The Gun Range

Guns are a hot-button issue, and rightly so. They are very dangerous. Mass shootings have become commonplace in America and around the world. It doesn't take much for some psycho to load up a semi-automatic rifle and go take his frustration out on a group of people. Sometimes that group consists of children, which is truly heartbreaking. Should guns be banned? Probably. The countries that have banned firearms outright have much less violent crime than the countries that have not. Guns are the only weapon that enables an individual to kill many other people in a short amount of time with precision. In a way, they are a weapon of mass destruction. We should probably not let untrained individuals have them. However, in America, guns are here to stay. The right to bear arms is in our constitution. It is the second amendment. The second! Our forefathers, in all their wisdom, granted us the right to bear arms right after the right to free speech and the right to practice whatever religion we choose. Why did they do that? They did it so that individuals could protect themselves from the government itself. When the founding fathers of the United States wrote the Bill of Rights, they had just overthrown the British government. They would not have been able to do that without guns. America was created as a democracy by a group of people that held a healthy distrust for all government. All governments start out with the people's best interests at heart. But over time, governments tend to get more and more invasive. Higher taxes, more rules and regulations, more bullshit, etc. You are supposed to do what the government says, but what if that government is corrupt? Do you still have to follow what they say? The second amendment offers protection for the individual against corrupt and oppressive governments. America was built with the individual in mind, not the collective. It is why capitalism has thrived here. It is why we have the largest and most innovative economy in the world. It is also why we have the highest level of economic inequality. Capitalism and inequality go hand in hand. Inequality is probably the main reason we have so much violent crime. When you have so few with so much, the vast populous is bound to get angry. You add guns to that equation and you wind up where we are today. Neither capitalism nor guns are going anywhere, that is a fact. We all know guns are bad. But what can we do? Do we move to Canada? That's no kind of life. If we can't beat them, do we join them?

Sonia was on a trip to Austin, Texas. As a New Yorker, she had a healthy bias against Texas. All of that changed the second she went to Austin. Everyone was so nice there! Not to mention educated and intelligent. The food was good, the nightlife was fun, and the weather was much better than the weather in New York. She fell in love with the city. Every winter, she made it a point to visit her family in Austin. It was a good break from her fast-paced life in New York. Plus she didn't have to pay for a hotel, she could always stay with her cousins free of charge. She always had a blast there.

Well, today her cousins wanted to take her to the gun range. Sonia had been very hesitant to go in the past. She was terrified of guns and didn't want to expose herself to that kind of violence. She also didn't want to give her hard-earned money to something that was clearly detrimental to mankind. Every time she heard of a school shooting on the news her heart broke. How could someone do such a thing? She and all of her New York friends were in agreement, guns should be banned. Every time she went to Austin, her cousins offered to take her to the gun range but she always refused. She swore she would never fire a gun.

This year, however, she made a promise to herself that she would try new things. Not only that, she was on a mission to do things that she was afraid of. She felt that she had gotten too comfortable in her life and needed to push herself a bit more. She wasn't very adventurous and wanted to change that. She felt that life was passing her by. Earlier in the year she had gone sky diving, something she never thought she would do. She had always been terrified of heights but she pushed herself to skydive. She had never felt so alive! It was truly a life-changing experience. It empowered her to try other new things, things that she might have rejected in the past. So this time when her cousins offered to take her to the gun range, she agreed. She knew she would never be a supporter of guns, but she was willing to try it once. At least she could say that she rejected guns after having given them a shot. No pun intended.

She was nervous driving up to the range, much like she was when she boarded the plane to go skydiving. Her cousins were taking her to an outdoor shooting range. When they got out of the car the first thing Sonia noticed was how loud the guns were. She was standing 200 yards away from the people shooting and could still hear every shot. The guns were loud. Sonia and her cousins went into an office. Her cousins paid for her and rented the guns. She was given the choice between shooting a handgun, a rifle, or both. She opted to shoot just the handgun. She wanted to shoot just a few shots and be done with it. She was doing it just to say she did.

After renting the guns the three of them proceeded to the range itself. The range was divided into two sections. One for handguns and another for riffles. Many other people were shooting. It was very loud. Sonia put on the earmuffs they had rented. It made the noise much more bearable. One of her cousins went with her to shoot the handgun, while her other cousin went to shoot the rifle. When they approached the range, an older man with ear muffs and a holstered gun approached them. He worked for the range.

"Is it you're first time shooting?" asked the instructor.
"Yes," replied Sonia meekly.
"I've shot before," replied her cousin.
"Okay, I'm going to show you everything you need to know. How to load bullets in the chamber, how to put the chamber in the gun, how to ready the gun to shoot, how to fire the gun, and how to disassemble the gun once you have finished shooting," said the instructor. You could tell he knew what he was talking about.
"Okay," replied Sonia.
"Now there are rules here. The first is that when we say guns down, you have to unload your gun and put them down on the table pointing down range. At no point should the guns point anywhere but down range," said the instructor. "Guns down!"

Everyone at the range unloaded their gun and put their guns down.

"Okay now you can walk down range and put up targets," said the instructor. Sonia's cousins had bought targets for her. It was a blue man with targets on his chest and head. Sonia put up her target.
"Do you want to go first?" asked her cousin.
"No, you go," said a terrified Sonia.

Then she watched as her cousin put bullets into the clip, loaded the clip in the chamber, and pulled back the top of the gun. It was now ready to shoot. The instructor showed her cousin how to hold the gun.

"You always want to hold the gun with two hands. When you shoot, the gun has recoil so you want to offset that with steady hands. You want the gun to move as little as possible when you shoot, otherwise, you are going to miss the target," said the instructor. "The range is live!"

Sonia watched as her cousin put both hands on the gun, pointed the gun at the target, and fired the first shot. Bang. A bullet case popped out of the side of the gun. Her cousin fired 9 more shots. He was accurate. Hitting the target on the chest each time. The target was only 7 yards away, but it was still impressive. Now it was her turn. Sonia couldn't believe she was about to do this. A New Yorker shooting guns? That was unheard of. She walked up to the shooting spot. Putting the bullets in the clip proved to be difficult. The instructor was watching over her shoulder. He showed her again how to do it and she was able to load the clip with 10 bullets. Then she slid the chamber in the gun and pulled back the top of the gun.

"Now remember, two hands on the gun like this," said the instructor showing her what to do with her hands. Sonia did her best to copy. "Good. Now aim with your right eye. Line the top of the gun with the target and pull the trigger gently."

Sonia could feel her heart beating. She aimed the gun at the blue man's chest and pulled the trigger. Bang! A bullet shell flew out the side of the gun. She hit the middle of the target.

"Bullseye!" said the instructor.

Sonia fired again. And again. And again. She fired the entire clip. Unloaded the clip and put the gun down facing down range.

"Do you want to shoot another round?" asked her cousin.
"Yes," replies Sonia.

She loaded up the gun again and fired off another round. This time she aimed for the head. Two of her shots hit the blue man in his eye. When she finished, Sonia unloaded the gun and put the gun down facing down range. She was done for the day.

On the car ride back home Sonia was introspective. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins. She felt powerful, she felt like she could do anything. She now understood why her cousins enjoyed shooting guns. She didn't agree with their sentiment, but she could recognize the appeal. However, she still didn't like when they joked about guns. Guns are not a joking matter. Guns are very dangerous. And the fact that they are so easy to obtain and operate in this country terrified her. No, she was not going to become a gun owner now. That she still considered stupid. Plus it was impossible to own a gun in New York. But would she ever come back to the shooting range?

Also no. One time was enough.