Dawn here. I can’t tell you how many people are shocked and
amazed that we own a gun store now and that “this is YOUR thing, Dawn.” Well,
guess what? I’m shocked and amazed, too! Haha. Some of you know my story. Long
story short, I was terrified of guns until April 2011. That month was a turning
point for me, in preparation for my second deployment overseas. I learned to
really respect a firearm and that I’m not a bad shot when I get out of my own
head. From there, my enjoyment of the shooting sports has grown.
It really started off with a self-defense mindset. I was
deploying and had to carry a firearm in case I found myself in a situation
warranting self-defense greater than fighting for my life with whatever hand to
hand combat skills I had learned (which, to be honest, wasn’t as much as you’d
think). After the trip to the range in April 2011, with my hubby and some
family members, I was smitten with target shooting AND was really ready to take
the role of protector seriously. Not just to protect myself, but to protect my
fellow Airmen and Soldiers that I was deploying with, should I need to.
Without saying too much, I was thankful I took the steps to
prepare myself. I never had to discharge my weapon while overseas, but there
was one night I will never forget. Our entire base was under attack and many of
us were trapped in the chow hall with local nationals. Rule #1 – trust no one,
right?! Well, we were all very much on edge, to say the least. You start
looking around and evaluating everyone you might have to fight for your life
with or protect. Another Airmen and I took point for our section of the chow
hall. We didn’t make it obvious, we didn’t “stand guard”, but we were ready. I
was confident in our abilities to use our firearms from where we were, should
we have needed to.
After that deployment, I was able to go to the shooting
range and just plink brass. This is where I fell in love with target shooting.
We had a range 7 minutes from our house, which just made it way too easy… I
took NRA sanctioned classes there to learn more about handguns and safe
shooting. The hubby was VERY excited about my new hobby! My love for the
shooting sports has exponentially grown over the years…
Shoot On!
Diva Dawn
