First encounter

So here I was...all thrilled about going to the shooting range.
Not expecting, anything unusual...After all, you see guns being used all the time in the movies and games. So simple, so tiny...all you do is pull the trigger and *boom* the projectile shoots off. Sounds Simple Enuff!!!... And as you know from science as well, that's how gun works..there is gun podwer ..gets sparked..makes and noise ..gun recoils and gone..

Well, here I am in the shooting range...thinking hmm..this would be definitely something new...bit excited. I should be able to shoot without a problem...i hope :-D (or so I pretend). Guys!!! hmm...they are always thrilled about weapons..aren't they? :-S No matter where you go, for most of them it's thrilling...adrenaline junkie. I wish I was in some ways ..but no way!! That's just not me :-S

Newbie here within the shooting range, I go to the counter and decide to get a 9mm gun since it's sort of a beginner's gun. They said..it does have a bit of a recoil. It's tiny,... doesn't look that dangerous! Other people coming in the place...all with their own guns !! (don't know what I would call it...but it definitely scary!! What if at any point some one gets pissed off ... all of them have guns!! of course they are unloaded outside..but inside it's TOTALLY LOADED!! :-S )
So they show me the gun 9mm ..you look at it from a distance. ask them how you load it.. They give you funny look...that says never seen a gun??? gosh watch some movies !!

So as I follow the instruction that the person gave in a few seconds... they're going too fast *!!! how do you catch all of that
:-S They show you how to hold a gun..so that when it recoils, you don't get your thumbs blown up... heh heh.. (you give a nervous laugh...giving a nervous look to your friends who are thrilled to be going shooting). So here I was holding the gun and you start remembering how guns accidently fire and all that sorts and kill people...hmm.. just the thing you want to remember :-S (why do you have to remember stupid things like that right now!!! )

I have the gun in the hand...it looks pretty harmless enuff... So they hand you the eye protection and the ear plugs..gun and the bullets and of course the target. From the outside you hear little gun shots..First time hearing gun shots...not loud enuff so, not very scary. As you enter through the door.....the sounds get louder. Get through another door..and boom...you are bombarded with whole bunch of shots firing at the same time. Frozen for a moment, you realize hmm..so this how gun shots really sound when it's not blocked by sound proof doors and windows. The whole room filled with a racket...not one of those "dance club noises".. NO FREAKING WAY!... nervousness course through your body, you go to your lane and try to figure out how to load the stupid gun...trying to remember what the guy in the counter said. The lanes are 2and half feet wide with slight wall in between separating the lanes. The other lanes are filled and people are firing shots one after other. Everytime they shoot, the whole booth vibrates...putting you in state of nervousness. You are the edge of your seat..basically...at this point if someone comes and touches me, everything would fly off my hand. I try and load the gun slowly...*have to push down and slide it in ** remembering the instruction as I load one after another. Jumping everytime the other shot gets fired...hands tremble...dropping the bullets.. Try again!!! push down and slide... Finally, you manage to load it successfully. Slide it into the gun and cock it ...or whatever... and then you are ready to shoot. In your mind, you're going how can people be comfortable with this??? Still trembling from the shots being fired around you....you point the target .. and shoot, not expecting what would happen next. Well, pull the trigger...just like in the movies Duhhh!!!

Slowly getting the nerve to do it one time at least...I pull the trigger... and flash appears!!! Boom!!! and the gun recoils!! No freaking way... that was too loud... My nerves are shot at this point :-S Next, I let the other people take their turn...finally happy to be rid of the thing. I watch as the flashes appear one after another Boom Boom Boom..the shells flying every which way..noise is just something I would never get used to...finally realizing it indefinitely. After 20min of waiting trying to get used to the noise ...I go back and try shooting again... Still, not used to the noise :-S This thing is just not for me :-S I go to the lane and prepare to shoot again. At this point... I dont even care if I hit the target or not...I haven't gotten used to the noise or the flash I see.... I point the gun in the general direction of the target and prepare myself for the noise.. I don't want to see the flash so I put the slightly off the direct line of my eye. (Well that probably is why I never hit the target!! LOL) ...

Wrap your hand around the gun handle...making sure your thumb is out of the way. One hand pushing back at the gun, while the other hand pulls toward you. You positioning your legs so that the recoils doesn't make you lose control. Again...waiting..preparing myself. Takes me a while before I pull the trigger!! (it's kind of like going to the eye doctor where they do glaucoma test...with the puft of air getting shot at your eye. After the first one, you kind of expect the puft of air and blink everytime before it comes. This is just like that...only so many many many time worse). So I shoot once..then pause.. make myself ready again and shot! Bam Bam bam!! goes the gone....and look at the target :-S Missed all :-S

No more guns for me!!!

As I think about my ability to handle guns...I am filled with an immense gratification to those who serve the country, be it military, navy, police..etc. ...Those who risk their own lives so that others may have a better day.

During this whole time, thoughts kept on going back and forth. While I am just a newbie...and had so much trouble getting used to it and still am in fact.... how do these little children/kids get accostumed to using gun and that too at real people?? (Like those in maoist group, in shiite groups, in darfur genocide) Makes you wonder what kind of mind they have, what made them change so dramatically that they would no longer feel bad..guilty..afraid of guns and theirs' and others' lives!!! All through this event, I kept thinking that I might handle it wrong and shoot it off in wrong direction....how do they manage it? Do they no longer think about such things? Are they literally brain washed ... and/or only trained to be a killer!! Do they block it out using drugs..!! How do they cope with the after effects at the end of the day? You hear about war veterans and how much trouble ..nightmares they have each and everyday...How they no longer can have a normal life! How do these men..women and children...who were once just a general citizen..villagers ..feel..cope with ..and live after all this is over. How can people go into their own villages and kill off your friends, family, neighbors...etc. Do they feel no remorse at the end? :-( As I watched blood diamond, I saw how a little kid was forced into using guns to kill off his own people...
This same thing is happening everywhere...and you wonder.. is there going to be no end of all this pain and suffering?