Shoot

Today is Thanksgiving. Now that I've proven I know it, I'll move on to something else. Yesterday, I did something I've never done before. When I was a boy, I shot rifles at summer camp and at some Boy Scout activities. They were bolt action 22 caliber rifles, and I think we always shot in the prone position or in a sitting position. We never shot from a standing position that I can think of, and we never shot handguns.

Yesterday, I shot a handgun. It wasn't something I was planning on doing, and it probably wasn't something I ever would have gone to any trouble to do, but it was nothing that I was against doing. In any case, I found myself at a gun store and shooting range that has previously made headlines for its Yuletide tradition of giving its clientele the chance to pose with their guns and Santa Clause. I did not get the chance to do that this time.

It's a pretty interesting experience. You become more viscerally aware of how the shooting experience fails to be accurately captured in film. They of course can't deafen filmgoers by correctly rendering the loudness of guns, but I'm inclined to think that a gun with a silencer sounds in real life like a gun without a silencer sounds in a movie theater. A gunshot is incredibly loud, and ear protection that makes conversation impossible does all too little to muffle it.

The kick from a handgun's recoil is awfully severe, too. I think that the most powerful thing I fired was a .40 caliber gun, and it seemed to me that that the shooter hardly comes away unscathed, although they unquestionably come out ahead of their target. I am glad that I received some coaching during the process, or I rather suspect that my amateurish attempt to grip the gun with both hands would have resulted in a broken thumb.

Although I was a bit put off by some of the aggression of tone that I felt in the store, I was also impressed by the seriousness with which the shooters take the deadliness of their implements. Along the gun range, I saw people who were enjoying themselves, but who also were very disciplined in how they handled the process. There were no "gun nuts" in evidence. I suppose those people are more to be found out in the sticks.

The experience was a positive one. I doubt I will make a habit of visiting the shooting range, but it's something that I'm glad I did. I'm not an incredibly passionate gun enthusiast, but I'm not virulently opposed to guns and reasonable recreational use thereof (and, of course, legitimate use of guns for the enforcement of peace). Anyway, my LA friends would have been disappointed if I had not shooting stories to tell after going back to Arizona.