Semantic Werks

The University of Toronto is shutting down the Hart House Rifle Range as of September. In 2005-2006 I was a member of the Rifle Club, practicing target shooting with .22 caliber, Olympic standard rifles. The training regime is pretty rigorous. There was an introductory meeting, followed by an hour long safety session. Following that, there was a written test on safety rules. The next session was downstairs, in the hot and noisy bowels of Hart House. At the range, new members were tested on firearms handling procedures. The chief concerns are to always verify the gun is unloaded, and to never point it at other people.

It was a very fun experience. Target shooting is much harder than it looks at the Olympics — requiring breath control, gentle fingers, and a sense of calm I never seem to possess. I also once showed up for a round after doing a number of arm weights, and you can really notice when you aren’t steady.

It also taught me a much greater respect for firearms. All of the officers at the club were zealous in their regard for safety. A few members were gun enthusiasts, to be sure. They had specialized weapons, were in the military, or just spent a lot of time at the range. These people were also most concerned about safe handling and were keen to help newbies with their rounds.

With the Olympic rifle, the bullet used is a .22, one of the smaller calibers available. It’s about the size (with casing) of a pea and, after my only prior firearms experience at the shotgun range, seemed quite small. There are typically three positions one can fire in: standing, sitting, and prone, in decreasing order of difficulty. The main objective is to steady the rifle sufficiently that the target does not bounce around in your scope. Finally, the trigger can’t be jerked, because this motion will jerk the barrel just slightly as the bullet travels along, causing it to miss. Getting a perfect score on the target is very challenging.

It is a challenging and educational sport that has about as much to do with gun violence as cooking has to do with knife violence. In closing the range, the university administration have demonstrated that they believe in optics and knee-jerk irrationality over reason and education.