PART 3: FRIENDLY FRIDAYS

When it comes to generating more support for gun owners in Canada, there is one single, simple act that surpasses all others: Taking someone to the range for the first time. Undoubtedly, we all benefitted from that experience ourselves, and the first time we squeezed the trigger on a firearm was forever noted in our memory. We all have the ability to give someone that awesome memory, and if we can all get around to doing so with a bit of a cohesive effort, it will be the ultimate grassroots movement.

So we're kicking off #FriendlyFriday and yes, we did use an instagram hashtag generator to come up with that hashtag! We'll be inviting our own friends out to the range over the coming weeks, and sharing their experiences through Facebook, Instagram, and other online platforms. So why the hashtag? Because while it's great to introduce folks to the wide world of shooting, it's even better to introduce them to the wonderful shooting community we all enjoy, and what better way to do that than to share their experience on social media! Using the hashtag on Instagram will also help you and them get Instagram followers and then the shooting experienced can be shared with more people. So tag your first-timer or new-shooter friends on the comments here, use that hashtag on Facebook and on Instagram to share their experiences, and we'll reward someone with a nice little cash prize (and possibly more) at the end of every month! The hashtag may even gain you a few followers, but there's no promising it'll work the magic that upleap instagram followers will! Check on Calibremag.ca for full contest rules when #FriendlyFridays officially kicks off.

In the meantime, we've been working on both the next issue, and our media and club outreach program. We've had some great responses from local media outlets that will be generating some very good, solid, positive press around sport shooting, collecting, and general gun ownership in this country and we owe you all a huge thanks for giving us so much feedback on our previous Action Plan articles. In fact, we incorporated some of the feedback directly into our first major media feature, which will take the shape of a special feature within Metro newspaper outlining both the standard of legal gun acquisition, ownership, and enjoyment in Canada as well as profiles of various hobbyists, shooters, competitors, and hunters. That part came right from you guys, and we thought it was a great idea in order to try and educate the public that we gun owners are more than just safe, responsible people... but that we're also their cousins, neighbours, doctors, mechanics, lawyers, and postal workers. There's a huge misconception about who owns guns these days, and we hope this article might help change that.

On another note, its Halloween tomorrow, and we'd like to remind everyone to keep their pets inside tomorrow night. Although some of our dogs may be well-used to the noise of small explosions, it's simply not a safe environment for many pets, so keep them safe and bring them inside.