It is with a bit of hesitation I enter this particular post. I am thoroughly aware there are some outspoken critics of anything dealing with guns, many of whom have very valid, specific reasons for their beliefs. I'm prepared for their comments, and welcome them. After all, I report on many of the stories they cite as examples of why they believe the way they do. All appropriate posts will be allowed here (and by appropriate, I mean those the FCC would allow).
But there is a positive side to report. To guns. To sport. To safety.
Ducks Unlimited, which has thousands of members locally, held a fundraiser over the weekend. The 3rd Annual Mo-Kan Shoot for Ducks Unlimited at Powder Creek in Lenexa. It was a sporting clays shoot to benefit the conservation of waterfowl habitats.
I had the pleasure of meeting some pretty cool people.
Here's the team that graciously agreed to take me, the amateur, with them.
Left to right, this is Brian Prendergast, Matt Smith, Justin Sturgeon and me.
I grew up around guns - somewhat - with a few hunters in the family. I've also shot at targets before, but never at anything moving. I borrowed Brian's shotgun for the day.
Justin was the best in our bunch, shooting almost 90% consistently. I learned a lot from these guys.
Since I'd never shot anything moving, they helped me understand how to judge distance and flight patterns. At the first station, I only hit one clay.
The guys taught me how to pull my front hand back for better control...and to get a little further out in front of the clay. By station 5, I was shooting 50%.
It was at the 5th station, as I was just starting to get a handle on the sport, that the sky darkened. It was about 12:30 Sunday afternoon, Father's Day. If you'll remember, that's when the day's first round of storms rolled in. I bailed. Ran for cover. The guys went on without me. True outdoorsmen, I suppose. Wait it out. Play through.
For those of you unfamiliar with this sport, at Powder Creek there are 12 stations. You travel from station to station, through wooded and slightly hilly grounds.
This will tell you how unfamiliar I was with shooting ranges, etc (had never been). I thought I'd be at a facility set up like a driving range for golf... And that I'd just shoot a few clay pigeons, or attempt to. I dressed casually; note the flip-flops in the pictures. I don't recommend this choice of kick-around shoes if you decide to go. Luckily, Jeff Smith, Matt's brother, loaned me his vest so I didn't completely look like a duck out of water (intended).
Overall, I looked at this weekend as research. I am a mother of a boy who may one day express interest in a sport involving guns. I am on the board for the Boy Scouts of America (where thousands of boys learn about guns and receive badges for doing so). I report on some of the awful outcomes of guns being inappropriately stored or used. This is a look at the positive side.
It was fun. I plan to give it a try again at some point. Next time, though, I'll wear the right shoes.
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Here's a link to the Olympic Shooting Events for this summer, which you'll be able to watch, along with all of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic events, right here on your NBC Action News station.
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Tim Bruggeman, a member of the board of directors for Powder Creek,emailed me about this post. Was thankful for the positive coverage, but pointed it out he thought it sounded a bit biased. Here's a portion :
If I may espouse my opinion...the first few sentences of your blog were, to me, written by a person who sees only the negative side of firearms. News reporting of "things related to firearms" are almost always negative, because that's the nature of the news industry (I mean, who reports on the building that isn't on fire, right?) But to me, its not the fault of the firearms.
To that I would argue, my job is to present both sides of any issue. Since my blog was about my enjoyable experience at Powder Creek, firing a 12-gauge shotgun at clay pigeons, I felt it necessary to represent the other side, even if only in the first few sentences. Since that is what Mr. Bruggeman gleaned from my post, I would say I was successful in doing what I intended to do. Thanks for your comments Tim.
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