Do you know how to shoot? Sure, it’s easy!

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kaylight033

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 18, 2023
Messages
15
Location
Maryland
Crazy fact, 25 Million firearms were sold in America in 2021-22 Safe, responsible, trained firearm ownership is now more paramount than ever. Previously, I considered learning how to shoot a family thing, parent to sibling, uncle Joe, or someone you or your parents knew went shooting and would take you out with 'em. I mean quite literally, they'd take you out somewhere, extremely remote, and set up a target. They would shoot their gun, reload it, hand it to you and say, "Here's the safety… Here's the trigger… Watch out, it kicks! Go for it!" as they backed away… usually smiling! And with that, our "precision" shooting career began…

So please keep this in mind, if you are going shooting, especially to a remote location, and aren't comfortable in any way, please find a highly trained friend, consider looking up a certified firearms instructor or range safety officer to go with you. They won't be a drag…. It's what we do. They'll actually provide more fun and accuracy to your shooting experience.

Train Safe! Train Hard! Train accurately!
 

C3Ranger

Bearcat
Joined
Apr 16, 2022
Messages
58
Location
USA
I'm not sure there is any way to track it, but it would be interesting to compare the number of firearms sold versus the number of owners who attended training classes over the same time period.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,142
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
Good post.

I am also a firearm instructor.

Please allow me to add to it a bit.

One thing I stress to ANYBODY I meet who is thinking of getting a firearm, or who has one they've never shot or whatever,, is to "GET PROPER TRAINING."

I stress that in 99% of the cases out there,,the best person to teach you to shoot (or anything potentially life altering) is a qualified stranger. Family members, etc can be a good shooter,, but NOT a good instructor.
Plus, if a youth, female or whatever is being "taught" by a respected elder or heck even a respected peer, they subconsciously seek the approval of their mentor. This is especially true for kids & ladies. If they go to a proper class, they have removed that stress.
Next,, a family member may have learned how to shoot by themselves or from a previous family member,, but,, LEARNED IMPROPER TECHNIQUES. And once a bad habit has been learned,, it's hard to re-train the body to do something different. (Think of a proper gripping method here.)

Lastly,, just because a gun shop has a range or an instructor they recommend, it does NOT mean that the instruction is GOOD. Research into the type of instruction, (Rambo wannabee's are not good instructors for granny,) to assure PROPER instruction. Former LEO's may feel that the LEO type of training is the only method. Again, not necessarily correct. Match the instructor & class type to the type of need/uses for the person & firearm.
 
Joined
Sep 1, 2003
Messages
7,095
Location
Richmond Texas USA
Once upon a time this was handled in the local school house. Might be a good idea to bring it back.
I probably went to 8 different schools in the 50s from town population of 1000 to Columbus Ohio and on USAF bases. Unfortunately none of those schools had a shooting sport and I didn't know of any that did. Yes we took our guns to school at times no big deal. I restored my old Marlin 1897 in shop class. :)
 

Rclark

Hunter
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
3,533
Location
Butte, MT
Once upon a time this was handled in the local school house.
Yeah, for us it was called 'Hunter's Safety". Evening class at a school. Don't know where they have them now. But once a year, a day at the range is closed to members for hunter safety field exercises. Plus we grew up with firearms. When camping, .22s were part of the action. Go gopher hunting, and target shooting, besides fishing and hiking and all other activities....

Yes we took our guns to school at times no big deal.
I never did, but was not unusual to have trucks with full gun racks in the parking lot. Nobody thought a thing about it. Society has radically changed since my '80s' high school days....
 
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bisleyfan41

Blackhawk
Joined
Jul 13, 2007
Messages
660
Location
People's Republic of Maryland
If you want training, get it. If not and you think you can do just fine without, that's OK too. I've got nothing against "official" training if you desire such, other than a lot of people (politicians and citizens) throwing around legislating it as a mandatory pre-requisite for firearms ownership in some locales. I 100% disagree with that.

I would bet the overwhelming majority on this forum INITIALLY received their training from family members or friends. And somehow we're all still alive. The gun is only as dangerous as the person holding it.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,142
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
"I would bet the overwhelming majority on this forum INITIALLY received their training from family members or friends."

I agree with this statement.

But I will say that MANY bad habits are formed this way. Improper gripping methods, failure to understand sight alignment, improper trigger control, are the main ones.

Yes,, some folks do just fine learning from family or friends. But I also know a lot of guys who can't shoot a handgun, or a rifle or a shotgun because they never got GOOD instruction. They just did "what Uncle Joe did."
And if you go to many gun ranges prior to say,, deer season,,, you will see & hear; "I can hit a pie plate at 100 yds, I'm good to go!"

My posting wasn't as much about the safety aspect, (And somehow we're all still alive. The gun is only as dangerous as the person holding it.) as it was about becoming well trained properly.
 

KIR

Sparks, NV
Joined
Mar 2, 2022
Messages
1,675
Watching all the westerns on the telly, so it's a wonder, I never shot anybody with my 20th shot in my six-shooter.
 

willicd76

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 25, 2023
Messages
87
Location
TEXAS
If instruction was ever MANDATED, everyone loses besides the instructors and politicians. Why? The politicians and instructors will be enriched while the rest of us lose another freedom. We have done fine without required formal instruction for a couple hundred years…..
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,142
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
I don't think anybody here thinks "mandating" instruction should be required.

However,, I do think most of us would like to see all new to shooting types get some GOOD, SAFE instruction.
We can look at you-boob or go to a local public (non-regulated) range & see some pretty stupid stuff.

A few bad people doing stupid stuff just gives the anti-gunners a good argument to try & outlaw guns, or mandate training. This is even more true when negligence leads to a tragedy.
 
Joined
Nov 30, 2022
Messages
4,441
Location
Maryland
I probably went to 8 different schools in the 50s from town population of 1000 to Columbus Ohio and on USAF bases. Unfortunately none of those schools had a shooting sport and I didn't know of any that did. Yes we took our guns to school at times no big deal. I restored my old Marlin 1897 in shop class. :)
I finished several CVA kits and an 1858 Remington kit from Monkey Wards in shop class. I was working on a Mac10 in shop class but the teacher had to draw the line somewhere. I made a 16" Bowie Knife and a tomahawk as well. My High School had a shooting range in the basement.
 

Yaworski

Bearcat
Joined
May 22, 2016
Messages
82
I've been an NRA certified instructor for 30 years now. I pursued the certification because I found that I was teaching people and wanted a credential to say, "Yep, I know what I'm doing."

One thing that I tell people all the time is that if you are taking a Newb shooting, your job is not to shoot and have fun but to see to that the Newb gets to shoot and have fun. Of course, proper instruction on safety should be included.

When I used to frequent public ranges, I would often see some young man showing off for his girlfriend. "Here, watch me babe!" and he'd blast holes in the target then say, "Ok, yer tern!" Then "Nah, yer doin' it wrong. Watch me!" She'd get bored and obviously lose interest. I would step up, introduce myself, and offer to teach his girlfriend while he worked on his tactical skills. The end result was that the girlfriend would get some instruction and have fun and I got to spend some time with a nice young woman. Win-win.

On a less happy note, years ago (probably the 1980s), the news included a story of a teen shooting a friend with his father's .357. He didn't know that it was loaded and had no idea how to check. The father was quoted in the paper that one once took his son shooting with a friend but by the time it was the son's turn they were out of "bullets." Total insanity.

I started teaching my kids gun safety as soon as they could talk. We had a ritual: first they had to ask if they could touch the gun in question, then ask if it was unloaded, followed by demanding that they be shown that was unloaded. Of course, the normal rules of "don't point" etc were stressed as well.
 
Joined
Nov 30, 2022
Messages
4,441
Location
Maryland
When I was growing up if I did something stupid usually one hand would take control of the muzzle and the other would find the back of my head. I eventually got NRA instructor training to be a merit badge counselor for scouts years ago.
 
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Messages
9,933
Location
missouri
My Dad was a 'good shot'. He taught me HIS way. I took that and improved on it enough to become a competitive shooter for Uncle Sam. I'm not that good anymore but still above the average most days. I wouldn't even attempt to teach a new shooter the tricks I've learned cause that might not work for someone else so I teach them what Dad taught me.
 

Stantheman1986

Single-Sixer
Joined
May 3, 2023
Messages
396
Location
USA
My gun club offers training from some good guys who know what they're doing. And it's geared toward realistic defensive scenarios that anyone from a 75 year old Grandma, a soccer mom or an ex-Green Beret can learn from (I've seen all of these and more at trainings)

It's not 75 yard head shots on hostage targets, Mozambique Drills, any of this GunSite , Thunder Ranch stuff. It's training regular people how to use the firearm they have to shoot at 0-15 yards in scenarios they are likely to encounter in day to day life which covers 98% of the people who attend these trainings

It isn't geared toward the Range Kyles who carry 20 magazines and a pair of Kimbers to WalMart, and think that they know everything............ it's for the 50 year old Dad who just bought a Taurus snubby and wants to get familiar with it, without judgement, ego, testosterone, etc like some of the other trainings that are like "semi autos above 9mm only, no revolvers, no leather" yeah ok if I saw that wouldn't waste my time
 

Rclark

Hunter
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
3,533
Location
Butte, MT
The thing is, almost 100% of the guys I've shot with or work with that shoot, don't give a hoot (or not much) for 'defensive' scenarios. Like me, we shoot for fun... not to run drills and such with hostage situations, bank robber get-a-ways, etc. Just knock down some steel, drill some paper (hopefully in the center), knock over a gopher, rabbit, if varminting. Or hunting. Smack the gong at a 100, 200, 300 yards with a revolver... That said I am sure one could learn from 'formal' defensive training, but to 'me' doesn't hold much interest. Now training against a bear or something I can dig that. In fact we had some training with a bear flying out of a trailer at speed and having to unclip a pepper bottle, and fire it before the 'bear' reached you. That was very enlightening for the woods 'defensive' scenario! Better know how to shuck that Single Action from the holster and get into action safely and 'quickly'!

My training came from my dad, his dad taught him, I taught my kids. All my kids went through hunters safety as I did. Memorize the big three rules and practice them. Then my kids went on to the military, and got their basic training in firearms Army and Navy style.
 
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