"I'd rather see hash houses."

There is one and only one public shooting range in Manhattan and while I have never been, I'm thinking about a visit- partly to whang away at a paper target and partly to find out how I can legally own a handgun while being a full-time resident of NYC and a part-time resident in a state with much more reasonable gun ownership laws.

Anyway, the place is called the West Side Rifle & Pistol Range and I read the reviews on Yelp. Most of the reviews (in excess of 95%) are very positive... except for this one...

Thanks for piping in, Lib. Where to begin though... first of all, she's from Nassau, NY. Those of you with access to Google might think this means "Nassau, NY"... a small town South East of Albany. You'd be wrong. She means "Nassau County, NY". This is her way of being "clever" because "you know what I meant" also, this inhibits you from knowing where she lives specifically. It's also her way of being deceptive. Reading her profile and her blog makes it obvious that she's not upstate but is instead in Nassau County... Long Island- the only place in the world worse than New Jersey (there are some very nice parts of New Jersey).

She has a blog, Blue Heron Kitchen wherein she talks about cooking and telling you how to live your life...

"Spend more time cooking, stay out of mega-supermarkets, buy local produce, support responsible, sustainable farming and try to buy organic produce when possible. Eat less meat and more green leaves. Steer clear of genetically modified foods. If you haven't seen it, watch " Food, Inc.". Lose the additives, preservatives, colorings and processed foods. Take the challenge: keep the ingredients on the side of the box to fewer than 10 and buy it only if you can pronounce them. Read a book by Michael Pollan. Above all, care, live well, work for peace and cook."

Frankly, this is good advice but "work for peace"? Must she? Really? Of course she must. She's a Lib. But I digress.

In her comment on Yelp, she's at it again. Clearly, she's not the NRA type. She probably doesn't even believe in guns. She doesn't let that stop her. She still insists on telling you what you should be doing instead of doing what you enjoy because she doesn't happen to approve of it. "Isn't Arizona enough?" That's a good one... nothing like striking while the iron is hot... Libs will never leave one nerve untouched when they're getting up in our faces.

She suggests kick-boxing. I suspect she's talking about the kick-boxing you see housewives practicing in the gym (where the line up and swing their legs in the air and pause for water breaks) and not the classic sport of kick-boxing (where you grab your opponent's head and pull it into your swiftly rising knee until he submits).









Primals? What are "Primals"? I guess it's a slang term she and the ladies with whom she lunches use in a very "special people club" kind of way. I'm not sure what she actually means by it and I'm even less sure how "Eat chocolate" could serve as a legitimate alternative.

"Just look at the photos". The photos show people firing guns at an indoor gun range. I don't see what's disturbing about that but I'm not a Lib so I don't throw a hissy fit at the drop of a hat. Maybe she's talking about the guy who says "Headshot! bam!". In his review, he references "Doom/Quake/Unreal [Tournament]/Counterstrike, etc." Wherein the voice-over announces "Head Shot" when you kill an opponent with a single bullet to the head.

Sure, moms will hate that sort of thing. That's the point. Moms hate it when we have fun (wives too, unfortunately). There's even a video game developer that uses this to market its latest game... http://www.yourmomhatesthis.com/. Of course, we know that a video game is just a video game and the fun of it is that you can do things in the game that you could never and would never do in real life. The same thing applies to a gun range. This complicated concept somehow eludes our intellectual betters. Furthermore, they state, "Criminal background check required - must make an appointment 5 days in advance and log in to website to perform criminal background check." So it's not like any crafty characters are going to be availing themselves of this place.

"So, do you think these places are good for kids?" No. I do not although I think that every child older than 4 should be crystal clear on gun safety rules. However, nowhere in any of the comments does anyone mention bringing children. Furthermore, if you read the first page of Westside's website, they clearly state that you must be "21 years of age or older and a permanent US resident". I guess this is just another example of Libs' inability to read and comprehend.

And lastly, "Shut these places down. I'd rather see hash houses." I believe her. Drug abuse "is a real problem in America" and we need her help with it. The more "hash houses" we have, the busier she and people like her can seem.