More Seniors, Fearing Crime, Flock to Shooting Ranges

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More Seniors, Fearing Crime, Flock to Shooting Ranges


More seniors are going to shooting ranges to practice than ever before. Almost 28,000 seniors (age 65+) have taken the basic NRA training courses in 2015 and that number is four times higher than it was just a few years ago.

The article mentions some getting concealed carry permits and cite safety concerns as one of the reasons for getting training at the range. Overall a generally good pro-gun article from the Wall Street Journal.


http://www.wsj.com/articles/more-seniors-take-aim-at-shooting-ranges-1459243804




"Many dealers and older people around the country said personal safety was the priority. Knowing how to shoot gives older people “a sense of security and safety,” said Rex Gore, owner of Black Wing Shooting Center in Delaware, Ohio, who has had students as old as 95. “It’s a great equalizer in this crazy world we live in.”

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I was given a rifle in 1958 when I was 8 years old. I began to shoot that rifle which I still have today, a Remington Model 510P. I enjoy shooting that rifle and over the past 58 years have accumulate a few more guns. I see gun ownership today as being in one of two camps. Those of us who are simple gun enthusiast and love the shooting sports and those who buy a gun for self defense or home protection. The latter will on occasion go to a local indoor range and practice a little and generally leaving the brass where it falls and there are those of us who love the outdoor ranges and shooting 200 plus yards as well as the 25 yard indoor range. We collect our brass and take it home to reload. We shoot for the pure enjoyment of the shooting sports.

Friends and neighbors who know of my shooting enthusiasm frequently ask me what gun to buy, where to practice, and the list goes on and on. I can't say that the majority are over or under 65 but the majority are looking for self or home defense guns. This is the Cleveland, Ohio suburbs. Homicides and things that go bump in the night are common place and people are becoming more worried. Most of the homicides are revenge shootings and gang related but no shortage of car jackings and robbery going on. Anyway, yeah, people are running a tad bit worried or scared.

Ron
 
In my area, our NRA basic pistol classes are full with waiting lists. Many new shooters. Lots of women. Not seeing the over 65 crowd in large numbers.

Interesting that the "Havaard" professor clings to the old liberal myth about a firearm being more dangerous to the owner than the bad guy. I'm 71. The bad guy should be cautious.

Oh yeah. If you drive a car, you are more likely to die in a car accident. I'll take the risk.
 
I'm almost 69, have congestive heart failure and a pacemaker. Arthritis in nearly every joint and pretty bad lower back pain. I'm not looking for sympathy, just stating why I carry and go to the range regularly. If I'm out of the house you can bet I have a gun on me. I can't stand and duke it out with a 20 something thug or out run him. I do not intend on being in one of those news articles about a senior citizen beaten and robbed or killed and robbed if I can help it.
 
I'm 46 in a few days, Bad heart with defibrillator, Nerve and tissue damage to both feet from on the job exposure to an unknown chemical spill accident (paramedic). I cannot run, I will not take a butt-whipping, (blood thinners) so I would have no choice but to use my CCW if I could not avoid the whole thing.
 
I am 66, and a BK amputee. I can barely walk, let alone flee from a situation. I am not cocky but feel safer when carrying. Hope of course never to need it, but better to have it.

Also, I am an enthusiast collector and reloader. I am not good on my "feet" but I can sit and reload. Do well at the ranges as well. It's a good hobby for me.
 
I got my CCW about 8 years ago around the time I turned 65. Not because I was getting old or felt unsafe, but because I retired and moved out of California to Arizona and I could.

I don’t know if it’s as much as people getting old as it is the way things are going in the world and with all states (Willing or not) now issuing carry permits. A lot of people are exercising a right that has been denied for a long time. Also, with all the problems refugees are causing in the EU and combined with the prospects of thousands of un-vetted or minimally vetted refugees that could be pouring into America against the will of the people, people are just more concerned about their personal safety.

Situations like the attack in San Bernardino with 14 people murdered. Could a person with a concealed weapon have stopped that attack? I don’t know, but it certainly wouldn’t have made it any worse. If it happened in a somewhat bedroom community like San Bernardino, it could happen anywhere and I think that has a lot to do with the increase in ownership and CCW.
 
First, people respond to changing times with some alarm. Most of what were considered to be standard moral principles now appear - to seniors - to be lightly cast off as easily as the coverup garments of a LGBT parade.

Second, IT GETS THEM OUT OF THE HOUSE. What good is retirement if you got nuttin to do? The job kept you away from it, family, home repairs, car repairs, community service, mowing the grass, blah blah it all interfered with just going out and popping some caps on a nice day.

And who do you get to be around doing it? Guys and gals who think a lot more like you. They may not actually be a monolithic Trump support group, either, but the conversation is polite and nobody gets in your face about politics. Not hardly. Unlike work, job, etc where we seem to be imposed on by others taking no prisoners because they can.

Not to mention many ranges are clubs, ie, have limited membership and a culture where you are either included for similar views or excluded. No different than golf.

I wouldn't put too much into the "fear factor" of seniors joining up because they are targeted by hoodlums for a beat down daily. Far from it - most are congregating where they can enjoy themselves and be around like minded people. Guns are just a common denominator that structures their attendance socially.

I'm 63 and work retail - who do I get in line to wait on to a large degree? Those who think I understand what having drum brakes on the front and a carburetor means. Same at ranges, the older guys are polite and deferential to each other and stay for hours, the young kids show up to blast away rapid fire and leave in less than 20 minutes.

Seniors have time and a place to go do something. They have the disposable income because, like their parents who exclusively clogged golf courses, they planned their retirements to live comfortably. No real surprise at all.

Wednesdays aren't the Goat Ranch course in suburbia now, it's a day to hit the range.
 
65+ are early Boomers, good to see all that peacenik hippie crap didn't stick and my fellow Boomers have a few brain cells left functioning ;)
 
67 here. Chugging along with a pacemaker/defib, spinal plates. Copd, and afib, used to be a hard charger, now I cant even drive one:)
Been carrying a gun since 66.
I help teach a course once a month to seniors, mostly women who are concerned about being victims.
 
I'm 58. My profession often requires me to work late hours in high crime areas.

I'm not bamboozled by the lie of police "protection" of individuals. I've seen the truth on multiple occasions for decades.

I have not the slightest intention of giving anything up to a robber or fistfighting with a 300lb. super predator, who's probably armed with a knife or a gun anyway.

Nor do I have one IOTA of sympathy for "people" who make their "living" from harming others. If you spend your time robbing, raping and murdering, you deserve to get shot and I hope you do.
 
I am 74 and quite gimpy. I am not fearful, but am aware that there are a lot of goblins would see me as an irresistible temptation comparable to dropping a squawking chicken in front of an agressive dog. Carrying is my default.

RE: Use of the word "goblins." Before Col. Cooper, there was James Whitcomb Riley – http://www.jameswhitcombriley.com/children's_poetry.htm#LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE – and it is not a racist term. See "Little Orphant Annie." I have always suspected that that was where Cooper got the term.
 
David Hemenway, a professor of health policy at Harvard University, said "the evidence is pretty strong that [owning a gun] isn't going to help you."
Having a gun isn't going to help defend you? No? So exactly how is not owning a gun going to help you, Professor?

Having a gun at home increases the risks for suicide and accidental shootings, he said, and it is hard to shoot an intruder or assailant: "Your heart starts beating like crazy," he said. "If they're running at you, you have half a second or something."

Or something. Yeah. It's hard to shoot a brutal attacker yet it's easy to accidentally shoot yourself or a family member. Typical comment from a Harvard-educated pointy-headed academician who knows nothing yet has the answer for everything. It's Harvard-educated idiots like this who have gotten us into the situation we're in.

So what can worried seniors do? "Get a dog, get a good lock, get good neighbors, get a cellphone," Prof. Hemenway said.

Typical elitist attitude. Why spend $500 on a "good lock" when nearly all residential entry doors will yield to a good solid kick. And just how does one obtain good neighbors? Pick up and move to a leafy gated community while surviving on Social Security? Do those community's polite armed intruders wait patiently while you dial 911? And, I'm not confined to a wheelchair like those in the photos, but just how does someone in a wheelchair walk a dog several times times a day? Ask their good neighbors to do it for them?

Get good luck is more like it, Professor.

I'd ask THR members to contribute to the comments on that article, but the good Dr. Professor is already being ripped apart. No sense piling on.
 
I'm 71. I'm not afraid. If I was I'd be carrying a 12 gauge with buck shot instead of my .380.
 
The range where I work and teach basic pistol courses, is flooded with seniors and young people.
The elderly for self protection, the young are curious.

Hopefully both groups understand the need to vote in 2016
 
I'm 68 and thus far in relatively good health and sound mind, but too fat. I've been around guns all my adult life so not changing now. I wouldn't stand much of a chance in a fight against young thugs so naturally must have an "equalizer" nearby. I do go to the range regularly to keep my skill but wouldn't say it's fear so much, just understanding that bad things happen so you must be prepared. My wife feels the same way, just make sure the grandkids can't access a firearm when they visit.
 
The title of the article says it all... Gee, wonder why everyone's interested in self defense? Could it be that our government isn't exactly confidence inspiring? I'll let that one sit for now - most won't have much trouble forming an opinion on the topic - and will certainly get an opportunity to vote this year...

Me, I'm 67, and lucky enough to still be relatively healthy (and not retired at all...). Still don't carry a sidearm on my person (but always have one nearby - I'm not a fool...). This past year I've upgraded my choices, adding a shotgun (for the house) and a long gun (for the road), to the one sidearm I was allowed to purchase as I retired from police work.... Hope I'm never going to need a firearm to defend myself or family ever again.. but also plan on surprising the heck out of anyone that tries to harm me or mine....

One last stray thought regarding upcoming events - wonder if they'll ever add a box on election ballots for "none of the above". Can't say I'm thrilled by any of the current candidates at all... but our country has survived worse.
 
I'm 69 years old and in good health but being a retired police officer I already know how bad society is and it's gotten worse since I left law enforcement. I don't leave the house without a gun because it's not going to get better or safer.
 
I've been carrying either as a LEO or civilian CC for nearly 50 years. If I was meant to fight like a dog the good Lord woulda given me fangs and claws.
 
<hopeless mini-rant>

I'd like to see the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP*) change their stance on firearms for personal protection.

As far as I know, they're still touting the fiction that you're safer without a gun than with one as a matter of stated policy.

"Ewwww... GUH-UHNS... ickey-pooh yuch."

</hopeless mini-rant>

Terry "Lotsa luck, buddy," 230RN, 77 yo as of date.

* Also known whimsically as "Americans Against the Republican Party." :D
 
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That statistic of one being more likely to be killed by their own weapon than to kill an intruder with it omits one important detail:

The number of attackers or intruders who are repelled or captured by the use of a defender's firearm, but not killed with it.

The liberals' collective minds apparently think a DGU incident is only successful if the person against whom it is used is killed. Strange for that mindset to have such a bloodthirsty attitude..
 
George - I "feel your pain"! They took 2 discs out of my back @ 17 (L4/L5 & L5/S1), then almost crushed my left ankle in a motorcycle/pickup truck accident 11 months later. No CHF or pacemaker but height & weight NOT proportional so I don't move too well either.
No CCL here in Illinois for me as it is too expensive with too many GFZs. But we are working on it, especially with the IGold march on the State House in Springfield coming up on April 6th.
 
shooting is becoming mainstream. Good, the more law abiding and responsible people we can get on our side, the better.
 
I'd like to see the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP*) change their stance on firearms for personal protection.

Not likely as AARP has become primarily a political activist group for liberal causes.

Try Association of Matured American Citizens (AMAC) which was founded as a conservative alternative to AARP.

As many people in this thread have stated, (and I'll add my mine) some of us are not up to hand to hand combat with 20 year old thugs. An equalizer is common sense.
 
More seniors are going to shooting ranges to practice than ever before. Almost 28,000 seniors (age 65+) have taken the basic NRA training courses in 2015 and that number is four times higher than it was just a few years ago.

Something to keep in mind here...

Demographics change over time, which may be skewing this data a little bit. "Just a few years ago", some of those seniors weren't "seniors", for example. And these people "coming of age", if you will, bring their own beliefs and concerns into the elderly demographic.

Does that account for a four-fold increase in seniors taking the basic NRA training course? Probably not entirely, and probably not in an ultimately significant factor. If they only account for 25% of the increase, then the resulting three-fold increase in seniors taking the safety course is still quite an increase.
 
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