I re-edited a book on firearms and archery that dealt with the knowledge of a very specific item that dealt with the Mental Mechanics of operating firearms. The FBI, Secret Service, Police departments, Military, professional competitors and of course Joe Blows throughout the world bought the book. The FBI would buy 200 every year for training their new recruits! ( It was exciting at $19.95 each to get an order every year from the FBI for $4K through my printing and publishing company). The FBI is part of the elite of the elite, so I was honored to have been part of the book at the time.
Amazingly, the author had never shot a firearm in his life.
However the premise was simple and basic; if you own a gun, you should imagine yourself consciously through meditative breathing every split second scenario of safety, proper visualization and consistant practice of achieving your goal of markmanship. A new model and paradigm for the NRA and it's membership. The section on taking a life was very important to say the least. Just ask anyone who has ever shot another human being as to the devastation and psychological damage of taking another life. Many professionals are never really the same. Other important aspects were safety, remaining calm at the center, and the common problem of trigger jerk and it's correction.
My mother just gave me my Papa's 357 recently. It's the first time I have had a gun in 25 years because there are a lot of big bears, coyotes and mountain lions on El Rancho that I have encountered without a firearm, so while I would never shoot one for the sake of random killing, I would fire some warning shots or as a last safety resort; shoot them. Additionally, I have had way too many unfortunate experiences around hominoid hunters and guns, that is a large part of why I do not hunt anymore. I'm scared of hunters and walking in the woods during hunting season without my orange sweatshirt...forget it. ( they don't get a free pass either IMHO)
Stricter hunter safety, universal background checks and comprehensive firearms certification is the answer to gun control and ownership. The NRA is being completely irresponsible (radical) in it's propaganda campaign to oppose these most basic principles of gun ownership legislation in this country.
I contend that gun regulation, like bank regulation and health regulation, is a winner for Democrats when understood properly.
Many may reject this diary because of it's subject matter, but I feel compelled and qualified to speak as a former hunter and shooter; particularly from a Western state that has a historical tradition of hunting and gun ownership. In my Democratic rural county, most everyone has a gun. The crazies are convinced they can hold a tyrannical government at bay with an unregistered 30.06. The paranoia runs deep here in rural America. On the other hand, my pacifist best friend shot into the ground 4 nights ago when a large black bear was pulling down his 8 hummingbird feeders and drinking them. He managed to scare off the bear with a shot into the ground.
I passed a hunter's safety class when I was 12 and began hunting with a license when I was 14. I shot my first elk at 16. It's always exciting as a teenager to stalk a large big game animal, shoot it and dress it out. Not so much anymore for me as one ages. The wonder and beauty of nature is enough for me.
The last time I went big game hunting was when I shot a 4 point bull elk in 1982 with a shot straight through the heart with a 7mm rifle. Marveling at the magnificence and size of the animal I walked around and poked for signs of life; I suddenly cried in the deadly silent twilight of the cool afternoon forest as I knelt down next to him and stroked the coat of it's beautiful tan hide and felt the ridges of it's magnificent antlers. In spite of the good meat that it provided I somehow felt that this wasn't me anymore or who I wanted to be. It was my 3rd elk kill and my last for more than 30 years now.
Taking the life of someone or something is a sobering experience. Gun safety and certification would go a long way towards reducing random mass shootings as well as accidental and intentional shootings in America if gun owners were taught about taking a life. Loaded chambers are a recipe for disaster in the home and in the car or out in the field and an accidental taking of life is all the more devastating. Many local gun ranges offer shooting and combat classes with conceal and carry permits training. These should be mandatory classes anyway if you are able to buy and maintain firearms in this country. The potential for deadly mistakes and tragic consequences are real, as documented by the FP Gun Fail series. The time has arrived for stricter hunter safety, universal background checks and comprehensive firearms certification. There should be a 30 day wait with background checks. Hunter safety classes should be comprehensive, nationally standardized and mandatory. There are issues of standardization for small game and large game. Certification should be mandatory, comprehensive and regulatory for the many different classifications of firearms.
41 years ago I shot a 6 point bull elk on the run on a single shot behind the left shoulder and through the heart in NW Colorado. It ran 400 yards and dropped. Excitedly I ran up to the animal and stared in disbelief. As I began to drain the blood from the carcass, a group of hunters from Texas came up to me and told me to back off, that was their elk and they had shot it. They pointed a rifle at me and told me to leave immediately. I tried to protest but they all four threatened me in the woods with their guns. I backed away frightened as a 16 year old boy. I saw the cold determination (desperation) in their eyes. I returned back to camp following the blood trail of the Elk I had just killed. I even found the plug of clotted hair and meat that exited out of the animal 400 yards back at the angle of the shot. I told my Dad and all of our camper/ hunters when I got back to camp of the confrontation, since they had heard the shot. By the time we arrived to the carcass, the animal had been gutted, loaded and hauled away. We filed a report with the sheriff and the state game and fish, but it came to nothing. It was the first of many discouraging examples of Hunter Safety, code of conduct and non-existant certification that I encountered in the field over the years from strangers, family, friends and hunting buddies.
Military assault weapons should have their own classification of registration, licensing and certification. If no sensible consensus can be reached, then they should be banned. The application of safety, certification and background checks are a no-brainer for assault weapons.
The ownership of firearms has diminished for me over the years, especially when some teens broke into my house and gun cabinet, stole all my guns, then went on a crime spree of robberies.
I now hunt with my camera and find it much more rewarding and challenging.
May we all have the courage and knowledge to stand for some basic sanity when it comes to guns in America.