HX Report
Irishman in the Middle East
Al Hadaf Shooting Range
Posted on November 4, 2022
In case anyone thinks MB is some kind of gun nut, he’s not. He would be very much on the side of strict gun control and bans on military-type weaponry if he lived in countries where such debates rage. MB appreciates that others have opposing views. And certain arguments they espouse have merit. But coming from a country that put away the guns in recent years after 800 years of it, MB can see the benefits of gunless society, more or less.
But MB digresses……………………….
Apart from the occasional usage of an old single-barrel shotgun growing up on a farm, MB was not familiar with any sort of firearms until he and a friend recently visited the newly opened gun range in Doha called ‘Al Hadaf’. It’s next to Khalifa Football Stadium or Villagio Shopping Mall, and means in English ‘The Target’. It’s a super-modern facility and has a 100M range for pistol and rifle practice. A ‘clay’ range is currently under construction and will open in a few months from now.
In addition to the range, Al Hadaf has coffee shops, a VIP lounge (de rigeure at any new facility in Qatar!), and a showroom to view lots of merchandise. Needless to say, many of the facility instructors were asking MB if his name was, by any chance, Client Eastwood. MB gave them a steely stare, and didn’t even need a ‘make my day’ statement!
So, dear HX followers, if any of you happen to be visiting Qatar for the November/December FIFA World Cup, or anytime soon, a visit to Al Hadaf is a few hours well spent, if shooting’s your cup of tea.
A few pics……………………
Dallas
Posted on July 12, 2016
MB does not profess to have any great insights into the Dallas shootings. No more than anyone else who is remote from it, and remote from the USA. MB watches CNN, Fox News, BBC and reads a host of news websites, so that’s the limit of his Dallas/Black Lives Matter education in most respects.
The HX Report has, however, an avid follower in Dallas, Texas, called TC. MB came across TC a few years back on a walking tour around the HX lake back home. TC was on a quest, chasing his family roots who hailed from the HX locality some 150 or so years back. As good luck would have it, two of TC’s Irish relations were actually present on the night, and MB had the great pleasure of introducing TC to DM and PM, his very distant cousins.
Over the months and years since that initial visit of TC to MB’s home locality, TC has visited again on a number of occasions and found the HX locality very much to his liking. So much so that TC is planning to retire to HX, or some surrounding area, in the coming months. MB wishes TC well.
Back to Dallas, etc.
On waking up this morning, MB turned on his laptop as usual and saw another message from TC. It struck MB as an interesting point, given all the recent goings on; in particularly the huge and emotional debate about gun control in the US of A.
MB gives you TC’s comment verbatim, save for a few minor corrections of little consequence:
Howdy Mike. One thing I have noticed – that after the killing in Dallas, that after the attacks on Paris, the airport in Turkey, the massacre of young school children a year ago, the killings earlier this year in California: These gun nuts were saying all over the internet that if there was a person with a gun – there it would not be all those killings. Now after the Dallas shootings there is not one word about how if there was a person with a gun there, he would have stopped this from happening. Well, I guess the reason why is that there were over 100 armed police officers at the peace rally and only ONE gunman, and they could not stop this tragedy from happening. I always thought those gun nuts were closed minded and full of shit, now they are proving my point. Take care.
MB posted an article last night on facebook about gun deaths in Japan, and gives anyone who is interested, the link to access it below. Japan has a population of approximately 130M. In 2014, the last year MB could find any statistics for, the total gun deaths was 6. The reason is simple, and obvious to even a simpleton – almost nobody has access to guns in Japan, and if they do, there are vigorous checks, balances and controls.
The gun lobby has a catchy phrase – Guns don’t kill people, people do. But MB’s question to the gun lobby is – How does any person shoot another person without a gun? Answers please, in the comment box below. Thank you.
How Japan has almost eliminated gun deaths:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/a-land-without-guns-how-japan-has-virtually-eliminated-shooting-deaths/260189/
Keep well.
MB
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