“Sir, put down the object and turn around, we have some questions for you.”

I was trying to talk to a strange man who a witness thought might be stripping a car for parts, and I felt a little feeble as he ignored me. I also felt very exposed as I tried to figure out what was in his hand — I wasn’t sure what kind of situation I had just walked in to.

My heart was beginning to race as the tension rose.

He became more and more agitated and combative, refusing to put down whatever he was holding and step away from the truck until he suddenly turned and headed toward his car, reaching behind the open door for something —

I saw motion out of my peripheral vision and turned just as the first shot was fired in our direction. Before I knew it, I had my gun raised and was shooting. The assailant fell, having been struck by at least one of the bullets myself or by a round my two partners shot.

All of a sudden, everything stopped.

“Okay, how did you do?” the officer in charge said rhetorically while pulling up a play-by-play of the Bellevue Police Department’s “simunition” video training equipment.

The lights came back on. We weren’t really out in the field — instead, we were in a basement practicing target shooting using a handgun and a rifle retrofitted with lasers instead of bullets.

This was my first experience with any type of gun. I’d only seen a gun in real life on two occasions (the second being my police ride-along a few weeks ago). Prior to class, I experienced a brief moment of liberal guilt — I have always been in favor of stricter gun laws, fatigued by the seemingly endless stream of school shootings by people who just shouldn’t have guns.

But, the more I thought about it, what harm does it pose to educate myself on the issue?

So, for a couple of hours, I theoretically stepped into an officer’s shoes and experienced various situations officers respond to: domestic violence calls, DUI stops, active shooters and more.

Surrounded by 180 degrees of video screen, you’re immersed in the scene and experience what it’s like to make quick decisions in the moment. I discovered that while I was the first of my team to respond to the shooter and the only to stop shooting when he fell, it is harder to stop shooting than I thought (when asked how many shots I thought I had fired, I guessed five. I had actually fired double that amount).

It’s good to know that, if I needed to shoot a gun, I can. I also think I got a better sense of some of the argument in favor of maintaining access to larger guns. (It’s easier to fire a rifle more accurately, I discovered).

Am I going to go out and buy a gun? Unlikely. Do I still oppose unfettered access to guns? Yes. But I think I understand the other side a little better, and I think that’s all anyone can realistically ask of me.