Brought another Foreigner to the range

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8MM Mauser

New member
A few years ago I introduced a friend of mine from Ecuador to trap shooting; milsurp rifles and whitetail hunting. He continues these activities today; with and without me.

I continued that tradition a few weeks ago: my department at my job had a visitor in from Germany (our corporations hub) to help train us on certain processes for a few weeks. He expressed an interest when I mentioned I owned guns and I ended up taking him to the DNR range about 40 miles south of town. We threw some clays; and I let him shoot my Glock 19, Ruger MKII, and a Czech Mauser! He was a member of the German military about twenty years ago and he was very pleased to have the opportunity to shoot a gun again! This one didn't need much training; the Bundswher taught him to shoot safely and pretty straight too. We blew some water melons and shaken pop bottles and also did a little bit of target shooting.

What really capped the day off though was this: after we left the range I decided to introduce him to Cabela's (he marveled at the low priced smokers...) in the used gun section there was a PRT91 (copy of a German G3, the rifle he woudl have carried in the Bundswher), I snatched it quickly from the rack and put it in his hands and asked if it felt familiar.

He looked confused; then slowly started to smile. Then he laughed and said "Yes, this is my guy!" He peaked through the sites and on the way home he regaled me with tales of his service; including some service on the eastern border with Czechoslovakia; truly he served on THE frontines of freedom in that time.

It was a really great time. I told him to come back in the summer.
 
Congrats on that experience, per chance what company do you work at? I live to the West of you in Norton Shores/Muskegon. I work at the Army Reserve Center in Walker. Very nice that your German friend enjoyed himself, the gun culture in his country is a bit restrictive.

I had the same experience with a Brit when I lived in Illinois back in the 80's/90's, he was a former soldier. We walked out into some woods I had access to, I let him shoot away with a #5 Jungle Carbine I owned. He was just amazed at the freedom we had to go shoot/plink when we felt like it.
 
Great story. It's always a lot of fun to go to the range with enthusiastic people that haven't shot in a long time, if ever.

Kudos for being such a positive ambassador of firearms ownership.
 
Sometimes we forget not everyone has a chance to shoot .
My son has a brother inlaw about 20 some thing that has a mental problem and is a little slow . He is a very good kid and I have him help me from time to time . My son got him deer hunting three years ago . My son sets aside one day in season and takes his brother-inlaw out to the blind . He sets behind him in the blind and helps him . Two years ago he got a shot at a deer . I hear about it 10 times every time I see him .

I is called giving back
 
Thanks all! I really like being able to show folks that shooting is just a fun casual sport. I could tell how awkward it was for him to ask me. In his country you have to be an active member in a gun club and/or carry both a hunting and firearms license to own a gun.

He seemed entranced by the fact that I carried to and from the range. I explained how my CPL worked.

Congrats on that experience, per chance what company do you work at? I live to the West of you in Norton Shores/Muskegon. I work at the Army Reserve Center in Walker. Very nice that your German friend enjoyed himself, the gun culture in his country is a bit restrictive.

I had the same experience with a Brit when I lived in Illinois back in the 80's/90's, he was a former soldier. We walked out into some woods I had access to, I let him shoot away with a #5 Jungle Carbine I owned. He was just amazed at the freedom we had to go shoot/plink when we felt like it.
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I work at Big Dutchman in Holland; we sell industrial-scale equipment for poultry and pig production (raising and feeding, and egg harvesting). I'm a goofy man: I live in Grand Rapids, work in Holland, Shoot in Hasting, and go to school at WMU in Kalamazoo (my classes are mostly in GR or online though). So I drive a lot.

My parents live about 5 miles north of that Reserve Center in Alpine township; when I was a teenager I drove past it every day when I worked at Alfano's Pizza down on Remembrance... Takes me down memory lane! If you've never had the lunch buffet there you should try it! It is really good. I can attest that they make just about everything from scratch back there because I used to have to churn out sausage, sauce, and dough on a weekly basis.

Thats a great story too; I was glad to have a Mauser along for the haul to be sure. I wish I would have had time to introduce him to my buddy's Father in law; and then he could have gotten to shoot a Luger!

The clay shooting was really interesting too; he was pretty good with the pistol (funny because he said this was his first time shooting a pistol: but it was a 10 inch barrel Ruger MKII at like 15 yards) and OK with the rifle, but man did he have a learning curve with the clays. Let's just say walnut stocked shotguns were not what he was shooting in the Bundswher! He kept aiming the shotgun too high; both at clays at later at the watermelons as well.

That was cool though; I finally beat somebody at Trap!
 
Great story. It's always a lot of fun to go to the range with enthusiastic people that haven't shot in a long time, if ever.

Kudos for being such a positive ambassador of firearms ownership.
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Thanks!

I have brought several "new" shooters to the range with highly mixed success. This German's military experience put me at ease though. I think he might be the safest shooter I've had as a shooting partner actually; and he was a great and attentive learner. I think he must have been a heck of a soldier!

At the end of our session I put up two silhouette targets and told him the Russians are coming! and we both did a mag dump into our target.

Now the Ecuadorian I mentioned earlier? We've had some moments... mostly when he was pointing his muzzle around a little to casually! Same with an idiot buddy of mine whose understanding of guns comes from action movies; and he just can't seem to get over it.
 
Sometimes we forget not everyone has a chance to shoot .
My son has a brother inlaw about 20 some thing that has a mental problem and is a little slow . He is a very good kid and I have him help me from time to time . My son got him deer hunting three years ago . My son sets aside one day in season and takes his brother-inlaw out to the blind . He sets behind him in the blind and helps him . Two years ago he got a shot at a deer . I hear about it 10 times every time I see him .

I is called giving back
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That is a truly awesome story; your son is a great guy!

I know a lot of hunters and I can think of very few who would sacrifice a whole day of hunting for the good of someone else.
 
I thought it had been decided that its illegal to allow foreign nationals access to firearms while visiting the USA?
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That's one opinion, not a legal decision.

None of the examples cited involved simply using a gun at a range.
 
Actually several OPINIONS.
I don't think we ever got a definitive yes or no answer even from the citations & BATFE letters.
 
Well given that firearms tourism is common in this country and I've read numerous accounts of people taking foreign nationals to shoot at ranges in the US in everything from forums like this to nationally published magazines; and given the fact that he never actually "possesed" any of the firearms other than to hold them for a brief period of time I doubt it is an issue.

I never allowed this person to "posses" any firearm; only use them for limited time periods. If holding something counts as possession then I must have a dramatic mis-understanding of property law in this country. Those firearms are my possessions because I bought them, I own them and they were never more than 5 feet away from me at any time.

By that logic a gun store or gun show would be breaking the law every time that any foreign national picked up a firearm on their premises. That's not to even mention people on the prohibited persons list. So did Cabela's break the law too by "letting" him hold several rifles, shotguns and handguns while in the store? How could they reasonably be expected to prevent this...? and yet following that line of thinking it would be illegal. What if a convicted felon handles a rifle at Cabelas? By this logic that would mean Cabelas broke the law by letting his "posses" it.

Given the commonness of foreign nationals shooting at ranges in the US it would seem highly unlikely to be a problem. Also given the fact that there are venues where anyone can pick up and inspect a firearm.

Also; given the convoluted nature of this "law" (really a weird intersection of a bunch of laws) how could a person be reasonably expected to know about this?
 
Great story. It's always a lot of fun to go to the range with enthusiastic people that haven't shot in a long time, if ever.

Kudos for being such a positive ambassador of firearms ownership.
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+1.

I thought it had been decided that its illegal to allow foreign nationals access to firearms while visiting the USA?
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If taking a foreigner to a range for a taste of the freedom so many of us take for granted is a crime, call me a criminal, and a willfull one at that.
 
Several times I've met some foreigner in our country on business that was brought to our private range by a member. Each time they seemed to have really enjoyed shooting, something difficult to do back in their home country.
 
"I thought it had been decided that its illegal to allow foreign nationals access to firearms while visiting the USA?"

I thought as long as they're here legally, it's OK.
 
So did I until I read the other thread. Someone in yet a third thread, elswhere stated it wasn't which was why I posed the question!

Then Imagine my surprised when I found the facts quoted!
 
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