shootin' range

I fired a real gun for the first time in my life on October 18. (BB guns don't count)

My friend Jen and her husband took me and Chris out to the MSSA to go shootin'! I was a little intimidated at first when we arrived due to the constant pops and bangs of various handguns, rifles, and shotguns. However, I was put more at ease when we went into the office to sign-in and the room was plastered with PRO-McCain, PRO-bush, and Anti-Obama stickers. Praise the Lord. I want the sticker that says "NOBAMA '08". Love it. But I digress.

Anyway, we went down to the pistol shooting area that was set up with various targets and metal dummies. They started me off easy with a 22 handgun. I was scared as heck to pull the trigger, but it turned out to be pretty fun and I have good aim. :) I could hit those cans with my BB gun 10 years ago, so hitting a large paper target was cake. Ha.

After practicing my preciseness (is that a word?) on the target for a while, I decided to try the 12-gauge shotgun. After all, it belongs to me and Chris and I have no idea how to use the thing. God forbid an intruder come in the house. I watched Chris fire it a couple of times, then I went for it. My hands were shaking. Of course I had to let that stop before I proceeded with firing a large gun. I nestled the butt of the gun into my shoulder and BANG!

WHOA! Holy &%*$*&%$! That is more power than a dang nuclear bomb! Chris had to keep me from getting blown plum backwards! Holy cow. I don't like it. But I fired it again. BANG! Wow. Why did I do that? Here, Chris, take this crazy thing away from me. Ok, I'm done with that. Pray to the Lord that I never have to use that thing in self-defense. At least I know what it feels like now.

Somehow we convinced tiny little Jen to fire the shotgun. She hated it as much or more than I did. We are too small- could barely hold the dang thing up to fire it in the first place.

And I totally passed on the 45 handgun. No thank you. Chris loved it though.

Then Dan's friend showed up with a plethora of firearms. We played with an AR15 (which is an automatic rifle). That thing was awesome... made me feel like GI Jane. We put 22 gauge bullets in there, so it made hardly any noise. I kept my earplugs in, though, don't you worry. I'm already deaf enough from years of drumming. There is a cool little site with a red target in it. Neat.

I was done after that. They busted out another rifle that was louder, and I got a little emotional for some reason (Just like me to get all sensitive), so I went to the car to get a snack. As I watched my friends fire guns from a distance, I started to think about all of the soldiers in Iraq and other places who to have to fire guns at people out of self-defense. They have to listen to POP POP POP and BANG all day... usually without earplugs. I pity them. Sometimes it's just a necessary evil, unfortunately.

So we wrapped up the day with some pond-fishin'. We used live night-crawlers which worked much better than plastic lures. I caught a pretty good sized bass and a little blue-gill. Jen and Chris caught a blue gill and Daniel got skunked. Not literally, thank goodness.

It was an awesome day outdoors doing some good ole' southern activities!!!