Almost every single person I spoke to about my second date said that taking a girl to a shooting range was an exquisitely poor idea. “That’s so unromantic,” all of my female friends said.

Not only is the shooting range fun as hell and a great way to blow off stress, but it also lets you see how your date will react to a situation she’s not entirely comfortable with.

And so I picked up Mamie Cargile at the Alpha Gamma Delta house around 5, heading down Broad to the Firing Lane on Atlanta Highway.

Once there, a slightly senile old man sitting at the counter looked Mamie up and down and then said to me, “You’re makin’ a mistake teachin’ your lady to shoot a pistol. Now, whenever she catches you with another woman she’ll know just what to do.”

He’s right, I thought. Assuming, that is, you met your “lady” at a truck stop somewhere outside of Tuscaloosa. Besides, Mamie seemed like a sweet enough girl, and she was well aware of the fact that I’d be with two other women on Monday and Tuesday.

I bought two boxes of .40 S&W rounds, and the two of us put on our eye and ear protection and went through the steel doors onto the range. A man on the lane next to us was firing a large caliber Glock, and I could tell Mamie was less than happy when his hot shell casings began to fall on us.

But I have to give credit where credit is due. Mamie had never even fired a gun before, and she took this challenge like a champ. She hit the target with 8 out of 14 rounds. And that’s pretty damn good for a novice.

Much of what Mamie and I had in common seemed to stem from our mutual upbringing in the city of Atlanta. We both vow never to send our kids to private school.

All in all, my second date with Mamie was an enjoyable one. She may not be the greatest shot, but she’s about as sweet and genuine of a girl as you could ask for.

-Alex Busko is a news writer for The Red & Black. So far, so good, but will Wednesday’s date have him swinging from the ceiling?