I did not grow up around guns. My Dad never owned any firearms and short of a few BB guns, I had no experience with them. I was introduced to shooting "real" guns about 7 years ago. One of my college teammates had a Glock 22 and taught me how to shoot it. A year later I bought my first gun which was a Glock 21C. Over the years I practiced, read, and tinkered with guns until I had a good understanding of them. Here are the reasons I like guns:

• Shooting is a sport
• Appreciation of mechanical engineering
• Stress relief
• Safety/self-defense

Shooting is a sport! If you haven't watched Olympic Indoor shooting you should check it out. They shoot .22 caliber rifles at 50 yards with no magnification. At that distance they are shooting a bulls eye the size of a quarter. Most shooters at that level have resting pulse rates around 40 beats per minute. They shoot between breaths and between heart beats. WOW! Some of the best athletes in the world don't have resting pulse rates of 40 BPM. Shooting is a sport; It's not easy and you can always get better at it.

Once I started taking guns apart, I gained a real appreciation for the engineering/physics involved. Everything from the design to the machining of the parts is carefully planned and tested. Once you see all the moving parts involved and how precise everything fits and functions, you wonder how anyone was able to build something like it. Combined with the fact that a gun basically houses an small explosion and is able to last for at least 50,000 rounds. It takes a lot to impress me and I'm still impressed that we are able to build things like guns, cruise ships, and jets.

After some hard days at work, blowing off a few magazines of .45 ACP seems to melt the stress away. There is something to be said for the pounding of a .45 ACP round and push back as the gun recoils.

Of course, the original purpose of self-defense is always a reason. Take the reasons above and add the fact that a gun could potentially save my life or the life of someone else. BONUS! Personally, I don't hunt. For those who do, I'm sure that would be one of there reasons as well.

At the end of the day, guns aren't for everyone. This IS NOT an article to convince people they SHOULD like guns. However, I hope the reasons I outlined above give people a better understanding of why I and many others like them.