Legal for me to teach a non-US citizen to shoot?

[drjoker]

A friend who has a "green card" would like me to teach him how to shoot. I'd like to take him to a local gun range, bring my .22 and show him the NRA safety rules. Is it legal? I know you can't sell guns to non-citizens, but can a resident shoot my gun?

Thanks,

[Beiruty]

your friend not only can legally buy firearms but have CHL too. going to the range is not a crime. Let him shoot!

Sorry your information about your friend is totally wrong. I am permanent resident, own firearms and have a CHL too. I recieved professional training in handguns.

[bnc]

I'll add that I've seen a few non-citizens renting guns at the range. By parts of the conversations I heard at the counter and how they acted I'm pretty sure they were just here on vacation rather than having any sort of residency.

Shoot away.

[74novaman]

your friend not only can legally buy firearms but have CHL too. going to the range is not a crime. Let him shoot!

Sorry your information about your friend is totally wrong. I am permanent resident, own firearms and have a CHL too. I recieved professional training in handguns.

Just curious but any plans on becoming a citizen or are you planning on remaining just a permanent resident?

[Thomas]

I know you can't sell guns to non-citizens, but can a resident shoot my gun?

Illegal to buy does not equal illegal to use. Someone under 21 cannot buy a handgun, but I can legally let them shoot my handgun.

As far as I know, it is not illegal to teach anything because doing so would be protected under the First Amendment. I want to expand on this, but I don't want to sound like I am breaking Rule 4. PM would be appreciated if anyone has any responses to this.

[The Annoyed Man]

Japanese travel agencies used to book tours to the US so that Japanese citizens could have the experience of shooting guns. They were tourists, without green cards, and it was totally legal. For all I know, they're still doing it. As long as your friend is in the country legally, there is no problem.

If he's here illegally, you should report him to INS.

About a year ago, my son and I took a couple who work with my son to the range to teach them both how to shoot. The husband was from Honduras, and the wife was from El Salvador. They are here legally, but they are resident aliens, not citizens. BTW, she turned out to be a good student, but he had that macho thing going, and he was impossible to instruct in gun safety because he was young and insecure, so he couldn't fully submit to another man's instruction in front of his wife. Toward the end of the day, he swept my midsection with a loaded .44 magnum. Scared the pee outta me.

The point being that in some countries gun rights are so suppressed that the people never develop even a primordial sense of gun safety. My guess is that the average gun-ignorant American knows that it's not OK to point a gun at someone unintentionally. They would know it because they watch TV and read the papers, and they live in the context of a culture in which other people may own guns, even if they themselves do not. But I would think that for people who come from cultures where guns are completely banned, and only cops and robbers have them, they never have the opportunity to develop even a modicum of common sense regarding guns.

[cougartex]

The last time I renewed my CHL (Nov. 2010), a Texas resident with a green card was in the class to renew his CHL.

[Beiruty]

your friend not only can legally buy firearms but have CHL too. going to the range is not a crime. Let him shoot!

Sorry your information about your friend is totally wrong. I am permanent resident, own firearms and have a CHL too. I recieved professional training in handguns.

Just curious but any plans on becoming a citizen or are you planning on remaining just a permanent resident?

Sometime, after July 2012, I would be so. I just hope to make i before the elections.

[jamisjockey]

Japanese travel agencies used to book tours to the US so that Japanese citizens could have the experience of shooting guns. They were tourists, without green cards, and it was totally legal. For all I know, they're still doing it. As long as your friend is in the country legally, there is no problem.

If he's here illegally, you should report him to INS.

About a year ago, my son and I took a couple who work with my son to the range to teach them both how to shoot. The husband was from Honduras, and the wife was from El Salvador. They are here legally, but they are resident aliens, not citizens. BTW, she turned out to be a good student, but he had that macho thing going, and he was impossible to instruct in gun safety because he was young and insecure, so he couldn't fully submit to another man's instruction in front of his wife. Toward the end of the day, he swept my midsection with a loaded .44 magnum. Scared the pee outta me.

The point being that in some countries gun rights are so suppressed that the people never develop even a primordial sense of gun safety. My guess is that the average gun-ignorant American knows that it's not OK to point a gun at someone unintentionally. They would know it because they watch TV and read the papers, and they live in the context of a culture in which other people may own guns, even if they themselves do not. But I would think that for people who come from cultures where guns are completely banned, and only cops and robbers have them, they never have the opportunity to develop even a modicum of common sense regarding guns.

There are still places in Hawaii that advertise in half english half japanese signs about shooting at their gun ranges.

[74novaman]

Sometime, after July 2012, I would be so. I just hope to make i before the elections.

Well I wish you luck then!

[Ameer]

As far as I know, it is not illegal to teach anything because doing so would be protected under the First Amendment.

What about this? It may be legal to explain to a known felon how to shoot a firearm in theory, but if you take them to a shooting range and hand them a firearm, I think you and they are both breaking the law.

For DrJ's question, there's no Federal or Texas laws I know against teaching someone with a green card to shoot, and they can even purchase guns in the USA. I also don't know any Federal or Texas laws against foreigners with a tourist or student visa shooting at a shooting range as my guest, but I personally wouldn't sell them a gun to be on the safe side.

[A-R]

I taught a pair of German citizens here visiting how to shoot this past summer. And the young man - who had lots of experience playing American video games and knew names like Glock and Sig Sauer from the video games, but had never held a real gun in his life - was a natural . Hitting bullseyes at 7 yards within 10 minutes. When the afternoon was over, they both had range cards and B27 targets with lots of holes in them to take back to Germany as souvenirs. Fun day all around.

[srothstein]

Japanese travel agencies used to book tours to the US so that Japanese citizens could have the experience of shooting guns. They were tourists, without green cards, and it was totally legal. For all I know, they're still doing it.

Thanks for posting this. I seemed to remember reading several years ago about a couple ranges in Hawaii that would rent full-auto weapons. They advertised their range in Japan and the Philippines and specialized in tours for shooting amongst those two groups. I was hesitant to post it because I wasn't sure if I remembered it correctly or not.

[SlowDave]

Have taken visitors from other countries, even China, to the range. What's the rule on felons? Not able to own a gun? For x number of years or forever or what? Didn't know that. Know they're restricted from CHL but that's a different deal. I can't think of any law that says anything near "____ is not allowed to operate a firearm." IMHO, YMMV, FWIW, IANAL, etc.

[MasterOfNone]

Have taken visitors from other countries, even China, to the range. What's the rule on felons? Not able to own a gun? For x number of years or forever or what? Didn't know that. Know they're restricted from CHL but that's a different deal. I can't think of any law that says anything near "____ is not allowed to operate a firearm." IMHO, YMMV, FWIW, IANAL, etc.

PC §46.04. UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF FIREARM. (a) A person who has been convicted of a felony commits an offense if he
possesses a firearm:
(1) after conviction and before the fifth anniversary of the person's release from confinement following conviction of the felony or the person's release from supervision under community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision, whichever date is later; or
(2) after the period described by Subdivision (1), at any location other than the premises at which the person lives.

A felon cannot possess a firearm outside his home ever. But that's the felon's offense, not the instructor's, though I do not recommend knowingly providing a firearm to a felon.