The other side of the coin,,,
I work in a student computer lab at a state university,,,
I often take the student workers I know to my rifle-pistol club.
On several occasions now I have gifted a firearm to a graduating student,,,
Sometimes it is a pistol and sometimes a rifle,,,
Almost always used.
One young man really took to shooting one of my pawn shop rescues,,,
It was a 60's vintage Marlin (?) bolt action single-shot .22 rifle.
The rifle was in sad cosmetic shape when I rescued it,,,
But it had a good bore and crown.
After I cleaned the metal and cold blued it,,,
I did a quick refinish of the stock.
It came out very nicely.
It did have a dovetail so I mounted an inexpensive 4X scope on it,,,
No problem hitting a 2" spinner at 100 yards.
Anyways, the kid liked shooting the gun so I made him a package,,,
Plano rifle case, cleaning kit, glasses, and muffs,,,
I gave it to him on our last shooting trip,,,
He was ecstatic and was very grateful.
Several months later I hit a pawn shop in the next town over,,,
Lo and behold there was the cased rifle and accessories for sale.
I asked the owner about it and he said a young man came in,,,
And used it as a trade-in for an AR-style .22 rifle.
I really thought the kid would keep that old rifle,,,
At least as a memento of our range trips,,,
But it didn't work out that way.
It did make me sad but not sad enough to quit gifting guns,,,
One young lady who I gave a used Ruger 22/45 to,,,
Wrote me an e-mail last year to say hello.
She graduated back around 2011 and is now married with a step-kid,,,
Her hubby is a farmer so she has her own backyard range,,,
She's teaching her step-daughter to shoot.
So sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't,,,
But as long as I can find good guns at an affordable price,,,
I'll keep on taking kids to the range and every now and then gift them a gun.
Aarond
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