Tony Grist
This is the first of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2024 Sociology of Guns seminar. 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 Stella Ross
Growing up in a state where the Second Amendment is deeply valued, I was constantly surrounded by guns throughout my youth. When I was 10, my father taught me how to shoot a 22-millimeter pistol on my grandfather’s farm in rural Alabama. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that Alabama had one of the highest gun-related death rates in the country, with 26.4 deaths per 100,000 people in 2021 (Gramlich 2023:1). At that age, I lacked the awareness and maturity to grasp the significance of these statistics surrounding gun-related deaths.
I didn’t choose to learn how to shoot out of curiosity or desire. My father insisted that my brother and I master loading and firing a weapon before leaving home. I vividly recall the fear that gripped me as I held a gun for the first time, let alone fired it. My dad drilled into us the critical safety measures—never aim at anything you don’t intend to shoot, always assume the gun is loaded, and keep the firearm pointed down range. He made it clear that the real danger lies not in the weapon itself but in the person wielding it. He emphasized that a gun is just an object. Its potential harm depends entirely on how it’s used. Safety was of the utmost importance in his teaching of how to handle a firearm. Reluctantly, I squeezed the trigger, and to my surprise, I thought, “That was much easier to fire than I expected.”
It wasn’t until my first year of high school that I became acutely aware of the pervasive presence of firearms not only in my hometown and state but across the nation. As I began to engage more deeply with politics and public policy, the phrase “gun control” echoed repeatedly in the discussions surrounding firearms. I found myself reading about mass shootings in the United States, often carried out with semi-automatic weapons. The weapons used in these mass shootings are quite similar to one of the guns that we had used at the range just last Tuesday.
Before Tuesday’s field trip to the gun range, I had only fired smaller handguns, such as a .22 caliber gun. While I grew up around guns, I still get anxious when being near one and even firing one. I was not surprised at all shooting the .22 or the 9-millimeter handgun, as I have fired those weapons before, even if it has been a few years. Once I began shooting the handguns and remembering the feeling of holding and firing one, I even started having fun watching as the bullet hit the target. The same thought came to mind as I fired these weapons: “Wow, that is so easy to fire.”
I felt the most apprehensive about firing the AR-15-style rifle, knowing its notorious association with mass shootings. This connection intensified my anxiety, even if it seemed irrational. As I prepared to fire it for the first time, I heard my father’s words echo: “It’s not the gun that’s inherently bad. The person behind it and how it’s used makes it so.” The controlled and safe environment of the range helped ease my nerves after the first shot. I found myself enjoying the experience of shooting the semi-automatic AR-15-style rifle, yet a sense of unease persisted as I handled such a powerful and potentially dangerous weapon.
While waiting my turn to shoot, I overheard my classmate Avery express her nervousness about firing the gun at Dr. Yamane. Dr. Yamane responded: “You should be; this is a dangerous weapon.” This moment on the range became a pivotal learning experience, reinforcing my understanding of firearms. Guns are not inherently bad, but they must always be handled with extreme care and used in controlled environments where the risk of harm is minimized.
Although accidents can occur, most gun-related deaths result from misuse or when firearms fall into the hands of individuals struggling with mental illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021, 54% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides, while 43% were homicides (Gramlich 2023:1). These statistics are alarmingly high and raise profound questions about the underlying causes of gun-related deaths in the United States.
As I eagerly begin this course, I am aiming to learn more about guns themselves and, more importantly, the sociology behind using and owning guns. In our political climate today, the idea of gun control is a hot-button topic on the minds of many across the United States. I hope this course will build my understanding of the sociological perspective behind the use of guns to make me a more informed citizen on this critical issue.
Bibliography
Gramlich, John. 2023. “What the Data Says about Gun Deaths in the U.S.” Pew Research Center. Retrieved August 31, 2024 (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/).
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