The power of an Instalaunch!

Thanks Professor Reynolds, for the link at Instapundit!

Responding to a couple of the very kind comments people left ... I am a complete gun novice. I shot a little bit at boyscout camp and once or twice went out shooting with a couple of uncles when I was a boy, but that was about it. I don't think hunting would interest me very much, but I enjoyed target shooting on this trip a great deal, as did my daughter and wife.

Jim, the fellow teaching us, is in law enforcement, and is a locally recognized expert. Since I didn't know him in advance, I wanted to hire someone I knew would know the rules of gun safety - turned out he was a great guy and a terrific teacher for my family. He normally wore eye and ear protection while we were shooting. I found him by contacting gun and fishing stores in the small town where we were staying; he was understandably surprised to have someone contact him out of the blue, and he had initial concerns that we were crazies. He made a point of stopping by our hotel the day before we went out with him to get acquainted with us and make sure, as he said, that he was comfortable with us. During the first hour or so of our session, he actually wore a police vest. Since he didn't know us from Adam, that struck me as very sensible. I'm not sure what kind of a pistol my daughter is shooting - I know it was a .22, small, with what I think you call a slide (she had to keep her hand below the sliding mechanism) and it had very little kick. It was a good weapon for her.

We learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and knowing we were in the hands of a careful, expert instructor was very important to this family of complete novices. We'll definitely do it again.