Shooting at Las Vegas casino

About eight years ago, I went to Las Vegas with five of my idiot high school friends to celebrate turning 30. They all really wanted to go to a gun range one morning, the kind of deal where you pay $150 and you can shoot machine guns, high-powered rifles, .50 caliber hand guns, old-time Tommy Guns, etc. The more you're willing to pay, the more fire power you have access to.

I really didn't want to do it. It made me queasy just thinking about it. But I figured if I was every going to understand the appeal, or even put myself in the shoes of people who love guns and think the 2nd Amendment was written in Jefferson's blood, this was an important experience. I paid my $150 and got like 100 rounds between a machine gun, a rifle, and a 45. They had an ex-Marine give us a little safety talk and explain the proper way to pick up and put down the gun, and all the safety precautions. I said I was a little nervous and he said that was "fucking retarded. It's only scary when there are people shooting back at you."

We all took turns. I was genuinely terrified. I had the exact same feeling. All I could think was: I could turn, shoot any of my friends in the face, and their lives would be over. That's a really scary power to hold in your hands.

Of the six of my friends, four were libertarians/conservatives. Me and one other guy (a federal prosecutor) were the liberals. My liberal friend was very excited to shoot the Tommy Gun, and did, only to be screamed at by the ex-Marine after he got a little carried away with the Tommy Gun and started shooting the ceiling. The session ended with one of my friends shooting six rounds of the .50 caliber handgun, a Desert Eagle, which had so much kick the Marine had to stand behind him and brace his shoulder. My friends giggled their asses off.

I'm glad I did it, but I hated it. I wanted to throw up in the parking lot. I'm sure I'd feel different if I'd grown up hunting, but this shit was not for me.

 

Yeah, that sounds fucking terrible. I don't understand how people feel safer with a gun on them. Made me sweaty just to read it. I'd rather try to watch mother! again than do that.

 

Hell, you come on down too. We could shoot in the morning, you could help me remodel the bathroom at the cabin and then grill and drink at night.

 

I think the shooting will have to be in the afternoon. I'd be too shaky to use the tile saw after that.

 

You’re not proposing to have @typefitter and @Dick Whitman down — and handling guns —at the same time, are you?

 

No, no, separate trips. Months apart. Years perhaps.

 

I grew up with guns. I know exactly where I was when I first fired one. I'm in to much huger stuff now.

BUT, I was taught by my dad, who always made me pay attention to where my gun barrel was pointed, even if unloaded.

And, back in 8th grade, we had someone from the NRA come to class and talk about gun safety, and he brought some examples. I can't imagine anyone allowing that at a school ever these days. The gun examples for one thing (but no ammo). Second, someone repping the NRA.

Back in the day before the NRA became a full scale lobbying machine, the NRA was a good thing.

 

I don't know whether this makes me insane, or just a child of the 80s, but didn't we used to worry all the time that Russians my "turn" Americans and get them to do their evil bidding? I feel like that was a huge part of 80s paranoia. Like sleeper agents were going to awake and do evil shit via mind control.

I'm a little surprised that hasn't been raised as a possibility, or if it has, hasn't gained any traction. We're so numb to gun violence that we're like "Oh yeah, just another weirdo gun nut." But this dude doesn't seem to have any ideology or gripe that we know of. When do we find out this guy was a Manchurian Candidate of some kind?

 

We all know government has three main functions.

 

I had a .22 derringer in the glove box that I completely forgot was in there for months. It was in a case and unloaded, although I did have two bullets in the case with it. My wife took it out of her car and put it in mine for some reason. It was just another piece of junk in there that I'd come across occasionally. It wasn't going to magically load itself, unzip the case and start shooting at me.
If it had been loaded, though, I'd have been a little nervous. That thing scares the crap out of me. It's palm-sized and doesn't fit right in my hand. There's no trigger guard so just holding it my finger is almost always close to the trigger. And it sometimes doesn't snap back together right when I load it. I'm always afraid I'm going to blow my hand off when I shoot it.
Unloaded, though, it's just a piece of metal.

And on the related point, I've never gotten the point those guys are trying to make, either. Just because you can open carry doesn't mean you should. Stadiums, bars, even concerts -- anywhere there's large crowds, alcohol and the potential for stupid fights -- should be no-go zones. You also look like a total douchenozzle. It's probably a lot of the same guys who jack up their trucks and take the mufflers off, and then go rumbling down a quiet street at 11 p.m. on a Wednesday night.

 

I have a concealed carry permit, but I'd never open carry in public. When I run through scenarios, I think somebody else with a gun intent on doing bad things will take out the guy with a pistol on his hip first.

The doofs toting ARs in Starbucks? They're playing dress up.