After Mikeb30200’s QOTD about teaching his son about guns, I got to wondering: do some people have a natural predilection towards shooting? His seven-year-old was attracted to guns at a shooting gallery and did well when he finally shot them. I have a similar story . . .
Although I’m former career military (i.e. a cranky military retiree), I never owned a gun or had one in the house when my son was growing up. He never had any toy guns, not because we didn’t want him to have them, but because he never showed any interest in them.
Then one Thanksgiving when he was in his early teens, we were at my parents house and my brothers brought out their guns to do some target shooting. He tagged along with them and in a little while they all came back amazed at how well he’d done. It turned out when he was offered a chance to shoot and given a short tutorial, he had shot more accurately than either of my brothers, both of whom have been shooting for years. He’s now in his 20’s, owns several pistols and rifles and enjoys (and is quite good at) target shooting.
So my question for the Armed Intelligentsia is this: Does shooting come naturally to some people? Is there a “gun gene” similar to the “car gene” some guys claim to have? Or is there something else there that makes someone who never picked up a gun a natural shooter?