How would your local paper have handled this story?

[oldandslow]

We have one daily paper that servers Lea County, NM and Gaines and Garza Counties in TX. It's a pretty politically consersatative and gun friendly area. The lead headline on today's front page was "Sharps Shooters" with a subtitle of "New club revels in shooting 130 year old rifles". The story occupies 1/4 of the front page and continues over on another page taking about 2/3s of the space on that page.

The article recounts the history of Sharps rifles and includes a description of Billy Dixon's shot at Adobe Walls with the fact there is no hard evidence to support the story. It includes information about the club and some of the members and how they came to form the club.  I'll quote two paragraphs.

The pair ( referring to a father and son) traveled to the Pecos shooting match where they watched world champions drop five hits in a dinner plate sized target at 1,000 yards.

"In Pecos I was holding 125 feet above the target and 25 feet to the left for the bullet to hit," Jimmy said. "But once you see it drop in and hit, it becomes addictive."

There is a reporterr's note before the story where the reporter thanks two of the club members for providing the guns and ammo for him to shoot as it had been a dream of his to shoot a Sharps rifle. He states "The feeling when that target falls at 219 yards from a standing shot with the Sharps 45-110 is one I won't soon forget". Sounds like he is a pretty good shot before picking up the Sharps.

It's a shame that many parts of our country can't have this attitude about firearms.

[Hit or Miss]

It is nice to see some positive coverage for a change.  I've been running shoots at our club for at least 10 years and have yet to even see a blurb in our local rag.  We even have a shooter who won the World title in Action Pistol in Australia several years ago compete with us.

[Mohawk]

They would have called the police and interviewed the ATF if this happened around Auatin, TX. Austin has no criminals. We have misguided folks who don't know any better. Oh, and semi auto guns magically become full auto when the press reports them. Oh, and when a cop uses self defense on a gang member they publish a junior high grad photo of the gang banger instead of the mug shot from county jail. I have full sympathy for any cop or person in Austin tex that may have to defend themselves. In your case, someone was shooting historic rifles, I think it would be reported that the activity was endangering the Mexican Free Tail bat colony, which is migratory, and the FBI and US FWS should get involved. But remember the important part........ Keep Austin Wierd!!!! 

[Flynmoose]

The only paper I subscribe to is in NE Oregon, a weekly. Throughout the various hunting seasons,
they publish pictures of successful youthful hunters on the front page. I am in exile now but hope to return to an area of sanity soon.
FM

[Old Fart]

We get a few stories like that a year down here.
At least a couple times a year we'll see 4H or BSA articles.
A few deer or duck hunting articles.
They did have a running series when they shut the gun range down in the city park.