This past Saturday there was a double birthday celebration at Beechtree Farm, not far from Princeton, New Jersey. With the hostesss permission, I brought along a couple of side-by-side shotguns, a case of shells, a box of clay targets and my clay-bird launching trap. There were more than 250 people in attendance at the party. I have a strong sense that many of the guests had never fired a gun and held opinions of firearms forged by our monolithic media.
By the time that a hundred clay pigeons had flown there was an obvious attitudinal transformation. What at first had been skepticism and concern was changed into enthusiasm and curiosity. Dozens of folks tried their hands at hitting fast flying clay targets. Applause greeted success at difficult shots and there was a general atmosphere of merriment and camaraderie. It was obvious that the negative aura associated with firearms on the part of the dupes of mass media was replaced by a respect and affection for that instrumentality which vouches safe our future as a free people.
The moral of the story is that by exposing citizens to the joys of the shooting sports we can dispel the dreary stereotypes and enlighten the benighted, even in what might have started as a hostile environment.
J.K.B. von Falkenhorst
