There is an astounding number of women that enjoy shooting guns, I happen to be one of those women. I didn't grow up around them, my Dad didn't take me hunting or anything, I just like them.
No right wing agenda here, they have their place in my mind, and are a deterrent for anyone trying to hurt me or my family.
Don't mis-hear me, I don't go to the range every weekend, but I am not just a "gun bunny" holding a shiny steel piece with no desire to learn how to use it.
I am sure since we are in the south, many thirty-something women have a gun, one their husband picked out for them, and that gun sits in the safe and makes them "feel" protected.
BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW HOW TO USE IT!!!!!!!
As a novice shooter, I don't know it all (yet) but I'm learning the who, what, and the why, when it comes to guns.
I have started taking lessons from the Range . The instructor also happens to be the owner and is very kind and patient.
The first thing that I was shocked about...
- How stinking hard it is to chamber a bullet?????
Your hands have to be strong, and it helps if they are BIG...needless to say most guns I have learned on at this point have been "more manly" fitted weapons, i.e. my husband's.
It is also very taxing to load a magazine- that's it ladies-magazine, not a "clip". Because as my trusty instructor says,
"Clips go in your hair, or on a bag of tater chips."
The magazine, holds the bullets and it slides up into the handle part of the weapon and then this is where it gets good. If you have never touched a gun before you would be shocked at how detailed, and intricate a gun is. Everything about it must be clicked, locked, or unlocked, cocked, and then ready, aim, breath out and just before breathing in again you pull the trigger.
A HUGE shock to my system was learning how to navigate different weapons and my instructor gives me a Taurus M94 Revolver, it's 22 caliber, and it's like the guns you see Yosemite Sam shoot when he gets mad at Bugs Bunny.
When I looked at the Revolver, I thought, this will be a lot easier to load as there is not a magazine. But after loading learning to aim and fire this gun was very, very difficult for me.
WHY?
To pull the trigger and fire the revolver, it requires 8 pounds of pressure. My hands are not a skilled shooter's hands.
I am a 5' 4' - 32 year-old mom, who doesn't spend time cracking her knuckles and arm wrestling (well, maybe with my child). This gun was not the gun I would rely on for my peace of mind, unless I had a lot of time to practice.
I was able to handle several other semi-automatic weapons. Semi-automatic means the gun will reload itself with the next bullet from the magazine. The shooter must pull the trigger to fire each time though.
These lessons were the best thing I've done for myself in a long time.
- I learned gun safety
- shooting nomenclature (that just means you get the dictionary words on what to call gun parts)
- How to hold a gun properly
- How to shoot standing, and sitting
- How to load a weapon
I guess my call to action here is:
Please ladies, don't get sold on a gun if you haven't held one like it in your hands, don't get caught up in the idea that you "know how a gun works when you need it".
Go get lessons, take some time to feel like the bad ass you are, you know she's in there, remember her? She took names and kicked a$$es. Until we can all learn the five-finger exploding heart move, semi-autos and learning to use them are the best bet for us.
until next time
Pistol Kate
#powpow
