Suddenly There was a Pop, and a Slight Jerk of the Gun
To say that I was nervous as I placed the protective earmuffs over my head and adjusted the safety glasses on my nose would be an understatement. In truth, I was shaking like a leaf, and though I'm no expert, I'm pretty sure that that is not the best condition in which to fire a gun. I had fired a weapon once before, but despite the best intentions of my concerned husband, the experience was borderline traumatic for me. This was my second try at the shooting range, only this time with an entire camera crew (and eventually, all of America) as my audience. My hopes for this being a less traumatic experience were wavering.
I had come here as a result of an unsettling home break-in some months before, during which I realized how vulnerable I could be in a dangerous situation. There are few things more terrifying than thinking you could lose your life and be unable to protect either your children or yourself at the hands of a violent attacker. I had decided that it was time to stop being the victim, and to learn to protect myself with the best tool for the job, no matter how much I feared it: a gun. But my resolve didn't make the process any easier.
"There are few things more terrifying than thinking you could lose your life and be unable to protect either your children or yourself at the hands of a violent attacker."
As I stood in the narrow space of the stall with my patient instructor, Adam, a former bounty hunter, I'm sure that my expression behind the glasses must have given me away, because his verbal assurances were becoming more and more frequent. He went over the basics with me again while we waited for the go-ahead from the director. Finally, it was time.
I loaded the gun with shaking and fumbling fingers as Adam continued to coach me. I'm not sure how many bullets I dropped, but he didn't seem to care so neither did I. I had completely forgotten what to do once the bullets were in, so he gently reminded me to pull back the slide to chamber the first round. And then I was ready.
I was hyper-aware of the direction the gun was pointing as I carefully held it in both hands and slowly raised my straightened arms, while behind me Adam spoke quietly, reminding me to just relax (easy for him to say) and focus on the sights, letting everything else fade into the background. I took a breath and adjusted my grip as I tried to concentrate on what he was saying. He told me to pull back on the trigger, slowly, slowly, no hurry, just pull slowly, just like in the classroom when we dry-fired. I began to squeeze the trigger as gently as I could, while vague memories of that panicked night drifted through my mind and caused my heart to pound all the more.
Suddenly there was a pop, and a slight jerk of the gun.
I lowered my arms and blinked a few times, looking at the blank white piece of paper that had been placed on the board seven yards in front of me. Exactly in the center of the paper was a hole. I looked down at the gun, and for the first time since my venture into the world of guns had begun, I felt a genuine smile spread across my face...
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5 Comments
Self-protection is your right. The police are not able to protect you. While Victim Service Advocates like me are available to assist you in recovering from a crime, nothing compares with your own ability to protect yourself. No other means of self-protection is as effective as carrying a firearm. In four years of duty I have yet to meet an armed victim.
First of all, an "assault weapon" is not defined as a firearm that fires rounds as fast as one pulls the trigger, an assault weapon is defined as a firearm that maintains a sustained rate of fire when the trigger is pulled, i. e. a FULL automatic firearm.
Second, the program, "Guns in America", makes no mention of the millions of lives that are SAVED when firearms are used to thwart criminal behavior.
Off topic I watched a Nat Geo show called "Whale Attack" and the ignorance of the people on the boat floored me. If you haven't seen the show here is a brief summary. A tourist boat in Cali took a bunch of people on a expedition of the ocean and it's sea life. While on their tour they came across a pod of transit killer whales and their pray which happened to be a grey whale calf. I had to shut off the TV because the people on this show and their reactions infuriated me. They're sitting there the whole time watching this happen and then saying how horrible it all was. THEN STOP WATCHING! This is nature it's the way of the world krill eat, fish eat, seal eat, and something has to eat them. I wondered if any of these people at some point thought of the tortures put on the steak, lamb, bacon or chicken that made it's way to their table or how many whales, dolphins etc. where caught up in the nets used for the fish they ate. Why didn't they opt to go to Disney Land instead?
i can't believe that national geographic has the balls...
to relate the dude protecting his property,
to the assassins that kill our Presidents!!!
i believe national geographic would take away our second amendment...
If they had there way...
Signed
A Disabled Army Veteran
who served our country Honorable
As a CCW permit holder I was shocked at some of the "so-called" statistics that were presented in this show. I can see by the interviews, and video that the gun problem isn't caused by "legal gun-owners". Of course all of us are legal according to the 2nd Amendment! I think Homeland Security needs to do a little securing of the "Homeland", by cleaning up some of these "subsidized" housing projects in the big cities, and protecting us from these "street gangs" by using some "stimulus money" to build some new prisons, and locking these fools up. I consider them "domestic terrorists". Instead they are worried about some "vet" being a threat because of the actions of 1-soul in Oklahoma City. I could plainly see the group of people causing all the crime. It wasn't Vets, law-abiding citizens, or some Militia types, but a group of people who have been allowed to run wild!! "Nuff Said"!
MtnRaider-U.S. Army Retired
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