Two, I detect an undercurrent of "come here to learn how you can overthrow the government."
Nothing could be further from the truth! How do I explain this?
There are 2 parts to Appleseed--the history part and the shooting part. I'll start with the history part. I won't go over the events of April 19, 1775, because you can read about it elsewhere, by people who know it better. But here is the key point:
I'd never heard it before. Twenty five years out of high school, many years of college, and I'd never learned about the events that started the Revolutionary War. It isn't a required subject--I think we spent a week on it in one of my high school classes. At some point, that part of history became unimportant to teach--at least, in the eyes of those who make the curriculum. We also learn that we were perhaps the first to successfully revolt and gain our freedom, and that we did it against the strongest military in the world at that time.
The shooting part takes a lot more time, but I learned so much. I mainly learned how little I knew about accurate shooting. Firearms did not exist in my family, and I may be the first person in my family, on both sides, to pick up a firearm, since gunpowder was invented (with the exception of 2 GGFs who died fighting for the Kaiser). I had to teach myself about firearms, and I had a terrible teacher
. Most of what I learned, I read. But 60+ years ago, it wouldn't have been this way; I could have learned safe firearms handling in the Boy Scouts, on the school rifle team, or from one of the other kids in my neighborhood. Rifles were common. Again, this is something that was pretty much history when I was growing up.
The goal of Appleseed, on the surface, is to make everyone who comes out a Rifleman (or Riflewoman). This isn't just the ability to hit a little target, but to handle a rifle safely, to know when the Riflemen were born, and to
turn around and introduce someone else to Appleseed. We want Americans to know their heritage, to understand that our nation was created in the face of overwhelming military might by brave men and women risking everything they had, and who sent the Regulars running back to Boston. The "Gun Culture", as it is derisively called, is a minority today. If we're able to reach out and create millions of men, women, and children who are comfortable around guns and shooting, then the issues surrounding guns will start to fade.
If we're revolutionaries, the fight is against ignorance and fear.
the Cook vs. Rifleman comparison is particularly irksome to me, but that's my background getting in the way. Everybody wants to be the scout/sniper, nobody wants to be the REMF, even though they all are part of the same team.
Don't worry about that--if I ever make Rifleman it'll be after attending many, many shoots. If. But I'm happy to be a "cook" in the grand scheme of things, and do a lot of the other work, like attending gun shows and papering the city. But I think the emphasis on making Rifleman is a good one; after all, who wants to be a bad shot?
