A couple weekends ago I had the awesome opportunity to shoot real guns at the Ripon Rifle and Pistol Club! I had never held a gun before this experience and do not believe I had ever been in the presence of one before either; except for a police officer.

Before heading out to the range, I was excited and nervous but mostly relieved that I was not the only one who had never shot before.

I did not know what to expect entirely but I imaged it being like the movies were we would be inside, wearing big noise canceling headphones, holding a handgun, and aiming at a paper silhouette of a person that would glide forward to show me my bullseye marks (not really, though). But it was not like that.

Instead, we were outside and would move from station to station as we used shotguns to hit flying pigeons (clarification, flying pigeons are not actual birds like one of the girls in our group thought at first); bright orange clay disks that get projected into the air.

I took my time by watching the other members of our group shoot one at a time and was extremely thankful for the earplugs (although it made it difficult to talk to people next to me at times). Once it was my turn to step into the circle I was given an empty gun to feel the weight and shown how to put the safety on and load the bullets. Next, I worked on my stance and tucking the gun into my shoulder. I was then warned about having my cheek down tight on the gun before shooting so that the kickback would not hit and bruise me in the face. Then it was time for pulling the trigger. . .

At the first station when I was using the shotgun I realized that I didn’t close one eye and even aim right because I was just so focused on what the gun was going to feel like once I fired it. It was really powerful and I definitely experienced a bit of an adrenaline rush.

As we continued through the different shooting stations I was proud to end my last shotgun shot hitting one of the clay pigeons and I saved the lucky shotgun shell!

Though this experience I learned that I do not have to be fearful of guns. I actually enjoyed the experience and recommend it for anyone. I do not foresee myself hanging out at the range every weekend becoming a professional, but if an opportunity comes up I’d love to go again. But I do warn that the next couple days my shoulders were extremely sore.

There is no terror in the bang only in the anticipation of it. Alfred Hitchcock