|
02:16 PM
|
under a landlocked moon.....(kristeen young)
"middle america's conservative..... right?"
Friday - Independance day..... I was home alone..... with no alcohol to occupy me. so instead, I cleaned, and intermittently ran from the back balcony to the front windows to take in all of the fireworks being shot off....
I filmed some of it on my camera, but then it got darker out and even more fireworks started going off and I tried to capture it but my data card was full..... in fidgeting with it, I was missing the fireworks so I just gave up.
I love fireworks...... huge starbursts of color lighting up the sky, the sound of booms and bangs going off near and far.....
fireworks are illegal in this state too - so the perseverance of these folks is astounding..... they had to drive to the next state and smuggle these in.....
my brother informed me that certain fireworks carry a felony charge if caught with them - something about the class of explosives.....
the 4th of July....
26 years ago on the 4th of July, I entered this country to the sound of fireworks.....
my American anniversary.....
should've had a beer or something to commemorate the occasion....
oh well....
Saturday - I found myself wandering around, in complete awe, in a gun shop...... just guns - everywhere - for the buying..... revolvers, shotguns, boxes of bullets.....
(yet fireworks are illegal... sure - makes sense)
my stomach increasingly knotted up as I watched the peaceful glass eyes of deer heads sticking out of the walls over my head..... guns below and deer above.....
I started feeling sick to my stomach.....
old fat men in camoflauge jackets buying BIG GUNS......
tough guys.....
I found a stack of sheets asking to join the second ammendment protest.....
is that one the right to bear arms? hmmm.....
eddie izzard talks in my head - "guns don't kill people - people kill people..... and monkeys kill people too - if they have a gun...."
as I wander around the store they have camouflage scent - to spray on yourself in order to get closer to the animal..... they even have camouflage chewing gum - to disguise your breath.... (how close are you getting to this deer that you need to camouflage your breath??)
my friend made our purchases - boxes of ammunition.... we were headed out to the shooting range.
we met our other friends in a parking lot and headed out for the hour and a half drive out of the city with 6 guns in our trunk.
it's ok to transport guns in your car (!) as long as they're in a case..... I look at the passing cars from the backseat - wondering how many cars have guns in them.....
the shooting range - an old man with a gun strapped to his hip gave us forms to fill out and sign..... there was a box with some round pins and a little sign that said "Free" - I picked one up and turned it around - it said "McCain" on it.... I elbowed Mr. Lost and raised an eyebrow....
we're not in Kansas anymore, toto.....
We pulled up to the actual range - a row of tables - and everyone was shooting at a bunch of crap out in a big pit.
there was a kid (looked about 13) with his dad - holding a loaded weapon a few feet to my left.
I felt a twinge whenever I had my back to anyone - just like an instinctive raising of the hairs on my neck - and when I retreated to the car for my sunscreen I wanted to walk backwards so I could face everyone....
it was SO LOUD...... no wonder we got ear plugs at the gun shop....
I squeezed the earplugs into my ears (ah, silence)
I shot 2 semi-automatic pistols, an AK47 (my shoulder was in pain the next morning) and then a rifle with a scope on it....
I took that rifle, sat down at the table, and tore up the target :)
(it was easy with the scope - without it I only got half to hit the target and only 1 bullseye)
zz-top looked impressed (zz-top was the name we gave to the white bearded old man who was the range officer in that section).
zz-top later kicked us out.....
my friend (who'd been to this range many times before) had failed to tell us of the rules..... when you don't know the rules and have never handled a gun before, it's easy to break them....
like, someone let their gun barrel slip off to the side while reloading.... a big no-no....
got it....
then mr. lost had his gun pointed down at one point - again, big no-no.
ok - won't do that...
but after a few of these, zz-top decided he'd had enough and told us to leave.
I can see his point....
people get jumpy when there are loaded guns around.....
I don't think I'll be coming back...... these people freak me out.....
there was a guy with a string of bullets (like Rambo had across his chest?) feeding into a huge gun on a tripod thing, just TEARING up the crap in the field..... there was a guy with a huge shotgun that was literally deafening (my ears were ringing when I accidentally had my ear stopper out for a second)...
while I can appreciate the skill portion, the aiming at a target portion, I don't see their need for bigger and badder guns....
even my friend - he was so impressed by the SIZE of the bullets for his biggest gun and how it literally threw you back when you shot it..... um.... I don't see the appeal in that.....
I wish he would've taken a few minutes to go over the rules of the range instead of showing off his big bad gun, but whatever.....
I want to do some target practice - I want one of those indoor ranges where you attach your target and it swooshes away from you and then you shoot - and then it swooshes back to show you what you've hit....
I don't need no big guns and zz-top men and stuffed animals eyeing me with their sad glass eyes...
I want a sterile shooting environment.....
|
