Load up on guns and bring your friends....

Since last year, a couple of my coworkers who are avid gun enthusists have been trying to get me to go shooting with them. It's one of those things I've always wanted to do, but I've never had a chance to - the last time they took a couple of the college students who work with us there was the night I wrote the contract on my house.

So yesterday one of my coworkers mentions that he's going to the range with another coworker, and did I want to come? bsom and his girlfriend had also talked about going for a while, so we all piled into his car and (after an extended stop at Whole Foods so bsom could take care of a poo-mergency) headed to Continental Arms.

Up until yesterday, I had never fired a gun before. My parents were always the kind of people who can't see why anyone needs a gun, and I've never really had exposure to them. One of my coworkers had a Beretta .40cal semiautomatic, and the other had a bolt-action Marlin 22 magnum. The Beretta was very cool - powerful, lots of kick, and a laser sight. As bsom put it, it's a point and click interface - it's shooting for the video game generation.

I can't say I was the world's best shot - I haven't gotten used to the recoil, and I don't have the world's steadiest hands. Still, I did OK, and they say that practice makes perfect.

Which is why I'm thinking about buying my own gun. I can't really rationalize buying something as big as the Beretta, but I can get a .22 rifle for a few hundred. I figure I could use a new hobby, so I'm seriously thinking about it.

Besides, it could come in handy if the revolution comes - or more likely, if I ever find myself in a post-Katrina type state of chaos.