Target Shooting

Dad and I used to do target shooting with rifles and pistols a lot. We did our own ammunition reloading. Now years later in this politically correct world we live in I can't just go out into the woods and shoot. Since that is the case, I recently got this Crosman 1377 pellet pistol and have been trying to knock off 25 years of shooting rustiness by practicing in the back yard.

I just got a box of German match pellets and tried them out. This is the target at 50 feet doing standing, offhand shooting. Though the Crosman is not a Walther match pistol, at $55 with open iron sights I didn't do too badly. I had one flyer when the wind knocked the target around, but the other 5 shots grouped at 2 inches and all shots were within 1 1/4 inches of the red bullseye.

Not too sloppy for not having shot in a quarter of a century. With practice I should be able to tighten up the group to an inch or so, hopefully. It's a lot of fun and I highly recommend the Crosman 1377 pistol as an inexpensive pistol. It is reasonably accurate and the pump mechanism means you don't need to buy CO2 cartridges. It is a single shot pistol. The limiting factor to accuracy is the open sight.

Though I don't believe in hunting, I love target shooting as a sport. I'm teaching Karen the wife how to shoot now. She is doing pretty good for a novice and may outshoot me one day after she practices.

Student Threatens School

Two days after the college massacre one of our students at the high school was arrested for sending an email to a friend threatening to kill 100 of our students. It came out later that he had made similar threats in February but they were not reported. Police charged him with a 2nd degree felony and searched his house. They found a shotgun that he had access to. This kid has to be one of the biggest idiots I've ever heard of. I'm sure he knew that he would be arrested in the current climate of fear but I guess he wanted his 15 minutes of fame.

With this ass and others like him running around the school I've been thinking about the security we have. There are two resource officers at the school. That's it for protection! I have no way to adequately protect either myself or my students other than locking the door. I really wish that I and other teachers here who are proficient with firearms could keep a gun in the classroom. Even pepper spray or a taser would be better than nothing. We aren't allowed to have anything to defend our classes with. It's truly sad that it's even come to this but reality has to be faced. I have years of training with rifles and pistols and have more than enough experience to safely keep a firearm at school. I reload my own ammunition and regularly practice target shooting. My home guns include revolvers and semi-automatics in various calibers. Having a firearm in class could mean survival for me and my class if the worst case scenario ever came to pass.

How did they handle this incident? After arresting the kid, our principal sent a voicemail announcement to everyone at home saying that a student who made non-specific threats was arrested and there is no danger. I wouldn't be surprised if the student wasn't back at school within a week or two. Wake up, folks! There is a real danger of copycat nuts out there in high schools and colleges everywhere. A teacher such as myself may be the only one standing between our students and some psychopathic idiot who wants to kill as many kids as possible. We need the ability to do more to protect our kids than throw pencils at a killer.