Guns and reposes

Josey1

Guns and reposesThe perfect Saturday: Get up, fire a .357 magnum, get your nails done, go dancingRebecca EcklerNational Post Glenn Lowson, National PostFIRST WE SPRAY SOME LEAD: Marina Pietracci takes aim with an unloaded weapon, prior to taking target practice, at the United Sports Shooting Range in Stouffville. Glenn Lowson, National PostTHEN WE SOAK OUR HANDS: Kerry Young, right, and Vesna Sola chat during their manicures about their shooting adventures. My phone did not ring at 8 a.m. last Saturday with a call that began, "Good morning, Angel. This is Charlie."There was, however, a black Saab waiting for me outside my house, driven by an organizer of weekendtrips.com, who had a non-fat Starbucks latte waiting for me in the cup holder.We were heading to Stouffville, an unremarkable suburb north of the city. I was dressed in tight designer black pants, a black knit tank top and high-heeled black boots from Browns -- the same outfit from the night before when I frequented the newest trendy restaurant in downtown Toronto.Even if it was Stouffville, I felt the need to look my best. When an offer comes in to be a Charlie's Angel for the day, the independent, gun-toting woman in me comes out.I was joining a group of a dozen Toronto women who had registered for a $149 day trip called Charley's Angels, offered by weekendtrips.com.I read, and re-read, the program sent to me in the mail: "Your program includes firearm instruction at the United Sports Shooting Range and your choice of manicure at the Stillwater Spa." It sounded a lot more interesting than "Your program includes getting up at noon and doing laundry," which is my usual Saturday.At 9:20 a.m., we arrive at United Sports Shooting Range, a private gun club located on a desolate industrial strip.The 12 women, all from an advertising agency in Toronto, also arrive, giggling, with a box of Country Style doughnuts.They registered after an e-mail was sent through their office by one of the women, who found the trip on the Internet."They're all gorgeous, as usual," says Jim Drysdale, the firearms safety instructor, checking out the group. It's true. These women don't look like they've dressed to fire a round of ammo. They look like they're heading to the office, or out for after-work drinks. Someone who works at the gun club yells out, "Look! The fashion police are here to get gun training!"The women have styled their hair, and most are wearing heels ("I don't leave the house without heels or makeup," explained one). Jim, on the other hand, dressed in a checkered lumberjack fleece and dirty faded jeans, looks like he lives here."All the stuff in the movies?" he begins by way of introduction, "It's all crap. It's not safe shooting."There's a moan in the crowd. We're here because we want to be Charlie's Angels. We've all seen the show, the reruns and the movie, which was released exactly one year ago. We're not here to be safe. We're here to be sexy women who shoot guns.Only one of the women (originally from Saskatchewan) has fired a gun before. The rest of us have never picked up anything that has the potential to kill."I thought this sounded really cool when I got the e-mail," says Vesna Sola, 28. "But I had a moment to reflect. Was I into this? Am I the type of woman who polishes a gun? I was too intrigued not to come."Another woman skipped her weekly ballet lessons to be here.We gather around Jim as he teaches basic gun safety and how to load our magazines. "If you decided to scratch yourself, you must put the gun down," he tells us. We all stare at him, perplexed. Has he forgotten women don't do that?"Who has long fingernails?" he asks. "Because I've had ladies get pissed off after they break or chip a nail on their trigger finger." I guess he didn't know about the second part of the trip, where we go get manicures."There are a million ways to die here without pulling the trigger," he continues. "This is a dirty sport. You will get lead on your hands. So make sure you wash them."I feel a sweat break out on my forehead."Women," Jim says, "are better shooters than men," because we "listen to instruction." Frankly, I stopped listening to the directions as soon as he started listing them off. I just wanted to shoot."Oh, I'm so nervous," Michelle Kiss says. "Oh my god, it's so heavy," she says picking up the gun.We're shooting .22-calibre revolvers, .22-calibre self-loaders and .357 magnums.We're all wearing protective eye-goggles and ear coverings, definitely a fashion faux-pas in the outside world.We line up in the 20 individual booths and start shooting at paper targets seven yards away. The gunshots scare the crap out of me and I jump at the first few shots going off.Some of the women do incredibly well. Almost all get bull's eyes. We all clap for each other when we finish our round. Who would've thought females could bond over this? Suddenly Veronica is known as "Shooter," Michele is known as "Trigger" and Kerry is known as "Bull'seye." Another * a previous Charley's Angels trip became known as "Crystal the Pistol."The organizers say on previous trips women could be heard saying: "You think you can get the tub clean with THAT? I'll show you how to clean!"BANG! BANG! BANG!This time, one of the women says she's going to hand her husband her perforated target. "I'm going to show him not to mess with me."I shoot my first round, missing the target completely, and see some plaster fall from the ceiling ahead. I feel immediately guilty, thinking I broke the ceiling.But then something happens and I become viciously ambitious. I want to get a bull's eye. I fire round after round, and eventually get four.Many of the woman are shaking. "It's the adrenaline rush," one laughs.Before leaving to go to the Stillwater Spa at the Park Hyatt on Avenue Road, I stop at the counter in the gun club, where firearms are for sale."I'm interested in the Gucci of all guns. Which one would that be?"The woman behind the counter points out a $4,300 silver Limcat .38-calibre. Buying shoes, I figure, is a cheaper hobby.The women arrive at the spa before I do, at 1 p.m. It takes me a moment to realize that's them in the hot tub. How effortlessly they slide from shooting pistols to being pampered. The sounds of waterfalls and the swoosh of white robes is remarkably calming after where we've been.A silence falls over the manicurists in the manicure room when one of the women excuses herself to "wash her hands, because they're dirty from discharging firearms." It needs explanation. The girls all speak about how "empowered" they feel."It's so weird how gun-shooting and then manicures seems to work," Ms. Sola says."That was such a great experience," says Veronica Hoang. "It was so cool."I call Ms. Hoang later in the week.She brought her target in on Monday to show her co-workers her three bull's eyes."The guys were all over it. They were very intrigued."Yes, she admits, she was walking with her head held higher."Yeah, the whole independent attitude lasted through Monday. But it's back to normal now."And what did you do last weekend?The Charley's Angels package includes a night of club-hopping. For information on that and other day trips in and around Toronto, go to www.weekendtrips.com. http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary/columnists/story.html?f=/stories/20011110/779420.html