WEIRD TIMES

Ken, a retired L.A. cop,  hired gun and Brittany Spears’s former bodyguard, took me out shooting at the Los Angeles Gun Club today. We picked out a corner booth in the 50 foot indoor range. The club has been around since 1988 and it’s frequented by professionals in the force and the L.A. Police Academy. Ken gave me a few pointers introducing me to his 9mm semi-automatic before we took turns at the target. The gun had a nice kick to it for a lightweight handgun.

The name of the game is to release the pressure, don’t hold on to it too tight as you press the trigger. And sort of move toward the shot.  Being indoors with multiple shooters at a time there two things that can throw you off the sound even with the required ear protection and the smell of burning through ammo could turn your stomach, but as time wore on it didn’t have the same effect.

I made some very calculating shots at first, taking way too long to aim. Ken, a trite-and-true professional, handled the piece by removing it from my hands carefully,  switch pin safety on before placing it on its side on the table. He performed this ritual over and over in zen-like precision. Inside the booth, he mindfully contained his movements within the limits of the red line. Needless to say, he coached my looser movements by placing his hand over the barrel to lower it and align me into similar habits prior to putting the gun to rest. With good measure he reloaded and placed it back on the table and on its side. I took my place behind the line, pick up the gun, switched safety off, adjusted my weight and fired. Ken aimed for the head while I shot straight for the heart. After a couple of turns, I got a little warmer and little faster, taking the ten rounds in the cylinder to task.

“What was going on there?” Ken asked, “what were you thinking about, you looked like you went somewhere with that one.”

I’m not sure. But it felt good.

I like golf, but the exhilaration of holding a hunk of metal between your fingers, and that thrust that can easily throw you back when you make the shot is a different kind of aim sport and some kind of head rush, indeed.

And the results on paper weren’t bad, either. It isn’t often you get impress a professional.

Afterwards, we kept up with tradition by loading up on sweets at Randy’s drive-thru. Good times.

Tags: Brittany Spears, Los Angeles, Police Academy

This entry was posted on Monday, June 7th, 2010 at 9:55 am and is filed under Dispatches from the Edge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.