I have been thinking of what my goals for 2013 I Ho
Chuan will be, and one I have thought of is to take at least 3 people shooting.
There are several reasons, some self-interested, some a bit more broad.
My personal reasons are that I like to go shooting,
shooting is something that needs practice, and I did not make time to go last year.
The next reason is the more broad based one,
education. A gun is just a tool, and the more familiar a martial artist is with
these tools, the more likely a successful defense, or if they end up in
possession of a gun during a confrontation, the ability to use it safely. I
have told new shooters that a gun is like a chainsaw, no more (or less)
dangerous. It does not make someone a psycho killer any more than a chainsaw
makes you go to Texas and start massacring people.
One of the last times that I went shooting, I took
someone who had never shot a pistol before, and only had Hollywood for a
reference. Now, if you watch many movies, you know that a) the good guy just
waves his gun in the general direction, often while executing a summersault or
other gymnastic action, and either fires a single round which magically hits
his target like a heat seeking missile, or b) fires 47 rounds from a single
magazine, all of which miss any innocent bystanders, and instead hit the bad
guy like a freight train and throw him through the nearest plate glass window.
Bad guys of course never hit the hero, but also miss all innocent bystanders.
The reality is that shooting is a skill, not a
special effects department. This seems to have a lot of parallels with the
Martial Arts in my view. Another parallel is in the weapons laws, which, in my
opinion are racist and sexist. Racist in that traditional weapons of the orient
(two pieces of dowel and a string?) are against the law, and sexist in that
almost all “ladies guns” or “purse guns” marketed to women in the US are
specifically prohibited in Canada to the law abiding citizens (criminals, by
definition ignore these laws).
So every person that I can take shooting is one
more person that knows the truth, and will be less likely to swallow the
propaganda of those that would take my guns away.
Dennis Donohue
http://dennisdonohue.blogspot.ca/
Dennis Donohue
http://dennisdonohue.blogspot.ca/
I had a guy take me to the shooting range on a date once. I shot a hand gun. I loved it, but you are right. It is nothing like in the movies. Just loading the thing was very difficult and I ended up needing help. And very, very loud, even with ear protection.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the I ho chuan!
I am with you on this post my friend. Let me know when you plan on heading out, I would love to join you and help in the educational process and development towards hand gun mastery. I figure if I can tighten that 25 yard group by about 24 inches I should be well on my way!
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