I raise a revolver to the man's head. I don't know what I am doing, I just know it has to be done. In the still of silence, with one eye closed and a finger on the trigger, I pause ... and fire.
With a big bang I'm swallowed into a standard Sunday afternoon session at the Bangkok Shooting Range. Located within the Sanam Pao military base, the range is a practice ground for the Royal Thai Armed Forces, a playground for licensed members and a safe place for amateurs with Lara Croft ambitions like myself to fire a gun for the first time.
The lines in the small army hall are intimidating. Lines of gymnasium lights across the ceiling, lines of rusting trophies sitting on the walls and lines of synthetic grass strips leading towards the lines of makeshift targets awaiting their fall. Perfect conditions for a successful line of fire.
Out of the dozen or so shooting ranges across Thailand, the Bangkok Shooting Range is one of the few in the city open to the public. The company has a contract with the army allowing it to use the forces' facilities and weaponry as well as employing former and serving soldiers as instructors.
"We can let people in because we are lucky to be surrounded by experienced staff and have a large supply of guns people can choose from," says manager Orathai Sriduangai. "This is why we are so popular."
Target practice is a tourist attraction across Thailand. Visit any major resort _ including Phuket, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Koh Samui and Hua Hin _ and you will find a shooting range.
The Bangkok Shooting Range, which offers visitors a "safe and pleasant shooting" experience attracts over 100 tourists a month in the high season. Fifty bullets in a gun of your choice (.38, .45 or .9mm) cost 2,800 baht. Or you can opt for a package deal that lets you try three to five different guns for 4,300 to 9,000 baht.
In Canada, the UK and most states in Australia, provisions are in place to control the number of unlicensed people shooting at ranges. These include the need for photo IDs, authorisation from club or range officials, signing a waiver indemnifying the range from claims for injuries and often undergoing a police check.
At the Bangkok Shooting Range, no forms, certificates or past experience is required. You just have to be over nine years old.
"Most of our visitors are from Australia and the UK, and have never held a gun before. So we are used to beginners here," says Mr Orathai.
I have never owned a cap gun, never played Call of Duty and was never allowed a Super Soaker, so as far as beginners go, I am one of the more inexperienced.
My safety briefing is, well, brief. They put my hands in place on the gun, tell me to close an eye and make sure my finger curls right around the trigger. The instructor holds my grip in place for the first few rounds, but I sense it is more for aim than safety.
For a confined place built around the recreational use of lethal objects, shooting ranges are bound to involve fatal accidents. There are no official statistics, only one-off reports of shooting range accidents, mostly across the US. In 2008, an eight-year-old boy accidently shot himself with a submachine gun at a Massachusetts range, and in November last year a 40-year-old man was found dead at a Montana shooting range due to an accidental discharge.
In Thailand, however, most reported deaths at shooting ranges are suicides. From 2005-2006, Thai media reported a total of six suicides at Tiffany Shooting Range in North Pattaya. On Jan 15, a British tourist took his life at Central Pattaya Shooting Range.
So what measures does the Bangkok Shooting Range take to reduce the risk of such incidents here?
"If people look strange, we don't let them in," says Mr Orathai. Well I'm glad I passed that screening test.
"It's OK, many people miss," my instructor assures me as he takes the gun out of my hands to reload it.
Only now _ after six shots spaced across 10 cautious minutes _ do I realise I have yet to hit my target.
The black paper silhouette _ let's call him "Stan" _ is propped up on an easel 25m away. He stands there, hands on hips, completely unarmed and _ thanks to my poor aim _ completely unharmed. Not a single bullet to his body. To be fair, my only aim right now is to ensure the bullets are fired away from myself.
"Relax your mind," I am told. But when your muscles flinch, your eyes jam shut and you need a minute to calm down after each shot you fire, it is not that simple.
It doesn't help that men like Edmund Chen are firing alongside me.
Mr Chen, from Malaysia, is visiting Thailand to play golf, but he always makes time for shooting.
He has picked out a Benelli M3 Super 90 _ an Italian shotgun used by Thai law enforcement agencies and counter-terrorism units. An exciting toy for a gun enthusiast such as Mr Chen. "I'm here because I like shooting and I like guns. That's it really," he says.
After five minutes of constant gunfire, he has yet to miss his target. He later reveals he is a member of a Malaysian shooting club as well as the owner of a security company.
I do improve as the afternoon goes on. Progressing from a revolver to a semi-automatic to a .22 caliber rifle, Stan begins to take hits. I still flinch after each shot, but it is kind of fun. Imagining _ just for a moment _ you are one of Charlie's Angels burdened with the task of killing all evil. Planting your feet in the firing stance, aligning the cross hairs on the target and revelling in that flukish joy of hitting your target smack bang in the middle (sorry Stan).
In Thailand, you must be certified by the Interior Ministry to own a gun. This requires being at least 20 years old with a genuine reason for owning a gun, including self-defence, protection of property, shooting sports or hunting. According to a 2007 report by Swiss-based Small Arms Survey, 15.6 out of every 100 civilians in Thailand own a gun. This is the highest rate in Southeast Asia.
In countries such as Japan and the UK, handguns are illegal. Even the Great Britain Olympic team has to practise abroad. But in Thailand, if you have a licence, you are free to fire.
Kasem Laypusa enjoys shooting so much he visits the range weekly to test out his own guns. A former soldier and a member of the MRTA Combat Sporting Club, he is licensed to both own and fire his guns at the range.
This week, Mr Kasem is practising with his treasured Sig Sauer .380 handgun.
"I love it because it fits into the palm of your hand and yet is so powerful." It is true _ his "Stan" has had his centre completely blown out.
I can't say a visit to the shooting range will become a weekly occurrence for me. There is only so much leisure time I can mix with loud bangs. But at least I know when the day comes, and I am confronted by a looming black paper man-shaped silhouette, I may just come out on top.
Not a bad achievement for a spare afternoon in Bangkok.
PHOTOS: PORNPROM SATRABHAYA
