Interesting article about a man who retired from Massachusetts to Arizona and took up what, for Massachusetts, would be an unusual hobby: Cowboy Action Shooting.
He and wife Debbie, aka Ruby Tucson, have gone to several shooting events, including one held in October in Tombstone.
At these events, says Gretsky, “only the top 1 or 2 percent are national competitors. The rest of us are just there to have fun.”
Even so, Gretsky has wound up with an arsenal that includes two six-guns, one shotgun and a rifle — something he says would have been tough to do back East.
“In Massachusetts there are very strict gun laws,” says Gretsky, who stresses that he’s “not a gun nut.”
Not long after moving to Tucson, Gretsky went to a local firing range. “It was the first time I’d held a gun since I’d used a .22 in Boy Scouts,” he says.
But he soon found out just going to the range “was kinda boring.” Then someone told him about cowboy action shooting.
He’s not a gun nut, but he acknowledges his completely leigitimate pastime would have been difficult to do back in Massachusetts. Cowboy Action is a quickly growing segment of the shooting sports with an apparently wide appeal. I think it will probably get wider as the baby boom generation, who were raised on westerns, start to retire, and head to places with sunshine and “easy access” to such lethal killing machines as a Ruger Single Six, which I’m not sure are on the Massachusetts “approved” list. Even if it was, you have to convince your local police chief that you have a good reason to keeping one, which he’s completely free to disagree with and tell you “no constitutional rights for you.”
Cowboy shooters are people we need to be reaching out to. I think their numbers are going to keep getting bigger.
actully there is a healthy cowboy action (as well as IDPA et al) group here in MA. But it IS a royal pain in the ass to get started, and many don’t bother when it means you have to meet with the Cheif of police and beg for your rights, and ask friends for letters of reference to show you don’t eat babies in your spare time.
Mmm….. babies
I was about to say, the only thing that really gets in the way up there are the licensing requirements and the approved list. There is an active association in the state with shoots in just about every region, too.
There are some cowboy shooters on staff at the range where we are members. They are very passionate about being historically accurate and about their cowboy pistols. It’s all very cool.
“I’m not a gun nut”… of course not- he’s a gun owner.
BTW Sebastian, good job on the banner on PAFOA. Pretty cool.
We have 4 to 6 refugees from Mass at my club here in AZ. All of them shoot both Cowboy and USPSA and would probably have a hard time deciding which they like more. They all love the restoration of their rights and don’t even mind when it’s 115 in the shade cuz ya never have to shovel sunshine.
That was actually an experiment Dan was running to see his add click through rate. I was an easy person to monitor for him.