Also this issue: Holiday Gift Guide -Debra Auspitz Shiny & New -Nancy Armstrong, Debra Auspitz, Deborah Bolling, Daniel Brook, Juliet Fletcher, Lori Hill, Frank Lewis, Ted Mann, Patrick Rapa and David Warner Birthday Presents The gift-giving big leagues are on display at the Art Museum. -Debra Auspitz Discs for Your List DVDs that won't disappoint. -Sam Adams Wrappers Delight It's all about the presentation. -Juliet Fletcher Box It Up Why buy one cd when you can have a whole set? -A.D. Amorosi, Nate Chinen, Jesse Delaney and Patrick Rapa Get Game Five picks for video game gift-giving. -Frank Lewis and Chris Newborg Technically Speaking -Ted Mann, Chris Newborg and Patrick Rapa

November 21-27, 2002

cover story

Home on the Range

By Howard Altman

Most people know Deborah Block as the funky first lady of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.

But at the South Philadelphia Archery and Gun Range, she's known as "Belle Star."

"She can really shoot," says range officer Nick Giordano, showing the tightly packed cluster of shots Block fired from a Glock .357 semi-automatic at a target of a man with a gun holding a hostage.

Block, program director for the Fringe and Janette Hough, local performer and a Fringe administrator, were on hand to help check out the latest firearms available for this gift season.

"There are a series of questions I ask people who want to buy a gun," says Jim Smith, range general manager and self-described "chief financial idiot."

"First, I ask what the customer wants the gun for. Is it for carrying, for the home or the range? Do they want something big or small? Heavy or light? Cheap or expensive?"

The person who wants to carry a concealed weapon is looking for something lighter and smaller than a weapon used for home protection.

"But either way, if you are talking about protection, you don't want anything smaller than a .380," he says, explaining that the larger the caliber, the more effective the bullet.

"I don't want to sound barbaric, but you are talking about stopping power," he says. "A .22 is good for shooting paper targets."

Smith explains that dollar for dollar, the best guns are made by the Germans (Glock, Sig Sauer, HK) and Italians (Baretta).

Smith, like most gun professionals, is a stickler for details. Asking if we had shot before, Smith won't allow Hough on the range -- one of the city's most modern -- when she says she's never fired a weapon.

"I've never even seen a gun before," she says.

Though Block, photographer Mike Regan and I had all shot before, Smith is still not ready to allow us upstairs, insisting on explaining the mechanics of shooting before turning us loose.

"There are six important things to remember," says Smith. Standing with the proper balance, aligning the sight, taking a breath before firing, pulling the trigger and proper follow-through.

Picking up the Glock, he steps into position and shows us what to do.

After about 20 minutes of instruction, we are ushered upstairs.

Block takes lane four, with a Taurus .22, and I take lane three with the Glock and a Baretta, as Regan shoots us shooting.

Giordano, the officer we are assigned, is instantly impressed with Block, whose shots are tight and on target.

I start off well enough, putting a shot right between the perp's eyes with my first blast from the Glock.

The rest of my shots tail off to the right, one hitting the hostage. D'oh. Far worse than the last time I was here, when my first shot took off the perp's trigger finger.

When it is Block's turn at the bigger guns, she fares equally well, nailing a mark drawn by Giordano on the hostage target.

"She's killing you," he says.

"It's very satisfying, when you hit the target," Block says later. "It's like taming an animal."

"I think everyone should take a gun course," says Hough. "It's important to understand the awesome responsibility."

South Philadelphia Archery and Gun Range, 831-833 S. Ellsworth St., 215-551-4544.