I found a list of shooting ranges local to Knoxville: Guncraft Sports off of Lovell Road, and John Sevier Hunter Education Center.

Guncraft is just minutes from where I work, so it was the natural choice. I went for the first time tonight and signed up for a three month membership, which includes free, unlimited range time, a 20% discount on classes, and a 50% discount on gun rentals.

Guncraft Sports rents a wide variety of pistols ($7.50 for the first, $3.75 for each additional gun) and automatic weapons ($20 for your choice of an Uzi, H&K MP-5, or a pseudo-M16 firing 9 mm shells) for use on the firing range. If you rent their guns, you have to buy their ammunition. If you bring your own gun you can bring your own ammo.

They also offer classes, including the mandatory course for Tennessee's shall-issue concealed handgun carry permits ($85, $75 in advance, second and fourth Saturday of the month). Tuesday is Ladies Night: ladies shoot free, and men shoot for half price if there's a lady in their firing lane. (Ladies Night for a gun range is funny. It's OK to laugh.)

I got to shoot Starke's Glock 21, which is Glock's full size .45. I love the light weight and the three dot sights. Recoil is very controllable. Glocks are simple, too. You've got a trigger, a slide release, and a magazine release, and that's it. To be the full size model in the largest caliber it isn't big or heavy or hard to control. I'll have to try the compact and sub-compact models.

Starke got to shoot my new pistol, the North American Arms Black Widow. I bought it based on recommendations from Chuck Hawks and Kim du Toit, and I'm not disappointed.

It's a tiny .22 WMR (Winchester Magnum Rimfire) revolver in stainless steel that weighs just under 9 ounces. I bought the conversion model that includes an extra cylinder for firing .22 LR ammunition, which is dirt cheap and available everywhere. Being a revolver, it can also shoot snakeshot. Barrel length is two inches. The picture to the right is about 75% actual size. It may be the smallest gun that's actually useful.

Using a combination of silhouettes and Shoot-N-C targets, the gun shot extremely well with CCI magnum hollowpoints. Despite its small size, it has excellent Pachmyr grips and good, drift-adjustable, dovetail sights. I tried the adjustable target sights in the store, and they have a great sight picture. It's arguable whether they are appropriate for a gun of this type. One of the things that sold me on the gun is that it points well: extend your arm and you're on target.

Two improvements I plan on making: First, I'd like to paint the front sight red or orange for better visibility in low-light conditions. Second, I need to make the drift-adjustable rear sight drift less. It gets nudged too easily. I was having occasional problems seating the cylinder, but I realized why late in the session. Sometimes I didn't push the shells in all the way and a shell rim was sticking out of the cylinder. I eliminate that problem now by running my thumb over the shells before loading the cylinder.

PS Melissa told her dad I was going to the range tonight, and he said he didn't have me figured for a gun guy. I'm a little left of center on some things (somewhat less so than I used to be), but I've always loved guns. I became a lifetime member of the NRA around age 14. My friend Jay is the same way: liberal, votes Democrat mostly, but loves guns. It's the East Tennessee in us.

PPS Since 1964 every Democratic president has come from south of the Mason Dixon line.

PPPS Democrats need to get off the Gun Prohibition bandwagon, and Republicans need to get off the Abortion Prohibition bandwagon and Gay Marriage Prohibition bandwagon, and they both need to get off the Drug Prohibition bandwagon. Americans don't like having their rights restricted by the government, and they don't like the side effects of bureaucracy. Of course, sometimes Americans like having other people's rights restricted, but never their own. You have to show people how restricting other people's rights ultimately infringes on their own.

PPPPS Have you noticed how your cell phone is handy, but other people talking on their cell phones are annoying? Same deal. Don't think about controlling other people's freedoms. Think about maintaining your own freedoms. Infringing on someone's behavior should only be done if their behavior endanger's others. Several studies strongly suggest that talking on a cell phone while driving might be an example of a behavior that needs to be regulated.

KIM DU TOIT: Contrasting concern about AIDS in Africa with a lack of concern about malaria in Africa, Kim du Toit notes that malaria actually kills more Africans than AIDS. What's more, there's no cure for AIDS, but the insects that transmit malaria can be easily controlled with DDT. Yeah, I read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring as a biology student in college and I believed it. Unfortunately, most of the supposed science in Silent Spring is bunk. (Bunk is a technical term we scientists use.)

STEVEN MILLOY: McJunk Science: Over 5 Billion Fooled. McDonalds drops antibiotics from beef production. Why?

PSSST: My email service is working again. Pass it on.