My First Gun

I didnt tell my neighbor it was my birthday. I wasnt going to mention it unless we found something of interest. the information didnt seem relevant otherwise. He picked me up that morning and we went down to the gun show about half an hour after it started. It was at the veterans center. Everyone knew my neighbor. One of the ladies taking peoples cash at the door asked how long we’d been together which made me nervous because out here age doesnt really matter but my neighbor was old enough to be my dad and though i would take a bullet for him i had no interest in anyone having to see me naked so i wasnt looking for a relationship. I know all that goes into having to let ones guard down and be vulnerable with another person and it always seems to end in nuclear implosion for me and i think ive had enough of that vulnerability crap for a lifetime. My neighbor informed her that we were just neighbors and he was helping me get to a point where i could kill my own rattlesnakes. I think it was probably very apparent to everyone that this world was new to me. When we found a rifle i had no idea how to even carry it and i did not know any of the vocabulary needed to describe what i was looking for. I let my neighbor look around and pick out which rifles were contenders in his mind. If it werent for him i wouldnt know anything about anything in this realm. He’d seen me shoot. He knew my priorities. I trusted his judgment. We walked around and i realized pretty early on that this was a much better idea than going to the large show. I was an introvert overwhelmed by large crowds who didnt know enough about guns to know what i was looking for and so was shopping by process of elimination. If we had used this tactic for shopping at the big show, we would have had to look at every gun, which would have been impossible and once it was achieved the one i settled on as best would likely have already been purchased by someone who knew what they were looking for. At the veterans center show it was mostly older gentlemen standing or sitting on a scooter behind their table displaying 5 to 8 of their own personal guns for sale. They knew everything there was to know about each one. They were very friendly and very helpful and knowledgeable. All the guns had zip ties on the triggers and if you wanted to try one out (without bullets of course) they would cut it off so you could get a feel for the gun and see how well maintained it was or wasnt, see how much pressure had to be applied, see if it was what you were looking for. My neighbor picked out 3 that were his favorite for me and i knew which one i wanted before i knew it was one of his 3 favorite because as soon as he asked me to hold it and see how heavy it was the first time we saw it, i recognized it looked very similar to my favorite of the rifles he had let me practice with. The only vocabulary i had at the time to describe why i liked it was that it reminded me of my favorite of my neighbor’s rifles that we had practiced with. Now i know i like it because it’s quiet. I dont need ear plugs. It has so little kick back it might as well be none. Its very accurate and crisp and fits well in my hands and has just the right amount of weight and length that im comfortable with it and the wood on it is beautiful. I liked most of all that the scope was already mounted on it. I wanted that gun but i wasnt sure what i was looking for or what would be best so i walked around behind my neighbor to all the other tables until we reached the end and my neighbor told me the three he liked best. As soon as i heard the cz was one of his 3 favorite i wanted to rush back to the table and get it. I tried to keep my calm as i understood the art of negotiation didnt include showing the seller of the item that you now couldnt live without the merchandise in question. However, i was pretty certain that out of the three, that was the one, because it reminded me of my favorite of his guns. He knew everybody in there. He was friends with all the vendors at the show except one pair of young guys who had come from austin trying to sell some kind of plastic assault rifles. They had a rainbow light up flashing keyboard on a lap top that was playing a slideshow of 5 different videos of shooting all going at once. They seemed like they had done a butt load of steroids and then drank 15 red bulls each, strapped on bullet proof vests, shot up with testosterone for good measure, and then hit the floor running, ready to shout people into purchasing their first assault rifle at a small town gun show mostly populated by vendors and customers between the ages of 55 and 80. The two men did not have a lot of customers stopping at their table and soon decided if the customers wouldnt come, they would go to them. One of them befan walking around with an assault rifle on his back with a paper taped to it with painters tape stating, “FOR SALE”. I was not impressed with the young dudes, though my neighbor entertained them for a bit before moving on. He was nicer than i. I had nothing to say to these plastic worshipping vest clad way too hyped up whipper snappers in their tattoos and bling. They were sure they were the shit. Even knowing nothing about this world, i knew they were not the shit. They were trying to convince people looking for a deer rifle that you could shoot the deer so much more and so much quicker with an assault rifle. Not understanding that these people arent shooting for sport. They want to eat the deer. They want to carve it up, pack it out, vacuum seal the cuts, and put it in their deep freeze. They are looking to get food, not obliterate a target beyond recognition and then high five and belly bump. They should have stayed in austin if you ask me. Its called know your audience, but maybe im wrong, maybe they found some people who were there to get an assault rifle. Who knows. I guess its a free country and anyone can buy a table, so thats good, but i had no use for them. They just oozed “i dont understand the point of this process.” It was a game to them. How much stuff could they blow up or shoot holes in and how profusely and how fast. I too think its cool when i see a rock blow apart and i know i did that, but i think its cool because it means when i take aim at a coyote or a rattlesnake, im gonna get it. I dont want to blow stuff up for the sake of blowing stuff up. I dont want to just see how much destruction i can cause in 60 seconds. And thats what their videos were about. Just people obliterating targets beyond recognition repeatedly for 60 seconds in five versions. The older gentlemen with booths near theirs looked exhausted with the laptop set on the table with the video on repeat. They were trying to talk to potential customers overs the noise of repeated and duplicated assault rifle fire in the videos. When we went back to the booth where the cz rifle was my neighbor knew the man selling it. He said, “i think she’s interested in your rifle” and then gestures to me to talk to the man about it. He was so gracious and patient and kind to me. He could have exploited a clear moment of weakness as i clearly was new to this world and had no earthly idea how any of this even worked or what i was doing. But, in every other purchase i had been involved in, the pattern was to identify item interested in, ask price, negotiate price, and then hand over money in exchange for item. I decided that was probably the best blueprint to go with. You see, for kids who grow ip out here, they watch their parents and grandparents negotiate at gun shows for a couple decades before they do it themselves, so they know pretty well how it should look, but i’d never been to a gun show and was pretty flying blind in terms of knowing what to do. So i just tried my best knowing that if i took a misstep my neighbor would guide me back to the path if not take the wheel. For instance, after carrying the gun for a while i think he realized he hadnt taught me how to hold one at rest facing backwards against my shoulder pointed up, holding the butt under my hand and he decided it best he carry it until we went to the car. I knew to point it up at the ceiling (was unloaded) but was not holding it under the butt and was instead gripping it facing upright towards the ceiling as if i was holding a very heavy treasure and did not want to drop it or move. Anyways, my neighbor asked him the price. He stated it and it was also written on a little tag we had looked at when we first saw it and my neighbor had remarked that if that price included the rifle and the scope that was a steal because thats about how much id be spending on a good scope alone if i bought it new. I had no desire to negotiate with the man knowing that the pair together was priced at what the scope alone should cost. So he asked if the scope was included and the man said it was and then i just started counting out twenties until i had the full amount, but the atm had only given me twenties and i owed him a ten in the end. I gave him a twenty and he didnt have change so he just gave me the last twenty back. A nearby vendor said he could make change and handed over fives. I went to exchange and the man stopped us. He shook my hand instead and said a deal was a deal. He had already said i could have it for the ten dollars less and he wasnt prepared to go back on his word. I shook his hand firmly and told him thank you. He was a very nice soft spoken man. My neighbor went off to look at some guns that had gold on the outside that another vendor was very excited about. Ultimately he said they were very pretty but they were too pretty for his collection which was kind of more for regular and frequent use than to look at. But he seemed to know the man and liked talking to him so he went over there for a while. I thanked the man who had sold us the gun and he stood and chatted with me for a while. He said he was glad i got the rifle, that it was a good gun, and that i was going to have a lot of fun with that gun. I thanked him and told him it was closest to my favorite of the rifles my neighbor let me practice with. He seemed very genuine and very kind. The guy i bought rat shot from and the guy i bought 22 bullets from were also very nice and soft spoken. None of the men besides the two young hopped up dudes were very loud. They were all pretty soft spoken and calm and the guy who sold us bullets had two little dogs in a penned off area behind the table that he let me pet. My neighbor asked me if i was having a good time and i said yeah cuz i got to pet the dogs. It had said “dogs welcome” on the flyer so i wanted to go to the small show half just because i thought there might be dogs. My neighbor said with a grin, “oh, well, thats the most important thing then. As long as you got to pet the dogs.” Everyone was so nice. It was a great first experience with gun shows. I dont think it would have been the same if i had gone to the big one. This was perfect. And the man who sold me my first rifle, ill remember his kindness and genuine advice and well wishes. He showed my neighbor how he’d set the scope and everything. Any question we had, he answered. He was really very kind and of the people i interacted with there i found him to be the kindest and most calm so i was glad i ended up buying a gun from him. He didnt push any of his merchandise. He simply hung out and was quiet and if anyone expressed interest he’d answer questions. After i paid him for the rifle and he handed it to me we walked around to see if there were any spare parts for my neighbor’s pistol that needed screws. Everyone we encountered wanted to know if we had bought or were selling the cz rifle. They wanted to buy it if it was for sale. It wasnt. After a while my neighbor turned to me and said, “i think people like your gun.” On the way through the parking lot a truck stopped and rolled down their window and asked if we were selling. He told them we werent and the guy asked if there were more inside like it and my neighbor indicated that even though there was a variety if he wanted to go look, this seemed to be the only cz. The man asked, “do you know what you’ve got there?” When we got in the truck i told him, “i think we must have picked a good one because everyone wants to buy it off of us.” My neighbor said, “i think you really found a good one there.” I said, “yes. Its a good birthday. When i was 30 i bought my first house. When i turned 37 i bought my first gun.” He said, “you didnt tell me it was your birthday!” I said, “it didnt seem like relevant information unless we found something.” Later he and two other treasured neighbors got together with me at my other neighbors house to have dinner and celebrate my birthday. It was awesome and that neighbor is from italy so we used rice pasta so i could eat it but we had the BEST pasta dish with barely cooked cherry tomatoes from the garden, herbs, fantastic imported olive oil, anchovies, two kinds of olives and shrimp, it was chef’s kiss a meal to die for. The best pasta. What the **** are we doing ruining pasta with marinara sauce in this country? What the **** is wrong with us? It was the lightest most flavorful salty savory juicy delicious pasta i asked them for the recipe and they gave it. Of course the measurements are non existent. You have to use your own judgment how much because they just say “a little” or “some” for measurement specifications but my God was it a good meal. If i was on death row and i hot one last meal that would be it, that dish. And i would lick my fingers afterwards. The sauce was so good i used the gluten free bread to soak up every last drop. It was nearly clear. It wasnt sauce like you would imagine. It was very light, and mouthwateringly good.

Due to scheduling and health complications which were later identified with a diagnosis after 23 years of random seemingly unconnected symptoms, i was unable to get back to my neighbor’s house to try my new rifle and set the scope until a month later. When we did it was apparent to me that i had made the right choice. In my opinion this was the best rifle on the planet. I loved it so. It was so accurate and the scope image was so crisp and there was next to no noise and nearly no kick back. It barely moved. It was such a good gun. Bi wanted to keep it in the best condition i could. I asked my neighbor if he’d teach me how to clean it. I bought a few shooting bags and filled them with some white rice i had under the bed in case of emergencies like if the chicken feed supply chain got interrupted again, id have something to feed them with. I now have rifle bags, rat shot, 22 bullets, ear plugs just in case i shoot that loud rifle at my neighbor’s place again so i wont be deaf in my left ear for weeks, and a soft case that i keep the rifle in to keep the dust and moisture out. I did some research on cz rifles that further convinced me we made a very good choice. I dont know what possessed him to part with that treasure and scope for the price that he did but i appreciate it and i appreciate him. He was a good quality person to buy one’s first gun from and i am grateful to have met him. My neighbor says he knows him and he’s a very nice man. He seemed kind and wise. I wanted an experience that wouldnt be like trying to buy produce in china town where the person who is most aggressive gets rung up next. I got it. I couldnt have asked for a better experience. I am glad i waited and didnt just take a class at the gun range and buy a gun at walmart as many have suggested in the past. This experience i will cherish and i dont think the gun range would have caught my weird vision issues and realized im deadly with a scope. I think they would have just gone “well, you’re hopeless” because i am hopeless with line of sight shooting. The scope is a way for me to still take care of what i need to take care of regardless of my weird health issues. So, am i the best shot ever? Definitively not. Am i comfortable with my rifle now? Absolutely. Do i have enough skill to hit a nuisance critter in the butt with rat shot or kill a problem critter thats going after one of my animals? Thanks to my neighbor, yes. And as for the rattlesnakes…i noticed my neighbor used a snake handling stick to drag the bleeding snake from the chicken pen and then chop its head off with a shovel. I bought a snake handling stick. So now i have all the tools to replicate how my neighbor killed the rattlesnake. Im a fast learner and he’s a good teacher and im familiar that fuckuppery equals a $30,000 helicopter ride and some anti-venom at best…$50,000 at worst. So, im not one likely to f around. Im still going to pick my battles and im not taking that shot unless i know i can incapacitate it before it bites me. But, i now have the skillset and know how to do so, and that is what i wanted. Its never too late to learn a new skill and the more skills you have at your disposal, the better your life will be out here.