(Let's keep this serious for at least a page)

Say I wanted to run a seminar series on gun safety, hopefully drawing some gun-ignorant or gun-fearing neophytes into the fold of "people who like guns".

What would I need to do?

Issue 1: I want to actually bring in real firearms.
We ("people who might help out") have access to actual firearms, and getting a bunch of Airsoft guns for classroom purposes seems somewhat silly, not to mention Airsoft guns are also technically against the rules anyway—it'd help a lot to use real guns, for the sake of getting people to take the seminars seriously. I'm assuming we'd have to clear it with the campus Po, and an officer would have to be present to ensure safety or something. Anyone have experience with this sort of thing? Of course we would not be bringing ANY live ammo into the classroom, for safety reasons.

Issue 2: Reserving a room.
Simple enough, I'm just wondering where do you guys think something like this should take place? I'd rather use a more open room, so we can get a more informal setting (think "big circle of people passing guns around") rather than that all-too-familiar "teacher at front, students asleep" setting.

Issue 3: Material.
I don't want sessions to drag on forever, and I don't know that I woudl want to make them into a series—the idea is to instill the Four Rules (shouldn't take longer than a few minutes), followed by some Q&A and general terminology, followed by Show And Tell. Maybe go for an hour max.

So...thoughts?

12/20/2005 3:30:03 PM

Would you be able to ensure to all the "gun ignorant" and "gun-fearing neophytes" that people who are willing to use guns to do more than just protect themselves and hunt animals will never be in possession of said items?

12/20/2005 3:33:35 PM

Eh?

Hell no. I'm all for being allowed to own guns just for the heck of it/target shooting.

I'd just make it very clear up front that the politics of gun ownership are beyond the scope of the seminars.

12/20/2005 3:49:46 PM

My point is that I think the majority of the "gun-fearing neophytes" are not people who don't understand guns, but people politically opposed to them

12/20/2005 3:51:00 PM

You know, my experience has been that a lot of people who are like "guns, icky" simply haven't been exposed to guns IRL or thought about them much.

As for people who are just "against guns", well, they're not the target audience anyway.

EDIT: Rather, EVERYONE's target audience, but the goal is to increase understanding of safe and proper firearms handling, not necessarily convert everybody into GOA fanatics. (No offense to GOA members. :p)

[Edited on December 20, 2005 at 4:08 PM. Reason : Mis-statement]

12/20/2005 4:07:39 PM

its not going to happen on campus anywhere, if thats what you were asking

12/20/2005 4:32:08 PM

Why don't you talk to one of the local shooting ranges about organizing a college night similar to their "ladies night" stuff? The one in Wilmington does a classroom setting followed by shooting a .22 on the range. It really doesn't benefit anyone but an absolute beginner, but it would probably be the best way to accomplish your goal.

12/20/2005 4:46:41 PM

^ what he said

no way you're getting a gun on campus without prison time or a hefty fine (assuming you get caught... with a classroom full of witnesses you'll get caught)

12/20/2005 4:58:51 PM

You may want to try speaking with the NCSU Rifle Team; they can probably give you some pointers and perhaps even help you with your endeavors.

However, I seriously doubt that the university is going to let you bring firearms onto campus. You most likely will have to arrange for a off-campus site.

12/20/2005 5:33:02 PM

Quote :

"My point is that I think the majority of the "gun-fearing neophytes" are not people who don't understand guns, but people politically opposed to them"

I don't agree. I have yet to meet a single anti-gun person who knew jack shit about guns. It's certainly not the only cause of their opinion, but I've seen many instances where their ignorance and misunderstand was a definite factor.

12/20/2005 7:31:15 PM

there are plenty of them
my dad is one

12/20/2005 7:38:20 PM

Well of course they have to be out there, but they are few and far between. I don't recall ever personally talking to one.

Even most of the people you see on TV (to include Congressmen, sometimes) arguing against guns are quite obviously trying to argue against something they have very little understanding of.

at the risk of beating a dead horse, the Assault Weapons Ban (the fact that it was enacted at all in the way it was written, and all of the ill-informed debate surrounding it) is the most glaring example I know of. It still blows my mind that so many people could so stupidly form such ill-informed opinions.

12/20/2005 7:48:50 PM

I am not saying that most anti-gun people don't understand guns...what I'm saying is that the reason they are anti gun is that they don't like the idea of them, not that they don't understand how they work..

I would be willing to bet that if you take the average anti-gun critic who didn't know too much about them, even if you taught them everything about the guns and how "safe" they can be...he would still be against them

12/20/2005 8:49:50 PM