heading to the range

Saturday morning we're off to the gun range with a co-worker of the SO. The co-worker grew up on a farm and now keeps guns and shoots mostly 22 rifle. He's invited us to come along and printed out the NRA's gun safety guide.

In many ways, the mission of the NRA to promote gun safety and training is excellent. I just wish they hadn't gotten so maniacal about gun possession. Just because we are allowed to possess guns doesn't mean simply getting a gun is a wise thing to do.

In teaching martial arts, I run into one or two students who come in and the only thing they want to do is "stick fight" or they want to know how to use knives. Now, first off, I don't teach "stick fighting," I teach a martial art. Second off, it'll be a while before I put a knife in someone's hands, even in class, even if it's a practice knife.

In many ways, people think weapons are easy, knives are easy, guns are easy, just pull a trigger, just move your hand. And so they think since they have the right to bear arms they should be able to exercise that right this very second. These people are attracted to the "power" that these weapons have. But they don't like to think about the responsibility and respect for such power.

Even my teacher waits 2 years before he might teach someone knife, because it takes at least 2 years before the person gains the kind of control and patience needed to handle a weapon as deadly as that. Of the live (sharpened real) knives I have, I only actually will use only a few of them in sparring because those are the ones I know well.

I believe in the spirit of weapons and in the soul of an object. Often when I pick up a new blade I will make a pact with it, that if I treat it well, it will protect me as well and will only cut when I ask it to cut.

After 10 years there are some blades and some techniques that I still find frighteningly scary. And when a beginner tells me they want to get a real blade right away, I often wonder do they realize the risk involved. And I want to ask them if they can move as thinly as the blade? Can they move as easily as the knife cuts? As a tool, a knife doesn't care what it cuts, whether it's your enemy, or the tomatos for your sandwich. And a gun and a bullet doesn't care what it kills which is why it needs to be given the utmost respect and care.

There was one seminar on the large kampilan swords, some people had brand new replicas that were live. It had to be one of the scariest classes I had ever been in. You could feel the heaviness in people's breath. In class you think it's ok to make a mistake because this is a class and I'm learning. But in this class, we all knew, there could be few mistakes. The air was tattered with these blades swinging through.

We have training and tests to drive cars and motocycles and 16-wheelers, why don't we have just as many tests for gun possession? You could still have a gun, you just would have to prove you know how to handle one well before you could get one.