Castle Argghhh!, in the minds of anti-gunners, is a very bad place. With a world-wide reach. As I've related before, I'm a Rotarian. One of the things Rotary does is to conduct what are called "group study exchanges," where a Rotarian leads a team of young professionals (who are not, and cannot be at the time, Rotarians, but are actively sought to join when the exchange is over) on an exchange visit from their Rotary District to another Rotary District around the world. This year, my district conducted an exchange with a district in Brazil. In the past, I have been involved with exchange teams from Japan, Korea, India, and the Philippines. One of the funny things about these exchanges is... the visiting teams, oft-times coming from countries where private ownership of firearms is either banned or highly regulated, usually want to partake of the gun culture of the United States. And we oblige them. You've not seen funny until you see a Japanese woman of typical japanese stature pull the trigger on a M1863 Springfield rifled musket... that is longer than she is tall.
This year, SWWBO and I hosted the team from Brazil for dinner, and hosted one team member as an overnight guest. In honor of their visit, I hoisted the flag of Brazil outside, and swapped the jezail that normally hangs over the bar for a M1908 Brazilian Mauser. Hey, got to honor the guests, right? Here's two members of the team, Ary and Marcio (Marcio being our houseguest) stylin' with the rifle.
That, of course, led to a trip into the Arms Room of Argghhh! to visit the Arsenal of Argghhh! in which much fun was had by all. Marcio was all into the modern stuff, the team leader, Neto, was an aficionado of "Band of Brothers" so he was into the M1 carbines and rifles. Ary was just overwhelmed by the choices.
As the weather and schedule were not cooperative, we didn't get to do any shooting. But as these visits last a month, and the team moves throughout our district, I put the word out to the downstream clubs that if someone could get the team to a range it would be well-received.
And such is the nature of this district that not only were there no hissy-fits over me letting them wander through the Arms Room, the Topeka clubs took on the rifle range challenge... as this snippet from an email relates:
Mission accomplished. Hey - we once took someone who had never touched a gun before, got them to bust a few caps one afternoon, and 30 days later they had two pistols and a concealed carry permit. And no, that's not me on the left. Dude is waaay too skinny. That's Marcio behind the rifle.
Castle Argghhh!!! and the Armorer - conquering the world, one person at a time.
This year, SWWBO and I hosted the team from Brazil for dinner, and hosted one team member as an overnight guest. In honor of their visit, I hoisted the flag of Brazil outside, and swapped the jezail that normally hangs over the bar for a M1908 Brazilian Mauser. Hey, got to honor the guests, right? Here's two members of the team, Ary and Marcio (Marcio being our houseguest) stylin' with the rifle.
That, of course, led to a trip into the Arms Room of Argghhh! to visit the Arsenal of Argghhh! in which much fun was had by all. Marcio was all into the modern stuff, the team leader, Neto, was an aficionado of "Band of Brothers" so he was into the M1 carbines and rifles. Ary was just overwhelmed by the choices.
As the weather and schedule were not cooperative, we didn't get to do any shooting. But as these visits last a month, and the team moves throughout our district, I put the word out to the downstream clubs that if someone could get the team to a range it would be well-received.
And such is the nature of this district that not only were there no hissy-fits over me letting them wander through the Arms Room, the Topeka clubs took on the rifle range challenge... as this snippet from an email relates:
Well I am not sure who was entertained more during the GSE teams visit to Topeka. It has been an incredible weekend and the team is so much fun to be with and they are willing to do anything. We started the Topeka visit with a tour of the Ward Meade Park in Topeka on Thursday afternoon in the rain. We all had umbrellas and Marcio had seen the movie, “Singing in the Rain” so was imitating Gene Kelly. They were all fascinated with the old schools, doctor’s office, cabins, mansion, etc. After the tour we all met at Quinton’s for a quick drink before delivering them to their host families. They enjoyed attending the Topeka South Rotary meeting and really enjoyed all of the tours that had been arranged for them.
Saturday we were all able to go out to a shooting range and shot a variety of cowboy lever guns, AR15s, rifles and several pistols and revolvers. [T]he Topeka West club arranged this as we heard this might be something they would enjoy. They certainly did.
Mission accomplished. Hey - we once took someone who had never touched a gun before, got them to bust a few caps one afternoon, and 30 days later they had two pistols and a concealed carry permit. And no, that's not me on the left. Dude is waaay too skinny. That's Marcio behind the rifle.
Castle Argghhh!!! and the Armorer - conquering the world, one person at a time.
Now, what would you do with President Aquavelvajad?
Other than that, good job. Kind of amazing how jsut about anyone who has a good introduction to shooting sports gets a big grin and ends up enthusiastic about shooting.
John: Rotary = Rotund.
Me: Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association = Tall, devilishly good-looking, often delusional.
See? Easy.
About firing weapons, you need some MASS. ; - )
Ya gotta start somewhere!
As you say, gotta start somewhere.
The ones I find really frightening are the ones who manage to hit the target, then, finger still on the trigger, turn toward you all excited and kind of waving the firearm.
John: SO is an accomplished blogger in her own right.
Bill: SOOOOOOOO DEAD if SO discovers blogosphere.
@Bill, Good Luck, you're gonna need it