Reeva Steenkamp pictured firing gun similar to one which killed her

REEVA Steenkamp was photographed blasting away at a firing range months before she was shot dead by her boyfriend.

REEVA Steenkamp was photographed blasting away at a firing range months before she was shot dead by her boyfriend.

Steenkamp, 29, was shot dead by boyfriend, Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, on Valentine's Day.

A 9mm pistol was seized as evidence at the scene of the shooting at Pistorius's home in Pretoria.

Pistorius

The double amputee sprinter, dubbed the Blade Runner, is free on bail awaiting trial for murder.

In the picture, which emerged on social media, Steenkamp is shown using both hands to clasp a handgun as she fires away.

She looks a picture of concentration in a white top, jeans and ear protectors as she lines the weapon up.

Reeva Steenkamp fires a gun

The model and aspiring actress went to the range with friends months before she began dating Pistorius.

Afterwards she wrote on a social networking site: "Shooting games this morning! I feel less stressed now :)".

The Sun quoted a Steenkamp family member as saying:  “I’m not aware Reeva knew how to use a handgun - her dad never taught her to use one.”

The photo helps demonstrate the wide acceptance of handguns in South Africa.

Pistorius, 26, kept a pistol next to his bed. He claims that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he shot her three times through the bathroom door of his upmarket home.

South Africa Pistorius Shooting

Steenkamp died at the scene.

The prosecution contends that he intended to kill her.

The Pistorius case has thrown the spotlight on South Africa's gun culture.

Pistorius was an avid gun collector. He owned, among many pieces, a .500 Magnum pistol dubbed by its manufacturer as "the most powerful production revolver in the world" and a civilian version of a military assault rifle.

Pistorius made no secret of his passion for firearms.

Reporters who visited him at home in Pretoria, the capital, saw the pistol he kept by his bed and was licensed to own. He practiced at firing ranges both in South Africa and in Europe where he trained for the London Games.

But apparently less well-known was his involvement with gun collectors to start building a firearms collection.

Mr Beare said he twice observed Pistorius shoot at firing ranges and also at a clay pigeon shoot, but saw nothing to suggest he could be a menace with a gun.

"His safety was good," Mr Beare told the AP. "He wouldn't do anything irrational with a firearm, because then I would have nailed him immediately."

Time magazine used the sensational interest in the Pistorius case to highlight violence in South Africa.

It's cover story last week featured the sprinter with the headline: "man to superman to gunman", and reported at length about violence gripping the nation.