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It isn't that I'm not "qualified" (not a felon or a loon) but I have certain limitations due to past injuries and age that make it rather impractical. I can conceal my limitations to the average person but certain activities might expose them.
 
It isn't that I'm not "qualified" (not a felon or a loon) but I have certain limitations due to past injuries and age that make it rather impractical. I can conceal my limitations to the average person but certain activities might expose them.
Well, where there's a will, there's a way.. most times.

 
Welcome to NWFA! I don't want to presume anything regarding your limitations and do not mean to push back and seem like I'm trying to indicate I know more about your situation as you, so please don't take it like that. But ...

I've seen some pretty limited folks find great joy in the shooing sports. The beauty of it all is that shooting is an activity that pits you against yourself and only yourself, unless you want it to be otherwise. As long as you are safe, no one will judge you or expect you to do anything with your shooting outside of what you want to do.

I've been a competitive shooter in years past. Some of my best matches had nothing to do with my standing on the results board. It was those days were I had a personal best, or finally identified a solution to a problem etc. that brought me great joy that comes from facing a challenge and besting it.

I still get the same joy outside of formal competition. That and the comradery gained from sharing time with like-minded folks is difficult to value, but know the value is high! Of all the "sporting venues" I've been involved, I find shooting to possess the most down-to-earth, real people. Pretty much shooting attracts downright nice folks.

So, if shooting is just not your thing that's fine. I value your willingness to wade into the political realm nonetheless, and you will find a welcome home here. But, if you decide you may want to give the sport a try let us know. There will be folks here that will step up and help you get a start. You can also check out NRA's disabled shooters services at:

NRA Competitive Shooting Programs|Disabled Shooting Services

That is just a start on resources that would be available to you.

A story in closing if I may, I know this is getting long:

I used to shoot bullseye (now called precision shooting) at a local club. On open practice night an elderly fellow with full scale Parkinson's Disease would arrive. His hands shook like crazy. He could no longer load his magazines with shells or insert them into the butt of his pistol. But he could keep his finger off the trigger until the sights were on the target, and lift the pistol toward the backstop. He would then center the wide blur of his shaking front sight over the target black and actually shoot some pretty respectable scores. He kept track of his own scores and compared them to only his own prior shooting. He had a blast (pun intended).

It was a joy to reload his magazines and help him load and ready his pistol for firing. Everybody on the range took turns. We received as much joy from helping him shoot as he did from shooting. So ... perhaps you can find a way to enter this great game we play? Just some food for thought ... either way welcome to the site ... you will find some pretty great folks here.
 
Welcome aboard! Looking forward to some good discussions!
The only limits to what you can do are the limits you impose on your self, no one can tell you something is impossible, or beyond your abilities, you want it, take it, prove to your self you can, and you will:)
In the words of the mightiest of all Jedi masters Yoda; "Try not, Do or Do Not, There is no Try!" That's some serious wisdom right there, hurts my feeble brain just typing that! Lol:D:p
 
Welcome to NWFA! I don't want to presume anything regarding your limitations and do not mean to push back and seem like I'm trying to indicate I know more about your situation as you, so please don't take it like that. But ...

I've seen some pretty limited folks find great joy in the shooing sports. The beauty of it all is that shooting is an activity that pits you against yourself and only yourself, unless you want it to be otherwise. As long as you are safe, no one will judge you or expect you to do anything with your shooting outside of what you want to do.

I've been a competitive shooter in years past. Some of my best matches had nothing to do with my standing on the results board. It was those days were I had a personal best, or finally identified a solution to a problem etc. that brought me great joy that comes from facing a challenge and besting it.

I still get the same joy outside of formal competition. That and the comradery gained from sharing time with like-minded folks is difficult to value, but know the value is high! Of all the "sporting venues" I've been involved, I find shooting to possess the most down-to-earth, real people. Pretty much shooting attracts downright nice folks.

So, if shooting is just not your thing that's fine. I value your willingness to wade into the political realm nonetheless, and you will find a welcome home here. But, if you decide you may want to give the sport a try let us know. There will be folks here that will step up and help you get a start. You can also check out NRA's disabled shooters services at:

NRA Competitive Shooting Programs|Disabled Shooting Services

That is just a start on resources that would be available to you.

A story in closing if I may, I know this is getting long:

I used to shoot bullseye (now called precision shooting) at a local club. On open practice night an elderly fellow with full scale Parkinson's Disease would arrive. His hands shook like crazy. He could no longer load his magazines with shells or insert them into the butt of his pistol. But he could keep his finger off the trigger until the sights were on the target, and lift the pistol toward the backstop. He would then center the wide blur of his shaking front sight over the target black and actually shoot some pretty respectable scores. He kept track of his own scores and compared them to only his own prior shooting. He had a blast (pun intended).

It was a joy to reload his magazines and help him load and ready his pistol for firing. Everybody on the range took turns. We received as much joy from helping him shoot as he did from shooting. So ... perhaps you can find a way to enter this great game we play? Just some food for thought ... either way welcome to the site ... you will find some pretty great folks here.
Thanks for the words of encouragement and support, but it is quite a bit more complicated than that. I actually have done quite a bit of shooting and enjoyed it most of the time except when an evil Gunnery Sergeant was screaming over my shoulder. The first rifle I ever shot was an M14 and the first pistol was a 1911. And I despised the M16 so when I support civilian ownership of the AR 15 I get roasted by one of my band of brothers who remembers every disparaging comment I ever made about the Mattel toy rifle. I carried a Smith model 28 because it was far more practical for my purpose than the 1911s of the time. I enjoyed shooting even more after my time with Uncle Sam's Misguided Children but a combination of genetics, age and a very reckless youth took its toll. Some day the right drug or procedure might come along but I doubt it will be in what little time there is.
 
Good to have you aboard. Even if you were a Marine.:D S & W 28 over a 1911 (and the ability to make that choice) and your preference for the M14 over Stoner's Mattel lead me to believe you drove something like an A1D, an A4, H34 or UH1?
 
Good to have you aboard. Even if you were a Marine.:D S & W 28 over a 1911 (and the ability to make that choice) and your preference for the M14 over Stoner's Mattel lead me to believe you drove something like an A1D, an A4, H34 or UH1?
Think a little more like Driving Miss Daisy (with me as Miss Daisy) with a Vector Scope. I wasn't the driver, I did the math. But I spent the vast majority of my time on the ground, and water, as an instructor in a slightly different MOS.
 
Think a little more like Driving Miss Daisy (with me as Miss Daisy) with a Vector Scope. I wasn't the driver, I did the math. But I spent the vast majority of my time on the ground, and water, as an instructor in a slightly different MOS.

I'm curious, just what does that mean...???
 
I'm curious, just what does that mean...???
Sorry for being cryptic, just don't want to embarrass myself by disclosing my MOS. But if you've seen the movie, you know where Miss Daisy sits. And my mistake, Vectorscope should be one word, and don't mistake it for the optics you are likely familiar with. It was a highly fragile, antiquated and oft broken piece of electronics that had more glass tubes than a Chilhully exhibit. The Navy would break them until they couldn't be fixed, then give them to the Marines with a complimentary pack of bubblegum.
 

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