Shoot 'em up

I am going to state this as plainly as I can: I do not like guns.  I’m originally from the United States where a vast majority of citizens believe that:

 

A.)   Owning a gun is an inalienable right of every citizen.  Especially guns that would make Rambo blush.

B.)   The nacho cheese sold at American football games is delicious.

C.)    A zombie apocalypse is not only possible, it is imminent and please refer back to point ‘a’.

 

As a logical person and one with no small amount of common sense, I believe that any society that believes in points ‘b’ and ‘c’ cannot possibly be correct about owning a firearm as a basic political right.  Free healthcare, yes.  Mechanical contraptions that cause death with extreme prejudice and ease, no.  I have never fired a gun in my life and have never wanted to fire a weapon.  That is, until last Sunday.  And to my even bigger surprise, I enjoyed it!       

 

Let me set the scene for you.  It’s last Sunday morning.  I’m staying at my friend’s vacation house high in the hills above Polis bay in Cyprus.  I had a tremendous hangover.  I woke up and stumbled into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and suddenly I had an unloaded shotgun thrust into my arms.  “Ever shoot one of these?”, he asked me.  “Nope”, I said.  “Well, there’s a first time for everything.”

 

Twenty minutes later we’re walking through the fields below his house as he’s explaining how you strip the gun, put it back together, load it, hold it, aim, and shoot.  “What am I supposed to shoot?”, I ask.  He looked around, picked up a discarded Coke can and threw it high in the air.  I quickly pull the butt of the gun off my hip, shouldered it, aimed and BANG! 

 

I missed, of course.  And once the ringing in my ears stopped I noticed that my hangover was gone.  Maybe that was the adrenaline that was now coursing through my veins?  Who knows!  All I knew was I was ready to try it again.  I’d like to say I got better, but over the next hour of moving target practice I hit exactly nothing.  This fired up my competitive nature and now I want to go to a shooting range to practice.  I wouldn’t say that I’m a total convert, I have no plans to own a gun in the future or go hunting, but shooting clay pigeons like you can on one of our activities in Riga and Prague?  Or fire an AK-47 at a range in Krakow and Prague?  Sign me up!  It’s a serious adrenaline rush!  Now excuse me while I go reevaluate that nacho cheese…