The American Shooting Tradition

If you’re familiar with the Volquartsen brand, you know it’s a family business.

“As second generation Volquartsens, we’re programmed to hold ourselves to a higher standard. To tenaciously push forward with an unwavering persistence. In short, that’s how Dad did it,” the story goes. “We’ll stop at nothing to build on his vision with every generation to come.”

Over the decades and propelled by the Second Amendment, the company has taken that unwavering persistence and used it not only to build perfect firearms, but to expand the brand into a thriving community.

When it comes to firearms ownership, many of us were born into it. I come from a long line of shooters, handgun, and rifle enthusiasts. Whether it’s the pistol my grandfather passed along to my brother or the rifle my dad bought for me when I was just a kid, it was an integral part of how I grew up. Many days of my childhood were spent on dusty ranges in Arizona, surrounded by friends and family with similar life experiences.

With this foundation in tow and as I moved into adulthood, I felt the need to bolster my membership in the Second Amendment community by opening the door to curious others. As a young woman who lives far from home, I’ve had the opportunity to build a new shooting tribe by introducing a number of people to the sport and to exercising their constitutional rights for the first time. For all involved, it’s been a rewarding way of building friendships, securing new skills, and emboldening our individual accomplishments. The crucial bonus has been sparking new interest in protecting our way of life and liberties.

As firearms ownership grows exponentially, there is significant promise for the future. Between 2020 and 2021, nearly twelve million new Americans became gun owners for the first time. There were a number of factors for this explosion, the first being the need for self-defense and a rise in violent crime. But while the journey of so many started there, it shouldn’t be the only place they go. As a community, especially those of us with generational experience, we have a responsibility to reach out to our new members and teach them how to preserve the Second Amendment rights that are essential to our freedom. It is imperative to understand that buying a gun isn’t simply a purchase of another thing — it’s about the right to keep and bear arms.

The American shooting tradition isn’t going to vigilantly protect itself. Luckily, we just gained millions of new friends and, hopefully, advocates for the cause.

-Katie Pavlich