Fact: Firing a gun was singlehandedly the most terrifying experience of my life.
I may or may not have started crying at one point... though, to be fair, that was more due to the shell casing that made its way DOWN THE FRONT OF MY DRESS and burned me in two spots. True story. And the kind of thing what would ONLY HAPPEN TO ME.
Anyway.
All of that being said, I can't deny the fact that there's something about the act of shooting a firearm that does something to you. People say it makes you feel powerful, it does. In a baby-rabbit-with-too-much-bravado kind of way, but nonetheless. It's a powerful kind of fear, and despite all the safety rules that both the technicians AND my boyfriend were drilling into me (always keep the barrel pointed downrange, never point a gun at something you don't intend to kill, finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot, etc, etc), it was still a sobering experience to hold a gun in my hands.
I got to shoot a .22 (my favorite of the bunch), a 9mm (shocking, scary, and surprisingly hard to shoot - especially given it's the most common kind of handgun), and even an AR. I think I was better at shooting the AR than the 9mm, actually. The .22 was nice and light for me, didn't have much kickback, and was the easiest for me to control. Buuuut, the manfriend also tells me that a .22 wouldn't be enough to stop a heroin-enraged crazy person from charging at me, so I shouldn't get too comfortable. Le sigh.
Being that this was (obviously) my first time at a shooting range EVER, I don't have any basis for comparison, but I will say that Silver Eagle Group seemed pretty clean, their staff was relatively friendly (especially in response to what I'm sure was nothing but doe-eyed staring from me as I looked around), and my boyfriend says it's one of the nicest in the area. I guess really the only negative was that I didn't like how they charge up the wazoo for paper targets. (Seriously, $12 for some sheets of paper? Next time I'll just print out an 8x11 screenshot from The Walking Dead and call it a day.)
I don't know how much it is to rent a gun, but if you don't own there are plenty just sitting in the display case calling for you to pick 'em on up and give 'em a spin. They also have a showroom and sell guns here.
So, even through all the fear and the tears and general dread that surrounded the morning, it may surprise you to hear that I'm not completely put off from the idea of shooting again. I'll probably need a little bit of time to recover from the experience because it appears I am a total pansy, but I'm pretty interested in learning how to handle myself properly. Besides, I was getting pretty good towards the end. read more