Shooting Range

There's a first time for everything. 

We were at a shooting range in the PNP's headquarters in Nabunturan. Papa had brought us there to experience firing a live gun. He himself had some practice awhile back when he was in college. They had actual army personnel standing in as their ROTC trainers and, every once in a while, he and his fellow cadet officers would handle some serious ammunition (he mentioned firing from .50 caliber machine guns, among other things) as part of their training.

As for me, I never held nor fired a gun. Back in my PMT days, our officers had mentioned sending us to a shooting range, a promise that never materialized. The closest thing I got to the real thing was holding my Tito Alex's gun during Tita Prining's wake and that gun was even empty (presumably, it was for display only).

I'm not fascinated with guns. But I remember I was quite attentive during the entire lecture given by the resident policeman, who was also our instructor that day.  For one, I work in a bank and if, God forbid, anyone might think of pulling a heist in our branch, at least there will be one employee, apart from the security guards, who could fire a gun as well. That, and the fact that all this was quite novel to me, made me riveted to the instructor's every word.

After the customary lecture, we each took the chance to do some shooting ( I was with Papa, Ate Bating, Rayray, Bulec, and my two cousins, Susno and Awi). My instructor had commended that I had a good stance, as if I was a veteran shooter myself, but the rounds didn't exactly hit the bull's eye. My excuse was that I was near-sighted but the truth is that my hands were pasmado; they kept shaking on their own. It was probably out of excitement because I was pumped up with adrenaline even before I felt the trigger.

I fared better in the second round. And I somehow understood why other people felt such an urge to hold and fire a gun. There's this immense sense of power in that fleeting moment, when your palms cradle the handle and the gun's sights align with your eyes. It's simply addictive.

I'm figuratively replacing the gun back on the table.