Local Handgun Use Climbs -- Eastside Shooting Range Sees Growing Interest For Sport, Protection

BELLEVUE

A growing number of Americans have taken up handgun target shooting, and the Eastside is no exception. The Bellevue Indoor Range was filled the week after Christmas as customers spent their holiday dough on lead.

Last Tuesday night, eight people handled pistols for the first time during a safety class. "Do a little bonding with the gun," a teacher advised.

Kimberly McGee wrapped her white fingernails around a loaded .38 and fired, straight into a paper target.

"You're just an animal, aren't you girl? I think she likes these semiautos!" exclaimed teacher Cathy Schlegel, with an aerobics instructor's perky voice and black sweat suit to match. The rookie markswoman grinned, pumped her left fist and held up a pockmarked paper bull's-eye.

"I didn't think I was going to hit the target at all," said McGee, 22, whose boyfriend bought her a firearm for Christmas.

More women get handguns

The Bellevue Indoor Range and Wade's Eastside Guns, a combined business off Bel-Red Road, has tens of thousands of customers and attracted 255 first-time users during the week that ended Tuesday, said owner Wade Gaughran. Two other businesses, Continental Sportsman in Mountlake Terrace and Weapons Safety near Interstate 90 in Bellevue, also offer indoor shooting.

Wade's is where last April a woman on a church outing accidentally fired a .44-caliber pistol into a man helping her shoot, fatally wounding him. The death apparently didn't hurt business.

Nationwide, participation in target shooting grew from 19 million to 21 million between 1993 and 1996, according to a National Sporting Goods Association survey.

About half of Gaughran's customers shoot for sport, he said.

"You've got a target, got an instrument to hit the target," he said. "Some people shoot guns, some people shoot basketball, some people shoot golf."

Land development and urbanization are eroding the gun industry's traditional base of male hunters, so now its sights are fixed on females. In 1996, about 3.4 million women shot handguns, a 30 percent rise in seven years, according to the National Sports Shooting Foundation.

"Women don't want a handgun in their house - then someone breaks into their home. They're in the (gun) shop the next day," said Don Faulkner, owner of the Timid Gun Shop in North Seattle.

The King County Sheriff's Office expected to grant more than 8,000 concealed-pistol permits for 1997, compared with 7,659 a year earlier. Bellevue police, who granted 547 permits in 1995, issued 720 in 1996 and 733 last year.

"Gun stores have been enjoying a run on business. It's a lot more tenuous on the streets than a few years ago," said Dave Robinson, a sheriff's spokesman.

Taking their shots

At Wade's, Bellevue resident Mary Ann Highberger, 42, squeezed several rounds from a 9-mm pistol. "It was kind of a surprise, the noise and the recoil. I've never held a gun," she said. "It's all new."

Highberger said she planned to drive a motor home cross-country and wanted protection.

Her friend, Mary Gosslee, 41, of Issaquah, said she sometimes carries a concealed handgun. She said regular practice gives her an aura of confidence that makes her unappealing to predators.

"The time to learn how to use a 9-mm is not when you need to pull it from a purse to defend yourself," Gosslee said.

Tim Wheeler of Issaquah, 29, bought Christmas gift certificates for four buddies who are hunters. His dad taught him to aim years ago:

"Hold your breath as you squeeze the trigger, lightly breathe out slow, and don't anticipate the shoot. That way, you shoot the same every time."

An estimated 32 million Americans take target practice, and homes contain almost as many firearms as people. Collectors often own 100 or more.

Adults can walk into Wade's and rent a .22-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver with ammo for around $13. A few bucks more rents a .357-caliber Magnum seven-shooter. A few booths offer video games that challenge shooters to distinguish between armed crooks and innocent jurors in a courtroom crossfire.

Not everyone gets hooked.

"I don't like guns, I never have. . . . The kickback - I did not feel in control when the gun is going like this," said one of McGee's classmates, Theresa Brennan of Seattle, who put six of six shots on target despite trembling hands and high heels.

Gun buyers can find sizes ranging from tiny Berettas to versions of the AK-47, the world's most popular military assault rifle. A bayonet-equipped AK-47 copy from Poly Tech of Beijing sells for $849.95.

The "A" stands for assault, the "K" for the inventor, former Soviet Army Sgt. Mikhail Kalashnikov, and "47" for the year he created it. Just four moving parts need be removed to clean the rifle, said salesman Steve Roberts at Wade's. "It is the most reliable automatic-rifling mechanism in the world. Dirt, muck, mud - it works."

To aim the 7-pound rifle, the shooter rests the right cheek atop the hardwood butt and peers through two sighting circles. Fast squeezes can summon 200 rounds a minute. Smoke rises from the barrel and a light recoil strikes the user's face.

"They're a lot of fun to shoot," Roberts said.

The store also sells safes, knives and books on military history. Gaughran plans to add 1,000 square feet of retail space this spring and build a second story of shooting lanes by next year.

Many gun users were concerned about Initiative 676, a recent unsuccessful statewide measure that would have required handgun user licenses and trigger locks, but their worries didn't affect sales either way. Gun-control efforts by the Clinton administration, however, have inspired some people to buy weapons they wouldn't want otherwise, Roberts said.

"Wade has a saying: If you told people they couldn't have cancer, they'd want it," Roberts said.

Mike Lindblom's phone message number is 206-515-5631. His e-mail address is: mlin-new@seatimes.com