Back when I wrote for Downtrend I did an article about a liberal reporter who said he got PTSD from firing an AR-15. I wanted to link to that but the site has been wiped from the Internet. Luckily I found another liberal reporter who described firing an AR-15 like a meteor strike shaking the Earth.
Kevin McCallum is a reporter for a local Vermont paper and he did an in-depth piece on the opening of the first indoor range in that state. It’s unclear why he was selected to do this since he is someone that doesn’t care for guns all that much:
I’m not a gun guy. I haven’t handled a firearm since I squeezed off a few rounds from an old .22 rifle at summer camp more than 35 years ago.
Nor have I felt the impulse to own a gun for personal protection, whether due to privilege or delusion or both. I’ve also figured, rightly or wrongly, that owning a gun — statistically speaking — would tend to make my family’s home less safe, not more.
At this particular range, people can rent and shoot firearms so McCallum immersed himself in the piece and got himself some guns:
To experience the offerings of this temple to the Second Amendment, I paid for a lane for an hour ($18). I rented a Ruger 9mm pistol and a high-powered, semiautomatic AR-15-style rifle made by a company called Heckler & Koch ($35 each). (Parro and his staff reject the term “assault rifle” as inflammatory and imprecise and, in all cases, prefer the term “firearm” to “weapon.”) I also picked up 100 rounds of ammo ($25 for 50 pistol rounds and $59 for 50 rifle rounds) and chose the standard six-bullseye target ($1.99) over the zombie or the gun-wielding bad guy daring me to shoot him in various highlighted organs.
First he did shitty with the Ruger:
Inside one of the 10 available lanes, I stapled my target to the carrier, then tapped a touch screen that could send the target sliding out up to 25 yards. I started with five yards.
I lined up the sights as best I could, gently squeezed the trigger and — BAM!
I missed. A tiny hole appeared wide of the target. Even from that short distance, I found it surprisingly challenging to keep the sights centered on the bullseye.
I would think it would be harder to miss a target from 5 yards, but then again I’m not a gun-hating liberal pussy.
Then he did shitty with the H&K:
While the pistol was manageable, even comfortable to hold and fire, the rifle was a different beast altogether. Everything about it — its weight, tactical scope and overall lethality — was downright intimidating.
The fact that the first magazine refused to click into place didn’t help either, further unnerving me. What if I just broke a $3,500 rifle? A fresh magazine worked just fine, though, and after loading it, I sent the target out to 15 yards.
When ready, I lined up the target in the cross hairs, pulled the stock onto my shoulder, squeezed the trigger and — BA-BOOM!!!!!
BA-BOOM? Now wait for it:
It is difficult to describe the impact — physical and personal — of that first shot. It felt like a meteor had struck the earth in front of me. A deep shock wave coursed through my body, the recoil rippling through my arms and right shoulder with astounding power. Being that close to an explosion of such magnitude — controlled and focused as it was — rattled me.
I’ve never fired an H&K AR but it’s an AR-15. Mine is lightweight and barely kicks at all. I could seat the butt in my crotch and rattle through an entire magazine with out damaging the goods. I’d love to see this guy’s reaction to firing off a 12-gauge or 30-06: “It was like a nuclear explosion annihilated the entire planet!”
I’m sure it was loud as hell seeing as this was an indoor range, but that’s what ear protection is for. Also, it occoouredl to me that he wasn’t even firing real .223 rounds. At The Gun Store in Las Vegas, you can rent and fire full-auto weapons and because it’s an indoor range, they use frangible bullets.
I don’t know the particulars of this range in Vermont, but there’s a pretty good reason why you don’t generally see people firing rifles at indoor ranges.
For some reason, McCallum wasn’t converted into a gun guy and finished his piece with some passive/aggressive gun control bullshit:
It was exhilarating, but I never got comfortable firing it. I’m not sure what scared me more — the power of that weapon or the fact that I could have taken one home that day.
Oh, the horror! People can buy legal firearms and take them home. What a dick.
