One day our technical instructor said, “It’s firing range day,” so off we marched. (We marched everywhere).
This is basic training in October of ’67 in Amarillo, Texas.
My gun experience prior to that was growing up with a brother-in-law that was a Canandaigua Indian. He took me hunting, birds mostly. We ate what we shot. Pheasant, rabbit and squirrel. Just watch out for the shots when you chewed.
The range during basic training was a huge barricaded area. So we file in and are handed an M16 rifle that was adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military.
The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm. Maximum firing range is 3,600m. Effective firing range is 550m, (601yd). Semi automatic. I believe a clip of 20.
This was beyond my comprehension. I hunted pheasant with a handcrafted, American-made Ithaca shotgun or I used a long bow.
After the do’s and dont’s of the weapon, I fired the M16. There was a disconnect. You almost couldn’t see the target, let alone the center. There was no sinking of the round, it went straight. Any movement changed the trajectory.
When I hunted as a young man I used a dog. Great fun and very crafty. And as a bonus, you had the silence of the woods. To say the least, this was something very different. I had to figure the nature of this weapon to master it. Which I did. Got a ribbon in marksmanship.
My gun at home was used for harvesting food, this gun was meant for killing men, quickly and efficiently.
I have been out here in the woods of western Franklin County since the ’70s and through the years we have had lots of hunting going on around here. Lots of hunters live out here. It’s a fine way to feed yourself and your family with good local food and a long-standing tradition.
I’ve had guns for a long while living out here and I taught my sons to shoot. One hunts regularly and I get some for my freezer.
I hunted more as a youngster than as an adult, but I went out and had my share of enjoying the heck out of it. I also have had to do away with rabid raccoons and the like, so I see the gun as a tool for land owners out here.
You must know where I am going with this. I will tell you first, I know Second Amendment people that are good honest folks and would never misuse a weapon. These are my neighbors.
Many of them go to their local range and shoot and let’s not forget the turkey shoot.
So when banning any gun comes up, they aren’t the ones doing the murders and they stand firm against “taking away our rights,” as they put it.
The Founding Fathers could not have fathomed the fire power of today.
It takes two or three minutes to load a flintlock rifle, as opposed to, say, eight seconds for a musket. If you’re trying to shoot a squirrel out of that tree, you’ve got all the time in the world.
But if you are trying to shoot a child in a classroom, with your musket: Stop count 8 seconds and picture the chances of survival. As opposed to one second. Think of it. 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.
AR-15 ammunition travels up to three times the speed of sound.
There should not be two sides to this problem. It is an American problem and patriots of all sorts should do as we did in any crisis before. Work together.
Slogans such as “Guns don’t kill people, people do” and “Did you hear about the drive by knife throwing?” are not helpful.
Here’s the deal. Second Amendment folks, you are getting a bad rap and are obeying the laws. The database that I researched came up with the average age of these shooters is 18. So? Apply logic here. You can’t drink (for the most part) till 21. So?
There is no way a good citizen does not help to end the slaughter of our children. There is no way you can stand by and see your child, grandchild bloodied and dead. For what?
It is beyond my comprehension how mass slaughter is just another news story. Be a patriot, help.
Joseph Scalise lives in Buckland.