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 Chuck Evans helps a blind shooter in Bountiful, Utah (courtesy davisclipper.com)

You want to talk about the blind leading the blind? I’ve seen people at the gun range who can’t shoot for toffee teaching newbies how [not] to shoot. On the other hand there’s The Bountiful Lion’s Club and Bountiful Jeep Posse, helping blind kids get to grips with firearms. “We want to give blind children a lot of different experiences,” executive director of the Utah Foundation for the Blind and Visually Impaired Tony Jeppson told davisclipper.com. “Things are often very frightening to these kids until they’ve had some experience with them.” True dat. “The Lion’s Club provides space at their gun range in Bountiful, as well as dinner for the kids. The jeep posse members help the kids shoot, holding the guns while the children fire and assisting them with their aim at times. There are also safety officers on hand. ‘We have 10 guns, and everyone gets 10 shots,’ said volunteer Chuck Evans. ‘Then another set of kids gets a chance. We keep going until we run out of bullets or daylight.'” Sorry, but that’s funny. Anyway, last year . . .

46 teens got the chance to shoot. Thanks to the assistance, some of them even end up having pretty good aim.

“One year when I was up there, this kid ran over to his target and said ‘Look, I’ve got nine,’” said Evans. “He counted them faster with his fingers than I could with my eyes.”

Later in the summer, the groups also hold a shooting event for college-age individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

“It’s a fun way to learn how to shoot,” said Karl Koenig, a Bountiful Lion’s Club member who helps oversee the shoot. “And they’re so appreciative. It’s just wonderful.”

Koenig, for his part, appreciates the variety it brings to the club’s gun range.

“We like the gun range to be used for more than just hunters,” he said. “Blind shoots are one of those fun things we look forward to every year.”

As for Evans, he enjoys it just as much as the kids.

We salute Mr. Evans and his cohorts for extending and defending Americans’ right to keep and bear arms, recognizing the fact that plenty of sighted people can’t see the truth about guns.

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22 COMMENTS

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  1. Hooray for Gun Hero of the Day!
    This positive stuff might just part the clouds of doom that always seem to drape over gun stories. I applaud.

  2. Blind and visually impaired people on a gun range… I know those jokes could write themselves but I’d much rather be around them than some of the visually gifted(?) knuckleheads I’ve been around at the range.

    This seems like a really cool idea and I’m sure some of those kids will grow up to vote. How exciting was it the first time your dad let you shoot? Compare that to these kids who probably never dreamed they’d be able to.

  3. “We salute Mr. Evans and his cohorts for extending and defending Americans’ right to keep and bear arms, recognizing the fact that plenty of sighted people can’t see the truth about guns.”

    This bears repeating!

    Great story. Thank you

  4. Well, on the one hand, this story warms the cockles of one’s heart. But on the other hand, blind kid with a gun? Sounds like the start of a bad joke.

  5. Goooo Utah!
    Between the good gun news coming out of this place, and Mike Lee making MSNBC piss their pants, we’re like Texas Jr!

  6. This is a great reminder that as with any other disability, there is a spectrum of impairment rather than an unambiguous state of blind-or-sighted.

    There’s no reason that folks with significant visual impairment should be denied the satisfaction of putting rounds on paper in a safe environment. I bet some of the visually impaired shooters are turning in better scores than many of the sighted kids I’ve seen shoot at Scouting camps…

  7. BRAVI! There has GOT to be a way we can work positive events like this into the pro/anti-infringement debate.

  8. Blind people deserve to be able to defend their lives as well. I have heard about blind people who have guns and have heard disappointing comments.

    In most defensive situations aiming is not only unnecessary but a negative because of the unnecessary movement and the time that requires.

    It would be cool to build a defensive training course for the blind. They have a different way to view the world and can not only recognize when they are threatened but they can also locate the direction of people and that would be all that is needed for them to survive an attack.

    • “Know your target and what’s behind it.”

      I’ve *really* got nothing against blind people. My *beloved* is blind and she loves shooting and I never go to a range without her and the first rifle I’ve ever bought was for her… But both her and I think guns in the hands of blind people are only OK for home defence or a range. She hates the fact but she’s got enough common sense to accept reality. Missing a perp and killing an innocent bystander she has no chance of noticing would a real danger for her.

      And while guns are a no-no (plus impossible to obtain a permit for if you’re blind where we live) she usually carries several other (legal) weapons.

      • +1

        Rules of gun safety go out the window when you can’t see what your muzzle is pointed at.

      • Yes, No one has the right to decide what weapon any other person for any reason can or can not have. No one can tell a person that because they are blind they are not Permitted to defend them selves with a gun.

        If they are not capable to use a gun HOW would they be able to use any other weapon? Knife, how would they be able to tell who they are going to stab? or when to stab? or when to dodge a counter attack? If they are to be determined incompetent to use a Gun how could they be able to do hand to hand combat!?

        “Know your target and what’s behind it.”
        That is the whole thing about why people worry about over penetration. In most situations in the real world you will never be able to KNOW what is behind what you intend to shoot. If in the situation you even think about it.

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