The latest gun owners are the new ‘silent majority’

Steve Wier holds one-on-one firearm safety courses for first-time gun buyers at Enck's Gun Barn in Myerstown, and always asks his students why they wanted the training.

One man had agreed to learn to shoot as a bonding activity with his son. After his son passed away, he decided to become trained in firearms anyway in his son's memory. Couples have told Wier they are looking for a sport they can do together when one of them has a physical problem that prevents other activities.

The most frequent reason is a desire to get involved in competitive shooting, and it's not uncommon to meet people who want to dress up as cowboys and cowgirls for Western-style weapon competitions. Personal defense is often a secondary reason, but it's on most students' lists, he said. Some people consider firearm safety to be like knowing how to swim - good general knowledge even if you don't plan to carry a gun.

"We're seeing that deep mistrust everywhere, in every corner of society, whether it be guns, Black Lives Matter, the trans(gender) community," said Craig Good, an Annville resident and salesman for Elizabethtown-based Lanco Tactical. "Just because (government leaders) say one thing, nobody really believes it because our politicians don't stand behind it."

Improvements in the types of tactical semi-automatic weapons available to civilians may also be making such weapons more attractive, said Art Kalbach, a gun salesman for Lanco Tactical.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/07/31/latest-gun-owners-are-new-silent-ma...