Whenever I tell people that I fire rifles for fun, their faces assume a gloomy look. As if I had instantly grown a pair of horns and a tail. I am enrolled in a shooting club, I say. “Oh my God! You fire real guns? With real bullets?” pat comes the reply. Besides having horns and a tail, I now possess a sharp set of claws as well.

I am often asked how many birds I’ve shot dead so far. Frankly, I could never kill or injure another creature. My barrage of bullets damages nothing besides paper clips pasted on planks placed at the other end of the shooting range I practise in regularly.

Yet, I keep finding myself defending the sport from all kinds of misconceptions. I have found that people’s negative attitude towards shooting is impossible to dispel. What can I do? I ask myself sometimes.

For I have learned so much from the sport of shooting. Thanks to having to defend myself repeatedly about my hobby, I now have acquired a penchant for argumentation.

I have learned to listen to people and understand things from their perspectives. I express my opinions without reservation and also easily adjust to different points of view.

After all, isn’t the opportunity of deciding the best viewpoint of all the beauty of argumentation?

Besides this, shooting has also taught me to concentrate. Holding the gun steady for any length of time and then carefully pulling the trigger at the bull’s eye isn’t as easy as it sounds. A lot of patience is called for. The sport has also taught me to strive for accuracy and concrete results even in difficult situations. This has strengthened my determination and made me believe in success in virtually everything I do.

I know some people still harbour negative views about me simply because I’m involved in the game of shooting. But what can I do if they cannot differentiate between shooting and killing? And between the sport and the man taking part in it.

Using firearms does not make one a killer or violent person dangerous to society. The purpose of the exercise should clinch the issue. This misunderstanding of the sport does not mean that I should stop shooting. Rather, it is they who need to shoot down their wrong ideas. Ke Garney?