Bang! Bang!

Posted by Blondzombie on July 25, 2011 in Rants |One Comment

You ever shot a gun? Held one in your hand and pulled the trigger? Well I did this weekend. It was a blast, no pun intended. I popped my firearm cherry. I have to admit, going in to the firing range I was prepared to hate it. I thought it was something that I was going to shoot a couple of shots off and say…meh. But a funny thing happened. It was a stag party for a friend of ours and we thought lets start the day by shooting guns. So around noon we all meet up at the gun range. We walked in and tried to get us all in to do some target shooting, but they are all booked up. He mentions though that they have a state-of-the-art brand new, only one in North America shooting range. A little more expensive but he can get us in right away. It is a paper screen that they project video onto, infrared sensors sense where your bullet has passed through the screen. So basically duck hunt for Nintendo on steroids, and gunpowder. We shot in order a .30 .30 rifle, an AK47, a .45 and a .44 magnum revolver.After our safety briefing and some nervous joking around we entered the firing range which was basically just a long room with a screen at the end.

The first was the .30 .30 and even with ear protection on that gun was loud. When you fired it you felt the kick in your shoulder. That gun would do some damage. Right off the bat I felt safe firing the gun but not safe standing watching others shooting. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have the gun, but also it is the unpredictability of people, just like I mentioned in my blog “Trust Issues” there is such a fine line between what if and if, if you know what I mean by “if”. I had just met some of these guys ten minutes ago and now I was in a closed room and they had a loaded gun in their hands. Of course nobody was going to freak out and go postal but I don’t know what has been going on in these guys lives, hell one of them was about to get married, that alone is grounds for going crazy. Also ricochets and or misfires, probably don’t happen and I’m sure they have taken every precaution to make it as safe as possible, but unless it was me firing the gun I was on edge. The AK47 was great to shoot, perfectly weighted and fired quickly, you could pop off multiple rounds in succession. Then it was the .45. My favourite gun to shoot, small handgun, great for accuracy and speed. Then the final gun was the .44 magnum. Now that gun has a kick, you fire that and if your not holding on tight it’ll fly right out of your hands. The rush was electric and even though we were all acting tough and being cool, we all knew what these guns could do. It was a great start to a fun day and I would go back and do it again. The facility was thorough, safe and more than accommodating. Thanks John.

One last thing, I realize that shooting guns in a controlled environment is one thing but weapons out there in the real world I can’t stress enough, be careful. We shot targets on a giant screen like a video game but these weapons can seriously injure and kill. There is nothing glamourous or funny about it and after shooting these guns I know the power of them first hand and to hear now in the news everyday someone has been shot. It is a sobering reminder that these weapons in the wrong hands are extremely dangerous. Most recently the massacres in Norway remind us of what can happen, my heart goes out to the victims families of all involved. Take care and be safe.