Yesterday night I shot a handgun for the first time. A 9mm semi-automatic made by SIG Arms. I shot at the gun range of course! At On-Target Range in Laguna Niguel, CA. The 2 hour class was $50 (Includes range time and gun rental) + $20 for 100 rounds of ammunition. Excellent instructor - Greg Block (sp?) has been shooting professionaly for 22+ years, 30 years total. For military folk this is certainly routine training. For civilians like me - definitely not an everyday occurrence. Why did I go shooting? Part of it is sheer curiosity, the other part self-defense. Not that I am going to buy a gun or expect to use one, but with all the places I will be traveling too - who knows what situations I will be in? If anything, it would probably be better to just lay low and come across as a non-threat, unarmed. I want to pick up martial arts again someday, but that will take alot more time. After all, the hands can be deadly weapons too. (And to think that the Seattle-Tacoma airport security were worried about my mini-screwdriver set that I tried to bring aboard a recent flight back from Seattle, WA to Orange County, CA) But, at least now I have a passing familiarity with how to handle a gun (Handguns anyway) and how to use one if absolutely forced.
I recall playing guns in elementary school, whether it was a cap gun or with our hands. Or with a paintball gun several years ago. I thought shooting the real thing would be a "bigger deal" than it actually was. It seemed too easy. It almost looks like a toy. Racing through my mind was how easy it is, at least mechanically, to strike someone or yourself down accidentally or intentionally. I think about the increasingly realistic and violent computer games on the market targeted toward kids. I've played my fair share, but they didn't look as real as they do today. Are they more healthy fantasy outlet to let out aggression, lessons in self-defense, seeds of violent behavior for the weak minded, or perhaps the backdrop for learning that weapons are the means to achieve goals, personal goals, or the goals of a nation? As I was driving home I also remembered what I learned in driving school - that vehicles are deadly weapons too. And look how many there are of those too.
I recall playing guns in elementary school, whether it was a cap gun or with our hands. Or with a paintball gun several years ago. I thought shooting the real thing would be a "bigger deal" than it actually was. It seemed too easy. It almost looks like a toy. Racing through my mind was how easy it is, at least mechanically, to strike someone or yourself down accidentally or intentionally. I think about the increasingly realistic and violent computer games on the market targeted toward kids. I've played my fair share, but they didn't look as real as they do today. Are they more healthy fantasy outlet to let out aggression, lessons in self-defense, seeds of violent behavior for the weak minded, or perhaps the backdrop for learning that weapons are the means to achieve goals, personal goals, or the goals of a nation? As I was driving home I also remembered what I learned in driving school - that vehicles are deadly weapons too. And look how many there are of those too.
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