A Call to Arms

The power you feel when holding a gun will surpass any imagined power you may wield with another instrument. And today, despite the discomforts of this activity, I shot a gun. Or a number of them really. The one great thing about America is that there is always deals and interesting events to partake in, you just have to be willing to make the effort to search for them and then get out of your comfort zone to actually do it. Today’s very unique experience was at a shooting range in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Guns and shooting has never really been my thing. Being the equal of an extremist for the clumsy and silly brigade, there is this constant fear that this side of me will come out and I will accidently hurt someone (please note the word accidently if you have ever incurred any injuries due to my disorder). So in order for the world to be a safer place, I stay away from dangerous objects. But today, throwing caution to the wind, I picked up a gun… and no one was hurt. People all across the world can now let out a sigh of relief.

The day started off really well. Being an early session, we all had to be up at the crack of daylight to be there on time. At the buzzing of the alarms I was up and out of bed ready to get my game on. And there was Kate; with one eye closed vehemently declaring she was awake, while mumbling about having collected 4000 cans. What the collection of cans had to do with getting out of bed I have yet to figure out. Eventually we were all ready and out of the house on time. It looked as if today we would prove fate wrong about the ability of young adults to keep time, but fate has a way of always coming back to shout at you “I told you so!” With Shaii getting lost somewhere between his house and the dunkin donuts we were meeting at, we were able to start off our adventure in the customary way: late.

Eventually, after trying to make up for lost time, we made it to the shooting range. I stepped inside the doors with the booming sounds and wondered what I had gotten myself into. As the gunshots became louder I was ready to hand out indemnity forms to everyone absolving myself from any injuries they may receive due to me. We quickly signed in, were given a brief talk on gun safety, put on the safety glasses and curiously glanced at the strange ear things that we had to use. Having pity on us the instructor opted to give us who could not quite grasp the concept of squeezing the ear pieces and then putting them in, ear muffs. And then were ushered into the shooting range. There were six instructors inside, all with different guns. At the first sight of the giant shot gun I wanted to tuck my tail between my legs and bolt. The thing was huge, the bang was loud and the holes it made in the paper man beyond any size I could fully comprehend. It was frightening. But sucking it up I made my way to my first gun, a tiny little hand gun that could be compared to a mouse next to the elephant of a shot gun. The experience went well. I kept one eye opened most of the time and managed not to handle the gun inappropriately. I tried some of the others as well, the very big ones. And found that although scary in size, that when you actually get past it they were not all that bad.

Gun shooting is a very unique, and for me daredevil experience. Although I had endless amounts of fun spending the day with an amazing group of friends, I honestly believe that I will do the world justice by staying away from these dangerous objects for a while.

Safe travels!