October 7, 2020—My first air rifle, my son's first Sunday at the range — and why all of us should make this circle bigger.
Written by Panos Frantzis. First published on the original Shooting Quarterly site.
As long as I can remember I always liked shooting…
My father gifted me my first air rifle when I was 5 years old. He surprised me with his present, an afternoon, on the beginning of the first grade. 40+ years later I still remember this moment like yesterday. My surprise as I was “unboxing” the rifle — back in the day it was just plain Kraft paper, which I tore apart rapidly — my excitement when I realised what it was, my obsession to learn how to handle it when I realised it was mine… my first rifle!
He first taught me safety rules. He used to say “always check it is clear and never put your finger in the trigger; you must never point it towards anyone, firearms are loaded by the devil”. We would use it on weekends only, outdoors, him teaching me. He never allowed me to use it alone.
To cut this long story short, history repeated with my son a couple of years ago when he asked to join me at the range on a Sunday morning. He was 8 years old and had never expressed any interest in coming with me. I had offered him a few times to come and see but he never did. Needless to say, on Wednesday of the same week an air rifle was waiting for him after school.
He competes regularly now and we train together as much as we can. I believe that there are thousands of similar stories and I believe that all of us who are passionate about our sport should try and make this circle bigger. Everyone who believes it is welcome to join our effort and help us make more people discover our sport.
BELIEVE — SHARE — TEACH THE YOUNG.