Florida - Machine Gun America stands on a strip of shops in central Florida, close to a flea market that targets Disney World tourists – the Magic Kingdom is 11km away – and an amusement park called Old Town.
Machine Gun America has had some bad press since opening in December, four months after a nine-year-old in Nevada killed her shooting instructor with an Uzi.
On the sunny afternoon that I visit, a gaggle of staff greet prospective clients at the door. With package prices that range from $99 (R1 176) to $399, visitors can shoot everything from a Cimarron Revolver to the Rambo-esque RPD belt-fed machine gun. Kids as young as 13 can participate, as long as a guardian is present.
An enthusiastic salesman approaches and asks, without irony, which experience I want.
The attraction is big on experiences. There’s a zombie-themed “Walking Dread” package, which includes an AK-47 and Raging Bull revolver. There’s “Big Screen Legends”, which features Scarface’s M16 and Dirty Harry’s .44 Magnum; and “Automatic Divas”, which comes with a sub-machine gun, a machine gun and a semi-automatic pistol, and promises to “unleash your inner femme fatale”.
I go for the $189 “Special Ops” experience, which includes rounds with a Glock 17, a Mossberg shotgun and an M4 and MP5 machine gun.
It comes with an Osama bin Laden, a Jason Statham look-alike with nipple rings, and a T-shirt on which white lettering reads, “I Shot at Machine Gun America” over a red bull’s-eye on a target.
A short credit card pre-authorisation and liability waiver later, a staff member hands me a pair of protective earmuffs and safety glasses. The range safety officer leads me into the shooting gallery, which looks a lot like the practice ranges one sees in police movies.
According to Wes Doss, MGA’s director of safety and training, the attraction is popular with families, convention delegates and law enforcement agents, as well as couples on dates.
My experience begins with the Glock 17, and the officer assigned to me explains how to hold it with both hands. I pull the trigger. The gun fires with a pop and a small hole appears in my target’s chest. Twenty rounds later, I’ve finished my first semi-automatic magazines. Throughout, my safety officer is never more than 15cm away.
Next up is the Mossberg. I position the butt of the gun near my armpit, do some pumping and ka-pow! The recoil smarts against my chest and, despite the earmuffs, is loud. I take one more shot and back off: I need to retain some hearing for the machine guns.
One of the most widely used sub-machine guns in the world, according to the theme park, the MP5 is also what it calls “a staple in the special operations community”. The M4, a similar gun, is used frequently by US Army soldiers. They spit bullets so quickly that I can’t help closing my eyes for a split second while firing. I switch to the Statham target for the M4. I don’t hit either of his nipple rings.
After the experience, I wonder if people are needlessly freaking out over a tourist trap, or are they right to worry about the trivialisation of guns?
Shooting at Machine Gun America was sometimes uncomfortable, yes, but also positive; enlightening even. I often write about violence, much of it gun-related. Learning about firearms at first hand seems not only appropriate but necessary.
Referring to the company’s “haters”, Doss says: “Some of the businesses they aren’t concerned about – the liquor stores, some adult businesses – I find a whole lot more disturbing than a gun range.”
The Independent