Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Proud to be a Shooting Family

I received the following email from Sean Young, along with his permission to post it:

I would like to thank you for bringing the Appleseed Project to my attention. This program will make for a wonderful father-son weekend.

My wife, Kami, and I have also instituted a new discipline program in our household.

Our son, Payton, turned eight years old on April 7. Kami and I decided to give him his first firearm, a Cricket single shot .22 (Does this qualify as a straw purchase?). Instead of the typical punishments for misbehavior, Payton now has some incentive to behave. Payton starts each day with ten .22 rounds. Each time he misbehaves, we take one round away. In the event that he goes the entire day without misbehaving, he receives a five round bonus. This makes Payton's total potential weekly haul 105 rounds.

The net result is an increase in our family shooting time. Just try explaining to an eight year old that you would rather sit on the couch and watch TV than go shooting.
What a cool story. When I asked for permission to post it, and if whether would prefer not to have his full name used, this was this response:
Feel free to share our story. You can leave the names if you want. We are proud to be a shooting family.
Like the saying goes, "Perception is reality."

The more normalized gun ownership and use becomes, the fewer people will be frightened by it and the more will be drawn to it, more willing to protect it and less receptive to the lies.

Well done, Mr. Young. Thank you for your leadership by example.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sign that man up!

Appleseed is an all volunteer program, and counts on people like yourselves to keep it on track.

http://www.rwva.org

Hope to see you at the range!

dlr said...

I wonder how my children would react to a program like this? I think I know... I better start looking for a second job to fund the ammo purchases. :-)

Sendarius said...

What a great idea!

I'm starting it next week with my 10-year old.

Fletch said...

Great story, great idea!

It's important that we "come out" as gun owners so people know we're their friends and family, and not hunch-back monsters.

Anonymous said...

As an Appleseed volunteer (like Chris!), I'm thrilled to read this. Well done, Mr Young! I look forward to reading of your family trip to an Appleseed.

Ross