I have family that lives in Madrid, Spain. They come out each year to visit. This time, one of my cousins brought his fiancee with him. Nice girl. Between her English and my Spanish skills, we could barely communicate. I have taken my cousin shooting before. He's good shot. He pays attention, has a good grip and stance and hits his target pretty well.
Apparently, they do not have shooting ranges in Spain like we do here in the States. Trap and Skeet are popular in Spain and people do hunt, but handguns are not all that common for people. They are allowed, but owners must undergo psych evaluations prior to ownership, as well as yearly gun inspections.
His fiancee has never touched a gun in her life. After setting her stance into something that looking like she was about to try to arch her back and touch the floor behind her, I helped her position herself properly. I started her on a .22 pistol. She flinched with each shot, at first. With each "bang" of the gun, she also did a little bunny hop. She admitted to me she was nervous about this, but she was a good sport.
She was also a pretty good shooter. After a couple of magazines, a few more instructions, she really got a good grasp on what to do. I stepped her up to a 9mm pistol. This was more of a challenge. Her shots were much further spaced apart. She was flinching and anticipating recoil. She wasn't doing badly, but she was a little slower to catch on. After a while, I decided to try her out of a full sized 40 S&W pistol. Now, her shots were about a good as her 9mm shots, but the smile on her face after she touched off the 40 S&W was priceless. It was the same smile I have after I shoot a new big-banger for the first time. She liked it !!
We spent the next 90 minutes rotating through about 6 different handguns and rifles. Her skills improved, as they should, with more trigger time. They are in town for another week. I think they will happily go to the range with me late this coming week,.
