Shooting - Shameless Social Media Whoring Part 1

Yes, there are no depths to which I will not sink.  Behold, before your tired and disillusioned eyes the first in a three part series dedicated to the new name of my blog.  In this part we shall look at shooting.

I have to confess that my personal knowledge of shooting is rather limited.  As far as I'm aware shooting is something that is done to houses in Fairfield.  Indeed there was a time when it looked like houses in Fairfield were going to have to be put on the endangered species list but apparently they reproduce quickly enough to make up for losses.

I will concede that there are some advantages to shooting houses.  Houses are large and don't move very quickly.  Shooting one must be the next best thing to shooting an elephant with arthritis.  On the other hand it is rather difficult to mount a house on your wall as evidence of your sporting prowess.  The other traditional method of proving your kill, posing for a photograph with the victim, doesn't seem to be terribly popular with the sort of people that shoot at houses in Fairfield.

There are some groups in our society who are traditionally expected to carry firearms.  Policemen for example because, well, criminals.  Criminals are also expected to carry guns because those houses in Fairfield aren't going to shoot themselves (although if I were a house in Fairfield I probably would).  Apart from that there's only soldiers (wars and so on) and farmers because apparently you can't spend too much time around large numbers of animals without getting the overwhelming urge to kill a few.  On balance its probably a good thing that there's no tradition of firearms possession among nurses.

Most other firearms owners in the country fall into one of two categories.  "Sporting shooters" and "the defendant".  There is a certain degree of overlap between the two.  Sporting shooters tend to be frustrated farmers who actually have to go out into the bush to shoot animals that farmers can normally kill from the comfort of their verandahs.  This shared discomfort and irritation is probably why sporting shooters are so keen.  If you've committed time and money to what is basically a lengthy and uncomfortable walk with the occasional firing off of expensive ammunition from an even more expensive gun you're not likely to take too kindly to anyone who points out that you could have stayed at home and got a dead animal from the supermarket.

I'm a city boy (although the "boy" part of that is getting increasingly difficult to sustain) and I don't live near Fairfield so my practical experience with firearms is very limited.  I do have a vague understanding that a farmer needs a gun for those dangerous times when a sheep goes rogue but aside from that and the professions noted above I don't see the need for guns.  Other people very kindly kill animals for me and transport them to a central location where I pick up small chunks that I take home to eat.  The only other truly practical reason for owning a gun doesn't apply to me as I really don't want to kill my neighbours, even by accident.