Fla. gun range lets you shoot at people

WINTER PARK, Fla. (CNN/WKMG) - A gun range in Florida is letting its customers fire shots at each other, where Combat City is bringing video game scenarios to life.

Revolvers, glocks, rifles, assault weapons. You can take all those and fire at someone, and that someone will fire back at you.

Before you step foot inside Combat City, you meet with owner Dave Kaplan.

"First thing: As soon as you get here, everybody's checked. That's our first deal -- make sure nobody has any guns, knives, ammunition on them," said Kaplan.

He means checking for any hidden in your clothing or somewhere else. Then, Kaplan modifies your weapon – putting a restricter in the barrel so a live round will not fire.

Still, they function like a normal weapon would.

"Yes, a revolver, obviously, those always work the same,” said Kaplan. “Semiauto, the action actually cycles. There's full recoil with the weapon. Then, the assault rifle fully cycles."

After suiting up and making sure you protect your head, neck and private parts, you're ready. But make no mistake: If you get shot, it will hurt.

"There is supposed to be a degree of pain with it so that you do learn from it,” said Kaplan. “Someone's trying to hurt you. You learn how to be as tactical as a civilian can be."

And that's why a growing number of women come to Combat City.

"It's just me and my boys,” said instructor Tiffany Chapin.

Chapin is a single mom who believes the real-life scenarios she creates at Combat City are the best way for women to learn how to defend themselves.

"Most of the time, they do feel a little bit uneasy, little bit nervous,” said Chapin. “I think it helps them a lot to have a female instructor."

She takes them through real-life situations where the women can get comfortable with shooting one of the people at the gun range.

"Depends on the woman, or it depends on the person,” said Chapin. “But for the most part, most women walk out of here feeling very empowered, and that's the key."

Employees at Combat City said their facility tests a person's nerve and helps them to know if they have it in them to shoot another person if their life depended on it.

They said firing at a paper target only teaches people to shoot straight in perfect conditions.