2008 Woodie Awards
Balls to the Wall: Guns
Nick Stockton
Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: Features
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I was sitting in the classroom at Second Amendment Sports, listening to Don Busse tell me about all the dangerous game he had hunted. Lining the lower walls above the bench where Don sat were numerous photos of his trophies. Above us, there were numerous antlered things, wild boars, a coyote, and an alligator head.
I was so wrapped up in the stories he was telling me about his recent African hunting safari that I almost forgot why I was there. Then I heard two muffled shots, BUMF! BUMF!
Don stopped mid-sentence, looked me in the eye and said, "That's the sound of freedom."
Personally, I have very little experience with guns. Most of my combat training comes from the BB gun wars I was drafted into when I was a young man of Shafter. Despite this embattled past, I am a pretty non-violent kind of guy. However, listening to Don talk about calibers, scopes, ranges, and ammo types had me very excited to squeeze off some rounds.
All that was holding me back was the fact that Michael Plaza, our online editor, was still in class, and I needed him to bring a camera so that we could take pictures. Even though he had just come from class, he still looked like he was hungry for knowledge. Luckily for him, Don Busse was about to teach us a thing or two about freedom.
The mountain of paperwork we had to fill out got me all sentimental about skydiving because they also had a policy of requiring 30 sets of your initials before you can get a little crazy. I only hope that this whole paperwork thing isn't a trend with all the activities we plan to do in this series.
Don hooked us up with a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol, a box of ammo, and some knowledge about shooting. He loaded up our target, which was a mock-silhouette of a person from the waist up, and set it at five meters. At the time, I was wanting more. I wanted to push it to the limit. 2nd Amendment has a 25 meter shooting range, so in my mind I was wondering why we were going to let 20 meters go to waste.
I was so wrapped up in the stories he was telling me about his recent African hunting safari that I almost forgot why I was there. Then I heard two muffled shots, BUMF! BUMF!
Don stopped mid-sentence, looked me in the eye and said, "That's the sound of freedom."
Personally, I have very little experience with guns. Most of my combat training comes from the BB gun wars I was drafted into when I was a young man of Shafter. Despite this embattled past, I am a pretty non-violent kind of guy. However, listening to Don talk about calibers, scopes, ranges, and ammo types had me very excited to squeeze off some rounds.
All that was holding me back was the fact that Michael Plaza, our online editor, was still in class, and I needed him to bring a camera so that we could take pictures. Even though he had just come from class, he still looked like he was hungry for knowledge. Luckily for him, Don Busse was about to teach us a thing or two about freedom.
The mountain of paperwork we had to fill out got me all sentimental about skydiving because they also had a policy of requiring 30 sets of your initials before you can get a little crazy. I only hope that this whole paperwork thing isn't a trend with all the activities we plan to do in this series.
Don hooked us up with a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol, a box of ammo, and some knowledge about shooting. He loaded up our target, which was a mock-silhouette of a person from the waist up, and set it at five meters. At the time, I was wanting more. I wanted to push it to the limit. 2nd Amendment has a 25 meter shooting range, so in my mind I was wondering why we were going to let 20 meters go to waste.
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