I admit I “panic bought” some ammo. It’s for a practical reason, though - my preferred manufacturer for .300 AAC is Australian, and I figure there is at least a chance that the economic disruptions will impact its availability. If so, I picked up as much as I’d normally expect to shoot in the next six months.
Is owning guns and ammo "for shooting" a hobby throughout the country or just in the more rural areas? I'm wondering what facilities are there for something like that in urban environments.
Ranges are far easier to find in urban areas. I live in a town of about 10k, and there is only one pistol range nearby. It opened last year. Before that, you had to either have land or have access to land to shoot.
Hearing gunfire isn’t at all uncommon here. I live right on the edge of city limits, and I doubt a day goes by without being able to hear someone shoot if I’m sitting on my back porch. I totally get that it’s a cultural difference, but it’s very common throughout the US. The only exceptions are very dense urban areas, really.
I’ve heard it said that there are two kinds of places in the US, and they’re categorized by what sound makes you worry. In some places, if you hear an emergency vehicle’s siren you ignore it, but get concerned if you hear gunfire. In others, you ignore the sound of gunfire but get concerned if you hear an emergency vehicle. I definitely live in the latter kind of place.
Indoor range exist, but they're often expensive and poorly ventilated. People certainly use them, and some indoor ranges even host USPSA or IDPA matches. You'll want access to an outside range for most forms of recreational rifle shooting.
There absolutely are. I've only ever lived in Urban and Suburban environments in the US for the last 10 years, and the furthest I've ever been from a gun range is probably 15 minutes.
