Soap wrote:Is it possible that some people just can't handle using a firearm? I know a very smart person. They can't seem to understand basic firearms safety. I was raised on hunting and fishing. I'm all into tactical firearms now. My grandfather put me on revolvers and bolt action/lever action rifles. I sometimes wonder if he knew I would get so obsessed with military type rifles.
My point is, I've been trying to show someone who has never shot guns before, how to shoot. I taught my wife, and she has learned QUICK. She now has her carry permit and knows a lot about guns and procedures of carrying. She takes classes as well. However, I have this friend I've been trying to teach. They're not dumb by any means but they just don't understand. They always have their finger on the trigger and the other day pointed the gun at me several times. We were shooting 22lr handguns. I explained everything and constantly showed them. I let them hold the gun and get used to it unloaded. We practiced with no ammo for about 20 minutes. Yet, it comes time to shoot and they still can't get the basic rules down. Towards the end they finally were hitting the target at a decent group. They learned how to shoot but not safety. They have rifles down pat, and we were at a range that was bench only. So I never noticed anything unsafe. We move to some land a week later and shoot pistols. All the freedom means safety went out the window for them.
I'm not sure how to pound safety into them. My grandfather would just beat me if I did something stupid, hint, I never did something this stupid. lol
I was teaching someone to shoot pistols once, using my guns. We had worked our way up from .22 to .44 magnum. Twice he swept me at fairly close range across the midsection with a loaded .44 magnum, and his finger on the trigger. This was after I had spent hours showing him and his wife how to shoot, beginning with a teaching session going over the safety rules, handling unloaded guns, and how to load and unload using dummy cartridges, etc., etc. So he had been told several times. I warned him each time he swept me, very firmly, to keep the muzzle pointed down range at all times and finger off the trigger until ready to shoot. He was dismissive and told me it was OK because he had control of the gun. I think his real issue was that he didn't want to look bad in front of his wife, and it was a cultural machismo thing. His wife, on the other hand, was a delight. She paid attention, made safety a priority, and she shot better than him because she
listened. I think that is why he got all macho. If he had just paid attention too, he'd have been fine. But because he had repeatedly put the importance of his posturing above the importance of safety, I told him that his shooting day was over after the 2nd time he swept me with that .44 mag.
You should do the same thing. Tell your friend that, until he takes the rules
seriously, he's done shooting. If he can't understand what "seriously" means, tell him that "seriously" means DOING it, not just paying lip service to it. Tell him that what he was doing is EXACTLY how people get negligently shot dead at shooting ranges, and you care enough about him to not place him in a position where he could negligently shoot someone.......particularly if you turn out to be his victim.
I now tell people whom I'm introducing to shooting that when I see a safety violation, I'll warn them ONCE. If I see it again, we're done for the day, no exceptions.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
#TINVOWOOT
), eventually it will start to sink it.