G-g-g-guns

Note: This post might be humorous since I still barely know what I'm talking about and am not so good with knowing the lingo.

I shot a gun for the first time tonight. Actually, I think it was the first time I held a gun (not counting a watergun or paintball gun). I'm quite scared of guns, so perhaps it's surprising that I agreed to go to an indoor shooting range (is that what it's called?). However, I'm up for trying anything (that's safe and doesn't hurt anyone) once, so I thought it would be interesting and probably somewhat fun to try this.

First, I didn't realize that you need a little strength to load a 9mm until the guy started teaching us how to do it. He probably thought I was ridiculously scared (a little) or weak (I likely am) because the first time I tried to put in a shell, I wasn't so great.  However, he must have decided I could deal with it because he gave me my safety glasses, earmuff-like earplug thingies and target — and let me into the range.

Second, I didn't realize just how loud a shooting range with 10 people shooting might sound. I can be a little jumpy, so the combination wasn't good at first. I was a little worried I would jump while pulling the trigger and figured that was a bad combination. However, once I was in the range a little bit, I got more used to the noise.

Third, I was pretty scared when it was my turn to shoot. The setup is pretty safe, yes, but I was sure there was SOME WAY I could injure myself or others. (Yes, obviously there was. I was holding a loaded gun at that point.)

However, once I got past the first few shots, it was a lot easier. At some point, I decided I could actually work on aim and not just shooting toward the target and making sure I didn't injure anyone or scare myself. (I make it sound like I was completely erratic, but in reality all 25 of my shots hit my target.) In the end, I had three to four shots in the red center area of my target, which was good enough for me.

Plus, I got a really sweet pair of safety glasses to keep.