How firearm ownership changed my life

I was a young girl the first time I was around a firearm. It was loud and the experience was meant to scare me from ever wanting to touch one, it worked. My second experience came about after a conversation highlighting that I was a single woman living alone and that I should at least know what to do with a firearm. Unfortunately, the friend that offered to help me learn gave only the advice of point and shoot then he proceeded to drop the loaded revolver, it fired when it hit the ground. Needless to say when I met Dan, I was not a fan of firearms.

Dan and his father enjoyed spending time together at the firing range. I had never thought of it as a quality time experience. Dan eventually encouraged me to try another lesson, one he would give. We went over the rules of firearm safety before we even took out a firearm. He ensured that I was outfitted with ear protection so the LOUD gunshots I endured previously were no longer an issue. The first handling of the firearm involved no ammo and was all about building my confidence and muscle memory to safely and appropriately handle the gun.

It has been a few years since that first lesson and it did change my life. It taught me that I should question my fear of something I don't actually know about. My position to avoid being around or handling firearms was built on fear. I've questioned this fear in all kinds of areas and now I am a mountain biking, solo hiking, snake braving, beekeeping, atv driving, chainsawing, floor laying, banjo picking and business building kind of woman that knows being vulnerable to something is NOT weakness, it is a door to really great things.

I now really enjoy going to the range with Dan and "Pop", my father-in law. They cheer me on as my skills improve, laugh at my joy when I hear the musical, dead-center ring of hitting a steel target dead-center, and it gives us fodder for chit chat that leads to all types of deep discussions on other topics.

I have also enjoyed encouraging some of my family and friends to give a chance to the shooting sports. They were fearful of guns and now that fear is gone, replaced by enjoyment at shooting fun carnival targets, using target scopes and watching their skills improve in a just an hour or two with coaching from Dan.

When we decided to start Safe Shooting Education (SSE) it was because we wanted to help new gun owners avoid learning through the "point and shoot" method, I was lucky when that dropped revolver fired away from me. It was also important to us that we provide an environment that feels welcoming and safe to someone still hesitant around firearms. That is why we created the course "is gun ownership for you". But I think I also wanted to support Dan with building SSE because his style of coaching and encouragement to learn instead of being fearful did change my life.