William D. Fender of Fender Gunsmithing replaced the feed throat on a shotgun at his shop, which is at the Re Armms firing range.

A firing range provides a controlled setting for practicing with a handgun.

SIKESTON -- Shooting a gun requires more than a steady hand, said Alan Reiman, owner of Re Armms Firearms and Indoor Firing Range in Sikeston.

"Shooting is a discipline," said Reiman, a certified firearms instructor. "It requires total concentration. It's for those who really like to challenge themselves."

In addition to selling firearms, Re Armms offers the only indoor firing range between St. Louis and Memphis, Reiman said. Reiman, a native Illinoisan, began the business on 801 S. Main in 1991 after Mills Distributing Co. closed its doors at that site. Reiman had worked in Mills' firearms department.

"It's more like a hobby that just sort of became a job," Reiman said.

Eighty percent of Missouri's land is privately owned and there are few places that a person can legally shoot a weapon recreationally, Reiman said. That makes the four-lane range's controlled, safe atmosphere, the obvious choice, he said.

"People who want to do it in a place that was specifically designed for shooting can come here," Reiman said. "It's the best place for it. It's what it's here for."

People travel from Cape Girardeau, Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois to use the shooting range, Reiman said. And for a variety of reasons.

Whether its from pressures caused by work, finances or anything else, many people say that shooting a gun relieves stress, Reiman said. The firing range is very therapeutic, he said.

Others consider shooting a sport, constantly trying to achieve tighter groupings in that little black circle known as a bull's eye. Users of the shooting range can practice on paper targets, which can be placed at various distances along the range's mobile target track.

Kim Hinton of Sikeston is taking lessons from Reiman because she wants to know how to protect herself. That is one of the main reasons people want to learn how to shoot, Reiman said.

"I live out in the country and we've had a couple of mishaps," she said. "Having a gun -- and knowing how to use it -- just makes me feel safer."

Reiman also gives lessons to those who want to learn how to use it. He said trying to learn how to use a gun alone is dangerous. Guns are predictable but only if you know what you're doing, he said.

He teaches beginners how to hold the gun defensively and how to shoot proficiently. His pupils have to learn how to breathe while they're aiming and how to hit at exactly what they're aiming.

"Safety, of course, is the number one issue," Reiman said. "Learning how to be safe needs to be taught and it needs to be practiced."

Emphasis is placed on the use of ear and eye protection, he said.

The one thing that Reiman said he cannot teach is how to be an expert marksman. While he can show you methods to make you a better shooter, to become an expert takes years of practice.

"But you never master the game," Reiman said. "Never. You may think you're good but there's always room for improvement." As a certified firearms instructor, Reiman is available for instructional classes by appointment.

The range is available to area law enforcement personnel free of charge for their firearm qualification requirements. Action pistol competitions are open to the public from 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday. There is a fee entry for these matches.

Reiman said he would never argue with someone who thinks that guns should be illegal.

"It's their constitutional right to think that," Reiman said. "But it's also my constitutional right to own a firearm."

Crime has been around for hundreds of years, Reiman said, long before the first firearm was invented. He said that guns aren't responsible for crimes -- the people who use them are.

"Guns don't have brains," he said. "People who use them do. Alcohol and automobiles (kill people more than guns.")