Hi, my name is Jime, and as you can probably tell by my name, I, like many of the residents here in the Pacific Northwest, did not grow up in the land of the free, and the home of the brave. No, I, on the other hand, grew up in Colombia. A country, famous for coffee, roses, emeralds, and other exports made famous by the Narcos and the FARC, who have terrorized the citizens of that beautiful country for decades.
Because of its reputation for being such a dangerous country, many people are shocked to find out that Colombia has some of the strictest weapons policies of any country in the world. Growing up, it was illegal to possess any sort of self-defense tool of any kind. Everything from guns, knives, tasers, pepper sprays, or any other such tool that could be used to defend yourself was illegal, and if you were caught with that on you, you would be sent straight to jail. So obviously, it was a huge culture shock to me when I got married to an American and he suggested to me one day that we should go to the gun range.
When I was growing up, there were only three types of people who shot guns: cowboys in the movies, police/military, and criminals. Of course, being none of the above my first thought was, “We can’t do that, can we?”, “Are we allowed to do that?”, “Can normal people just walk into a gun range and go shoot guns?”, “Is that legal?”, “Is it safe?” And as I soon found out, not only is it all of the above, it’s super fun! That being said, it being legal didn’t make me feel any more comfortable with the idea.
I remember walking into the range thinking things like “My parents would be so disappointed.” “What would my friends back home think?”. It didn’t matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise I couldn’t shake those thoughts. That was, until I walked into the shooting bay, and to my surprise, everybody looked normal. There was a couple in their 80s, who were shooting pistols, there was a father and daughter, practicing with a 22 rifle, and there was a smiling Range Officer who kindly directed us to an open lane. I couldn’t believe it. There was no tactical gear in sight, no Cowboys, and definitely nobody that looked like a criminal. They seemed like normal people. That was until I told one of them it was my first time in the range. That’s when I learned that these people were anything but normal. They were so friendly. They were answering all of my questions, offering to let me try their guns, reminiscing on their first time out to the range, and before I knew it I was hooked.
In my life, I have worked in the climbing industry, dance industry, and even the pet industry but I had never met a group of people so welcoming, helpful, and non-judgmental. The experience was so pleasant my husband and I, who had just gone to the range because we thought it would be an interesting date, couldn’t wait to go back. Before we knew it, we were members here at Bellevue Gun Club, purchasing our first guns, and shooting every chance we got.
This was just over a year ago today and I can truly say this experience changed my life, as I have met some of my best friends at the range. I say all of this to say, if like me, you grew up in a country where firearms were culturally demonized and you think that somehow learning how to shoot makes you a bad person, I am here to tell you that it’s quite the opposite. Don’t let your presumptions of the gun culture keep you from coming out to the range. I promise, that if you have any questions or concerns about getting started, stop by and ask. Any of us will be happy to walk you through the process. Just be careful because you might fall in love and end up working at the range just like I did.
Thanks so much for reading and if you do decide to get started stop by the pro shop and say hi!