Ty emphasized the importance of education when it comes to purchasing and owning firearms, as well as policy-making at the regulatory level, and hopes in the future to be able to offer classes, such as firearms basics or advanced concealed carry classes.
“ My goal is to just get more people into the sport of shooting and hunting,” he said.“ It ' s one of those things that ' s always under attack, and it ' s for the wrong reasons. There ' s the whole side of it that people stand on when they ' re against guns, but trying to ban guns is the equivalent of trying to make it harder for sober people to buy cars. It’ s not the vehicle. It ' s not the gun. But I think that it really comes down to just a lack of education. I think that there ' s this misconception about what guns are for, what their purpose is, and how they even operate. There ' s a huge misconception on how they operate. Like suppressors,” he continued, and he talked about the effect that inaccurate Hollywood depictions have on people’ s knowledge of guns. Suppressors, for instance, he explained, are depicted in movies as completely muting the sound of a shot, so all you hear is the click of the trigger, which is not at all the case, yet this misconception has shaped political policy and regulation.“ There ' s no reason that you shouldn ' t be able to just come in and buy a suppressor off the shelf. Because that ' s literally all it is: it ' s ear protection. It ' s the difference between wearing ear protection or not wearing ear protection.”
Education also shapes people’ s experience of the sport itself, and whether one is successful out on the range or in the field.“ If you don ' t have a good experience when you ' re out in the field or in hunting, or you don ' t even know how to use the gun, all the features of it, if you don ' t understand that, you ' re not going to be as apt to want to do it. You like to do things you know how to do, right? That ' s just natural. And so my goal is to educate people and make sure they have the right gun. There ' s a reason that you have full-size, compact, sub-compact, micro. Everybody ' s hands are different and everybody ' s application is different. You have to have the right gun for your hand and your draw and everything. Matching people with the actual firearm that ' s going to help them when they need it is so important. Instead of just selling a gun to sell a gun, which we would never do, if this doesn ' t work for you, I ' m going to tell you,” he said. He wants his customers set up for success, outfitted with the right firearm that will work with their skillset, their limitations, and their goals.
“ We try to make sure we have enough people here [ to give customers ] the attention they need,” Ty said.“ We had some people in the other day, and the lady was cross-eyed dominant,
Working on a Smith & Wesson M & P 15. Gunsmithing is a part of what sets Sawmill Arms apart.
so she shoots right-handed, but she ' s left-eyed dominant.” Not understanding why it was so hard to hit a target, and getting frustrated at the range with her husband, they had come into Sawmill Arms for some help.“ We showed her, this is the gun that you need, and this is the optic that you need, and it needs a riser on it, and you need to hold it like this,” he described.“ And nobody had ever explained that to her!” Everything clicked for her and she left Sawmill Arms with new confidence.“ Now she’ s probably going to want to go shooting because she can do it. She can go with her husband, and it can be a family thing. That little aspect makes such a big impact on people, and then it just changes the direction of their sportsmanship.”
“ I ' m going up to Alaska here in a couple weeks to go moose hunting,” Ty continued.“ I don ' t want to fly up there and then have my stuff fail. That would be a bad day. You don ' t ever want to set anybody up for failure. You want to make sure they ' re set up for success, and that what they have is going to function when it needs to function. And that ' s more important than anything.”
Whether you’ re an experienced marksman or a novice gun owner or simply curious to exercise your Second Amendment rights, check out Sawmill Arms on Facebook or at www. sawmillarms. com, or visit their new location at 3468 Sturgis Road in Rapid City.
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