July 25, 2004

On Being a Gun Nut

Life's become pretty crazy and stressful in the last month, despite my attempts to have a relaxing summer break. Most of my days are now spent at either work or class, generally from 8am to 10pm. While these hours are pretty awful, I realize now that in the last few months, my unequivocal commitment to money and materialism had been waning and that something had to be done about that. Well, now I'm back earning a lot of money and being constantly tired, stressed, and angry, which is why I was quick to agree to join a few friends in taking a handgun class this month. I mean, what's better then offing a few bums when you're tired, stressed, and angry?

Poaching bums aside, I was actually pretty excited to go to the shooting range, considering the years of romanticized Hollywood productions I have seen that make it look so cool. I mean, fundamentally, there are few things worth getting more excited about than weapons, although it was pointed out that motorcycles, electronic gadgets, fast cars, and sex all rank high on this list. In any case, when we arrived at the range, part of me wanted to be disgusted by the outrageous NRA propaganda while the other (more dominant) part was awed by the racks of guns and anxious to start shooting; pent up aggression I guess. Surprisingly, most of the employees weren't gun-toting rednecks (a la Bowling for Columbine) and our teacher turned out to be a police instructor.

After the safety training and instructions on loading, unloading, and aiming, we started off with a .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol. The first shot was kind of scary, considering I was anticipating a recoil, but it wasn't bad at all. I managed to hit in the red zone on most of my first shots. We quickly outgrew our .22's and decided to try out bigger guns. The next step up was a 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic. The 9mm gave a much larger kick than the .22; so much in fact, that initially I couldn't see where my shots were going since the gun kept flying into my line of sight. However, after a few magazines worth of shots, I was able to hit the targets with decent accuracy and hold the gun steady (the trick is to lean into the shot). Finally, we decided to move up to a .45, which was one hell of a large handgun. Naturally, the kick on that gun was much larger, and although I did finally get used to firing it, I'd have to say I preferred the 9mm to the .45, if for no other reason, than I was much more accurate with the former.

Now, don't get the wrong impression. Just because I went to a gun range and enjoyed it, doesn't mean I'm going to be applying for a NRA membership any time soon. I still don't think anyone should be able to own an Uzi or an AK-47 to hunt deer and I have no desire to purchase a gun myself. However, I have to say, I do understand the appeal of firing a gun now, and encourage all of you to try it out. I mean, if nothing else, it's a novel experience. And if you're looking to justify it to yourself, ask yourself this: what if you happened to get into a scuffle for a gun with a mugger? Wouldn't you want to be able to fire the gun if you had to? And if you're looking for someone to go to the range with, just give me a call. Happy hunting!