First, let me say I am not a ‘gun nut’, nor am I against the U. S. Second Amendment. I own guns and shoot them recreationally, on occasion. This post is about my personal history with guns.
I grew up in northwest Wisconsin where there is a tradition of hunting deer, squirrel, rabbit, etc. In the fall, school is dismissed for a week during Thanksgiving for ‘hunting season’. I never went hunting with my father or friends. My dad owned a .22 and .44 rifle, but I only used the .22 for target practice. My dad used it for varmint control. My mother frowned upon using guns. There was nothing in her past where guns were used or needed.
Fast-forward to my 40s. My wife’s brother-in-law is a gun collector and hunter. We were invited a couple of times to shoot his guns on his property. He had a friend who gave him watermelons in the fall and we shot them up real good! Elaine and I both took Missouri Department of Conservation gun safety courses, even though we didn’t own any guns at that time.
A few years later, my wife’s brother-in-law sold us our first personal protection handgun (PF-9 9mm pistol). We got our Missouri conceal-and-carry licenses soon after. Besides occasionally transporting the handgun in my car, I would bring it with me while hiking in the woods. The PF-9 is small and easy to conceal. The barrel is short, so it is not very accurate. Also, after using it for an hour at the firing range, my wrist gets sore from the kickback and it makes my thumb joint sore.
The next handgun we bought was a Springfield Armory XD(M) 9mm pistol. It takes a large clip and has a relatively soft kickback. The barrel is 5.25 inches long, making it more accurate than the PF-9.
My wife and I have been to commercial firing ranges a dozen times. We spend around $100 each visit for ammo and range rental. The cheapest option for a shooting range has been the public Missouri Department of Conservation “Jay Henges” shooting range, a few miles from where we live. About $10 for an hour and you provide your own ammo. The range is monitored by MDC employees. They tell you when to shoot, when to stop, and when to retrieve your target. You also can’t do rapid firing. One time I went to an unmonitored MDC range in Missouri. There was one guy sighting in a rifle on one range. I took the other. Didn’t cost me anything and I could shoot as long and as fast as I wanted.
After my father passed away in 2005, I inherited his .22 rifle. It is a single bolt-action with no identifiable manufacturing logo on it. I refurbished it, but it has a mechanical problem where the firing pin has worn away a section of the barrel. The gun will fire, but the shell will not automatically eject when you pull the bolt back. After each shot, you need to take something like a screwdriver and pry the shell out. I took it to a gunsmith, but he was not able to fix the problem (in actuality, he just didn’t want to take the time). I created a video of the shell-ejection issue and shared it on a gun enthusiast group on Facebook, but no one offered to help me fix it.
I have a Gamo Shadow 1000 pellet gun I use to take care of varmints in my yard. It is a break-barrel, so you have to load one pellet at a time. The best accessory I bought for it was a scope. A handful of times a year I have to sight it in because the scope gets out of adjustment due to the impact of firing the gun. I am amazed at how accurate my shots are up to 50 yards in distance.
As I said before, I am not a hunter. I think knowing how to operate a gun and the implications of firing one are important in today’s world.