There is a very necessary part of law enforcement that may not be the most glamorous, but can save lives. I am talking about shooting a gun. As a young child I always thought it would be cool to carry one around like an old western movie and get the bad guy, but as I got older I started to realize how dangerous they are. It is a huge responsibility to carry a weapon, and one who does should be properly trained to handle and fire a weapon responsibly. I went home one weekend and went to a shooting range close to my house, Midwest Gun Range in Brookfield, Illinois. There I learned the basics to handling and firing a handgun. I shot a Beretta 92fs 9mm handgun which is standard caliber for law enforcement. Here are some things I learned:
1) Handguns are much heavier than I thought. After three or four shots I took my arms started to get a little tired. So what ever you see in movies or tv where they're really accurate with multiple shots is a myth. The trigger is also not as sensitive as one would think. You really need to pull down hard to fire the weapon.
2) Guns are much louder than I thought. If I hadn't been wearing ear protection I don't think I would have been able to hear the gun fire after about three shots.
3) Shooting is very relaxing. I felt at ease and it was a nice way to vent frustrations.
Overall shooting a gun isn't something you can learn in a college class and its textbook. While I'm sure there are programs through classes that would allow you to do something like this, knowing how to maintain and shoot a gun is very important in the field of law enforcement.
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