Guns Are Fun

So one of my friends, who's 18 years old, decided to goto a gunshow about a week or two ago, and while he was there, he picked an AK-47 for ~$400, along with 2 30 round banana clips, and some 7.62 JHP rounds. He has never owned a gun before, and told me that all he was required to do was to show the dealers a driver's license, which they called into some place. The whole process allegedly took place in less than 2 minutes. Apparently they'll sell AKs to anyone in America, which is kind of amusing.

Anyway, the other day he called me, and wanted to go out to shoot his AK at a range. I was slightly miffed about a class which I thought I had been screwed over in, and thought that killing some targets would definitely be a good way to blow off some steam, so I enthusiastically said yes. So I put on some camo pants, and a shirt (gotta look the part I suppose), and then we drive out to the shooting range. While driving, he had me load up his two banana clips. I'm pretty sure that loading up a magazine in a car is breaking some sort of law, but then again, they sold an assault rifle to an 18 year old kid in >2 minutes, so maybe I'm just overestimating the US gun laws. He told me that he got an old microwave that someone gave to him, and we were going to execute the microwave.

So when we get to the range, he sets up the microwave and then we stuck our earplugs in, and he loaded up the Kalishnikov. At that point, he proceeded to blow the crap out of the microwave from about 40 yards. The first shot blew the door on it wide open, and caused the plastic covering part to go flying 20 feet in the air. That gun was obviously extremely powerful. After he got through the 30 rd magazine, it was my turn to lock and load, and try out shooting my first AK.

Now, I have shot other weapons before, including the FAMAS G2, but I'd never shot an AK-47; arguably the world's most infamous firearm. So I stepped up, got into firing position, took a few breaths, steadied my hand and arm, and then squeezed the trigger back. *BLAM* Amazingly, for a 7.62, there was very little kick. However, I was not at all used to the iron-sights on this weapon. I kept shooting over the target. My friend, after realizing what I was doing, explained that you have to essentially place the target a fair bit above the reticule. That was weird, and took some getting used to. Eventually, however, I got used to that, and got tired of the microwave, so I started hitting the honeydew-melon-sized target that was 75 yards out repeatedly. I of course, also rapid-fired the weapon a few times, which, while completely inaccurate, was a lot of fun. I ran out of ammo fairly quickly, then my friend took the other mag, and I watched him shoot the microwave some more while I loaded up my mag. He also shot a tin can from a downward angle, and it caused this can to go flying at least 50 feet in the air. After that, it was my turn again. I just mainly shot at the hardest to hit target, and blew the crap out of it. After I was out, we inspected the damage we inflicted. The microwave was a smoldering mess, riddled with bullet holes. These bullets scorched the microwave as well, making it a burned, and holey mess. The target I was shooting at had many, many holes in it, indicating that I had hit this target many times with a fairly tight grouping pattern. So the rifle was, much to my surprise, fairly accurate. All other targets we hit, were pretty much destroyed. This weapon is incredibly powerful. And while I was firing it, I couldn't help but think of all the soldiers that were on the receiving end of this weapon elsewhere in the world, and how terrible the damage to a human body would be. You see all this on the news, but until you witness first-hand the destructive power of a weapon like this, you don't truly grasp what it means to get hit with a gun like this.

That said, I have no intention of firing a weapon at anyone, but shooting at targets/microwaves is amazingly fun, and stress-relieving. Since it was so much fun, I've pretty much decided that I'm going to either buy a USP .45 tactical, or a Franchi SPAS 12 as my first gun that I actually own. And the funny thing is, I'm probably the most liberal person ever, but I've always liked firearms. Some people like them for the power-rush it gives them, but to be honest, I never got that rush that a lot of people get, and I think if you own a weapon for that purpose, you probably shouldn't own a gun, because chances are you're insecure about something, and insecure people are probably not the best people to be in possession of a very powerful weapon. To me, it's just fun to concentrate on a target in the distance, line it up, and squeeze off a round into it. It just takes your mind off of everything else, and it's very satisfying to hit your marks (I'm a really good marksman, despite the fact I don't actually own any firearms, and I rarely go shooting). It's just a great way to relieve stress, and it's a lot of fun. I think a lot of liberals really are wrong when it comes to guns; they mostly do want to ban them, and that's probably because they've never shot one before, or they read a story about someone who was accidently killed by one. And usually when someone is killed by a firearm, it's a cheap weapon that someone bought specifically for home defense, and as a result, keeps it loaded all the time. And when you keep a loaded gun around, you really are asking for trouble. By the way, all the guns pictured in this post are perfectly legal in the state that I'm living in. The two large weapons (the AK and the SPAS), can be purchased by an 18 y/o, sans license, and the USP .45 tactical pistol requires a permit for the silencer, which dictates that you be 21 y/o. So in that respect, yes, I think the gun laws need reforming to make background checks more thorough. Don't restrict the weapons, but restrict the wrong people from getting their hands on such weapons.

A Day Like Every Other

So today everyone in America was supposed to crap their pants, and run to the nearest '50's era nuclear fallout shelter. The reason for this prophesized chaos? Mexican immigrants refusing to go to work.

All over the country, old rich people's lawns were to go uncut, celebrities' babies unattended (not that Britney and K-Fed's kid ever was attended to in the first place), and Home Depots were to close across the country. I don't know if any of this actually happened, but what I do know was that my day went as scheduled without anything out of the ordinary.

Now if only we could have a day without gas...