Tickets to the gun show
By Kelsey Hipkin, Gabrielle Domanski and Selina Renfrow
Looking for a refreshing date idea or something to do on a night out with the ladies or the boys?
Charlies Angels? Selina Renfrow, Kelsey Hipkin and Gabrielle Domanski at The Shooting Edge in Calgary. Photo by Eli Callan.
Gabrielle Domanski, Selina Renfrow and I decided that we’d spend a night on the town at The Shooting Edge on Blackfoot Trail. Eli Callan, part time range officer and bar manager at The Roadhouse, debriefed us on gun and shooting safety at the gallery before we entered the range. Check out the rules and regulations here.
After donning ear protectors and safety goggles (to the CSI theme “Who Are You” no less) we entered the gallery. It was warm and smelled of gun-smoke; conjuring images of a John Wayne or Clint Eastwood film with less tumbleweeds and more cement.
Shooting our way through several targets and three different guns we thought we’d share our experiences fresh from the range.
Gabrielle Domanski
James Bond had a Walther PPK pistol; Dirty Harry a Smith & Wesson revolver, and there I stood with a Sig Pro 9mm clasped tightly in my shaky hands. Shooting a gun has always been made to look effortless in films, but as I stepped to take my very first shot, I couldn’t help but notice I most certainly lacked that elusive cool.
I’ve never been a physically confrontational person, and I would much rather our society solve problems with intelligent and informed discussion, but sometimes a gal just wants to shoot some stuff. In addition, I have a bit of a penchant for action films.
When we first entered into the building, I couldn’t help but be giddy with excitement at the sight of all of the firearms, and having previously done a bit of film research, was able to identify a few famous guns. It was surreal however to see a gun close up. A lot of the pistols looked like toys and the thought of the damage that one of those puppies can wield, started making me moderately nervous.
After the initial shock of how extremely loud guns actually are and of the minor kickback one feels from even the most compact of pistols, I started to get into the swing of things. As much as I would prefer to have felt a dislike for the act of shooting a real gun, by the end of the session I had improved my aim on the 9mm and had upgraded to trying the assault rifle.
Having something so dangerous in my hands perhaps fed my ego and maybe it allowed me to feel like one of those badass chicks in the movies. I couldn’t help but leave the range addicted and eager to return. But then again, maybe it was just all of those lead particles from the guns that confused my normally peaceful nature.
Selina Renfrow
I like spy movies.
Matt damon as Jason Bourne and Daniel Craig as the current James Bond are my two favorites (I suppose I should say I like spy characters then, not movies…). Who wouldn’t love to kick ass alongside those two? Guns, along with violence in general, are so commonplace in movies that it seems easy to pick one up and shoot if the need ever arose (because you know, it’s highly likely in my profession that I will need to shoot a gun and of course if I need to there will be one conveniently within reach). But thankfully I will likely never be in such a position, and I honestly hope I won’t ever be.
