All of us shooters give lip service to proselytizing: “Take a new shooter to the range!” “Take someone hunting for the first time!” Few actually DO it, however, at least very often.
Once again, US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia inspires us. Just caught this from Eugene Volokh: http://volokh.com/2011/10/23/another-hunter-on-the-high-court/
Kudos to Justice Scalia for taking the time to do this. And kudos to Justice Kagan for being open-minded.
Scalia has obviously been a voice of reason for our side. Kagan has not. Will her new perspective be reflected in her next analysis of these issues on the highest Bench in the land? We won’t know until then.
Scalia has still set an example all of us would do well to follow.

1 COMMENT

  1. Hopefully she will interact with some average people and learn a little about our “gun culture”. That would be nice.

  2. A public “authority” figure who (indirectly) claims to be pro-gun! Oh, be still my joyful heart. /sarcasm

    Hunters can be among the most anti-gun people in our midst: remember Jim Zumbo and his “terrorist rifles” comment.

    Or for that matter Charleton “AK ownership is entirely inappropriate” Heston (source: http://www.thegunzone.com/rkba/rkba-47.html ).

    Or the guy I used to know on Randolph AFB who (personally) didn’t allow pistol grips on shotguns brought to the trap/skeep/sporting clays range where he worked (I never patronized the range and told Outdoor Rec exactly why).

    I won’t trust any of them farther than I can throw them. Let Kagan’s voting record/opinion statements be the real teller of how pro-gun she actually is. As far as I’m concerned she’s starting from the very bottom with a strike against her for being pro-abortion (an intrinsically anti-rights position).

  3. About trying to introduce new shooters; I try, but I have a hard time. Generally I can get someone interested, set a date, but then they back out. However, when I actually get people to the range, they always have a positive experience. I can only remember three whose experience was lukewarm.

    I live in NJ, not a “free” state. However, I’m in Sussex County. We have good politicians here, and it is one of the most rural counties in NJ. Deer are pets in our neighborhoods. I see turkeys, foxes and bears at times. Coyotes and even mountain lions have been reported. The good news is that while many people here are afraid of guns, they do not wish to deny them to us pro-2nd Amendment, liberty-loving freeple.

  4. Justice Kagan is no different from many Americans…’against guns’ until given the opportunity to shoot and train with them…Jack

  6. This is one of the many reasons that Scalia is my favorite Supreme Court Justice. I wonder if there is an action figure… (not really, but it would be funny if there was).

    s

  7. Kagan’s talked before about Scalia inviting her: I’m glad they followed-through. Taking a new shooter out this Saturday . . .

  8. Personally, I have come to a place where I don’t believe a single word these people say. There is no trust from me, given the nature of their on-going conduct on matters of critical import to the successful continuation of this great experiment. I’ll believe it when Kagan goes hunting with ME! And guts her own kill!! Then I’m on board. To think she will come to “our side” by just exposing herself to the evil she has long eshewed is just a little to far-fetched for me. The ignorance of her position appears to be so deeply engrained, it merits such scrutiny. How can a member of the highest court in the land have no clue as to the nature and history of gun ownership and have made it to that level??? Doesn’t square with reality, and a couple of trips to the range ain’t gonna change it.

  9. Hopefully she will see gun rights as something that is important, and worthy of protection. Hopefully she won’t view guns as mere toys used for hunting birds and knocking clays out of the sky.

  11. Mas, have you, or to your knowledge, any of the top trainers provided a class for the Supremes or other Fed judges? It would seem the offer would be a natural. What better way than to reach out to them and provide education.

  12. Mas,

    I’m not a gun guru, I’m not a mall ninja wanna-be… I’m just a former LEO, college professor, and father… who takes the time – as a NRA instructor, 4H Shooting Sports instructor, and local gun club member – throughout the year to work with adults, 4H members, boy scouts. and others to promote gun safety, safe shooting, self-defense, and the second amendment…

    If any of your readers are not sure how to get involved in promoting the use of firearms for fun and defense, tell them to seek out local organizations such as 4H and the Boy Scouts, or get involved at a local gun club and some shooting sports, or just take a day AND actually take someone shooting… and for my two-cents worth… nothing beats a good ol’ .22 to start out with… no matter who it is or how old they are…

    I’m doing my best, like Justice Scalia, to make folks pro-gun one person at a time…

    Dann in Ohio

  14. Dann ~ You have a great attitude and we need more like you to be great ambassadors promoting gun safety and our Second Amendment rights. Over the last year I have gotten back into shooting after many years away from the sport.
    I am working as an RSO at a local club/public range here in the San Francisco Bay area. I am very pleased to report that we see Boy Scouts on the range nearly every weekend.
    One of my favorite things to do it to take new shooters out for their first experience shooting. Observing the almost instantaneous attitude change in the new shooters is an amazing thing to behold.
    Working at the range and seeing all levels of shooters enjoying our sport is something I would want to do even if I wasn’t paid to do it.
    I don’t know how many of our fellow Americans enjoy guns and shooting but if each of us gets one person to be “pro-gun”, we will start to water down the anti-gun sentiment until it simply has no more teeth. Folks will begin to see that whether we are interested in shooting for self defense or competition or hunting or just for recreation, we are not a bunch of crazed lunatics. We are just like everyone else sharing a common passion.

  15. I try not to get fussed about whether a person come to like guns or become pro-gun. There are too many variables in that. But, people that go shooting do tend to view the act as a lot more normal and acceptable than someone who has never touched a gun in their life.

    There are already more, passionate pro-gunners than truly passionate anti-gunners…every vaguely anti person we can make ambivalent and every ambivalent person we can make vaguely pro-gun and every vaguely pro-gun person we can make passionately pro-gun is a good thing.

    Scalia isnt allowed to select justices, but he is using his opportunities to do what he can to give Kagan another perspective.

  16. Good for Scalia. Hopefully our justices will always rule in the court to uphold our constitution and not to create new laws. They need to stay within their jurisdiction. We need to encourage as many good individuals as possible to become a cop. See a related site: http://www.how-to-become-a-cop.com/