... and he was awesome!
This really wasn't an Appleseed thing, but it is a great story, and I want to share.
Through another outlet I connected with a men's group of a large church in my town. They have a group of guys who shoot at a farm just west of the suburbs. When I heard this, I told the faith coordinator about Appleseed and asked if someone could come out and speak to the group. He promptly invited me to come out and shoot with them today.
The morning started out with some serious weather for which I completely blame the current shoot at Ottawa. We stood around on the porch for a while watching the rain blow sideways and chatting about guns and life in general. After a while we opened a few cases and started talking about different weapon systems. That was when one gentlemen show up with a friend who had a cane.
The young man had a positive attitude, wanted to learn, and was surrounded by a dozen men who were willing to share. He had never handled a firearm before. There on the porch he learned the fundamentals of safely handling revolvers, pistols, and rifles by feel.
When the rain settled to a drizzle we did a safety briefing. I did my Appleseed promo spiel, and we headed out to the range. It cleared up nicely soon after. The shooting itself was basic plinking at about 25 yards. I did get some looks when I slung up and went prone, but I did zero my newly repaired LTR.
The adaptive shooter got to try a variety of weapons, AK, AR, and revolvers. He settled into an old S&W service .38. Every time he went to the line he had a partner. The partner would help him load and get set. They would then call his shots. I was very impressed how he took to direction. I never once saw him do anything any of us would consider unsafe.
He did very well. Good trigger control. Good follow through. Later in the afternoon I called the line and saw him consistently get in paint on a standard bullseye at 25 yards after his partner called the first shot or two. The best part was the smile on his face. This man had a ball.
There are some life lessons in his actions today.
That's very cool! Good job passing the skill on to someone that would be otherwise left out.
Wow that's amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Ewald---I agree he was truly awesome! It should also give those of us with sight a whole new concept to "visualizing" our targets. Thank you for posting this not only is it a great lesson but a huge inspiration!
In His Grip,
Ratchett
Thanks for sharing this story. O0 O0 O0 With your consent I'll set a hyperlink to it at Adaptive Appleseed. See: So I went shooting with a blind man today.... (http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=14334.msg120018#msg120018)
That tops the one of blind guy at the NRA Convention in '09 that was shooting [air rifles] with electronic feedback for every shot.
Great work EWald!
Garand and folks in larger cites/urban areas,
Check with your respective cities to see if:
1. there is a Theraputice Recreation program,
2. if it survived the current budget cuts, and
3. if recreational shooting inany form is within the scope of what they [will or can offer] to the local taxpayers that finance the programs; that may open some new venues.
Just a thought.
Tom