New York ? In this shooting gallery within an art gallery, a pellet gun and a bull’s-eye over a human target evoke images of the recent sniper shootings.

“Shoot Me,” by Miyoung Song at the Puffin Room in Manhattan’s SoHo district, is a video installation about the darker side of human nature.

Despite its similarities, “Shoot Me” is not based on the Washington-area sniper shootings. “It’s a metaphor,” the artist said. The exhibit opened on Sept. 21 more than a week before the first shooting and a similar show by Song was first exhibited last year.

Song’s work is part of a larger exhibit on Korean American art that runs through Nov. 10.

The show is intended to explore violence in the United States, especially toward women, and the country’s obsession with guns. “The human subconsciousness is the most violent terror,” Song said.

The installation, in the gallery’s dimly lighted basement, has a target superimposed over video images of women and children. A faux handgun loaded with plastic pellets and headphones playing techno music give it the feel of an arcade.

The video, shot by Song, can be disturbing. For example, a small girl, who is about to be a target, smiles sweetly at the camera.

When the show first appeared last year, Song interviewed people who shot at the “targets.” Those interviews are played at this year’s installment; many said they enjoyed the thrill of firing at a person, but later felt ashamed they did.

Visitors this year said they experienced similar emotions.

“I was aiming directly at the target, waiting until someone was in the line of fire and then I’ll shoot them, kind of like the D.C. guy,” said Glenn Patton. Even though he’s never owned a gun, Patton took at least a dozen shots at the target.

The 44-year-old painter said he regretted firing at the children.

“The children gave me a little pause,” he said. “But I went ahead and shot at them. I think an evil thing happened to me. This is a very scary exhibition. It’s very chilling. This would be a deterrent for me owning a gun.”

Song, 35, came to the United States from Seoul, South Korea, in 1993, and became a U.S. citizen in 2000. Using video as her primary medium, her work has tried to explore the many levels of human consciousness.

She said her interactive exhibit was part satire, part wordplay and part social commentary.

“They are making a pose in front of the camera, and when you say ‘shoot’ it can be a camera or gun,” she said. “You become a physical target in both.”