Gun crazy.

Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, guns were always really scary to me. The only people that had them were cops and gang members. In a way, that's still very true; I hear about shootings near my boyfriend's apartment all the time (in fact, there's a bullet hole in the window pane next to the front door of his building), and a lot of people want to bring the National Guard to Chicago because of the insane numbers of violent crimes that have taken place this year. (Which I'm against, btw. I'm glad it hasn't been done.)

However, I now know a few people that live in Texas and Utah that occasionally go shooting, and it's strange to know that they haven't exploded upon touching a firearm. I'm going to visit both my family and Gabe's family this summer, and target shooting is planned for both trips. I'm pretty excited about it. I've been looking at Illinois gun laws and am thinking about getting a Firearm Owner's Identification Card (FOID), which is required just to shoot a gun, let alone own one. There are several shooting ranges in the area that will rent out guns, and I even have a gun I would want to buy for superficial reasons: a Sig Sauer two-tone Mosquito (Ron Swanson gives one to April Ludgate for her 21st birthday on Parks and Recreation. According to him, it was designed for the officers of the Swiss "pussy" police force).


Obviously I'm not going to just go out and buy one (admittedly because they're $350 and I'm broke). It's just one of these things that I would never think I'd be interested in 5 years ago. And if I have fun shooting this summer, maybe it'll end up being a new hobby.

Besides, wouldn't it be badass to be able to use my FOID as ID in the event I lose my DL from speeding again?