What to do about Magik?

Author's note: A friend of mine just passed away from brain cancer that came upon him most suddenly. He was a mustang in the United States Marines, meaning he rose from enlisted to Lieutenant Colonel before he retired from service to come work at the company I worked at before many years later retiring and going to live in South Dakota before passing a few years later. He was an avid rifle collector (I used to joke that he's goal was to collect a model of every German Mauser 6mm rifle every made). He was a very skilled instructor in the use of fire arms and fire arm safety and loved to hold what he called shoot-ex events (shooting expo) where we all got to fire various firearms, hence my experience with firearms from many eras.

As I reminisced over his life I got to wondering about firearms training for New Mutant and hence this brief story as a kind of tribute.

Part 61a: Passing…

Chamber a round.

Scope on target, but not too close to the eye else the recoil from the rifle will give you scope eye (cut or bruising around the eye socket). A lesson, if learned, only needs to be learned once as experience is a most stern taskmaster, and the resultant sarcastic range nickname of Potter (mark on the forehead) also serves as an ever present reminder.

Brace the rifle carefully.

Exhale… always try to shoot after an exhale, and not on an inhale.

Squeeze the trigger… don't jerk it. Gentle…

And….

BANG! Went another firearm on the range. A bang that was not aimed at a target but instead went right into the dirt.

The range master bellowed out a command. "Guns Down! Place your weapons on the table before you and step away from your weapon!"

Trouble!

Big trouble!

Somebody has messed up!

All the new mutants put down either the rifle or a hand gun they were operating. The culprit was Roberto who had been rather playful with the Smith & Western 12 inch revolver and had managed to fire around into the ground (they were all outside at a private gun range).

Roberto knew that fessing up was the best course of action. "Sorry sir, I didn't realize it was loaded."

A collective wince from the other New Mutants, those being Rahne, Dani, Sam, and Illyana.

The range master, an old friend of Logan's, and the owner of the range gave Roberto a stern look, a look that prompted the other students to recite the rules one by one.

Rahne: "The intent is that this be an enjoyable and learning exercise, injury or death would make this very un-enjoyable for all involved."

Illyana: "Never point your firearm at something you do not intend to destroy."

Dani: "Targets are down range, that is where your weapons should always be pointing."

Sam: "Always assume a gun is loaded. The prior knucklehead may have left a round in the chamber."

And lastly Roberto: "There is no such thing as an accidental discard. The Marines calls such events a negligent discharge. Sorry sir. My fault sir. Won't happen again sir."

And the sirs were meant. The range master was stern, but very fair. And he even let you fire his luger 9mm if he was pleased with you.

With a nod, range master Lt. Colonel Al Olson (retired) said. "The range is hot!"

And training resumed.

Goodbye Al…