As the month of May approached, I
started to hammer down on my bucket list in hopes I would cross everything off
before July 3rd. Mother’s Day
weekend, Justin and I traveled home to the Springfield area to visit with
family. My sister-in-law, Amanda, asked
me if she could take me target shooting for first time. Amanda had worked as a Conceal and Carry
clerk for Green County and owned a gun previously. Since she had experience handling guns I
felt comfortable learning from her. Plus
it gave me the opportunity to spend time with family and include them in on my
bucket list journey. Both Justin’s mom
& dad joined us as well. We headed
to an outdoor range in Springfield to cross off #8. Shoot a gun/target shooting
1. Start a blog
2. Go to the Presidential
Inauguration / visit DC
5. Eating a raw oyster
8. Shoot a gun/target shooting
10. Learn to sew / make
something I can wear
12. Drive 100 mph on the German
Autobahn
13. Learn to play craps
14. Eat at Oklahoma Joe's BBQ
18. Make Grandma's kolache cookies correctly
20. Drink a beer the size of my head
at Hofbrauhaus Munich
21. Do at least one pull-up
23. Take a train ride/ weekend trip
to Herman, Mo.
25. Run a 8 min/mile 5K
26. Take ballet class from the KC
Ballet
28. Visit the castle that
inspired Walt Disney
30. See the Eiffel Tour sparkle
I have
never been a fan of guns. Growing up, my
dad did not own a gun and I was never around people who owned guns. Even growing up in a small town in Southwest
Missouri, I never was around guns. It
may be surprising to some people, but I went 29 years without even holding a
gun. Shooting a gun is not something
that ever sounded like fun to me. In the last couple years, I have started to learn a little more about guns from my work group. It seems
like everyone but me in my work group shoots guns either for target practice or
hunting. They all give me a hard time
and I sometimes feel like the odd gal out in conversation. As I have mentioned in prior blog posts, I am
pretty liberal. I learn toward more
regulation or gun control especially after all of the recent gun related
tragedies. I realized that I shouldn’t pass judgment on
gun owners and their “rights” without experiencing the act of shooting for
sport. My expectation was that I was
going to enjoy target shooting. The
power and stress relief of shooting sounded exhilarating.
In addition
to our plans to target shoot, I also signed up to run a half marathon that
Saturday. The Go Girl Run was a lot of
fun and I ended up finishing with a personal best of less than 2 hours,
1:58:31. GO ME!
The
shooting range was about 30 minutes outside Springfield. Once we arrived, I was taken aback by the
sound. I should have put my earplugs in
before we got out of the car. I thought
I had heard gun shoots before but this sound was different. There were only 4 target stations at this
range and the short-range stations were occupied when we arrived. While we waited, I got my eye and ear
protection on.
There were a wide variety
of guns people were shooting that day.
At one end, there were shotguns and pistols. On the other end, long range, there was what
looked like machine guns. I felt really
tense hearing the sound coming from the automatic guns. It sounded like a war zone.
We got set
up at the short-range station and Amanda loaded up the gun. We shot a 9mm hand gun.
Everyone took a turn shooting the gun before I did. I wanted to watch as well as get
comfortable with my surroundings. I was
quite surprised at how anxious I felt just standing there. My father-in-law, Kevin, gave me a run down
of safety tips and how to hold the gun.
I aimed and fired and immediately wanted the gun out of my hands. The force of the gun after the shot almost
knocked me off my feet. I was
terrified. At that moment I never wanted
to feel that again. I lowered the gun
and handed it off to whoever was closest to me. My heart was racing afterwards. That was not the exhilaration I had
expected. I sat back and watched the
rest of my family take more turns. An
even closer range station opened up and we moved. I decided to give it one more try. I held the gun a little more tightly and braced
my shelf for the backfire. Honestly, it
was not as scary once I had my stance correct.
I shot a few rounds at our target and actually hit it once! Not too bad for my first time though I can
tell you it wasn’t because I aimed. It
was definitely luck and that the gun was pointed towards the general direction
of the target.
While we
were shooting, Justin mentioned that the group at the long-range station was shooting
illegal automatic weapons. I watched
them as the held the guns at their hips like gangsters and I felt
terrified. Is that what it sounded like
to the innocent people watching “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colorado or
to the children at Sandy Hook Elementary?
I personally do not understand why anyone needs to own a gun like
that. From where I stood, there was no
sport or skill in shooting that gun. It
was for pure adrenaline. To me, they
looked ridiculous and I was embarrassed for them. Pardon my judgment.
I can
understand why people enjoy target shooting.
Hitting the target takes a lot of skill and patience. My eyesight is not that great, so I could
never find any pleasure in shooting targets.
I simply cannot see them that great.
Once I got the hang of shooting I did feel more comfortable holding the
gun itself. I did not like the
environment of the gun range. The sound
made me extremely anxious. It wasn’t fun
for me at all.
After my
experience at the gun range, I now know for sure I do not want to own a
gun. If I am ever in a situation where a
gun may be necessary, I would do more harm than good. I am glad to have had this experience because
I know how I feel. And that feeling is anxious
and terrified. I also feel more strongly
towards gun control. And I’ll leave it
at that.
I enjoyed
spending the time with my family and also learning a lot more about
myself. It was a good experience and do
not regret doing it. I am pretty sure it
will be a while before I pick up a gun again.
But at least I can say that I’ve done it.
Until next
time…
XOXO,
Abby
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