.”
The gun rights sanctuary city ordinance will be discussed at the next city council meeting. Councilmember Rachel Siracuse isn’t sure which way she’ll vote. She is concerned that passing the ordinance might cost Republic much-needed state funding, or lead to a costly lawsuit.
“I want to support our Second Amendment rights with all that I am, but yet I also want to protect our little city,” said Siracuse.
The city council could vote on the measure before the new state gun law goes into effect January 1, 2019. The state’s attorney general, Democrat Bob Ferguson, is a gun control supporter. His office said he would review the ordinance if it passes.
