Taking New People To The Range

I was hoping more people would have stories about taking people to the range. We went to the range Sunday afternoon as planned. Some people need more instruction but they don't think they do. It was unfortunate that all our time together was without a gun and since he doesn't own one it was all simulation till he held one at the range. I was already there shooting when he showed up so we didn't have gun handling time except dry firing for familiarity. There are things that I like to do that probably violate range rules so instead of leaving we made due. We just made sure the guns were always pointed down range.

If you do it safely and have fun I look at it as a positive experience. He said he enjoyed himself. The biggest issues he had was racking the slide with his finger in the trigger guard and riding the slide. He liked to put his thumbs on the slide.

We had a disagreement when I told him not to rack the slide with his finger on the trigger. It almost turned into an argument when he said it wasn't it just looked like it was, it was just by the trigger guard. Not a big problem when he started resting his finger on the frame along with his thumbs.

I'm fairly routine with taking new people to the range. I always plan on not getting to shoot much and I'm A-OK with that. I love showing people the basics. Once we get to a certain level, quite soon, I must add, I suggest that they find better training than I can give them.

I always find two links to videos and send them first. One is on the four rules of safety and the other is on sight alignment/sight picture. They have to watch those before we head to the range. If they aren't able to watch on their own before shooting day, I make them come watch with me in my living room. That can turn into an hour long lecture, at a minimum. I chat in the car on the way to the range and cover the four rules again. Cover some other basics. When we get to the range, I cover a couple more things which are better demonstrated physically. At this point, nobody has even seen a gun unless I use a blue gun for some role play. Even with the blue gun, I keep it pointed down range and tell people that it's no joke: I don't want to ever feel a gun in my hand pointed at a person.

I use my finger gun and demonstrate some possible scenarios where beginners may inadvertently point a gun at me. The hot shell down the shirt is pretty common. Gun jams or doesn't fire for some reason and next thing I know, a gun is pointed at me while someone says, "Hey, this didn't shoot!" The verbal story and physical finger gun demo seems to take hold a lot better than just "Keep the gun pointed downrange at all times.

Still no live gun or ammo has been seen. But it doesn't take all that long.

I try to start with small, .22LR rifles rather than handguns because it's a lot easier to control the direction of aim and control where a rifle is pointing. That reminds me, I never try to take more than a couple of new people to the range. Just divides the attention more than I'm willing to allow.

Once we get to shooting, I start to teach more about sight alignment/sight picture, how to handle the recoil, small or light, or none. How to hold the gun, shoulder the rifle, cheek weld, etc.

Anyhoo, that's the start.

--Wag--

I get all kinds out here. My rules are pretty simple and very close to yours. Everyone gets the same speech. They break the rules, they are done. The ones that make me cringe are the husband, that knows nothing about firearms, that brings his wife out here to teach her how to shoot. You’d be surprised how often that happens. I think I told you the story about the the last couple. I ended up out there giving a full tutorial, including breaking down his gun. I knew they were in trouble when he looked at his wife and said, “did you see how easy he took that apart?”

I don’t fault anyone that takes the initiative to buy a gun and learn to shoot it for the first time. I do take issue with the guy that buys his first gun and on his first range trip, attempts to teach someone else how to handle it. By the time I interjected myself into that situation, she hated shooting. I ended up breaking out an $1800 1911 and spending a good 30-45 minutes working with her to bring her back around and undo the damage that the husband did.

I agree that women are a class of people that should have access to training regardless of ability to pay. After all, the firearm levels the playing field and that’s a vulnerable demographic. Likewise, if I’m paying taxes, I think the government should be sponsoring safe firearm handling for all demographics, including kids. If there are guns in the house, kids should understand everything they need to know to safely handle it (or not handle it). Knowledge is power and that empowers them to stay safe around them.

Philmo11 said:

I get all kinds out here. My rules are pretty simple and very close to yours. Everyone gets the same speech. They break the rules, they are done. The ones that make me cringe are the husband, that knows nothing about firearms, that brings his wife out here to teach her how to shoot. You’d be surprised how often that happens. I think I told you the story about the the last couple. I ended up out there giving a full tutorial, including breaking down his gun. I knew they were in trouble when he looked at his wife and said, “did you see how easy he took that apart?”

I don’t fault anyone that takes the initiative to buy a gun and learn to shoot it for the first time. I do take issue with the guy that buys his first gun and on his first range trip, attempts to teach someone else how to handle it. By the time I interjected myself into that situation, she hated shooting. I ended up breaking out an $1800 1911 and spending a good 30-45 minutes working with her to bring her back around and undo the damage that the husband did.

I agree that women are a class of people that should have access to training regardless of ability to pay. After all, the firearm levels the playing field and that’s a vulnerable demographic. Likewise, if I’m paying taxes, I think the government should be sponsoring safe firearm handling for all demographics, including kids. If there are guns in the house, kids should understand everything they need to know to safely handle it (or not handle it). Knowledge is power and that empowers them to stay safe around them.

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I can agree with that. I will generally teach kids and women for free. Regardless of the skill level of the other men in their lives. The men are welcome to watch, maybe even learn something, just to make sure I don't teach them something stupid. Same with parents of the kids.
The first thing they learn is the safety rules. Break them, especially more than once, and we are done.
But everyone, and I mean everyone, in the home old enough to pick up a firearm should learn how to at least do it safely. I would not teach my stepdaughter to shoot because her boyfriend was a theif and part time drug dealer. I didn't want her teaching him and his friends what I teach. But I did show her how to safely handle and remove a firearm in case she had to in case it was needed for first responders. Many paramedics won't treat an armed person until disarmed. If I have a heart attack or her blind mother is hurt, she may need to know how to safely remove firearms for care.
Sometimes knowing what NOT to do is as important as knowing what to do or how to do it. Guns are one of those times.

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