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Within Range

By Ophelia Chong
December 7, 2008
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Yesterday I passed my Handgun Safety Test and now I am Certified by the Department of Justice to buy a gun.

"Hey do you want to go to the shooting range?"

I got the call from my friends Greg Reynard and Daphne Vardakis on Friday to go up to the Oaktree Gun Club on Saturday. To escape the urban sprawl of Los Angeles, we can go for a 17 mile drive from Los Feliz and leave the city and be in Newhall, a bedroom community that includes riding stables and gun ranges . It's the last remnants of the Wild Wild West and Gunsmoke, complete with an Arby's and a WalMart . On the drive up, we passed the burned out hills of Santa Clarita, in between the blackened hills nestled untouched strip malls and business complexes; at 70 mph I watched the green go to charred to green, like a dealer shuffling a deck of cards.

Gunshots on the television or in the movies are just toy gun pops compared to the sound of a gun going off about 30 feet from you. As we walked from the car to the shooting facility, I jumped each time a gun went off. Inside the Pro Shop there are taxidermied animals on the walls, paper targets, "Vegetarian: Native American for lousy hunter" bumper sticker , and a wall of pistols. To rent a gun, all you have to do is show your ID, fill in an insurance form and then choose your pistol. I asked for the Smith & Wesson Special six shot .38, and three boxes of ammunition, Daphne chose a Glock Model .38, and Greg a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver. We put on our ear and eye protectors and walked out to the range. I hadn't shot a gun since high school, and it was mostly rifles. Greg had to show me how to load the .38, and how to hold it properly. "Just the tip of your finger on the trigger, cock the hammer, and aim".

Out of my first 6 shots, I hit half of my targets. After the initial "I am holding a gun and I am shooting" all over body shakes, I was having fun. This isn't playing on your xBox using your thumbs to shoot down hundreds of Zombies, this was gripping a real gun, shooting real bullets. Reload. Aim. Shoot. Wider stance, stick the butt out, take a deep breath and shoot. I went back in for more ammunition, and while there I asked Gene Gulseth the Pistol Range Manager if I could buy a gun. He told me that I had to take a 30 question test to receive my Handgun Safety Certificate. I asked if I should study first, he said that it was all common sense. So I paid my $25 fee and took the question sheet from him and found a relatively quiet spot to take the test. It was all common sense, it was actually easier than the DMV test. I passed with only one wrong answer.

Back outside Daphne was receiving a shooting tutorial from one of the gun range managers. The smell of gunpowder and dust hung over the range, puffs of dirt would kick up in the range when a bullet missed it's mark, a sharp Ping when a bullet made contact. She was missing targets because she was anticipating the recoil, and he showed her how to shoot without recoiling before the recoil by having her aim and shoot without a clip. Daphne also used her yoga breathing to calm herself down, a side benefit that Yoga studios do not mention in their promotional brochures.

As much as I would like to have my own Smith & Wesson revolver at the range, I am going to practice with the range pistols before I buy one. There isn't a need for me to bear arms, I am not in fear for my life or my family's, nor do I need to hunt for food; having a gun would be just that, having a gun. It isn't a power that I need, but it is one that I can appreciate knowing how to handle properly and safely.

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Images: Ophelia Chong
Top: At the gun range
Bottom: Daphne takes aim

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