A few years ago I volunteered at my local club to instruct in an "Introduction to USPSA". I taught the Rules of Competition, and coached new shooters on techniques which they would find useful.
And although almost every student in the class was familiar with the Three Rules of Safe Shooting, I boiled it down to One Sacred Rule:
DO NOT SCARE THE RANGE OFFICER!
If a student, at the end of a stage, reached down to pick up his dropped magazine before holstering his pistol, I yelled STOP!
I was scared that he would trigger a round into his hand. (Sure, he had already cleared his pistol because I was standing there to ensure that he had done so. But what if he was practicing alone on the range and there was nobody there to tell him to "unload and show clear" and "holster"?) The training was as much in safety as in competition; and if they didn't learn range safety ... they failed.
One of the stages I set up for them was to start facing up-range with a loaded gun; at the buzzer, turn and engage the targets.
I would stand one foot in front of them while they were facing uprange. I would look right in his eyes, and say: "okay, at the buzzer, turn and draw and engage the targets. If you draw before you turn, your gun will be pointed at my feet. Don't do that. "
Because Rule One was always: "Don't Scare The Range Officer!!!"
New shooters are usually apprehensive; the scary ones are those who are not apprehensive.
One weekend (the weekend immediately following the class) I attended a match where three of my new students were on their "maiden match". After one of the students (the cocky one) finished his stage and returned to the spectator area to reload magazines, I stood on the other side of the counter and confronted him, saying:"Nice run. Now what did you do wrong?"I don't know.That earned me a dirty look, because I was treating him like a newby. Which he was.
What did the RO say when you finished shooting? Exactly?Uh ... "if you are finished unload and show clear. If clear, hammer down and holster."
And what did you do next?Uh ... I cleared, then picked up my magazine.
And did you sweep yourself because you hadn't holstered?No, I did not.
No, but The RO didn't say "The Range Is Clear" so you could be DQ'd even though you had finished the stage and the gun was unloaded.
His range experience had been unsupervised for the years he had been shooting ... and he was a military veteran with lots of range time. He thought he knew all the important stuff.
But he had not learned to shoot competitively under the direction of Range Safety Officer who was using the required commands to ensure the safety of everyone ... not least the shooter himself.
Both USPSA and IPSC (and other organized competitive shooting sports) consider SAFETY to be the most important consideration; which is a difficult concept for very competitive people to assimilate because all they think about is to get good hits as quickly as humanly possible. They want to be winners.
Range officers accept that, but their most important consideration is the safety of everyone on the range. They want everybody to be survivors. (Okay, then there's obeying the stage rules, the range rules, and not using the "F-bomb" every time a reload fails ....)
ORIGINAL ARTICLE FROM OMAHA OUTDOORS: *overlink*
How to Look Like a Pro on Your First Gun Range Trip - Omaha Outdoors: Those who are safe with firearms, and those who are unsafe with firearms. This is the only criteria I use to judge shooters. I don’t think I’m alone in this – it’s how I evaluate the professionalism and competence of those around me at the range and it’s how others do, too. Whether you go to a structured shooting range or an unofficial shooting spot in the desert or the woods, very few people are going to care about the type of gun you have or how many times you shot (or didn’t shoot) the bullseye. Everyone is going to care if you point a gun at them.
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