SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — The popularity of BB guns is on the rise as a way for young people in their 20s and 30s to engage in a leisure activity.
In particular, shooting ranges are said to be popular among women. During the day, they are often filled with only female customers, and there are women who come alone during lunch.
Many of them are rumored to come to relieve the stress they received at work by doing a bit of target practice.
Four female workers at a BB gun shooting range in Jongno District, Seoul, held out a sheet of A4 paper, saying they had come to unwind their stress.
They asked for the target to be used, calling it “a photograph of a male who sexually harassed a female colleague at work.”
When the shooting range allowed the request, they aimed only at the eyes of the person in the photo and hit them.
More than 80 percent of the guests at the shooting range are in their 20s and 30s, with women accounting for 65 percent of them.
“Women who don’t go to the army first encounter a gun at a shooting range, and it’s amazing and fun when their shot pierces the target,” said an employee at the shooting range.
Last year alone, more than 10 exclusive BB gun game centers in Seoul and 30 nationwide were built in response to the BB gun fad, which is driven by the excitement and pleasure that results from shooting live ammunition.
A shooting range owner said, “The revisit rate of female customers at a shooting range is also more than double that of men. For women in their 20s and 30s, BB gun shooting seems to have established itself as a kind of play culture.”
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)