>I have often wondered, throughout this conversation, just how many people
>here actually interact with gun owners and encounter the hobbyist,
>sportsman, or homeowner with a shotgun for protection types in their daily
>life.
>
>---------
>I used to own a 38 special, when I was a state park ranger. I was
>surprised by how much I liked having the gun and by how much fun
>target practice was. I was an ace shot, which felt good too.
>
>I don't know gun owners. When I learned to shoot a gun, one thing
>that became crystal clear to me was that guns are for killing
>people, and if you're not ready to do that, you should not own a gun.
>
>I wonder whether most gun owners are aware of this. I also wonder
>how much training they get in using a gun.
Guns, as in shotguns, are for shooting birds and other fast moving targets. (Hence the sport of clay pigeon shooting which simulates pheasant/quail shooting.) Here in Tassie Shotguns are often used to shoot wallaby which are flushed from the scrub using dogs.
Guns have smooth bores, rifles have rifled bores. There are long rifles and pistols which also have a rifled barrel. Your .38 pistol is not a gun. Pistols are for shooting people, at close range I gather. Never fired one myself as I have never expected to have any need to shoot another person. The fact that a park ranger in California does have to be prepared to shoot people should serve as a warning to any tourists planning to visit what I understand to otherwise be one of the most fantastic national park systems in the world.
But I do own a shotgun. Good for shooting cats and other vermin, but a cop showed up at my door a year or so back and told me he had received complaints from a neighbour about me shootin' rabbits and stuff around the town and insisted that I stop it. My protests that it was a traditional pastime in Bracknell was dismissed with some reference to what century we were living in I seem to recall.
In other words, I was treated like a silly old bugger. ;-) I intend to revenge myself by casually patronising as many other people as I can. How am I doing?
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas