It's not so easy to pull the trigger

By Staff
Melissa Cason
This past week I had a unique opportunity to arise while I was working on a story about the Russellville Police Department's officers getting their yearly firearm certification.
I asked if they would allow me to shoot one of their guns. Police Chief, and certified firearms instructor, Chris Hargett asked if I had ever shot a firearm before and my reply was "No, but how hard can it be? All you have to do is point and pull the trigger."
It was only a few minutes later when I realized how false that statement was. Chris and Joe Hargett, also a certified firearms instructor, took me down to about five yards from the target. Before handing me a loaded weapon, Chris took a few minutes and went over a few pieces of necessary information such as safety precautions for using a weapon.
After a dry run with the unloaded weapon, it was time for me to fire my first shot. When Chris handed me the loaded weapon, I admit I was afraid. Part of me was thinking if he was crazy for trusting me with such a fragile piece of equipment while another part of me was glad to be given the opportunity to have this experience.
I remember Chris and Joe telling me that the gun was going to jump and it was going to be loud, but I had to be sure not to drop the gun.
As I held the loaded weapon, I could hear Chris telling me over and over to gently squeeze the trigger. As I carefully followed the directions given to me, it seemed to take forever for the gun to fire. Finally I felt the weapon fire the first shot and I felt it jump, and I remember feeling terrified.
In those few seconds, I felt a fear I had never known before. It wasn't the loudness of the shot or the way the weapon seemed to bounce in my hand. The fear came from somewhere else. It came from the sheer knowledge that I had just fired a weapon that could potentially kill someone, and that scared me.
After the first shot, I remember telling Chris to get the gun, as I needed a minute to calm myself.
I'll be honest. After that first shot, I didn't really want to continue but I figured since I was there I might not get another opportunity.
The second shot was almost exactly like the first, but the fear was beginning to die down. As I fired the gun one shot at a time, I remember it getting easier to pull the trigger, and each shot got closer to the one before.
With each shot, I felt myself gain control of my fears, and by the time the gun was empty, they were gone.
After the experience was over, I saw that I hit the target every time, and the shots were fairly close together. I had done well, and no one was as surprised as me by that fact.
I took the target home as a souvenir of my achievement, and I plan to have it framed. But, not before showing it to all of my police officer friends who would not believe me otherwise.
In hindsight, I see how false my initial statement to Chris was on Tuesday. There is more to firing a weapon than pointing and pulling the trigger, and I'm glad that I didn't have to learn that the hard way.