Notice how the guy on the right doesn’t even know how much in danger he was!!
Actually, I give the guy who stopped her from turning around more credit, he was paying attention.
I’ve developed a habit of standing back when a brand new shooter is on the line firing a gun for the first few rounds, especially if it’s a youngster and/or a girl. The need to turn around and say “wow did you see that?” overwhelms all logic.
I learned a long time ago to only load one round in the gun for someone who has never shot one. One time I was going to let this girl shoot my Taurus 9MM. I loaded the gun and held it out, pointed down range, for her to hold. Before I had a chance to explain what to do she pulls the trigger, drops the gun on the ground, and ran off screaming.
I just went downstairs and gave Mrs. KintlaLake a big ol’ hug. I’m a lucky guy.
She puts up with you when you try to pirouette at the range with a loaded gun in your hand, does she?
Best way we’ve found to stay sharp.
You guys crack me up.
My X-girlfriend had the worst muzzle discipline. No matter how many times she was corrected by me and anyone else she shot with she never really improved. It used to piss me off so much then I found out the source (my theory of the source that is). I went shooting with her and her father. Now imagine in that video if the guy behind the girl never corrected he about sweeping the muzzle across anyone or having any muzzle discipline, imagine if he just laughed and told her to try again. That is pretty much what my Xs father had been doing since she was a kid. Now she is a 27 year old girl who has no concept of firearms safety. What makes it even worse is she has been shooting with her dad for like 20 years or so and since by some kind of freaking miracle nothing bad ever happened, she now has no respect for a guns danger. I don’t know, thats my theory, although my friends like the she was blond theory better.
I’m guessing no on the blonde theory:
Hmm! Maybe your right.
Is she single?
Not anymore.
I start with explaining the basic elements of the firearm; muzzle, trigger, grip/stock, safety, magazine, chambering operation, ammunition, sights.
Then field strip the gun, show the internal parts and operational mechanism.
Show them how to load a magazine and the direction of cartridges in the magazine. Unload the magazine and let them load one magazine.
Reiterate the muzzle, trigger, safety. Keep the muzzle pointed to the targets at all times, do not touch the trigger until ready to shoot. Reiterate the sights and how they are suppose to line up, draw a pictograph of what they are supposed to see when looking over/through the sights. Leave the pictograph on the bench so they can look at it if they feel the need.
+1 on the one round for first timers. Let them load that one round in the magazine every time. I bring the weapon into condition two, put it on safe, have them stand ready, hand the gun, get them ready to shoot, I get the gun into cond. one and I take off the safety for them the first few times. I stand behind them and leave about 1-2 inch of space between the first timer and me with my hands ready to grab their arms in case they turn around.
If they show muzzle awareness and basic weapon discipline we go up to 2+1, then 4+1. I like to throw a dud-round in the mix to see where they point the muzzle, looking backwards for help, when the hammer dropped and nothing happened.
All the time I watch them carefully. If I feel comfortable that they show respect for the weapon, their surroundings and fellow shooters, I let them have some fun and give them 1-2 foot of space.
If possible I also let them clean the weapon they used afterwards.
Darn!
Rik, Thats a great practice to get people started, sounds like you got all the bases covered. Do you tell them the 4 rules at anytime?
I wake them up in the middle of the night and if they can’t rattle off the four rules within 30 seconds they have to perform 30 push-ups on the spot and don’t get any bacon with breakfast
Scary was watching a an idiot giving a full mag to an eight year old to shoot thru a full auto mac-11.
I suggested he give him three rounds to start to see if he could handle it but he would not listen.
The kid didn’t put more than a third of the mag over the berm.
I packed up and left.
And don’t forget about these two other blond women USPSA shooters, both are fantastic competitors :
and
Don’t tell me they’re not single either:p
JK, in all seriousness though I think the first time someone goes shooting is one of the most powerful and memorable in their lives. Thats why it is imperative that they are taught correctly from the beginning.
The first one is dating a World IPSC/USPSA Champion and the 2nd is married to a Federal Officer!
All three of the women competitors pictured can probably outshoot 98.5% of the men of this forum.
I have no doubt about that. I’ve noticed since i got into the whole internet forum thing not too long ago that most people in the forums don’t actually shoot their guns. People can do whatever they want with their guns it’s just funny to me as all my friends that i know in person who own guns also enjoy shooting them.
With new shooters I either stand back or close enough to them that they couldn’t point the weapon at me if they tried.
Back before I became certified by the NRA as a Basic Pistol Instructor, I was introducing a girl I was dating to shooting. I would load 5 rounds and have her shoot my Glock 19. After she finished, she would drop her shooting hand and let the gun sweep back behind her.
I would correct her each time to which she would reply: “Why? it’s empty.” After about the sixth time, I loaded six rounds and stayed to her left. She fired five and sure enough, she swept the gun back. I then told her to point the gun down range and pull the trigger once again. She looked at me kinda puzzled but complied. The look on her face when that gun fired was enough to tell me she learned her lesson.
She never took an “unloaded” gun for granted for the rest of the range session. I wonder how’s she’s doing nowadays? 