I think I was ten years old when I received my first rifle and I still own it! It was a nice little 22 caliber Winchester rifle which was not very expensive then or by today’s standards. However, I did very well against the expensive competition rifles in contests. Since then I have loaned it out to some of the neighbors when they wished to take their kids shooting. Shhhh, many of the ‘Moms’ still don’t know! 😉 Still, I smile when so many of my liberal female neighbors tell me that they plan to run to my house if ‘something bad happens.’
I have always thought that there was risk in the second amendment — the right to bare arms — but I felt there was an even a greater risk and danger to not have it. I love the story about one of the fears of Imperial Japan on the potential invasion of our country during WWII. They were concerned that — in America — there was ‘a gun in every bush.’ Like so many conquerors, felons and brutes, they all prefer safe ‘soft’ targets to armed citizens.
So, as I approach the second half of my life, I wanted to extend my membership and become a ‘life member’ of the National Rifle Association …. not a big dream , but an honorable one.
For me, I was proud to make this donation and ‘bite the bullet’.
Roger Freberg