While I'm always happy to bring a newbie into the fold, and have introduced and taught a goodly number of folks to respect and safely handle firearms, I have a VERY STRICT guiding principle; I DON'T WANT TO DIE BECAUSE ANYONE AROUND ME WASN'T TAUGHT, OR REFUSES TO LEARN HOW TO RESPECT AND HANDLE A FIREARM!!! Woo feeling better now;) I grew up in a very rural community in southern Indiana. I grew up in the woods and on farms helping wherever I could and hunting everything that was in season. My dad taught me from the time I got the gleam in my eye looking at his guns about THE RULES (everyone here knows them) and DRILLED INTO MY LITTLE BRAIN that you never even point a toy gun at anything you don't mean to kill. The old man, may he rest in peace, taught me well.
SO, the ONE (and only) time I went into the woods for a quick squirrel hunt with my best friend who's family owned one of the farms we used to hunt on. Now, I'm thinking that since he actually grew up on that land that HIS dad had taught him THE RULES. Turns out, not so much. As we walked through the field heading toward the woods, I was walking in front of him, and when I looked back, he was carrying his loaded .22 rifle in his hands, swinging it around, sweeping me and everything else around. I said, "hey John, sling your rifle, it's pointing at me". He looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about, but after I asked him again, he slung the rifle over his shoulder.
All is good again as we get to the woods and start working our way in. I will NEVER forget the moment; we're moving slowly and quietly along a path through the woods toward the unmistakable sound of a squirrel gnawing on an acorn; I'm in the lead, and he is directly behind me. I can see a bit of the squirrel on the back side of the tree up ahead, so I'm thinking we'll run the old "I walk past the tree and the squirrel will slide around the back side of the tree so you can shoot him" (yup, learned that from the old man too;). As I turn to let him in on the plan, I notice he's already looking at the tree, rifle in hand, finger on the trigger, POINTED DIRECTLY AT THE BACK OF MY HEAD...... Don't need to elaborate further about what happened next, but from that "teaching moment", I became VERY particular about with whom I hunt, and developed the above mantra in working to teach friends who want to "learn to shoot guns".
Given that, I always start folks with unloaded guns AWAY from a range to teach THE RULES and the basics about the REVOLVER we're going to shoot (pistols are ADVANCED machines for newbies). Ranges tend to get folks really excited to burn some powder and most of them find it VERY difficult to pay attention; that's how bad things happen. After I'm satisfied that they're comfortable with the weapon and the situation, we'll go to the range. Things will either progress from there, or not... I LOVE bringing new folks into shooting, but won't risk my life to do so
Oh, and I NEVER take the lead dog spot on a hunt....
. Considering how many lanes they have, I felt very safe shooting there.