First Time Shooer
YouTube:Diane Jennings

Irish Woman Faces Fear of Firearms During Visit to Texas

Woman from Dublin faces her fears to try shooting for the first time.

The second amendment is a rather unique privilege for those of us living in the United States. To the point that most people in other countries don't totally understand it.

So, when someone comes over to visit from someplace like Ireland where gun control is strict, they can sometimes experience a bit of culture shock.

Diane Jennings is from Dublin and is understandably a bit intimidated by firearms. However, she decides to go in with an open mind and face her fears. With a good instructor, she heads to the gun range for the first time. Her reactions to the experience are both entertaining and fascinating to watch.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Some people might be quick to laugh at Diane or make fun of her for being so frightened during the experience. However, let's keep in mind she comes from a totally different culture with different perspectives on the matter than ours. It's also only natural to be a little intimidated the first time you fire a gun, especially when you're not from the U.S.

Let's give her some credit, she followed all her instructor's directions to the letter and was very safe the whole time. Obviously, she could use a little more instruction to improve her grip, stance and technique, but she did very well for her first time shooting!

In her channel's description, Diane says her channel is all about trying new experiences. We think that's great. Kudos to her for that on facing her fears. She even admitted she could see how shooting could be fun. She now has a unique perspective on the issue she can share with friends back home.

There is a lot of confusion out there about our country and our gun culture outside the U.S. I learned that first-hand last year when I visited the U.K. and Ireland last year. I had a great conversation about guns with some Brits during a train ride from London to Edinburgh. While they didn't quite understand it, they were also genuinely interested in learning more about America's gun culture from a U.S. citizen. To my surprise, they also didn't totally discredit the idea of gun ownership like most might think. I expected to be met with some raised eyebrows when I mentioned I was a concealed carrier back home, but they understood when I stated my reasons for it.

We suppose the bigger lesson here is to keep an open mind to new things. We hope more visitors take advantage of the chance to try shooting when they visit the U.S.!

For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels

NEXT: VIDEO: BRITISH MAN'S REACTION TO A GUN SHOP IS GREAT

WATCH