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Shooting in America
What is it like?
By: David K. Every
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Jul 11,1999
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 his is a story of what shooting is like for me -- what I do, and what I see, and how it differs from the stereotypes.
       
I drive into the shooting range which is usually an indoor industrial building -- though sometimes is an outdoor range as well. The first thing I note while driving in is usually the cars in the parking lot -- you know, Mercedes, BMW's, Lexus, MiniVans, Cadilacs, some trucks, and the usual assortment of cars one would expect in any suburban mall parking-lot. (I happen to be going to a suburban range). This always makes me want to shake my head and chuckle -- the stereotype of shooters is often of some redneck rural hicks in pickups (with gun racks), or loony paramilitary survivalists in cammo-jeeps. What I see is a cross section of Americans that include all types of people. Of course I've been to a few shooting ranges that have the type of people that I don't like to hang around as well -- but a lot of that has to do with where you are in a city or nation -- which just goes to show how much of a cross section of America shooters really are.
Shooting ranges are often very social places, and I've talked to many people and met many people in them -- more than at a Gym or other sporting activities. Doctors, Lawyers, Computer-geeks, Socker-Moms, and people of almost every career imaginable. People have a common interest and are usually very nice to each other. I think the persecution that shooters suffer at the hands of the media and misinformed masses gives them a common bond with each other -- so they are more willing to see each other as compatriots. If you comment or ask questions about the gun someone is shooting, or which style of shooting they enjoy, they are usually more than happy to talk about it, or let you try out their gun and so on. Imagine commenting on a strangers car at a mall, and having them show all it's little features to you and letting you take it out for a test drive. It is a very nice feeling seeing people be that friendly and social. Again, the irony is contrasting this reality with the perceptions and stereotypes. And again in all things there are certainly a few extreme people or types that the media portrays as the "average shooter" -- but they are not significantly more common at gun ranges than at some other events.
      
I usually get my target and lane assignment. I put on my eye's and ear's (glasses and hearing protection) and go to my lane. I put my target on the motorized wire-guide and send it out to about 10 - 15 yards for my pistol. I shoot with my Baretta 92f 9 mm which is a standard sidearm of police. Pistols are much harder to shoot well than rifles, and so I find it more challenging.
Another thing is that larger-caliber or higher power is harder to shoot than low power. I shoot a mid-power round. Many people want to shoot high power rounds because it is harder to do well. The more "kick" there is, then the more kick there is -- and the easier it is to break concentration or get people doing bad habits (which makes them miss their target).
Non-shooters don't realize how hard a skill shooting well is. Killing people and defense is not the intent of most target shooting anymore than modern archery is about sieging the castle -- the way you shoot target (and techniques) isn't even the same way that you would shoot for defense. Anyone can pop rounds at a target and could hit a human being at 20 feet. I felt confident with my ability to defend myself with a gun at the age of 15 (when I got my first pellet pistol). Target shooting is more about discipline and improving ones self through a skill.
That is why I did Martial Arts as well. I could adequately defend myself before I took Martial Arts -- after 12 months I could probably handle 99% of the situations that would have come up (or people that would have attacked). So the next 15 years or so was not about "becoming some bad ass" like some people naively think -- it is just about challenging yourself, staying in shape, growing, learning, camaraderie, teaching and so on. It is really sad that some people think it is about hurting people or even about power (over others). If it has anything to do with power it is over ones' self. I think people's attitudes towards others, and assumptions about things they don't understand, can truly reflect their core beliefs -- and I am sad because many people who don't shoot (and have never shot) are tragically cynical and paranoid about their common man.
Target shooting a gun can be very much like Zen and the Art of Archery (Kyu-Do). I lift the gun, and have to just "do" lots of things. Grip the gun firm (but not too firm), and making sure you grip is "correct" is a skill -- the grip has to be the same every time. The whole thing reminds me of golf (the consistency, grip and follow-though). Hold the gun up and push forward with my right hand, pull back with the left, with the gun extended -- this isometric pressure steadies the weapon. There is a lot of concentration on the sights let the ramps line up, and focus my eye on the front sight -- let the background line up on the center of the target. Hold it on target and gently place the finger on the trigger -- again the same exact way as every time before. When the site is lined up, just hold it, and wait for the timing to be correct. The pressure on the trigger will cross critical mass at the right time (since no one is perfectly steady this has to be when the site sort of gently drifts into the perfect place) -- and BLAM! A gentle jerk and a loud noise (muffled by the ear-protection), and the gun gently torques back and forward (slide on a spring) and it is back lined up on target again. You keep holding the gun on target and can't even look at the results of that shot (that far-near focus changing all the time will strain your eye). I just wait until the time is correct again -- and BLAM!
I usually shoot 5 or 6 rounds per target, and use a target that has 5 different bullseye's on it. After 5 rounds I usually take a break and see how I shot that set -- but usually I can just tell by feel. I shoot a semiautomatic pistol and each clip holds 15 rounds (so is now against the law) -- but by having large capacity, I can load two clips ahead of time, and shoot out an entire target (I double up the last one). As larger capacity clips are lowered, it means I can't focus on what I'm doing as much, and have to buy more clips or reload more often because the misinformed are attacking that which they don't understand.
This target shooting requires massive concentration -- and yet you are thinking of nothing (mushin -- no-mind). Yet, while the mind is calm, and you are thinking of everything, the process becomes automatic and peaceful. Zen meditation can be hard to explain and sounds like mumbo-jumbo. But this is like many other Martial Arts and forms -- you go through a process, doing everything in your mind, and focusing on every detail -- yet everything has been done so many times that it is automatic and completely emptying. You are caught in the moment, and lose all stress or worry about anything but the task you are doing.
Pulling the trigger and the follow-through are the key -- you don't jerk the trigger, and you can't let yourself anticipate the recoil (and push on the gun). If you expect the gun to go off, then you do things that mess with the alignment of the shot at that instant. So your shots (and the shots going off in the lanes next to you) make it much more distracting, and help you learn how to really go deep inward and meditate on the processes. Not only that, holding a gun (which weighs a couple lbs.) at the end of your arms reach makes them tired, and the isometric pressure to steady the gun makes it worse. All the while you are standing with your legs apart (and bent) to steady yourself (like a martial arts posture), and you are leaning slightly forward (which works the back). And you arm position has to be the exact same, and so on. After a few series of 5 shots, the body can become very sore or uncomfortable -- which again means that you must go inward (and on nothing) in order to shoot well. It can be far more physical and mental than people think.
On a good set, I can put 5 rounds into something the size of a quarter at 10-15 yards, and occasionally manage a single jagged hole. But I can't do it for long -- after about 25 rounds, it starts to get hard to keep everything perfect and groupings start to open up. And my eyes seem to tire easily and aren't as good at long range (I know it is my eyes, because if I use a laser sight or scope I can nail the target). But the challenge of longer range just means that I have things to work on. I can move out to 20 or 25 yards, and learn to shoot more rounds well.
I actually don't shoot that often. I didn't shoot for like 5 or 10 years before I just started again. I'll probably do it a couple times a week for a few months, and then get the whole process and skill down so well that I'll lose interest and stop doing it for a few more years -- and instead take up another martial art or weapon for a while. And then some day (years away), I'll probably come back and relearn the whole process over again.
   
Of course just because I like to go for target shooting doesn't mean everyone does. And there are many ways to shoot that aren't as "deep" and mental. Usually, after I've done my target sets -- and just can't shoot those ultra-tight groupings any more, I do a little of some other type of shooting just to "come down" or unwind (though I'm already relaxed, I just have to come out of concentration).
Some people shoot for fun. Which is putting a silhouette out at 15 or 20 feet, and doing things like rapid fire. Guns jump some when you shoot them, so firing quickly into the same area is not easy. There is a thrill to the power of the gun, and it jerking in your hand -- and so trying quick aiming, and firing off a quick set. This is like the pleasure of driving fast and cornering or accelerating hard in a car. (Which should also be done in controlled and safe conditions -- like on a track). It is the pleasure of pushing the tool and pushing yourself. Some people get so into the fun (or defense) aspects of shooting that they like to shoot tactical (competition or not). This may start from a holster and require many other things. Some places have targets that rotate into view or not -- or popup. Usually these are highly supervised for safety. One range I visited has "courses" and you shoot around objects, over objects, shoot from under a table, from cover (beside a wall), or through a hole, and so on. Then they make you shoot right handed, left handed, and both -- and all this is highly supervised for safety, and is monitored for time and score and can be quite a rush.
I even went to a range that had this giant projected video image on it (a self-healing rubberized screen), that allowed you to basically play video games with a real gun. They had "drug wars" or "western", had targets that would popup numbers, and you had to shoot them out in sequence (ascending or descending order) or have moving targets bouncing around the screen. It had training scenarios about when to shoot (like police training) and so on. It was a blast -- but a little too intense for me. All that fast reaction energy was fun, and I did pretty good, but I came out of there a little tense and jittery -- sort of the opposite of the calm after my more meditative target shooting. And it goes through rounds like mad -- I shot 130 rounds in 20 minutes and my gun was very hot. It was crazy intense and something that would have been more fun when I was younger -- but I could definitely understand the thrill of the super arcade game.
Another type of shooting is skeet shooting (using a shotgun to hit these flying clay Frisbees, flung about in different directions). I've done that a couple times, and enjoyed it. Talk about a skill, trying to learn how to lead a target and all that -- on a disk that is flying pretty quick. This is really the "polo" of shooting -- sort of upper crusty and requires lots of land and so on. And while the ratio of men to women in shooting is like 3 or 4 to 1, it seems to be a little more common to find women shooting skeet.
While there are a lot more women that shoot than the stereotypes would lead people to believe, I am sort of surprised that there still aren't more. There are lots of women who take up guns as self defense, and learn the basics -- but fewer seem to get into the competition aspects which is surprising since many can become very good at it. The women I have seen shooting tactical or skeet are often really good.
Lastly there is traditional hunting, which is usually just going out in the woods and becoming one with nature. If you can't blend in, and really enjoy the outdoors, then you probably won't get much. Hunting is often about waiting and observing nature -- becoming it. Hours of waiting in the wild, with very few shots fired. 1-shot, 1-kill. Wild animals have eyes, ears, and noses that are so superior to our own, that they really have far more of an advantage than non-hunters think. So a lot of hunting is about patience and belonging. But I got to be such a good shot hunting as a kid (and I did it so much), that it lost a lot of interest for me -- so I don't hunt any more.
I also think it is far more humane to let animals raise themselves in the wild, and take them out with one clean kill, rather than raising them as animal-prisoners in little pens, never knowing freedom, and then just slaughtering them without them having the slightest chance. The hypocrisy of some people complaining about the inhumanity of hunting, when they are buying the nice pre-cleaned chicken or cow-burgers from a grocery store, never ceases to amaze me. Sure most humans don't have to hunt -- but it is a lot better (healthier) alternative than just buying your packaged food from the store! My wife is vegetarian, and I have been for long stretches of time -- and I eat low-meat now (usually some meat with lunch, or an occasional side of bacon with breakfast. I used to like to order Bacon-Guacamole Garden-Burgers just to confuse waitresses). Personally, I think everyone should have to go out and hunt, kill, slaughter and clean, at least one of every type of meat that they eat. Then they can truly learn to appreciate what the animal contributes to their meal. And of course people should have to work on a farm, and hunt in the wild for a meal, to decide which of those two is more humane. Society would have fewer hypocrites and far more vegetarians (and low-meat eaters). Society would also learn to understand the quiet pleasures of fishing or hunting without being so judgemental.
  
Do you have any idea what it is like to admit that you like to shoot occasionally, and have people look at you like you are some crazed fringe-lunatic disgruntled postal-worker, ready to snap? The saddest part is their opinions usually come from the position of extreme ignorance or fear of the unknown. Many people have been programmed and brainwashed by misinformation for most of their lives -- and they are so happy in their false constructs that some don't even want to consider the truth. Challenging this can often doesn't make friends. It is normal in society to attack that which is different and to stereotype and rudely caricaturize, but we should just not tolerate it quietly. The way to fight ignorance is through education. It is OK to not like guns or shooting -- but to have an educated opinion, people should experience guns and shooting for themselves before they attack.
It is really interesting seeing people change who experience shooting for the first time. If people go out and are taught proper gun safety and how to shoot, they usually have fun and learn that it is easier to shoot than they thought (and it is much harder than they thought to shoot really well). There is a rush and a power in the tool -- but it is not crazed or angry or anything like they might have thought, it is more like the rush and responsibility in using other dangerous tools -- like driving a car or riding a motorcycle. I've seen antigun people change their views 180 degrees in a single experience just by actually replacing their ignorance with knowledge and experience. Once they experience the tool, and the safety and responsibility of using it well -- and the respect and control exhibited by shooters, they often change. Of the ones that don't change some just have this huge backlog of bias and emotion that runs too deep. There are a few antigun people who are experienced with guns, and not basing their attitudes on emotion, fear and misinformation -- but in my experience they seem to be very rare.
Shooting/Shooters are similar to other Martial Artists -- many picture Martial Artists as these crazed people running around breaking bricks with their fists and practicing in order to maim or destroy anyone that might offend them. Basically the negative stereotypes are of people with chips on their shoulder just looking for an opportunity to prove themselves. While I'm sure there are a few like that, in my experience they are very few and far between. Those types don't last long in the sport because their motivations are wrong. The truth is most Martial Artists I've known (and shooters) are far more responsible, and calmer, than the norm -- they learn about control, responsibility and discipline. The more experienced they become, usually the more in control, calm and more responsible they become. There were some studies that showed that kids that learned how to shoot or were given a gun by their parents were like 10 times less likely to be involved in a gun crime (and like 4 times more likely to avoid any crime). This makes sense because shooters and Martial Artist know there are consequences to their actions that they've been forced to think about that (and that affects them accordingly). It is the people that aren't trained that are more dangerous (to themselves and others).
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