Chicks and guns
And how not to win. Videos of women firing guns and getting injured from the recoil keep popping up (here, here, and here).
To the men who allowed this to happen: What the Hell are you thinking? Now, these women will probably never fire a gun again. A newbie shooter should enjoy the experience and you should do your damnedest to see that happens.
March 13th, 2009 at 10:24 am
This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Not only are they turning these women away from shooting, but these women are likely to tell their girlfriends to never try it. Not to mention all the people that will be turned off from shooting just by watching these videos. It’s disgraceful and there is no reason for it.
If you hand a new shooter a firearm without proper instruction and then film the results, you’re the one that looks like an idiot. You’ve not only alienated a potential new shooter, but you’ve endangered everyone in the immediate vicinity.
March 13th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I’m not sure if I’m more irritated at the idiots who failed to give these women proper instruction, or the idiots in the comments who think such videos are not only funny, but evidence that women should not be allowed to handle guns.
March 13th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Here’s a nice little antidote video to bring the spirits up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UPk4IYqUdY
A young girl with a bolt gun vs. an Alaskan blackie. She’s quite a shooter – check the quick follow up shot on the running bear which drops him. Probably 99% of adult hunters couldn’t have made that shot.
The father used to hang out on a message board I frequent – I think the girl was 6 or 7 at the time of the video.
March 13th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Yeah, that’s dumb. The last one though is pretty cool, she goes down fighting 🙂
March 13th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
There are good suggestions about new shooters on many forums. I have found that nothing beats a 22LR for a first shot.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Guys who fail to take the time to help a new shooter (of either sex) get comfortable with the guns they use do a disservice to all of us and especially to the new shooter.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I have a Ruger 10/22 and a Sig Mosquito, so new shooters (esp women and small children) get a chance to shoot a low recoil, relatively quiet firearm. This makes the first time as relatively non threatening and scary as possible. Besides, shooting a .22 is darn fun.
I was at the range several weeks ago, and a man was trying to teach his wife to shoot his .45. I offered to let him use the Mosquito to teach her the basics. He declined, saying that it would do her no good to learn with a small gun, that she needed to learn how to shoot full power pistols.
After the third shot, she put down the .45 and refused to shoot any more, she said it “kicked too much.” She asked to borrow my .22, and he got angry at her. I just left, because I did not mean to start marital discord.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
“There are good suggestions about new shooters on many forums. I have found that nothing beats a 22LR for a first shot.”
+1. A Ruger Mark II is a great beginner pistol. No recoil, relatively small bang, and you can shoot it all day for less than $10.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Yes, because everyone knows you stick new racers in GT class cars. What a maroon.
March 13th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Divemedic, been there, and if she’d left with you there’d have been nothing to feel guilty about.
Sexist only because of the LOL’s. #1 is the old shotgun gag: large bore, no hold cue, “Hurts don’t it?” Millions of guys have fallen for it. Never gets old. Also never gets funny.
#2 happens to experienced high-power guys when they mount new optics, and they often take a snapshot to remember it by. A mistake, but not a noob mistake.
#3 is the best muzzle control I’ve seen since Lil Gish let Bob Mitchum have it out by the barn. Good on her.
Poor instruction, crappy attitudes, and unreliable shooting buddies: you live and you learn. I’m 6’2″, over 200, and I have been stung by big guns. We should all be nicer people and thoughtful considerate mentors, but must ordinary bang-ouches never, ever happen to a female? I’m thinking YouTube may not be an unalloyed benefice to our national discourse.