Reader Scott emails:

A couple of days ago I posted a comment to your blog post about the Living Social coupon for CCW permit training. My dad, a 61-year old guy who moved to Tennessee with my Mom just a few years ago from Illinois, called me today to let me know that he passed the class with excellent scores. He got 100% on the written portion and 88 points out of 100 on the firing line. Now, it’s important to mention that the *only* formal experience he’s ever had with a sidearm was about 50 rounds that he put downrange just last weekend. I think he may have plinked around a bit while camping in N. Wisconsin with my uncle nearly 40 years ago but beyond that he’s had no exposure to guns.

So my first point: it’s ridiculously easy to get qualified to secure a CCW. One full Saturday in a classroom with a trainer well-versed in the legalities and practicalities of CC’ing was really all it took. That’s a minimal expenditure of effort as far as I’m concerned.

Now he’s debating whether to actually secure a permit. He really has little interest in CC’ing and has said that his only interest in guns would be to have a shotgun for home defense. But I got the distinct impression from him today that he’s more than chuffed with himself over his performance today and his instructor today seems to have been a genuinely engaging and informative mentor. I think it won’t take much to get him to “pull the trigger” and drop the $150 for the permit, even if he never purchases a sidearm.

Thus my second point: a partial victory is as good as a complete victory when it comes to normalizing gun ownership/rights. I’m certain some of your readers would scoff at the notion that my Dad is still just a willing victim-in-waiting, and there may be some merit in that. But here’s a guy who was, just a few short years ago, at the very opposite end of the spectrum in re: to gun rights (and don’t get me started on my Mom’s attitude toward guns, yet *she* was the one who purchased the Living Social coupon for him!), and today he’s qualified to head down the local PD and submit paperwork to carry concealed. More importantly, he sounded like a 6-year old who’d just learned to ride his bike without training wheels while I was on the phone with him this evening. Encouragement breeds acceptance breeds excitement breeds enthusiasm.

One at a time!

Posted in uncategorized on June 6th, 2011 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |