PRINTShoot first, call 911 never
Target Masters offers guns galore and a haven for Second Amendment lovers
Courtesy of Mike O'Dell
Target Masters employee Daren James test fires a few rounds out of a 1911 government model .45.
March 18, 2010 | 12:00 a.m. CST
CORRECTED CAPTION: Target Masters employee Daren James test fires a few rounds out of a 1911 government model .45. An earlier version of this caption misidentified the subject as Mike O'Dell. *CORRECTION: The gun O'Dell described is a piston-driven AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. An earlier version misidentified the gun as an air rifle.
The shooting range is a Second Amendment sanctuary. Worshippers separated by plastic panels line up side by side and wordlessly shoot bullets into paper targets.
Every shot reverberates in the large hall where the targets hang from pulleys. The sidewalls are white and long. On the left side of the range is a large bald eagle posing in front of an American flag.
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Return to CoMo's PlaygroundTarget Masters is an indoor climate-controlled shooting facility in Columbia. The sound from the range permeates two layers of thick glass and a heavy door to the shop, where operations manager Barry McKenzie and his employee Mike O’Dell greet customers and talk guns. They seem oblivious to the noise. O’Dell only occasionally turns to look through the glass at the shooters.
O’Dell grew up in rural Missouri shooting rifles and shotguns and loved to hunt. He had a handgun when he was younger, but he got rid of it. Rifles and shotguns remained his weapons of choice.
“The bug bit again,” O’Dell says with one hand over his holster.
He explains the piston-driven AR-15 semi-automatic rifle* while twisting and turning the vicious, sleek black weapon.
“You can dunk it in water,” O’Dell says, his voice speeding up with excitement. “It’s the gun of the new Army.”
The noise from the range mimics the heart beat of a patient threatened with cardiac arrest. The inconsistent tempo speeds up, then slows. Silence reigns as targets fly back and clips are reloaded. When nine out of the 10 lanes in the range are busy, the collective arrhythmia of the sanctuary develops into a chaotic frenzy. If someone heard this cacophony anywhere but at the shooting range, he or she would duck and cover.
As customers exit the range, a hint of gunpowder clings to their clothes. A kitschy wooden block on the wall behind the counter — the kind that usually reads “Mom’s Kitchen” or “Home is Where the Heart is” — stands out from the other signs, most of which are warnings, policies and advertising. The block has a small illustration of a pistol and reads, “We don’t call 911.”
Hey Missourian, 1. That's not Mike O'Dell in the picture, it's one of the other employees that works there, Daren James. 2. We don't load "clips", we load "magazines".
Also "He explains the enhanced piston mechanism of the air rifle while twisting and turning the vicious, sleek black weapon", we don't sell air rifles.
Posted by Daren James on Mar 18, 2010 at 3:23 p.m. (Report Comment)
Hey, Mike O'Dell here, and of course as Daren stated above, that is not me in the picture, it is in fact Daren, AND that photo was taken my me, not Juan.
That's not the biggest issue I have with this article though. My biggest issue is the title of it! Seriously?! "Shoot First, Call 911 Never"? Anyone that knows us knows that that is NOT the way to handle a situation. First of all, we are always teaching people that the best option is to be aware of your surroundings enough that hopefully you'll never have to shoot. If, god forbid, you do find yourself in a situation where you have to shoot, the FIRST thing you do after shooting IS in fact to call 911!
Second, I have an issue with the statement "O’Dell grew up in rural Missouri playing with rifles and shotguns and loved to hunt." More specifically that I grew up "playing" with rifles and shotguns. This implies that firearms are something of a toy, in which they ARE NOT! They are weapons, and capable of serious damage if not respected and handled safely.
There are also a few other times when I was misquoted, but can deal with some of them. As for the "air rifle" that Daren commented on, for the record, it is NOT an "air rifle", I believe that what Juan meant to say was "AR" which is what type of rifle we were looking at as implied by "vicious, sleek black weapon."
Posted by Mike O'Dell on Mar 18, 2010 at 7:36 p.m. (Report Comment)
and two other things:
First,“O’Dell says with one hand over his holster." While I can appreciate that the author is trying to paint a picture with words, the picture that I get from these words are that I seem to be standing there eager to pull my gun. This is NOT the case!
Second, the block of wood on the wall that reads, "We don't call 911" is NOT our motto. It's there more for amusement. Most who see it and read it get a chuckle out of it.
Posted by Mike O'Dell on Mar 18, 2010 at 10:29 p.m. (Report Comment)
First, I would like to say that I am a business owner in columbia and I, like Mr. O'Dell grew up hunting and shooting firearms as a child. Unlike the children of today I was lucky that my parents taught me about firearms and the safe way to handle them. It appears to me that the article published in the VOX magazine clearly is trying to lead it's readership not familiar with firearms or Target Masters and Mr.O'Dell to the conclusion that anyone that owns a fire arm is a reckless, trigger happy fool which is just the exact opposite of the truth! Target masters, Mike O'Dell and the entire staff are some of the most knowledgeable and safety minded people in our area! One question that I would like to pose to you is if you were sitting in a restaurant here in Columbia eating a nice meal with your wife and two small children and someone came into that restaurant and robbed them while you were there and tried to grab your young child to use as a shield would you be glad Mr.O'Dell was setting at the table next to you? I know that I sure would be!! Maybe you should revisit Target Masters and Mr.O'Dell and spend a little more time with them and truly get to know more about our 2nd Amendment!
Posted by David Richter on Mar 19, 2010 at 8:30 a.m. (Report Comment)
I really think this is one of the most misleading titles to an article I've ever seen. Being a good journalist requires you to take down facts as they are, whether you personally agree with them or not. If you have ever spent time at Target Masters you would realize that the folks that work there as well as those that frequent their business have the utmost respect for guns and are adamant about gun safety. Those who want to protect our 2nd Amendment rights study and abide by the gun laws in Missouri. They purchase their firearms legally as well as take classes not only to enhance their knowledge of safety and gun use, but to be able to carry legally. Mike is a wonderful asset to Target Masters as well as the community. You never know when a time might come when your's or a loved ones life might be saved by a 2nd Amendment advocate..in that case you might very well be glad they shot first and called 911 never.
Posted by Staci Matney on Mar 19, 2010 at 5:04 p.m. (Report Comment)
Well since this is my second post in two days and two other posts are by Mr. O'Dell, I'm guessing this paper doesn't get much readership. I'd really like to see the editor make a post here or run a second article stating the facts and not fiction. Mr. Juan Pablo Garcia writes articles that would make a fiction romance novelist blush. Also please don't take credit for photos that you don't take. The smell of liberalism clings to this article, like the gunpowder to my clothes after a long days work.
Posted by Daren James on Mar 19, 2010 at 10:40 p.m. (Report Comment)
While I do see some corrections made to the article, it's still not what it could be. I do appreciate VOX's attempt at trying to correct some of the stuff, but that's what they did... correct SOME of it.
For starters, the title is still, well, CRAP! It is so misleading. Mindset is the greatest weapon you can have. You should always be aware of your surroundings, and try your best to never get into a situation that you would have to use your gun. If at all possible, avoid the situation completely, get to safety, and call 911. If you were to find yourself in a situation that you HAD to shoot, the FIRST thing you do afterward would be DIAL 911!
There are also still some misquotes that were discussed today, and were not corrected. For example “You can dunk it in water,” was not said... "it can be submerged" was what was said, and I still do not recall saying “It’s the gun of the new Army.” That's just not the type of thing I would say while describing the rifle we had talked about.
Again, I do appreciate VOX contacting me and trying to correct the article, I just thought there would be more.
Posted by Mike O'Dell on Mar 24, 2010 at 9:51 p.m. (Report Comment)
Mike, Please stay patient. Changing headlines is a process, and it involves a discussion among the upper level editors, which will take place later today. Sorry for your trouble.
Spencer
Posted by Spencer Engel on Mar 25, 2010 at 2:16 p.m. (Report Comment)
Spencer, thanks for the heads up. I'm eagerly awaiting the change.
Mike
Posted by Mike O'Dell on Mar 25, 2010 at 4:57 p.m. (Report Comment)
Mr. O'Dell et al.,
Hi, my name is Geoff George, the deputy editor for Vox magazine. I would first of all like to apologize for the factual errors that were printed in our initial article. We sincerely regret that we had misidentified both the type of rifle you were holding and the person in the caption as well as the actual credit of the photo. We've since changed these passages.
As for the title, after some discussion, we have opted not to change it. Our editorial director is a gun owner herself and empathizes with your concerns. But we simply feel that there has to be some permanence to any decisions we make that are purely editorial rather than factual, even if those decisions turn out to be regrettable in retrospect.
Admittedly, the headline here, while tongue-in-cheek, could have been reconsidered, but it wasn't meant maliciously. We were playing off the very sign that you yourself, in a post on this comment board, explained was meant for amusement. We're certainly aware (and one hopes any reader would also be able to discern) that your sign isn't serious, and we'd hoped our title would convey the same tone.
I know this decision might not be to your liking. One of the main goals of writing titles is to draw readers into a story. We feel the title at least does that. I hope that by changing the factual errors though, we've managed to find some middle ground, and I wish you and your business all the best.
Posted by Geoff George on Mar 29, 2010 at 12:53 p.m. (Report Comment)