MN Firearms Safety

Do our students benefit from hands on training?  Bob and I have prided ourselves on our classroom interactivity of having real firearms available to students to pick up, inspect and learn about.  We have always felt it to be one of the most important aspects of learning firearms safety in our classes.  But does it make a difference?

We got our answer this weekend.  In between the spattering of rains on Saturday, Bob and I headed to the Minnetonka Sportsmen’s range to enjoy a bit of shooting.  One of the reasons for the trip to the range was to bring a young friend there so he could shoot ‘big bore’ rifles for the first time.  Coincidentally, this young friend had recently completed a Firearms’ Safety class successfully, but was limited on his range day to shooting a .22 rifle and a shotgun and he had expressed an interest in doing some shooting with the big guns (maybe he meant Bob and I?)

As with any new shooter, Bob and I didn’t expect perfection when it came to hitting the target at 100 yards.  On the trip to the range, we talked about his hands on experience during his classes and were surprised to learn that the firearms in his class were held only by the instructors and that class time consisted mainly of “the instructors standing in front of the class talking for three hours.”  Given this tidbit of information, we independently prepared ourselves to provide a bit of orientation about the rifles we brought with us, such as the various methods of loading a magazine and the variety of sights and scopes that were included.

But we were completely blindsided by the lack of practical knowledge our guest had, and I make this statement even after, in hindsight, reflecting on how nervous our novice likely was, given he was joining two old timers who had been shooting forever, and who also happened to be firearms’ safety instructors.  First up for our new shooter, was a semi-automatic rifle and since it wasn’t loaded when it came out of the case, the action was locked open. (And to our students, why would this be?).  When it was apparent that he wasn’t able to load the magazine, a few minutes of instruction were provided and three rounds were successfully loaded.  As he picked up the rifle to get it into position, he looked it over cautiously and asked, “so where is the safety?”

As the afternoon progressed, our guest was able to shoot a lot of different rifles with a good mix of actions.  It was surprising on how he lacked the knowledge of how the various actions worked, the numerous locations of the safety on the rifles, and even the comfortable way to hold the firearms when bench shooting.  To Bob and me, it was eye-opening; his lack of hands on with firearms in his class was obvious by his shyness and lack of knowledge of the functional part of the firearms.

Now, just as a clarification, our young shooter was very aware of his surroundings and had excellent muzzle control of each and every rifle he picked up.  He exhibited great respect for each rifle and handled all of them in a safe and responsible manner.  Although his shooting skills were that of a greenhorn, he had a good understanding of the technical safety provided through his firearms’ safety class; he just lacked the practical experience we hope each of our students learns from our extensive hands on approach.

Our shooting guest had a great time and after roughly two hours of rifle shooting, the three of us gathered up our stuff and headed away from the range.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon for all of us and each of us gained a valuable experience.  To our new shooter, he had the opportunity to learn about rifles, the various actions, where safeties can be located, and how to properly sight in a target.  And Bob and I, we learned no matter how experienced you are, after two hours of rifle shooting, your shoulder is still going to hurt, and that students in our firearms safety class definitely have a heads up when it comes to a hands on experience.