Firearms and Training

I often read Peter Grant - the Bayou Renaissance Man.  Today he had a post that referenced another of my favorite bloggers, J.L. Curtis - The Old NFO.  Both men are erudite, intelligent, and both bear arms.

Let that last sink in a moment.

The only support I have ever found in my entire life for the creation and enforcement of firearm regulatory laws that adversely affect law abiding citizens is explained below, and anyone reading this hound is welcome to disagree with me - politely or otherwise.

Drive through the morning rush hour traffic of a medium size or larger city on a work day.  Tell me how many incompetent drivers you encounter.   Count the number of traffic accidents on a given day, and realize these are all classified as accidents.

Now then.  I have a little secret I should share with you.  I'm psychic.  No, not psychotic.  You're thinking of Biden and what's her name.  I'm psychic.  To prove it, I'm going to pose another question, then I'm going to tell you what your answers are to both questions.  Got a firm grip on your highball glass?

Question: How many times have you been out target shooting?  Ever.  In your entire life.  Go on, how many? 

Question: How many accidental discharges have you ever had in your entire life?  Sunday school truth now!  How many?

Ah - I feel a signal coming in.  It's distorted, and if Glen Filthie doesn't get his mind out of the gutter, we'll never get this done.

Answer: Traffic and number of incompetent drivers.  You lost count after an hour.  You know you did.  The real answer is, "More than I can keep track of.  Besides, I'm driving!"

Answer: The number of times you've been target shooting.  The answer is, "How should I know?  I'm old!   I don't know.  Fuck.  More than a thousand.  Maybe ten-thousand.  I don't know..."

Exactly.  And during all that time, how many accidental discharges have you had?  

Answer: Somewhere between none and three.  I've had one.  I was shooting skeet and somehow got confused.  I rested my finger on the trigger before I was ready to shoot, then I shot the skeet house, and then I yelled "Pull!"  No, I don't know how it happened.

How did I do?

My point, if there is one, is that We the People tolerate behavior on a public highway that we would never in a million years tolerate on a gun range.

We talk about gun training seriously.  We learn the four rules of gun safety (when I learned them there were only three).  We learn how to apply them when shooting, when hunting, and when handling your gun at the gun counter.

Peter points verbosely at the Old NFO in his post about Firearms Training: Old NFO Lays it on the line. His article is worth reading.

In turn, the Antique Aviation Executive puts all six in the bull's eye and steps on enough toes to keep a podiatrist's office full for a week in Lemme See....

From the Old NFO's article about firearm training:

People are on edge, especially with what is going on with the riots, lack of ammo, lack of gun availability, etc. Civility seems to be going out the window.

There's a definite lack of hardware for sale, and if ammo were water, we'd be in the middle of the Sahara - or worse.  That last part of his comment got my attention.

Civility.  There is very little civility in our world today.  Civility is defined by the OED as
Conformity to the principles of social order, behaviour befitting a citizen; good citizenship.

Defined by Dictionary dot Com:

1. courtesy; politeness.
2. a polite action or expression: an exchange of civilities.
3. Archaic. civilization; culture; good breeding.

That last is going to get them boycotted by the BLM crew.

People wear ballcaps inside.  The blacks drive boom cars and don't care who they offend with their loud music.  Graffiti never gets washed off, broken windows aren't repaired.  I've seen young people being downright rude and inconsiderate to others, and taking pleasure in it.  Hire a young person for the only job they're qualified for, manual labor, and at some point they'll likely tell you that, "You can't tell me what to do!"

Some of this is carrying over into firearms instruction, and it isn't good.

From Old NFO:

Another thing I’m hearing is instructors ‘belittling’ students that don’t perform up to ‘standard’ (whatever that may be), in front of others on the line, rather than doing so in private.

You, the instructor, aren't going to teach anyone anything by belittling them, or castigating them in public.  I actually experienced something akin to this during Bible study, and at other church functions.  This is at a regular Christian church, if you can believe it.

Me and my big mouth, I had to ask the wrong questions and point out a flaw in the instructor's logic right in front of everyone, including the other church Elders.  My Pastor, an extremely knowledgeable man, came to my defense; he thought I had a good point and was in the right.

I learned a lot that day, but not from the Bible class instructor.

My thought?  Don't put up with abuse.  If you're being verbally abused, tell this fool that you, the student, are a reasonably intelligent adult, are mentally unimpaired, and you find his demeanor offensive.  Then walk out on him.

To continue:

I’ve seen people basically get laughed at in various forums for carrying .380s or .32 or .38 pistols, or ‘really stupid’ to carry .22 or .22 magnum pistols.

The generally accepted weakest caliber in the gun shop is the .25 automatic.  My uncle served in the OSS during War 2, and that's what he carried.  He used it on several occasions.

Anyone who dares laugh at me for carrying whatever the hell it is I'm carrying that day gets ignored.  Keep it up, and I'll invite you to stand at ten feet down range and let me shoot you.  At this point, the laughter will become a bit tense.

I know a man who carries a .22 automatic - when he carries, which isn't all the time.  He trains by shooting pennies out of the air.

What no one has brought up is a solution.  My own solution is that if you want to be trained, keep your eye on the goal of the class.  It should be stated in plain English, that 'At the end of this class, students will be able to...'.  If that's what you want, then you're almost there.

Almost.

Find out how long the instructor has been teaching and how many students he's trained.  Ask for a few references.  Talk to some of his students that are not his friends and see what they have to say.  Ask the instructor if he's had any complaints and what they were, and how he handled them.  Talk to the instructor for a while and see if he's the sort of man you'd sit next to in public.