My work-mates now have a new moniker for me. Apparently I'm "the only person with an ethical stance against clay pigeon shooting".
That's not quite the case. What I said is that I didn't know what I thought about recreational shooting. If I vehemently held that all gun use was wrong I'd not have gone along for the event, I'd not have fired off forty rounds, and I certainly wouldn't have enjoyed myself declaring it to be "a bit like ten-pin bowling".
On the other hand, I still feel uneasy. I know my car could cause just as much harm as a shotgun; I know the pheasant I'll enjoy on Friday will have been brought down at a shoot on Monday.
Even so, I'm glad that of the forty I missed all but thirteen. Sadly while I allowed the remaining clays to escape into the wild just a few seconds later they were as stationary as all the others.
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