The Keefe Report: Be a Mentor to a New Shooter

According to some sources, as many as 2 million Americans have become new firearm owners since the beginning of this year. As an NRA member, you are an influencer and likely know someone who has recently chosen to exercise their Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

NRA, chartered in 1871, is an educational, recreational and public service organization dedicated to the right of the individual citizen to own and use firearms for recreation and defense. Every law-abiding firearm owner of good repute should be an NRA member. Many of those who purchased firearms over the last six months did so for protection of themselves, their families and their homes—and it is NRA that protects their right to do so. You should encourage them to join.

For nearly a century and a half, NRA has been the leader in firearm safety training, and the association continues that role to this day. In addition to the training resources offered by NRA’s Safety & Education Dept., American Rifleman offers information not just to our members, but also for all those interested in responsible firearm ownership at americanrifleman.org.

Written by Digital Managing Editor Evan Brune, “The NRA: Your Resource For Firearm Training And Knowledge” (americanrifleman.org/resources) concisely describes NRA’s role in firearm safety through the NRA Education & Training Division. This includes a number of distance learning classes, with “Basics of Pistol Shooting” being one of them.

There is also “The New Gun Owner Guide: 3 Essential First Steps“ that begins with NRA’s safety rules and offers some resources for beginning shooters. It also links to the NRA Publications Mentor Program, and there are several articles that every new gun owner should read—as well as a helpful video on gun safety basics. You can learn more at americanrifleman.org/mentor.

But in the pages of this magazine and online we also dig deeper than basic firearm safety. For those who purchased a carbine in the past six months—or at any time really—we enlisted one of today’s most respected trainers, Sgt./Maj. Kyle E. Lamb (Ret.), to cover things every AR carbine owner should learn.

In his article “The AR-15: Best Home Defense Gun?,” he wrote: “The AR is very easy to shoot. Head out to the range and test my theory. Ask anyone who wants to join in on the fun to try shooting a scored event, under pressure, with a pistol at home-defense ranges. After you see their performance, try the same with an AR, I will bet money you see much better control of the system.”

You can read the story at americanrifleman.org/arhome. We actually asked him to do a series on the carbine called “AR 101,” which also includes stories on basic AR shooting positions and another on how to zero the AR, all of which are online.

But it’s not just with the modern carbine that we offer more advanced techniques. We went to retired FBI agent Bill Vanderpool, who was one of the last to teach FBI agents how to use double-action revolvers, with an in-depth article on “Running the Gun: Double-Action Revolver Revisited.” This article would be very useful to any new revolver owner, as well as anyone who has had one for decades (americanrifleman.org/double-action).

Every day, the staff editors of American Rifleman post content to americanrifleman.org. Whether you’re interested in new firearm evaluations, the history of the gun, firearm safety or just being a better shooter, there’s something there for everyone—and it’s all just a click away.