Chapter 22: The Wisdom of Gun Enthusiasts

  Got up early in the morning, sent Liu Chao and Zhao Nan to the airport, and Ju An went to the gun store to practice shooting on the way. There were not many bullets left in stock, preparing to load some bullets for the handgun.

  As soon as he walked in, Tommy, the young fellow who sold guns to An, came up with a big smile: "Hey! An, good morning!"

  "Good morning, Mack. " Ke An shook the UPS45 in the gun holster: "Prepare 200 rounds of ammunition for me, I'll go play in the back for a while, and also prepare another 200 rounds to take away."

  Tommy nodded and said, "No problem."

  While Tom was preparing the bullets, Ju An casually took a look and was attracted by a shiny revolver on the counter. The barrel of the gun was much thicker and longer than usual, looking extremely powerful. After staring at it for a while, Tom came over with four small boxes in his hand.

  Looking at An, staring at the gun in the counter, said: "An, if it wasn't for trying out Colt's Eye of the Viper, it looks pretty good, the key is that the revolver won't have a shell ejection problem".

  Jū ān nodded, and Tāng mǐ took the gun out of the counter, held it in his hand to try it out, feeling pretty good. He turned back to Tāng mǐ and said: "Prepare a hundred rounds for me, I'll go test this thing."

  After finishing speaking, he raised his head and saw the M4 carbine hanging on the wall. He couldn't help but think of the all-night CS games in college. He said to Tommy, "Get me two clips for this thing."

  After entering the shooting range, Tommy put down a small basket containing bullets on the counter of the compartment, which was a square plastic basket for selecting dishes when eating hot pot in China, and then walked out. Leaving Ju An alone to shoot.

  Played with his own gun and revolver, today's score is still pretty good, Ju An is very satisfied, changed the target paper twice in between, 20 meters distance basically no misses.

  New target paper, picked up M4, loaded the magazine, aimed at the target, pulled the trigger, a loud gunshot, estimated not bad, but felt unsatisfying, this thing pulls the trigger and fires one shot, like ***, a feeling. Played with a magazine, and interest was gone.

  Why? But it's addictive. Although I'm safe, I still think about how to get a thrill, and this kind of thing really makes me feel a bit annoyed.

  At this time, Tommy walked over and saw that An was looking at the M4 in his hand with some depression, asking: "What's wrong? An, is there a problem with the gun?"

  "Then why can't we fire continuously?"

  Tommy chuckled as he explained, "Federal law states that fully automatic weapons manufactured after 1986 are not available for civilian purchase. However, those produced before 1986 and owned with a valid automatic weapons license can be freely transferred. It's generally not easy to find automatic weapons on the market with special licenses, even if they're available, they're extremely expensive. Legally defined, an automatic weapon is: any firearm, whether originally designed or subsequently altered, that fires automatically more than one round by single function of the trigger."

  Then Tommy smiled and said, "Although the law is so stipulated, but the law is man-made, there will naturally be loopholes. Many gun enthusiasts have exploited these loopholes, let me demonstrate it to you."

  As soon as he finished speaking, Tommy saw him take the M4 from Juan's hand, his left hand grasping the fore-end of the gun, his right index finger lightly pressing the trigger, his right hand motionless, relying on his left hand to push forward and pull the trigger, then maintaining this posture, relying on the recoil of the gun, and a continuous "da-da" sound rang out.

  Damn it, Ju An cursed silently in her heart, too domineering.

  "This isn't against the law, is it?" Ju An asked.

  Tommy smiled and said, "Note that the definition of automatic weapons in the law is to pull the trigger once and then not go through human hands. Here your left hand is moving, so in the legal definition you are not violating at all, it's legitimate."

  Tang Mi demonstrated it to Ju An, and Ju An also tried to wrap one around, feeling much slower than Tang Mi. It sounds simple, but actually doing it is a bit harder.

  Tommy continued: "Wait a minute, I'll get you a gunstock and you can fire continuously".

  Tommy came back in less than a minute, put a special stock on the gun, and handed it to Ju An: "This is single fire, this is continuous fire, you try it."

  Jū ān jiē guò qiāng, yuán lái jiā de zhè ge qiāng tuō jiù xiàng jiā le gè tán huáng, kě yǐ shēn suō, jū ān kòu le xià bān jī, dā dā dā, yī zǐ zǐ dàn shùn jiān lóu le chū qù.

  "Is this also legitimate?" Yu An asked Tommy with a surprised look.

  Tommy shrugged: "Completely legal, I won't be explaining the law to you again."

  This is just like a small cow carrying a big tripod. The cow was so excited that it almost reached the sky. "How much does this gun cost?" Ju An asked.

  "The stock is two hundred and sixty bucks," Tommy said.

  "Give me two clips," Ju An said.

  Tommy looked at Ju An and said: "Let's give you a 260-shot drum instead, it'll be more comfortable for you".

  "That's fine." Ju An nodded slightly.

  With great enthusiasm, I swept a big drum, all the children were beaten to pieces. This time the aim was off, there's no way, it's just that sweeping is more addictive.

  It's been fun, take the guns to the counter and let Tom calculate the price. I'm ready to buy these two guns. Also, add two magazines of ammunition for the M4, so later we can find a place on the ranch to set up a small shooting range, it will be more convenient for us to practice.

  More than three thousand beautiful knives were exchanged for several large and small boxes. With Tom's help, they were all thrown into the car.

  It was already late morning when they returned to the ranch. Thomas and the others had already finished their lunch and continued with what they were doing.

  They pulled a few guys out of the car and put the M4 in the metal cabinet by the front door, which is the safe room's metal cabinet. There was also the Remington shotgun they bought for the first time inside the cabinet.

  Then go upstairs and put the left wheel and bullets into his own bedside cabinet, another bedside cabinet with his own UPS45.

  Made some scrambled eggs with tomatoes and had it with bread for lunch.

  After searching the warehouse for a long time, I finally found a piece of iron sheeting about one and a half people high, then found several thick wooden bars. Just as I was nailing the bars onto the iron sheeting, Thomas walked in.

  Looking at An, who was nailing wooden strips onto an iron plate, he said: "An, what are you doing?"

  Juw An said, "I'm making a simple target, preparing to find a place in the pasture to set up a shooting range. Later on, I won't have to go to the town's shooting range to practice, I can just play at home, how great".

  "Oh, that's not bad, just in time for us to play a couple of rounds when we're free." Thomas came over to help Ju An stabilize the wooden bar.

  "I didn't see you bring a gun." Ju An said looking at Thomas.

  Thomas smiled and said, "I brought two guns, a shotgun and a revolver. You didn't notice, they're all in my room. Wayne also brought a revolver. As for Nancy, she seemed to have brought a handgun. I saw her put it in the car when she went to see her boyfriend last time."

  Ju An nodded slightly, no wonder the old American shooting case was high, there were only four people in this ranch, but there were seven guns.

  With Thomas's help, a simple target was soon made. Old Thomas also sprayed several circles on it with spray paint, although they were not very round, the meaning was conveyed.

  Thomas said: "I know that there is a good place at the foot of the mountain over there, not far from where we live. If you ride quickly for five minutes, you can get there. Go and take a look, if you like it, then settle down there."

  "Let's go and take a look," Ju An agreed.

  "Then let's saddle up and get our guns," said Thomas.

  Two men saddled up the horses, each took a rifle, let Snowflake carry a large sign, Ju An took his revolver and his own rifle, Old Thomas only brought his shotgun.

  Two people, in the time it takes to say three horses, arrived at the place Thomas had mentioned. At the foot of a great mountain was a hilly area with two small slopes on either side and the mountain's base directly ahead. In the center was a small valley surrounded by low grass that offered an unobstructed view. Directly in front, not far away, stood a vast forest of maple trees, each trunk so large it would take two people to encircle it.

  Ju An was very satisfied with this place, put the target at the foot of the mountain, took out the iron shovel he brought, dug a hole, inserted the target inside and filled it with soil, and a simple shooting range was completed.

  He made Thomas come first, and Thomas didn't decline. He took the rifle from Jefferson's back, loaded it with bullets, aimed, pulled the trigger, reloaded, and fired again, a string of shots came out, hitting more than ten times, surprisingly all near the black dots on the painting.

  Then Thomas nodded at Gwaine to strike.

  The bullet was aimed at the target, bang, ejected, re-aimed, bang, and fired over ten rounds. The score wasn't as good as Thomas', with only three shots hitting the first ring, while the rest were between the second to third rings.

  "Thomas asked: "You don't like shooting targets very much, this aim is not good at all."

  Jū ān replied: "I just came here to the shooting range and fired a shot, I had previously only fired five bullets during university military training".

  "Does China have no shooting ranges?" Thomas wondered.

  "I've never been there and don't even know if it has a shooting range." Ju An waved his hand dismissively.

  "I know China has a ban on guns, I just wonder how Chinese people protect themselves when they encounter danger," Thomas said.

  "I heard some lawmakers also proposed a ban on guns, but the big arms dealers disagreed, right?" said An, who declined to discuss the topic further.

  Thomas looked at Ju An with a surprised expression: "It's not that some lawmakers proposed banning guns, it's not that big arms dealers disagree, but American citizens disagree. People can kill people, how can guns kill people? The right to bear arms is the right of citizens to supervise the government and prevent the government from acting arbitrarily. Washington D.C. once had a strict ban for a period of time, but the crime rate actually rose. Banning guns only deprives good people of their right to protect themselves, because bad people will always get guns through other means, which is unfair to good people."

  After listening for a long time and thinking carefully, it really makes some sense.

  The two of them continued playing for a while longer, using up over 180 rounds of ammunition before heading back.