When I heard the first gunshot, my whole body tightened. I had no idea it would be that loud, even with noise cancelling head-phones on.
As I made my way past the individual stalls at the Right to Self Protect (RTSP) shooting range in Union, New Jersey, the shots kept firing. With each one, I jumped.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I told my friend Tom DeRosa ’23, who had brought me to RTSP so I could shoot a gun for the first time.
I hate guns. The thought of holding a gun makes me nauseous. In high school, I protested against gun violence. I have friends who were victims of gun violence. I’ve never understood why people use guns for fun or sport. But, even when I don’t understand something, I try to put myself in the other person’s shoes. That’s how I found myself at a shooting range, gun in hand, ready to pull the trigger.
In some ways, I’m both typical of the average gun owner (white) and not typical (a woman). According to a 2021 study by
the Pew Research Center, three in 10 adults say they own a gun. Of these adults, 36% are white, 24% are Black, 18% are Hispanic and 10% are Asian. Men (39%) are more likely to say they own guns than women (22%). Those numbers are shifting, though. A 2020 survey by The National Shooting Sports Foundation showed that the highest increase in new gun owners in the U.S. are Black, up by 58.2%.
Gun ownership spiked in 2020 with experts pointing to the pandemic, demonstrations against racial injustice, the 2020 U.S. presidential election and a rise in mass shootings as factors. Shooting ranges became a popular past-time for people pent up during lockdown restrictions.
Will Sanford ’22 worked as a safety officer at West Chester Gun Club during the spring of 2021. He was able to pick up shifts
at the club because his classes were all online. He said regulars continued to go to the club every week during the 2020 lockdown, and that shooting was an outlet for him, too.
“I was there all the time and would shoot when there was downtime,” Sanford said.
David Rossilli, a sales clerk at RTSP, told me all different types of people visit shooting ranges.
“All ages and all types,” Rossilli said. “We get a lot of old people, a lot of veterans, new people, younger shooters.”
In order to shoot at RTSP, I had to sign a waiver, watch a safety video (which I could click through without watching) and present a photo ID. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I definitely thought there would be more precautions, like giving a first-timer like me a chance to practice with a gun that wasn’t loaded.
Miles Cody, an instructor at the range, approached me and began a quick lesson. He removed the magazine from the pistol and
loaded it with the bullets. Following his instructions, I inserted the magazine, pushed the clip down and moved my index finger from the side of the gun onto the trigger.
“Whenever it’s someone’s first time shooting, you always want to put just one in the mag. That way, in case you freak out, we
know it’s empty,” Cody said. I laughed nervously. “Now, shoot,” Cody directed.
I looked at the pink silhouette target I had chosen from a selection of paper targets that included corny-looking zombies, cartoon criminals and traditional bulls-eyes.
Then, I looked at the gun in my hands. Suddenly, I felt weak. I went over everything in my head again, firming my stance and bending my elbows a bit more. Closing one eye, I looked through the gun’s viewfinder and aimed for the target. I held my breath as my finger began to squeeze the trigger and squinted my eyes shut at the very last second.
BANG!
My wrists shot back from the recoil. If I hadn’t been holding a death grip on it out of fear, I would have pistol whipped myself.
I opened my eyes and examined the gun, then remembered to put it back down.
“Look! You got him!” Cody said, pressing a button to move the target closer.
I had hit the target right in the chest. When I had finished shooting, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and encountered a woman in there not much older than me. I began washing my hands with normal soap and she gestured for me to use the lead removal soap.
“Thanks,” I said. “Do you come here a lot?”
“I’m here almost every day,” she said. “It feels so good knowing I know how to protect myself.”
As for me, I’m glad I went. But I’m not sure if I will go back. I’m also part of the growing number of Americans, nearly 48% according to the 2021 Pew study, who see gun violence as a major problem in the U.S. At the end of the day, those concerns dampen my desire to fire one, even for fun.
