Guns – as American as apple pie

We are fortunate to have many international friends.  We are also fortunate to have a home that has enough room and the facilities for our own private firing range.  Sometimes those two elements meet.

Often our international guests will express an interest in our guns.  Often these guests have never even touched a gun, let alone fired one.  We will show them the proper and safely handling of firearms.  If they are comfortable with the idea of actually shooting a gun, we let them. 

In a group setting, it will be those who have been denied gun ownership by their government who are the most curious and the first in line for firing lessons.

Other friends who weren’t born in the United States but rather became Naturalized Citizens after growing up in a country that suppressed or denied gun ownership often want to purchase a handgun as a gift for themselves.  For them, the right to own a gun is as American as apple pie and the “Star Spangled Banner.” 

Perhaps the best line ever uttered about the right to keep and bear arms came from a visitor who grew up in Zimbabwe.  There only the military were allowed to have a gun and that gun had to be surrendered upon separation from the military. 

After some lessons on how to shot a gun, he turned to us and said, “I like guns.  Too bad we could not have them in Zimbabwe.  However, if we did, perhaps our revolutions might have actually succeeded.”