We don’t need to go far to have a daddy-daughter date. I may be grown up, but my dad is still my man. A $5 box of shotgun shells, Dad’s 12-gauge shotgun, some paper plates, and an old, dead tree made for a pleasant end of the evening. Kind of felt sorry for the tree, but it was dead already.
Growing up in Illinois, we never got to do much shooting. Gun ownership is kind of a hot topic, and firearm ownership is complicated by the FOID card, which is an Illinois-specific form of gun registration. Living in town was an added complication. Opportunities to learn the fine skill of marksmanship were essentially nil. And any use for self-defense would probably have resulted in jail time. And I’m only kind of kidding.

South Dakota is another story. Open carry is permitted, concealed carry permits are easy to come by ($10 cash to the sheriff), and gun ownership and firearms proficiency are well accepted in this independent, rural, conservative state. So I’m slowly working my way towards proficiency. And for two single girls living rurally, that’s a good feeling.