Hmm. Melons are not an option for us. We don't have any outdoor shooting ranges, only indoor.
That said, I can follow everything else... and will.
Bou, you don't need a shooting range, just go out to the edge of some of that swamp. or somebody's farm or mosquito ranch or whatever y'all Floridians got.
For that matter, there's no reason it can't be done in an indoor range...set up a small group of your fellow parents and schedule it on a normally-slow time, and tell the owner or manager you'll slip an extra five bucks or so for the guy that has to clean up around anyway.
Tell me the owner wouldn't jump on that, say a half dozen range fees during a time the place would normally be empty? Heck, they'd be ADVERTISING a weekly or monthly event the next day!
Sorry this is OT, but...
Welcome, dude! I've been wondering when Harvey would finally win you over!
gone to happily update my BEF blogroll...
This is great stuff Peter. My dad has given us 3 girls The Speech many many times....
Before we would go out shooting, we would each handle each gun at home unloaded. He would shows us the parts, have us pull the trigger away from others facing an open area, etc. This lesson is usually 1-2 hours.
I welcome the lesson...makes me feel more comfortable when I get to go out and shoot.
OH! And OT this time! "It's a good way to keep your housegun anyway. If we get awakened in the middle of the night the time it takes to chamber a round just might get us awake enough to avoid a tragedy."
Very true. But when I kept a 20 ga. pump action shotgun for home protection, and even before children came along, I kept the chamber empty anyway. My theory is that, even in a darkened room, an intruder friggin' knows that unmistakable sound of a round being jacked by pump-action (unless they've never seen a movie in their life). I want the bastard to have time to sh** his drawers once before I blow his fool head off.
You must have read my mind and now I don't have to email you that question.
I was wondering yesterday night about if one really needs a safety lock on a gun if one does not have children and rarely even has children in the house.
But you answered that question.
Ok, now what I am thinking?
*sending vibes to Pete*
My intentions are to do exactly this. My dad did it with me, and we still practice "out back" my son will have the same lessons, mostly because my house is like an arsenal, ok, not that much, but still, it is a necessity that he knows how to properly handle firearms and trust me, he will.
Excellent post. I've got nothing to add.
Ok, one thing:
"STOP. DON'T TOUCH. GET AWAY. TELL AN ADULT."
Should be taught at some point in every grade in every public school.
Harvey: Agreed, but of course it will never happen. To do so would be a tacit admission of defeat from the confiscate-all-guns socialist crowd in charge of public education.
To their minds, better that a few innocent children should die needlessly each year, than they actually reconsider their pathetic anti-American agenda.
Sometime, I'll have to tell you how I really feel. *lol*
That Stop. Don't touch, etc is very close to what the NRA's Eddie Eagle Program teaches young children.
The melon trick is from old law enforcement families, an LEO is required to keep his, and now her, shootin' iron available and ready.
Cleaning the guns, that's from Granpap, down to Dad to me.
Y'all didn't think I thunk this stuff on my own, didya?
It's not like that down here anymore, Peter. It's not all swampland and gators. The builders got hold of the land and now the gators are in people's yards. We all live in reclaimed everglades... so seriously, shooting outside is not an option for us.
However, I need to get to know the guys at our range better. Right now they seem like they wouldn't want to be bothered with the whole melon scenario, but I think I will work on it.
The times I've had to give that demonstration, I've used a bar of the old "Fels Naptha" soap,(a similiar bar is available in Latino stores) and a can of V-8.
Simply put the soap in front of the can and shoot bpoth at once.
Result? Big hole in soap covered in "bloody"looking V-8. Most impressive.
If Nra is not available check out the local 4-H office. Shooting Sports is one of the largest 4-H projects.
That's great advice. When i was seven, my dad took me out and let me fire the 1911A1. It was a hot load and he did the no hearing protection thing too. I fired one round (the only one he'd put in the gun becasue he knew i'd drop it and run like hell. Scared the living hell out of me. Didn't drop it, but i wasn't a happy youngun. But i didn't touch that gun again until i was around 10 or 11, when he actually taught me to shoot properly. Good advice, and it works, at least for this former youngun.
Cultural difference at work here..but I was actually quite impressed when my daughter picked up a strut of her Barbie house, called it a "gun", yet had no idea what sound it was supposed to make, or what effect it would achieve had it been real. She's five next month.
I approve of your post, but it is sad that it's necessary.
Gotta work with what you got, I suppose 
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