MN Firearms Safety

Well, the class went off without problem and as instructors, we learned a few things again.  Our students, hopefully, learned a lot, and by the test results, field day activities and comment cards completed by the students, they did a good job and enjoyed themselves immensely.  As instructors, what more can we ask for?

As is normal, as the range test day drew near, the excitement from our students increased exponentially.  We have always dedicated at least 45 minutes of the class before the range test to go over the expectations, rules and answer the hundreds of questions the student raise.  And this year was no exception; questions abounded and everyone was able to leave the class well prepared for the experience.  I wonder how many students were able to sleep well the night before?

Early Saturday morning brought sunshine through a light haze of clouds and predictions were mid 70’s to 80 degrees, a wonderful day for the range test!  There is nothing more frustrating as an instructor than having to be in adverse weather for the morning, with forty students showing signs of disappointment because the exciting day was ruined by rains.  It appeared this year, the weather was going to cooperate, and maybe even be the nicest it has been in the nine years we have been doing this; I count the hot and humid days as not nice weather too.

Range testing was to begin at 8:30, so the instructors showed up at 7:30 to get the range prepared.  An hour is normally quite adequate to get things done; setting up the .22 range, shotgun range and rifle range just takes good organization and a few minutes.  Bob and I put our lives on the line when we snuck 10 yards into the woods to put the tree stand up and to hang the camo shirt and blaze orange shirts in trees to see how many students would see both when they take their field walks.  I say put our lives on the line because the mosquitoes were thick and obviously had not eaten in a few days!

But by 8:00 and before everything was even close to ready, over half our students had arrived and were waiting anxiously in the parking lot.  One thing to be said on that, the first is when we mixed, ‘don’t be late’ with ‘zero tolerance’ it was quite apparent that our students felt that being late would violate the zero tolerance rule.  A good sign when instructors talk in class, students listen!  I will pat myself on the back; Bob can too.

Our visiting instructor, Bruce, was able to keep the students entertained.  Random questions were asked and instead of accepting a raised hand for an answer, Bruce also randomly selected students to answer the questions.  So here we have a certified instructor, who has only once introduced himself to our class, quizzing the students, and our students were giving one to one correct answers.  As entertaining as it was to Bob and me, I think that in retrospect, we were both quite proud that our students were able to matter-of- factly, respond quickly with correct answers.  If Bob and I missed this on the final class day, thank you to each and every student for paying attention in class and taking the class seriously.

A quick explanation of how our stations were going to work and it was really close to 9:00, the official shooting time for the range.  We all headed off to our designated locations and prepared for the “Nine o’clock burst” of fire power.  On my way to the .22 range, I made a passing comment to an adult about the western skies, something like, “I think we are in trouble.” 

The clouds were becoming much thicker and dark grey.  These weren’t the kind that just block out the sun, but these were those that make rain fall to the earth, but not this morning, please??? 

Our class was divided into four groups of nine or ten.  Group one had a great time shooting at my range, as did the second group.  As the third group was gathering and getting set up for shooting, the sprinkles began to fall, but not hard enough to stop me from forging onward.  About half way through group three, Bruce appeared and advised from his unencumbered view, there was substantial lightning occurring and he had pulled the field activities for fear of the students holding lightning rods.  And as Bruce turned around to leave, the skies opened up with big, wet waterdrops that sent us running to the canopy at the fifty yard mark.  (Mental note:  Each student that was shooting at the time removed the magazine and double played the action to ensure the rifles were not loaded as they prepared to leave for the canopy, without being instructed to do so; another happy instructor moment.)

With their targets 50 yards away, the third group finished its shooting from under the canopy, charged down range when it was closed, to gather their targets and yes, I was forced out of the protection to install the last six targets for group four.  With me dripping a bit, group four conducted all of its shooting from the dryness under the canopy, and their shooting was really quite well considering the extended distance.

Students were dismissed and clean up began just as the last of the rain had fallen from those nasty clouds.  Yet again, Minnesota weather was able to teach students and instructors a very important field lesson, be prepared for all types of weather!