Smoking Guns

**Oh HEY! This is my 100th post!**
When I was a kid, I grew up around guns. My dad has a ranch, so naturally, he had a few shotguns in the house or garage, for when a pesky coyote showed up, or anything else that might be annoying to our garden or chickens. I don't ever remember him feeling like he had to tell us that the guns were off limits.... I think we just knew. However, sometimes he'd take Heather, Adrienne and me out to the tank, we'd throw some dried cow dookie into the water, and we'd shoot at it. It was fun.
I suppose this seems to be the time to write about my feelings on guns. So here goes....
I don't like guns. But I don't hate them either. I think if someone wants to go out and hunt in order to feed their family, more power to them. I'd rather know where my meat was really coming from. You'll never see me shoot an animal though, I just can't stand the thought of actually taking a life, even an animal's. Oh wait, I'm so hypocritical because I eat meat, so I am taking lives.... ugh, it's so complicated. I should really become a vegetarian. Anyway, I just don't think my soul could handle actually pulling a trigger and killing a sweet deer. But if you do it, I'm not judging.
What I don't like, is when people use guns for hurting or scaring others. For instance, I've had 3 friends get robbed, at gun point, in my neighborhood. Come on now, why do people have to go and do that? I used to think that people shouldn't be allowed to have guns. But the sad reality is, "bad" people will always find a way to have guns. And "good" people will be left without protection. Or meat.
Yesterday, for the first time, I went to a shooting range. It's been something I've wanted to do for awhile now, just to have that experience. My good friends Chris and Lori took me. Here's Chris and I waiting for a lane to open up:

Once we got in, I found myself a bit nervous. I kept thinking a bullet was going to explode in my hand when I was trying to load the gun. I still have both of my hands.
Chris proceeded to show me how to hold the gun (the first one I shot was a Glock 9mm), and talked me through how to aim it. This was my first shot:

You can ignore that ridiculous face, I need to practice another "holy shit!" look. Needless to say, my aim did not continue to be that good. But that's okay, because I had fun. Here are some highlights:

This one's titled: Don't even think about messing with Mr. Heiselman

(for those of you that don't know, he's a teacher).

Look at that fire!

Dang my hair is getting long!

This might have been the shell that hit me in the face.

I'll leave you with this.... I'd rather be comfortable with using a gun than scared of it. Whether or not I ever own one.

And I thought about posting this on my front door:

Too much?