So I found one of my closer friends here to take me out to a range. He assured me that he had done this many times and was a pro. I told him that he was running the show. The first place we went was an outdoor skeet shooting place. As one exits the car, the sound of 20 to 30 shotguns firing greets you. I flinch for every one. I also look around erratically (and fearfully) at the dozens of additional citizens walking around carrying their second amendment rights on their shoulders. I have entered a war zone and had no idea what I was doing. This was far from the controlled environment that I was seeking and so we chose to move on.
The next place we stopped was more along the lines of what I had imagined from the movies I had seen (which is where I get all my gun-slinging experience.) You sign your name, take a quiz, pick your gun, your targets, and your bullets. This seemed amazingly easy at first because no one really asked either of us what our experience was or anything. They had a different lingo too for instance, bullets = rounds; glasses and earphones = eyes & ears; gun = pistol or revolver, etc. This would have have been useful information for me to retain for later on in this experience.
So we get a 'lane' to shoot some 'rounds' with our 'semi-automatic' 'pistol' and get to it. As we enter what is basically a shoe box with a bunch of heavily armed people in it, the flinching begins
again. The gun which my friend the pro has decided to start with was a .22 Ruger which is basically like shooting a bb gun. The bullets are really small but seeing as I had never done this before and was already really stressed from the explosions occuring just 2 feet to my right this was fine. The whole experience is not bad and I am pretty good as far as shooting accurately is concerned but after shooting 50 or so rounds, I want to move on to bigger and better things. For some reason, my 'guide' decides that it is a good idea for me to go and ask for a bigger gun. This is where the gun lingo might have helped. Being excited from shooting a gun for the first time, I head back to the counter which is now occupied by older more serious gentlemen. I decide to ask for "a bigger gun" which in firing range lingo doesn't fly very well. They then proceed to ask me about caliper, revolver vs semi-automatic, and as my blank stare and continued request for "something bigger than I just shot" continues, the chances of my being able to shoot again diminishes exponentially. They then move to a different line of questioning: "Who the hell are you shooting with?" My friend the 'pro' comes out and they give him the third degree and ask him some of the same questions which he also blows the answers to. They finally present him with a gun and ask him to pick it up. Apparently one of the cardinal sins of the range is picking up a gun and putting your finger on the trigger and holding it up.
It was at that moment that we were asked to "get out of there" and as we were walking swiftly out of the door I kept looking back thinking someone would be chasing for the feeling like we just got away with something really wrong was strong. No one came and this was the first time I had ever shot a gun.
