Bang Bang

Dear Blog,

I discharged a firearm for the first time today. So did my girlfriend (hot date, yeah?)

I signed up for an introduction class -- one that seemed to advertise and focus on safety over fun or 'tactical situations'. The lesson included a rental firearm (Glock 44, .22 cal.), 50 rounds of ammunition, safety pamphlets, safety instruction, and instruction on how to load, arm, stand, aim, and fire. 

My first impression, after discharging a round: people shouldn't have these things. Citizens should not have these things - cops shouldn't either (if a traffic stop requires firearms, call in SWAT). I've never fired one before, and after 90 minutes of instruction, I unloaded 50 rounds into a piece of paper no larger than a person, at various distances 3-8 meters, and didn't miss once. (Really it was 47 rounds, the piece jammed every five fires and some good rounds ended up ejected on the floor - cheap ammo, cheap class.) It's really upsetting. It was upsetting to discharge. It is upsetting to think about.

But

People do have these things. Short of moving to Australia, that isn't super likely to change. As well, a large number of people who have these things are listening to a political candidate who incites violence against 'the enemy within.' I feel, sadly, that I may need to be able to use a firearm against a mislead Trump supporter who thinks my family represents an enemy of the state, or against someone 'just following orders' to take out me or my family. 

I also want to get into hunting. I eat meat, I eat not very much, maybe a pound per week, but it's all factory farm (organic, but still factory farm). Our state has to spend large sums rounding up and executing deer who have become a pest species due to our elimination of wolves. We might as well eat them. After today, I may consider bow hunting. I'm not sure I want to deal with a rifle or shot gun. Then again, I may have to. At least I have started to learn how. 

'Merica, 

right?

-Ian Hogan