I recently purchased a handgun to bring along on long bushwhacking hikes and the experience of the whole process has been weird. To start with went to a few gun stores, soon as I walked in not wearing camo or Trump gear I could feel the side eyes staring me down. Every store I went to got the vibe they didn't want to help me. After visiting three shops and seeing literally the same guys working at each one, unstable fat 50-year-old men that despise life itself, I decided to go to a large box store instead and was helped out way more than any of the private gun stores.
I have the gun now and I know of a few ranges in the area so I have been stopping at them and asking about how to fire at them. One encounter was especially memorable. One range was setting up for a shooting event and I ended up talking to an old man that claimed to be the president of the range. He told me it cost $250 a year to use the range, I told him I'm only looking to sight in my gun and asked about day passes or a monthly membership. At that point, he turns and mumbles you're not an active shooter, are you? Then goes on a rant how everyone that is a member spends at least 3-5 days firing at the range, and how it would be unfair to just allow me into the range to sight in one gun. I'm listening thinking this has nothing to do with anything I asked, to avoid the confutation he wanted to get into I simply asked again.
Are there day passes or anything like that? To which he snapped back no just the yearly one and went on to list what it includes as he is doing this he points to a large firing field and says that is open to the public. I hear this and said oh ok so this area is free for public use, and he snaps back again and says no not for handguns only shotguns and rifles, I asked back so I could use this field if I had either one of those and once again he got mad for me questioning his all over the place rant. He speaks a little louder and says no you need to be a member, at this point his wife steps in and says well you did say it was free for public use, he glares at her and she said no your right.
He is clearly pissed off someone that who doesn't shoot 3-5 times a week is asking to use the range, I recognize this and try to claim him down by asking if he knows of any other ranges that do allow it. He yelled out a few places and then went on to rant about how terrible they are and how one is state-run and that set him off on another rabbit hole about how messed up the politics in the state are about guns. We are about 4 feet away from each other during this conversation next thing I know another member just walks in between us as if I'm not even there. I used that as my exit because I really don't want to be around people that mad over nothing that also happens to be holding loaded guns.
What is wrong with gun people? They are pissed off, they want everyone to own a gun but if you don't shoot it all the time they get mad at you. They don't want to help anyone looking to purchase products at their stores. It's fucking a weird world they live in and I don't get it.
The only thing I can think of is that these unstable men are so scared of the changing world around them that they are holding onto things they think they can control. One of those things is guns, and when someone younger like myself that looks at a gun as a tool and not as a way of life it scares them and they act out the way you think they would, in fear and anger.
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