On Target

#16

I have never shot a real gun. A squirt gun--yes. A paint gun--yes. The Duck Hunt gun--yes. A BB gun--I think so. I grew up in a house full of shot guns. Before you think we are a bunch of hicks shooting people off our property, my dad hunted every fall. Come the beginning of hunting season in November, my dad and eventually my brothers we're going out back (in our 100-acre woods). Not sure why my sisters or I did not go hunting with our dad. Maybe mom wouldn't let him. Maybe we weren't interested. Maybe dad didn't think we should. Who knows. I know plenty of women who've hunted in their lives, including my grandma and aunt.

Nonetheless, I have never shot a real gun. When I was coming up with this 30 list, this wasn't initially on it. It’s not something I've always wanted to do. But I saw it on someone's list and my friend Donna had wanted to do it, so I figured, why not?

This past Saturday, my friends Donna, Pam, Elida and Silvia joined me at the West Side Pistol Range in the Flatiron District. We were all a bit nervous about shooting a gun for the first time. When we first entered, we could hear gunshots being fired!  

We took a quick tutorial, where we learned about the makings of the .22 rifle, how to load it, and how to stand when shooting. You know, the basics. Once we were done, we were officially ready to shoot the rifle! We were given 50 rounds to shoot over the course of 2 sessions.

We donned our stylish earphones and made our way into the booths. The gun was definitely a bit heavy to hold, but fun to shoot with. I did alright for the first target, which was about 50 feet away. The second time we went, the target went all the way against the back wall, about 100 feet away. Of course, I was aiming a bit high, when I should have been lower for the first few rounds. But then I aimed correctly and got some right in the middle.

I think most of us were in agreement that shooting a gun at a target was somewhat soothing. Since this was the first time for all of us, we weren’t exactly expert marksman. Except for Pam. Apparently she’s an NRA member. Most of her shots were definitely on target.

And now we can go back for another few sessions in the next few months since we are officially a part of the 3-month Rifle Club. No lesson required. Although next time it would be cool to shoot a pistol and maybe do it outdoors. To do that, we may need to get out of NYC, since the NYPD does not allow that. You’d end up on the 11 o’clock news.