Today, I'm embracing the second amendment.

[ToolMaker]

97. a few thoughts and some advice...

First off, owning a gun is not a bad thing! Second, owning a gun and attending one or two range classes WILL NOT make you safer to any degree. Far too many people focus on "feeling" safer, rather than actually BEING safer. Being safer involves changing the way you view and interact with the world around you. Seek training that focuses on security as a whole, not just use of a firearm. Firearms are the last ditch, worst case solution to personal safety.

Seek out training that focuses on recognizing danger and tactics to avoid and negate violence. While it may sound simple, it really is an educational requirement. You can't read a book or watch a YouTube video to learn this on your own. It actually does require training from someone that understands personal security and safety. Since you have already acquired firearms, this training should incorporate firearms into an overall training experience.

Plan to practice with your firearms... A LOT! Shooting is a perishable skill that must be maintained. The initial learning curve will be very steep, and will likely require a lot of effort. Just mastering the basics will require more time than many people imagine. Once you reach a reasonable level of competency in the basics, you will begin to build on those skills to learn how to REALLY use a gun.

As much as it may pain a lot of liberals to imagine, attend a high end, reputable training facility, if you can afford it. Yes, many of the training facilities and instructors have a right leaning, even far right, political view. As strange as it may sound, this really doesn't come up at the good quality schools to any real degree. While the owners/operators/instructors may be conservative, they are also professional enough to leave politics outside the classroom. Even the ones that are more prone to bring political views to the class will respond to clients. Simply call them and explain that you are not interested in an instructor that preaches politics of any type. Trust me, if you put together a group of like minded people that want to attend their class, they will be perfectly happy to accommodate that small request.

As a final thought, if you find that you actually enjoy shooting (as many people do), look into competitive shooting. This is probably the best way to sharpen and maintain your physical skills with a gun. This is not "combat/defensive" training. This is skills development. Most competitive events combine accuracy and speed (timed events) to create stress. They all require absolute safety and will help you develop safe handling skills. Competitive shooting is very beneficial to this process, and it's a lot of fun!