On Deck Shooters

Garrett Boop

"You don't own any of those black automatic assault weapons with those huge clips, do you?"

This was the question posed to me almost four years ago after my coworker noticed a firearm sticker on my water bottle in the lunchroom. I can remember the look of disdain on her face as if it was yesterday.

In all honesty, I almost let fly with the fiery comeback from me. (Be honest, you have one on the tip of your tongue right now. Am I right?) However, I took a deep breath and calmly explained. Yes, I was a firearm owner, and I owned different types of firearms for different purposes.

She and I had worked together as high school counselors for more than five years when this conversation took place. In all that time, she had no idea I was involved in action shooting. In fact, she had no idea the sport of action shooting even existed.

Her children, I knew, were involved in competitive sports, so I used that comparison to help explain my sport of choice. To my surprise, she listened intently. She was able to connect my passion for the dynamic sport of 3-Gun and action shooting to the competitive sports her children loved. She even asked sincere questions afterwards about my matches and travel related to 3-Gun.

What was formally unspoken—and almost a point of conflict—instead became a point of connection.

Making the Connection

Sometimes, we can be quick to react to an ignorant comment coming seemingly out of nowhere. It’s easy to get completely immersed in the culture of shooting sports, guns, and gun safety. We pull our bubble tight because it’s comfortable and familiar.

We refuse to peer through the eyes of someone who’s only heard the worst parts—and sometimes outright lies—about firearms from the media. Someone who has never experienced the thrill of shooting a solid stage. Never felt the thrill of walking up on a downed whitetail buck.

I believe it is our responsibility to actively protect our rights to own firearms and the action shooting sports we love. One of the first and biggest steps we can take is to introduce new people to our sports.

The next logical questions are: how does one get new people involved? Where do we even find people, young or old, who might be interested in learning about guns or shooting sports?

The answer lies in the connections we already have—the everyday connections to the people in our lives. These connections could be made at work, school, church, scouting. They can be friends, neighbors, etc. The list goes on and on. I have found some people are not participating simply because they do not know how to get involved or where to start.

Introducing new people to the sport does not need to involve a structured class or program. It could be a one-on-one friendly demonstration at the range with a .22 pistol and some paper plates for targets. It could simply be inviting someone to come to a match with you.

One of my friends and fellow competitors brought a family friend to a 3-Gun match so she could observe firsthand what it was all about. They had discussed his passion for 3-Gun, but she had no exposure to the shooting sports.

My friend is a father, husband, and law student, yet his interest in guns was simply foreign to this friend. So, it just remained this awkward gulf between two people that couldn’t be bridged until he took the initiative and invited her along.

She spent the day following his squad and interacting with some of the great people in 3-Gun. She had the opportunity to interact with competitors and watch the genuine camaraderie of people going head-to-head with actual points and prizes on the line. Suddenly, "gun people" are not as strange as she imagined.

Turns out, a lot of "normal" people participate in the shooting sports. She now had a positive experience with shooting and shooters that would be meaningful from then on.