Hey gang, this ended up a little longer than intended. Apologies.

While I'm not a devout follower of the trp way of life, I have taken some very useful advice from this sub, and thought I'd share what I think is a unique tip in an attempt to give back. Hope I am not violating any TRP ideology in the process.

Since gun laws vary from state to state (and country to country), this option may not be so viable in places where you need an foid card just to hit up a range. Also keep in mind that owning a gun is not necessarily a requirement to go to the range, since many shooting ranges will rent out firearms (really, really cool firearms) to customers. Being resident of a state with incredibly lax gun legislation (Missouri) shooting at a range is as easy as just walking in and paying $20 for the hour, unfortunately I doubt this is the case everywhere, so be sure to check your local .gov, or call a local range to inquire further.

The reason I think this tip is useful is based around the sometimes more difficult than usual premise of "getting your foot in the door." When, for whatever reason, a girl seems just on the fence about going out with you, offering an activity that is unique/appealing/exciting to her Assuming you do not know much about whichever lady/ladies you may be courting at the time, one of the biggest problems with first dates is the limited number of universally appealing activites.

The way I came across this tip was about 6 years ago (preceding my discovery of trp and reddit itself by quite a bit) when my grandfather passed away, and to my surprise, left me and old revolver in his will. To this day its the only gun I own.

Shortly thereafter, I ran into a girl with whom I had been having a lot of trouble getting to go out with me. Being a naive 21 year old year old myself at the time, this 26 year old bombshell; what with her good looks, promising career, and unadulterated self-confidence was, admittedly, completely out of my league.

Can't remember exactly how it came up now, but with no intention of winning her over by saying this, I mentioned I had recently inherited a revolver, had never shot a gun myself, and was considering taking it to the range.

Her eyes lit up like fucking jack-o-lanterns. "Really? Thats so cool. I've never shot a gun either." Following this exchange of course, there was only one thought running through my depraved young mind: jackpot

Well, you guys should know the rest. "Cool, you should come to the range with me, Hows saturday at noon?" Suffice to say, we hit it off with a bang.

Using the revolver forever thereafter as my primary device for extra leverage in the dating game, I learned some very interesting things. Namely: most girls have not shot guns, most girls (most people actually) think it would be fun to shoot some guns. Even the most staunch advocate of gun reform in this country will still leap at the opportunity to hit up a range (most likely, they have never actually even considered the prospect before). On many occasions, after a first date to the range, I've had girls tell me (in so many words) "you know, I really hate guns but always wanted to shoot one, thanks a lot that was a lot of fun." Chicks dig guns. Its human nature. Guns are fun.

When else will you get the chance to have a girl completely betray a principle she believes strongly in on the first date? Along with all the other benefits that come with a date to the range.

Every girl has been asked to dinner, the zoo, a museum, a concert, the movies. The shit is tired, and there aren't always extra options. Even when you're doing everything right, a quality chick who is just bored with the "dating scene" at the moment may not want to go to dinner simply because she does not feel like spending another evening staring at some stranger's stupid fucking face from across the table.

The range is a great alternative. Just be cool about it when you're there. Don't act like a hard ass, or like you know a lot about guns cuz your so cool. Just have fun with it. Treat it like its both of your first time every time, like your sharing an experience, follow basic safety procedures, and, last but not least, enjoy yourself.

Edit: u/RedditAdminsSuck_88 and u/tb87670 both made valid points that I'll add for the sake of safety, considering the highly likely event that a person lacking any common sense whatsoever might decide to try this out. We are dealing with lethal weapons here.

  1. Familiarize yourself with basic gun safety procedures and visit a range at least once on your own before taking some random chick to the range in order to avoid accidentally shooting someone, or even worse, making yourself look like a total fucking moron some other way

  2. In the spirit of taking random chicks to the range. It would be wise to avoid bringing some Tinder chick you texted 10 times with on a trip to the range. Use common sense when considering candidates for a shooting range invitation. Wrist cutting, baggage cart people may be better off taken to the zoo or better yet, a holocaust museum. Again, use common sense.

Also, u/trpthroway123 made an interesting point on showcasing skill or knowledge, as well as the added bonus of using this as an opportunuty to make physical contact, that makes me want to reiterate what I meant when I said "don't act like a hard ass, or like you know a lot about guns cuz your so cool:" There's absolutely nothing wrong with teaching the girl a thing or two. Just don't be a cocky douche bag about it. I only feel the need to say this because guns tend to have exactly that effect on people.

Aside from those three things above, I was expecting interesting theories and methods in the comments of this post and have not been dissapointed so far. I don't always agree with this sub, but god bless it, TRP is always intriguing.

Edit 2: u/Your_Coke_Dealer just made a good point that I hadn't considered before about liberal chicks being turned off by the fact that you own a gun.

Its highly likely that this has never been an issue for me since it usually comes up that my revolver is old and was inherited from a dead family member. In retrospect, I think i may have been subconsciously adding the caveat for chicks I thought might be turned off by gun ownership for years now.

If you feel a chick maybe be turned off by the idea of gun ownership just squeeze my backstory in somewhere: It was inherited by someone close who passed away a long time ago. Crisis averted.

Thanks gramps, for the revolver and all the ass that came a long with it. You were a racist miserable dickhead who singlehandedly ruined more family holidays than I care to remember, but the best wingman I could have asked for.