This is the sixth of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2023 Sociology of Guns seminar (see Reflection #1, Reflection #2, Reflection #3, Reflection #4, and Reflection #5). The assignment to which students are responding can be found here. I am grateful to these students for their willingness to have their thoughts shared publicly.

By Camille Bosshard

The first time I shot a “real gun” two years ago, I felt scared. It was not lost on me that the object in my hands could end a life. However, after shooting the gun dozens of times over the course of an hour at a friend’s house with her brother, I felt surprisingly comfortable wielding a gun as my irrational fears of accidentally shooting someone subsided. On August 30th, I walked into the gun range in Mocksville with a moderate level of comfort and trust in myself. However, while I had shot a gun before, the length of time that had passed since the last time I wielded a gun led me to forget that shooting is surprisingly fun and also extremely difficult.

When I told my roommates I was going to a gun range for class, it prompted an interesting discussion that served as a useful primer to the overall experience. My roommate Grace expressed a perspective that many Americans possess when she said, “I just don’t understand why anyone would buy a gun if they are not in immediate danger.” Her thought process represents the view of a person who considers guns within the context of their primary purpose: to kill or injure. However, my experience at the gun range reminded me of another important aspect of shooting: it’s fun! I enjoy any type of competition or sport, and shooting reminded me of the hours I spent in high school practicing penalty kicks for soccer. If I had more free time on my hands, I can see myself practicing shooting to get better at hitting the target. I can imagine it is even more fun when you hit something like a deer and are able to bring it home and make jerky or hang up the head in your home. This realization helped me understand why people become gun owners and also normalized gun ownership in my mind.

Not all guns were equally as fun to shoot, though. I enjoyed shooting the AR-15 the most because it was the most accurate. This leads me to my second takeaway: shooting is very difficult.

While I enjoyed shooting, I also found it extremely challenging. I remember struggling to hit anything but the dirt the first time I shot a gun. It looks easy in the movies, but it takes much more skill to handle a gun than Tom Cruise lets on in Mission Impossible. Taking this into account, it makes sense that mass shooters would use the AR-15 over a handgun like the 22 pistol we shot. I have heard people say, “No one needs an AR-15,” which is true in that other guns can be used for sport to obtain the same end result, but the AR-15 is more accurate and fun to shoot.

When I told my friend Maggie, a member of ROTC at Wake, that we went to a shooting range, she asked, “Did you shoot an AR-15? Those are my favorite.” This comment led me to reflect on how the views of individuals who have actually handled a gun may differ dramatically from the views of people who have never touched a gun.

As mass shootings and killings have become more frequent in recent years, I have witnessed a rise in the demand for more restrictive gun safety laws amongst my peers and friends. I have sat across from students with computer stickers that portray an AR-15 above the caption “ban assault weapons” in many sociology and politics classes. I doubt the owners of these stickers could ever imagine saying an AR-15 is “fun.” In fact, many people talk about the AR-15 like it is inherently evil. My friend Maggie is not a radical pro-gun individual, she just has years of experience with guns due to her family’s military background, which makes her more comfortable with them. Like many Americans, she understands guns within the context of sport and national defense.

Personal experience heavily influences the gun-control policy debate. If Maggie had lost a family member or friend in the Uvalde shooting of 2022, during which the use of an AR-15 led to the death of 21 individuals, I doubt she would characterize an AR-15 as her “favorite gun.” On the other hand, I would not be surprised if most if not all owners of “ban assault weapons” stickers have never shot an assault weapon. After shooting an AR-15, I possess a greater understanding of the appeal of the gun as a weapon for sport, and I also cannot imagine witnessing a classmate enter my school with the intimidating weapon.

I left the gun range with a greater understanding of both sides of the multifaceted gun control debate. On one hand, I can see why responsible individuals enjoy shooting for sport, and I know the Constitutional grounds that grant these individuals this right. On the other hand, the guns were intimidating and loud, and I cannot imagine the trauma that an individual would experience after seeing the weapons used to end the life of a human being rather than to puncture a hole in a piece of paper. Rather than swaying me to be more or less “pro gun,” the experience caused me to feel more conflicted and confused about how I feel about guns. I look forward to breaking down the complexities of the arguments made for and against laws that aim to prevent gun violence and regulate gun ownership in class this semester.