The Gun of the Hand

[TripletDaddy]

Growing up in Thousand Oaks, CA, I was not exposed much to guns. T.O. isnt a rural place...it is quite suburban. It is a place of some influence, although nothing extraordinary for SoCal. While conservative in its politics, gun rights were never a huge local issue. Crime is low and violent crime is almost non-existent. Guns and gun talk was something reserved for movies and those fortunate enough to be members of the local gun club/shooting range. I was a gun neophyte and didn't really care.

I tried to get some exposure to guns during my childhood: I applied to join some local gangs but for one reason or another, I was never accepted....I sought out friends with single parents who drank a lot....I hung out with latch-key kids...I even visited door to door at a few trailer parks. Nothing brought me closer to my desire to learn about guns.

In all honesty, outside of one summer at boy scout camp, I have never even fired a gun....BB, airsoft, or otherwise. Until this past week....

Fast forward from my childhood to this past holiday week. As I suspected, I was shooting a lot of free throws in the driveway of my in-laws home. On Tuesday, out of the blue, my FIL asked me if I wanted to go with him to Cabelas. Lest anyone start humming the opening notes to Deliverance, my FIL and I rarely go places as a duo.....much less to places that focus on physical, outdoor activity. My FIL is a great man, but the extent of his physical ability is opening a BBQ lid. He does not play sports, does not care about sports, and has never shown an interest in the outdoors.

Out of curiosity and boredom, I went with him. Cabela's is, in a word, redneck. Better said, it is redneck heaven. I saw people with muddy boots, trucker caps, missing teeth, men and women wearing matching camo jackets, and small children with mullets. I stood in horror as these people lined up along the gun cases to purchase The Gun of the Hand.

It turns out that my FIL had bought a small 9 mm the week before, along with a gun safe. He wanted to buy targets and go shoot his Gun of the Hand. Besides being terrified of having a gun in the house with my kids, I saw this as my opportunity to finally get the exposure I sought in my youth. We purchased some bulleye targets and were off towards Lehi and the desert beyond.

We went past Eagle Mountain to some area in the middle of nowhere, pulled off the side of the road, and started walking. Nobody was out because it was cold and late on Thanksgiving Eve. After scoping out the area for passersby, we set up our targets at a paced 25 yards. This was our first mistake.

Turns out that a 9 is meant for close range shooting. 20 yards MAX. In all the gangsta rap of my childhood, nobody, and I mean NOBODY...not Ice T, not NWA, not Dre....none of them warned about target shooting at excess distances. Vanilla Ice made it clear that his 9, along with Shade with the Gauge, was meant to kill people at close range, shells dropping all around you on the concrete. Why didn't any of these guys rap about target shooting in the desert?

Anyway, no thanks to gangsta rap, we wound up standing back too far.

Another mistake....those foam earplug things......the things I NEVER use at concerts but should....turns out you are supposed to compress them, insert them into your ear, and then let them decompress inside your ear, thereby forming a custom fit. We thought you were just supposed to try to get them somewhere in your ear and then give up when they kept falling out.

My FIL went first. 10 rounds....zero hits. As he unloaded, I got my clip ready. I cut my thumb putting the bullets into the clip. Dont ask me how. I dont really know. But it hurt. Ouch.

Next up, my turn. I took the Gun of the Hand. I was shaking. For those who grew up around guns, a 9 is like a cap gun. For me, I was holding death in my hand. I was legitimately scared. I didnt want the thing to backfire on me and explode in my face. I didnt want shrapnel to fly into my leg. I didnt want an explosion to knock me over. I got into my best shooting stance, aimed, and fired. There was a "kick," but not much. The noise was loud....really loud. I was not used to that kind of noise. The target shook a bit and a puff of dust cropped up behind it. I remembered to hold my breath while I aimed and shot off another 9 rounds.....after putting down the Gun of the Hand, I ran over to my target.....5 hits! I was pretty elated.

We spent the next hour or so firing off 10 rounds each....about 7 or 8 turns. After all scoring, I beat my FIL by about 6 or 7 shots. I even propped up some plastic bottles to shoot at. I found my groove. I also noticed that I had to aim high and to the left if I wanted to hit the target. Turns out it was because we were way too far back for a 9.

As we loaded up and headed for home, I felt a bit of disappointment, as well as a bit of elation. I was happy to finally have this rite of passage completed....the requisite shooting of a gun. I was disappointed, however, that it had taken so long to do so. I don't know why I have never bothered to go to a local range and just shoot.

The ringing in my ears did not go away for about a day and a half. I didn't learn about the proper use of the earplugs until I was in the American Fork ER the next day (Thanksgiving day)...but that is a story for another time....

I am still not a fan of the Gun of the Hand in my house. I have no plans on buying one to protect my family. In fact, based on the results of our target shooting, any intruder in my home stands a very good chance of breaking in, making a meal, and then waltzing out of my home with all my belongings and without a single shot in his body. However, I would like to pursue target shooting as a hobby. There is a range here in North County that has the full Cop experience, with moving targets etc... I am already looking into pricing for that.

[il Padrino Ute]

I own a Beretta 9mm. And a few rifles. And a couple of shotguns. I gave my oldest boy a .22 for his 12th birthday. I'll do the same for the youngest boy. My oldest daughter has no interest in owning, but likes to shoot. My youngest girl is only 5. My wife isn't much interested in guns, but is not against them being in the house.

I keep my guns in a safe and the ammo in another. While in the house, there is never a gun with even one bullet in it. Guns are to be loaded only before we set out to kill Bambi. Or a pheasant. Or ducks.

I can understand that some would be hesitant to have firearms in the home, but education is the key. My kids - even the 5 year old, know that it is not a toy. The oldest kids were not allowed to even shoot the weapons until they had passed a firearm safety course and a hunter safety course.

Guns are only dangerous when there is no respect to what a gun could do to a person. They're really nothing to be afraid of.

[MikeWaters]

I grew up in a gun-less family, and became a gun owner. I remember when I bought my first gun (a glock), I was in the shop, and the shop owner handed it over with the slide open or something, like I would know what to do with it. I had to sheepishly ask "what do I do now?"

I have two safes. One is a combo big safe, and the other is a small one that sits on my night-stand and has an electronic quick-release combination. So obviously even though my kids are too young to reach up to the top shelf of a closet or somesuch, I don't take chances, esp. with other kids occasionally in the house.

I appreciate the workmanship and elegance of a quality gun. But the actual act of shooting them gives me no thrill. Esp. when I know it will be followed by cleaning and oiling. Btw 25 yards is not too far for a handgun. I can hit an 8 inch target everytime at that distance. And I'm not a particularly good shot.

[creekster]

This reminds me of a book I once read about the gunfight at the OK corral. One of the points the author made was how wildlyu inaccurate most handguns are except aty exceedingly lcose range. In gun fights unless you were very close, there was an excellent chance you woudl get off many shots before you were hit (or before you hit someone) if you were ever hit at all.

Btw, I grew up with guns but don't use them anymore. Still own a few but my kids are essentially gunless.

[tooblue]

Originally Posted by creekster

This reminds me of a book I once read about the gunfight at the OK corral. One of the points the author made was how wildlyu inaccurate most handguns are except aty exceedingly lcose range. In gun fights unless you were very close, there was an excellent chance you woudl get off many shots before you were hit (or before you hit someone) if you were ever hit at all.

Btw, I grew up with guns but don't use them anymore. Still own a few but my kids are essentially gunless.

I live in Canada. My kids only exposure to guns is when we head to Utah to visit family.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by creekster

One of the points the author made was how wildlyu inaccurate most handguns are except aty exceedingly lcose range. In gun fights unless you were very close, there was an excellent chance you woudl get off many shots before you were hit (or before you hit someone) if you were ever hit at all.

Nonsense. Clint Eastwood can light a match held in someone's mouth at 50 yds by grazing it with a bullet from his pistol. Shooting from the hip no less.

[Archaea]

I grew up in a family where the women could shoot a squirrel with a twenty-two pistol from a running pony at a distance of 75 yards. My seventy something father, even with corrected vision recently took part in a special forces shooting contest and he took third, with the parting comment, "Who is that old guy kicking the crap out of my sharpshooters?" Don't get near my dad if you wish to live. And he's an educated non-redneck, he simply takes competitions very, very seriously. He makes me look like a type C personality.

Of course after so much indoctrination of the Gun of the Hand, I rarely shoot one and have little interest except when my children beg me.

Guns I do not intend to own, anything about a 30-30 or 300 caliber. Elephant guns leave one injured for life.

Eight gage shotguns. What cannot be brought down without a 12 gage doesn't need to be shot.

45 or 44 magnums. The first time I had the displeasure of shooting the pistol variety, I remember looking at my hand and wondering if it were broken. My wife fired it few times and the kick was so extreme for her, it literally lifted up onto the top of her head. I feared for everybody's safety in the vicinity.

Machine guns are loud and inaccurate.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I grew up in a gun-less family, and became a gun owner. I remember when I bought my first gun (a glock), I was in the shop, and the shop owner handed it over with the slide open or something, like I would know what to do with it. I had to sheepishly ask "what do I do now?"

I have two safes. One is a combo big safe, and the other is a small one that sits on my night-stand and has an electronic quick-release combination. So obviously even though my kids are too young to reach up to the top shelf of a closet or somesuch, I don't take chances, esp. with other kids occasionally in the house.

I appreciate the workmanship and elegance of a quality gun. But the actual act of shooting them gives me no thrill. Esp. when I know it will be followed by cleaning and oiling. Btw 25 yards is not too far for a handgun. I can hit an 8 inch target everytime at that distance. And I'm not a particularly good shot.

Yes, you can definitely hit the target. As I stated, i hit 5 of 10 on my first go-round. What I was referring to was the fact that at 25 yards, gravity has already started kicking in and dragging the bullet down, so you have to overcompensate by aiming high and left. I think 20 yards or less is the optimal range for a 9 if you want to learn to master aiming with the site, at least per what I was reading at Cabela's.

Ironically, of all the crowded departments in Cabela's, the one with the books was empty....

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Yes, you can definitely hit the target. As I stated, i hit 5 of 10 on my first go-round. What I was referring to was the fact that at 25 yards, gravity has already started kicking in and dragging the bullet down, so you have to overcompensate by aiming high and left. I think 20 yards or less is the optimal range for a 9 if you want to learn to master aiming with the site, at least per what I was reading at Cabela's.

Ironically, of all the departments in Cabela's, the one with the books was empty....

You do not have to compensate for distance at 25 yards. A 9mm traveling at 1100 feet per second. In 75 feet how far do you think it drops due to gravity?

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

You do not have to compensate for distance at 25 yards. A 9mm traveling at 1100 feet per second. In 75 feet how far do you think it drops due to gravity?

You may be right. I need to read less about learning to shoot guns and go with internet chat boards.