Today Lady Beth and Yours Truely finally drove over into Mississippi and joined the local DCM Shooting Club. This one being the Pascagoula DCM. This is something I always said I’d do someday. Then my life fell apart and it has taken me years to get back to being able to do what I should have done long ago.
Talk about your nice ranges! While I didn’t walk the berms, (some shooting was going on…), said berms appeared to be on the order of12 to 15 feet in height. Covered benches, range office, warehouse, restroom, shower, electicity, picnic tables, a rimfire silhouette area, long range gongs, and ranges from 100 to 1000 meters. What else could you ask for?
Oh, the place did get smacked pretty hard by Hurricane “Katrina“. The high water mark on the poles was nine(9) feet off the ground. Mind you, this is 1.5 miles from the bayou. A bit more to the open Gulf. More, this range is practically on the Alabama border. Gives you an idea of the fury of that storm, doesn’t it? Work continues to put everything back to normal, but soon the place will be back to its full glory.
The application process was short & sweet, $70 for annual dues, and I have a key to the gate! Now I can shoot when I have a mind to do so and not have to just sit and wish. No restrictions on ammo or caliber either. I can fire anything from my .50 & .62 caliber flintlock muzzleloaders to .45 Colt carbines to a future 6.5×55mm Swede. Some of the members are holders of Federal licenses to own machine guns. Should make for a few interesting afternoons when the M1919’s, “grease guns”, and Glock Mod. 18’s come out to play.
The club also host monthly long range black powder cartridge rifle (BPCR) matches, Service rifle matches, rimfire silhouette matches, and pistol matches. Gods, I’m happy!!
The Civilian Marksmanship Program. I bet a bunch of folks don’t have a clue what that is, or if they do, they didn’t know it was still around. If it were left to the Left-wing Liberal nuts like the “Nazi Cow” Hillary Clinton, it wouldn’t. The CMP is, well, here’s how they describe themselves…
The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) promotes firearms safety training and rifle practice for all qualified U.S. citizens with special emphasis on youth. The CMP operates through a network of affiliated shooting clubs and associations that covers every state in the U.S. The clubs and associations offer firearms safety training and marksmanship courses as well as the opportunity for continued practice and competition.
The CMP was created by the U.S. Congress. The original purpose was to provide civilians an opportunity to learn and practice marksmanship skills so they would be skilled marksmen if later called on to serve the U.S. military. Over the years the emphasis of the program shifted to focus on youth development through marksmanship. From 1916 until 1996 the CMP was administered by the U.S. Army. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (TITLE XVI) created the Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice & Firearms Safety, Inc. (CPRPFS) to take over administration and promotion of the CMP. The CPRPFS is a tax exempt not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that derives its mission from public law.
And, yes, they do still sell some surplus military bolt action and semi-auto rifles to members along with surplus ammo. (No machine guns or M16’s. So you anti-gun boobs can forget that angle. These are old, old guns.) They also hold National as well as Regional matches. The best known of these are the Creedmore Cup and Camp Perry. Let us not forget the Juniopr Divisions! Some of those kids are amazing shootist. Safety is #1 – always.
Frankly, I can’t see why any parent would not want their kids involved with the CMP where they can learn firearms safety from professionals and carry on a great American Tradition of marksmanship excellence. Our children will be very active in the shooting sports. Clancy, my eldest, is already hammering me aboout when she can get back on the benches. If her skills are better now than they were when she was 11 years old, I’m in big trouble! That girl can shoot!
If you are a gun owner, a hunter, or are interested at all in the shooting sports, there is NO reason why you shold not affiliate yourself with your local range and get involved with the CMP. Do it today! You never know when, like me, the unexpected may delay those things you ‘plan’ on doing ‘one day’. The day is TODAY!
Join the NRA, too.
Omar, out!
