Big Meaning

     Sand Mountain Shooters Club showed me a great time and I learned so much that its impossible to accurately write the feelings after one of these adventures. Dan and his family take great pride in their work and a great deal of interest in their community. It seems now that's a word lost to today. The value of community and working for one another without expectation of what is necessarily in it for one's self. There seems to be a multitude of political movements that mask themselves as community. Another thing seemingly lost is a true family business, and with it the value of family. those values are still alive out in Boaz, Alabama, and you can find them at Sand Mountain Shooters Club. Dan on the right, me on the left.

     There certainly is something to be said of the unassuming; the people whom you would never expect something from, and there are few who personify this more than a Chicago born Italian named Dan Cooper. Standing just over 5’3’’ with a lazy eye and in his 70s, Dan appears of humble stature but lives a life on many fronts. Through his worn hands one can see that Dan is, at heart a true craftsman, and a master in his trade.      In 1966 Dan was drafted into the military and was to go to Vietnam. He wanted to go but says that God had other plans. Because of his eye he was sent home, much to his dissatisfaction. His father had been in the military, and he was eager to serve his country. Dan found another life in construction, and anything he could do with his hands, and though he never went into the military he followed his passion of guns and gunwork. He and his family moved from Chicago in 1975, to Boaz, Alabama to escape from the crim...