How many of you have ever fired a gun?

[LWolf]

190. I have. On one occasion.

My first ex-husband took me along on a target practice expedition. I was 20 years old. I didn't want to go. He insisted.

His 3 male friends, plus he and I, drove out to the desert in a van. When we got there, they started drinking. I suggested that was a bad idea. They told the ex to shut the little woman up. They set up bottle and can targets and proceeded to blast my eardrums out and create a swath of broken bottles and cans across the desert. I asked how they were going to get it all cleaned up. They asked me if I were some kind of tree-hugger.

Finally, they insisted I take my turn. We argued about it, and they asked the ex if he were so pussy-whipped that his woman wouldn't do what he said. The ex started getting angry. At me, for messing with his status. So I did. They put it in my hands; some sort of long gun. They showed me how to hold it, point it, and pull the trigger. I did. It knocked me on my ass. I refused a second try.

The next day I had a bruise the size of a grapefruit.

That was the one and only time. I lived in places that had guns in the house; not mine. I experienced a couple of other bad things related to those guns. I sure as hell never felt safe around them.