What it feels like to shoot an AR-15
A question occurred to me — if you’ve never shot an AR-15, how can you argue against them to pro-gun legislators? How can you speak their language and try to find common ground? And why do people like these guns so much?
To shoot an assault rifle, I had to drive an hour north into Wisconsin. Illinois passed a ban on assault weapons and Wisconsin had less stringent gun laws. I found a shooting range just over the border that had an AR-15 to rent and shoot. For $98, you could rent the rifle, 20 bullets, a lane on the range, and a target with a Zombie on it.
I wasn’t a noob. I grew up in northern Michigan. There is no shortage of guns and hunters there. I was expecting the AR- rifle to be huge and heavy. Like the 12-gauge shotgun with which I blasted plastic milk jugs full of water. Or loud, like the .38 special I once emptied into a tree. I didn’t think it would feel any tamer than my dad’s old Korean War era .22 rifle.
For $98, you could rent the rifle, 20 bullets, a lane on the range, and a target with a Zombie on it.
I got to the range in the afternoon. The diluted winter sun fell on a gray, nondescript building squatting in the middle of two farm fields. The building doubled as a gun…
