Those who can, do; those who cannot, teach

For the past eight years, I have been the instructor at my local club in a program of "Introduction to USPSA".  It was an opportunity to introduce new shooters to USPSA competition (which I have been active in since 1983), and gave me something to look forward to in every month.

I kept telling myself that I was donating my time as a way of "giving back to the sport".   In truth, since my eyesight has degraded over the years, it was a way of keeping my hand in it, since I was no longer able to see well enough to be competitive.

But last month, I slept through the beginning of my class.  I had to phone the range and tell them that I was unable to attend.

That was a personal disappointment to me, not only because I had several students who wondered where I was, but because it was one of the best parts of my month.   And I slept through it!

The club thought I was "giving back to the sport";  while I enjoyed meeting new shooters and sharing the insights of rules of safety which I had learned over 30+ years of Competition. I had an intrinsic interest in teaching new shooters how to be safe.  It was the best part of my month, and I always looked forward to it.

AS a consequence, I announced to my home club that I was retiring.  Because I was unable to even show up for a scheduled class, it was obvious that I was no longer competent and they should no longer schedule the class.  (I hope they found someone else to take over the class, but I haven't heard from them on that issue..)

It's disappointing to give up one of the few activities which allow me time on the range.   And it was embarrassing to read the emails from the scheduled attendees who asked me "WTF?"

But when it's time to retire ... you know it.  And I knew it.

The gun club was very understanding, and they even provided me an honorarium in the form of a gift card from WalMart.   I hadn't expected that, but it was touching to learn that they appreciated my small contribution to gun-safety at USPSA matches there.

I don't think anyone realized that I had donated eight years of once-a-month class instruction because it was the only way I could enjoy the sport in which I had participated for so many decades.  (In truth, while I was still able to compete, I wanted to ensure that the people  I was competing against had the best instruction on rules and safety ... but it it eventually became more important that I got to meet New Shooters, and none of them ever disappointed me by being an unsafe shooter!)

I'll miss the class, and the opportunity to meet new shooters.   But when your time is through, it's better to gracefully yield to the inevitable, than to fight against it.

It's all about safety, after all.

Firearms Safety Classes: Teaching "Beginners"

It surprises me to learn that some people dismiss the challenge of teaching "Beginning Shooter" classes.

Rodney Dangerfield must’ve taught beginners | Cornered Cat:

 ... teaching beginners is the most dangerous and difficult task any shooting instructor ever faces. And yet we tend to look down on people who teach such classes. Even instructors sometimes look down on themselves for not teaching ‘real’ classes.

I've been teaching "advanced" classes for eight years, and I have never volunteered to teach "Beginners" because I'm a big coward.

Sometimes, though, it's impossible to avoid that challenge; this is especially true when beginners over-value their gun-handling skills because of ignorance, or bad habits which can be developed because they have become accustomed to handling guns without proper supervision.
Because  they over-rate their gun-handling skills, they often sign up for "advanced" courses ... and they show up at one of my "Introduction to USPSA" classes because they expect me to teach them the advanced techniques of skills they haven't already developed for themselves.

Ultimately, though, no matter how "experienced" the student population may seem to be ... we are all "beginners" when it comes to learning new techniques ... such as drawing from a holster, and competing under the pressure-cooker of a limited amount of time to competitively complete a course of fire.

This is the purpose of the first hour of an "Introduction to USPSA" class which I teach monthly; it is designed to identify and correct "bad" gun-handling practices.

Even though I'm careful to confirm that my students are experienced ...(and during the first hour ... the "Lecture" hour ... of a class, I ask each student to describe his/her experience with his pistol,, with competitive shooting and simply "Drawing From The Holster") ... I am still surprised by the occasional student who seems "Unclear On The Concept".

This class was originally envisioned as an "Advanced Course"; designed to hone skills which have already been learned and practiced, but not to the level of achievement needed to compete successfully.  Over the six or seven years I've been teaching it, the course has been modified to teach competent, experienced pistol shooters to compete in a narrow range of gun-handling skills specifically tailored for competition.

Unfortunately, it has been interpreted by prospective students as a class which would teach only 'advanced' (slightly) 'gun-handling skills' for people who have never learned to draw from the holster and engage a myriad of targets.

Well .. that's okay by me.  I can do that.  In fact, I think it's a better use of my time, because the people who already compete in USPSA classes probably already think they know everything they need to know, and this class may serve to introduce new competitors to the sport.

But I don't willingly teach "beginner" students; still, from time to time I find myself confronted by students who are unfamiliar with the controls of his/her firearm ("oh, this gun doesn't have a safety") or who do not know how to safely draw and re-holster a firearm, or whose grip is unsafe.

Even so, the class still serves several useful purposes.

Every year I have to correct the grip of at least one unsafe  student who practices the "Left Thumb Over The Right Wrist" grip, because he/she is unaware that the slide on a semi-automatic pistol WILL recoil and chew their support-hand thumb!

I suspect that these people are accustomed to shooting revolvers, in which practice it is a viable technique to manage recoil.

However, when shooting semi-automatic pistols, gripping your pistol so that your thumb is in the way of the slide-recoil is a Bad Habit because if you put your thumb in the path of a recoiling slide, you  may need to spend an uncomfortable period of time learning to shoot a semi-automatic pistol without benefit of the supporting thumb.  That recoiling slide will at least break your thumb; and that is the BEST outcome you should expect.

So keep your thumb along the side of the grip, and you won't be hiring a surgeon to replace your thumb with your big toe.

No, I'm not kidding about this.

There are several indications that The Student is not  competent to undertake an Advanced Pistol Course:

• The Student cannot holster his/ pistol using one hand, without using the other hand to find where his holster is. We can teach this, even though it may not be the most 'important' lesson;
• The Student cannot find his safety without looking, or does not automatically "safe" his pistol when holstering.  This should not be part of an advanced course, but it is still important.
• The Student is unaware that his pistol, if so equipped, has a thumb safety which must be engaged before holstering; and which must be dis-engaged up on the draw; I'm not sure that this student is ready for a competition course, but perhaps he/she missed the "Introduction" course.  Better that they learn it here than not know it at all;
• The student, when responding to commands or instruction when holding his/her pistol, pivots his/her body in such a manner as to point his/her pistol at the instructor when receiving instructions.  I'd rather this student learn from a different instructor; I get nervous when people point guns at me!

One of the most difficult of "Bad Habits which a "new competitor must overcome is the nonchalant gun-handling skills which one develops when he goes to the range in a casual environment of "shooting at the range with friends", 

This encourages them to leave handguns on the counter, to casually be picked up and otherwise handled without supervision,

Even though I invariably announce that the ("New Shooter") class will be taught using USPSA rules of gun handling, I still see students wandering around the shooting bay with a pistol in their hand, usually with the purpose of asking me a question about some semi-obscure nuance of gun-handling practices.

Perhaps I need to loudly announce: "STARTING NOW! to emphasize the onset of strict firearm safety practices on the range.  One would expect that intelligent firearms owners would understand immediately, but they have been desensitized by years of casual firearms-handling practices.

(That's what you get when you go to the range with "friends", who excuse your execrable gun\-handling habits.  They are not your friends, if they let you get away with being unsafe.Still, the course advances the purpose of training pistol-shooters in "best practices" of safely handling a pistol.)

They do not realize that the rules of safe gun-handling are in effect ANY time you are shooting.  Even in the company of close friends (who are willing to forgive you if you are an unsafe dork).

If you are in my class, and you break tis basic rule of Firearms Safety ... I won't forgive you.
In fact, I'll yell at you.  With any luck, I'll embarrass you in front of your friends; perhaps I'll convince you that you should never carry a gun.

Then you need to convince me (and yourself) that you are Competent.
That's the best possible outcome of a training session.

Tourniquets ,,, ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE QUALIFIED?

Nice article about saving a life by applying a tourniquet.

Amid Chicago gun violence, public campaign aims to help keep victims from bleeding to death - Chicago Tribune:

 Doctors said that if Watson and his partner, Paul Moreno, hadn’t taken those steps after the October 2016 shooting, the teen probably would not have survived. Medical experts say anyone can employ a few basic techniques to achieve the same results when confronted with a life-and-death scenario. And a public service campaign called “Stop the Bleed” aims to do just that: teach bystanders to save someone’s life by learning basic blood-stemming techniques. Stop the Bleed is a national effort established by the White House in 2015 as one response to the Sandy Hook mass school shooting three years before. It aims to arm civilians with skills and bleeding control kits to provide crucial aid in an emergency until medical professionals can take over.

(EMPHASIS ADDED!)
I'm not sure I would have done that.

Not that I'm not a compassionate and caring person, but there are a couple of cautionary notes that YOU should be aware of before YOU apply a tourniquet to an injured and bleeding limb.

1. If you shut of the blood supply to a limb, the tissues in that limb will begin to die immediately because it isn't getting the blood it needs.  If you shut off the blood supply long enough (say, for the sake of discussion, 15 minutes) the limb may begin to atrophy. Read: "ROT".
2. If you save someone from bleeding to death, but in the process that person loses a limb due the drastic life-saving measures you undertook with the most humanitarian motives, you may be subject to a civil suit.  Unless you are a trained medical professional, you may lose the suit, should you choose to fight it.  It's like saving someone by kneeling on their chest so they can't breath ... you have possibly exacerbated the situation.  (Okay, that wasn't the best example, except that it was an 'emergency procedure' which you thought was appropriate ... except in that specific instance it wasn't.)
3. If/when you go to court, you might be congratulated for attempting to save live and/or limb, but that's in the first hour of testimony.   After a certain point, your attorney might suggest that you agree to a 'lesser' civil penalty (eg: agree to a $100,000 payment instead of contesting a $1,000,000 payment) because .. well, you DID apply a tourniquet to the young girl's arm, and she DID have her arm amputated because the flesh was necrotic.  If you had delayed in applying such an "extreme" measure, she may NOT have died from blood loss but she certainly would NOT have had her arm amputated in the next week.
4. ...

I'm not sure there is a "Point 4" here.  There are too many cautionary tales in the first three points, and I strongly suggest that you refer to other sources because I am neither a medical nor a legal professional; this is information which I received during "First aid/Traumatic Care" training in Basic, and again in NCOC training in the army.  (They weren't worried about civil penalties, they were worried about the best care for a wounded comrade. The training cadre envisioned much more frequent injuries, much more dramatic causes ... AK47 rounds or booby traps as the cause, which  cause injuries which are much more traumatic than, for example, a simple compound fracture.)  

[You should hear what they had to say about treating a wounded comrade who has had his jaw shot off!  STEP ONE: PULL HIS TONGUE OUT OF HIS THROAT AND TURN HIS HEAD TO THE SIDE, SO HE DOESN"T ASPHYXIATE HIMSELF OR DROWN IN HIS OWN BLOOD!]

Once again ... if you are concerned that someone may need your immediate care to keep from bleeding to death from some sort of lacerating injury ... go get professional training and earn some kind of certificate which documents that you HAVE been trained in this kind of emergency and you ARE qualified to make this kind of dramatic remedial care  (using a tourniquet on an injured limb).

If you don't do that, and you are faced with the situation and you do NOT apply a tourniquet ... and the patient suffers from your lack of care?  Guess what?  You're possibly still vulnerable from a lawsuit because of your refusal to apply whatever immediate care steps you might have been (sort of) trained in.

Appendix Carry for USPSA/IPSC

It was cold, with moments of  "chilly"(46 degrees with wind and occasional sprinkles of rain) at the range today when I conducted my monthly Introduction to USPSA class.


I had only two students, which is approximately two more than I had expected to show up because of the "iffy" weather. 

But I think I may have learned as much as my 'students' did, although I haven't had time to think through the lesson.   I'll call them "Arnold Appendix" and "Kevin Kydex" for convenience.

One ("Arnold") was using an "Appendix Carry" holster, concealed carry ... his t-shirt covered his pistol.  The other ("Kevin") had a 'standard" belt-mounted Kydex holster which he had fastened to his belt at the hip ... not 'concealed' at all.

Arnold was very subtly concealed, and Kevin was open-carry.  Both seemed to be familiar with their firearms and performed adequately in terms of being accurate and 'fast' shooters.

But neither of them were able to re-holster their pistols without actually looking to see where their holster was at.

I had mentioned to Arnold that his holster was not particularly "competitive", in terms of being able to get it into action quickly, but both shooters managed to get their first-shot on the target with some consistency, even at targets placed at 20 yards distance, in about a 3 second draw-time.   So I guess the difference between "concealed" and "convenient" was dependent on how they had become accustomed to accessing their guns  (I doubt that Kevin went "open carry" as much as Arnold went "concealed carry", which speaks well for Arnold.)

Most of the targets I set up for them were at 7-10 yard distance, so it was perhaps a learning moment when they realized that they had to take more time to get hits at longer distances.  (Both were shooting DAO firearms.)

It was rewarding to me to process shooters who were experienced (although not in competitive pistol shooting) and familiar with their handguns.  Often, I find that I spend more time on 'weapons familiarity' than teaching competitive tactics.

The only criticism I can suggest is that both participants demonstrated difficulty in finding their holster when they had completed the stage and needed to re-holster their pistols.  They often had to look down to find their holster.  And of course Arnold had to pull his t-shirt up to reveal his holster.

Which is why I made the "not particularly competitive" comment to Arnold.  It was not a criticism, because both shooters were competent, and I didn't get the feeling that I had to teach them the basics of gun-handling, but only focus on the competition factors.   And to be entirely honest, Arnold managed to draw and fire from his appendix carry as quickly as Kevin did from his side-holster.

(Observation #1: it's curious that I seem to be 'teaching' experienced shooters who are familiar with their firearms during the cold months more often than during the clement periods.)

(Observation  #2: It was especially educational when they were faced with the "Mandatory Reload" exercises ... I don't think that they had actually contemplated that performing a reload during a shooting exercise might be a valuable part of their skill-set.  Nice that I could teach them something.)

The Best part was that they were having fun. 

I cut them off short at 4pm because of cold, rain, and I was running out of new challenges for them.  Also, in The Great "Northwet" at this time of year the light fades quickly after that hour.   They were not exactly 'happy' about having to stop playing, but they were almost as ready to get in the truck and crank up the heater.

We were all chilling, and we didn't do enough "shoot and move" exercises to keep all of us warm; when you're one of only two shooters, it's uncomfortable to just stand and watch your partner get the run&gun play.

I was happy to award both of them with their Certificate of Completion for the class.  They already had the skills, needing only the occasional tweak in technique to accommodate bizarre Competition requirements.   And I think that is ... or should be ... the point of this class.  I don't mind teaching students the basics of gun handling, but that isn't really my job.

See: Teaching Nubies:

Teaching Nubies: Herding Cats

I teach a class in Introduction to USPSA (see: previous post).

The very first class I taught (about 8 or 10 years ago ... seems like longer) I had no NO experience in teaching a class but I had a decade or two of competition experience, so I thought I knew everything I needed to know to teach people how to shoot in USPSA competition.

I didn't know how little I knew, and neither did my home club (Albany Rifle and Pistol Club in Oregon).   So when I was approached by the club president to teach this class, I had no idea how little forethought had gone into the proposition by the club president.  He wanted to encourage people to participate in club matches (a money maker for the club) and thought it was a fine idea to find a willing sap member to teach the class. 

I was the Willing Sap. 

I had full control over the class; nobody else was willing to touch it.

The people who signed up for the class (there were 13 of them) were typically people who were not  ... through no fault of their own ...competent to shoot a pistol in any venue, let along in competition.  I had no help, no assistant, and I accepted anyone who showed up at the date and time and place designated.

Some of the people not only didn't know that they had to keep their pistol on 'safe" from time to time, they didn't even know that their pistol had a "safety catch"!

And it got worse from there; fortunately, nobody actually fired their pistol until they thought they were on target.  Other than that, it was like herding cats.

Some didn't know that part of IPSC-style competition involved reloading their pistol.  Others didn't know when, how or why to reload.  Of the 13 students, at least a few didn't know that when their pistol stopped working ... they didn't need to have permission from their instructor (me) to reload.

Some only had one or two magazines; there was no agreement among them about how many rounds they should load into their magazines.  Most expected the Range Officer (me) to tell them what to do next, why, or how. 

(I take back that comment about "herding cats"; Cats at least know how to yowl and run away.  There were times when I wished I was as wise as a cat; I stuck around, and tried to learn faster than my students.)

Since then, the club has initiated a number of 'supportive' classes, not the least of which have been "introduction to pistol shooting" where the students are taught all of the controls on their pistols, when why and how to use them, and what those 'controls' do.

I am very grateful that my club has been willing to learn as fast as they can.  The folks who pay for instruction on such courses as "Introduction to Pistol Shooting" get their money's worth.

More important, when they show up at my "Introduction to USPSA" class, they have been taught the rudiments.

Unfortunately, that class has often been scheduled immediately before the "Introduction to USPSA" class, which I teach.   People who take two classes "back-to-back" are sometimes overwhelmed by the instruction,

It may be a better plan to allow "new shooters" at least a week to assimilate the instructions that they have already been taught, before they are advanced to more complicated competitive techniques such as those which I teach.

ARPC might take notice of this, and consider rescheduling classes.  But I doubt it will happen.

The gun delusion

The Concord Monitor has offers an interesting opinion piece from Debra Marshall, who cautions us that:

"I’m not safe, and you’re not safe, if either of us is armed; and you’re deluding yourself if you think you’re well-trained in firearms."

Debra Marshall: The gun delusion:

A weapon [emphasis added] has just one purpose – to kill another human being. We all need to assume, very seriously, that anyone who possesses a weapon has every intention of pointing it at another human and attempting to kill them. Not maybe, not only if they have to – but absolutely. And that any person who carries their weapon around with them intends to do so at any moment, without warning. We would be fools to think otherwise, and fools to think that we won’t be their target.

AND ...

Specialized training doesn’t consist of taking pot-shots at a human-outline target in an indoor target shooting range. I don’t care what the range instructor told you – he lied. If you aren’t a member of a police force, military unit or related government agency with specialized weapons training, you have NOT received the training you need to be armed with a weapon and for me to be safe anywhere near you.

I agree with some of her arguments ... and disagree with others .... in whole or in part.

Which isn't really important.  It's still a fascinating screed, written by someone with experience and judgement.   That she evinces an inordinate amount of faith in the skills and training of Law Enforcement personnel only demonstrates that she believes a regular regimen of training is better than none at all.

Some people really SHOULD NOT be trusted with guns.

Most of them already know that.

But some of those who do not know that, are employed by municipal police departments.

A Credit To His Profession?

Secret Service special officer accidentally shoots himself while on duty:

A Secret Service special officer on Tuesday afternoon accidentally shot himself and is hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, according to the agency. A news release from the Secret Service said a special officer assigned to the Washington field office accidentally discharged his weapon while on duty.

I hope the Secret Service "special officer" (what does this mean?) recovers completely.

I see that the article published in the Washington Examiner includes the following note:

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the special officer involved in the incident as a "Secret Service agent," which is a different position. We regret the error and have pasted the full statement from the Secret Service below.

Weasel Words; I'll assume that "Special Officer" isn't a member of the Presidential Protection Team.
It's just that, we don't know what is the difference between a "Special Officer" and a "Secret Service Agent".   Don't we need to know?

If I Were A Conspiracy Theorist ...

I would wonder about the Rafael Prieto factor.

And,  I would suspect there's a Back Story which will never be told.    I doubt that this happened "Accidentally".

Inadvertently, perhaps, but it's been a long time since I saw a firearm discharge occur "accidentally".

The proper adverb might be "Negligently".  That makes me more comfortable, assuming "bad gun-handling expertise" rather than some Conspiracy Theory balderdash.

   Best guess ... holstering a pistol without ensuring that his finger was off the trigger.   Which is an "Amateur's "Accident".

Still ... we always have the example of (federal employee) ATF/DEA Agent Lee Paige:


Thanks, Lee; you make your fellow Federal Officer look good by comparison.

(He's still an idiot.)

'Training Day'

'Training Day' Stunt Costs Florida Sheriff's Deputy His Job - NBC News:

 MAY 08 A Florida sheriff's deputy loses his job after he allegedly reenacted a scene from the 2001 movie "Training Day," starring Denzel Washington as a corrupt detective.

(Waving his gun, waving his arms, acting erratically ...)

... I've actually seen people doing this sort of shenanigans, during training session. It looks like they're playing "Octopus" and the don't have control of their gun.

I have called their attention to it, and their response is "Huh?  What do you mean?  I don't do that When do I do that?!"

Usually it's during the "Unload and Show Clear" phase of a stage. I don't know of they are trying to put some "Style" into their routine or they are really that disjointed from reality.    They look like a dude, shooting his cuffs to show off his French cuff-links after donning a too-tight Italian-cut suit.

All I want them to do is to remove their magazine, rack the slide to eject any chambered round, the point the gun safely down range and pull the trigger to drop the hammer.  That proves that there is no live round left in the chamber.

Then ... holster the damn gun!

Is that too much to ask?

Instead they point their gun toward the sky at shoulder height or higher, shift their grip so their thumb is above the trigger guard, waggle the muzzle a couple of times while they try to find the mag release, push the button and drop the magazine.

In the meantime, their muzzle is pointed about eighty degrees above horizontal.   broke the 180!

I honestly don't know where they learned this shit, but I can't break them of their bad habits in the less than a half-hour of personal training which is devoted to them, in a large class.

I suppose I could shame them, but Damn!  I've seen GrandMasters point their gun into the sky when loading and unloading.  (No, I didn't DQ them, either.)

(sigh)  I guess the only thing I can do is to actually go to the next match, get squadded with them, and the next time they pull this shit .. DQ them.

NOT the best solution; other than some bad habits (which I failed to break them of, although I did bring it to their attention);   I have long decided that the best thing was NOT to break their spririt; let them go to a match and allow the Range Officer on the first stage where they pull this shit to DQ them.

Then they will say: "Oh, I did the same thing on my INTRO TO USPSA class, and I didn't get DQ'ed.

Upon which opportunity, the RO will say:  I'm not trying to keep you in The Sport; I'm trying to run a safe range.  You're not safe, and you are SOOOOoooo out of here~!"

I'm not perfect.

Nobody is.

Well, except for the Range Officers during an actually match.

Colorado considering sponsorship of Gun Ranges

I'm not from Colorado, but if my 'home state' decided to use the state taxes on firearms and ammunition sales they had collected from me to build gun ranges ... I'd think:  HOORAY!

Colorado senator taking another shot at government-funded gun ranges | Colorado Springs Gazette, News:

Is it the nanny state if the government is building gun ranges? Does it matter if bureaucrats are doling out tax dollars from purchases of guns and ammo? Does it change the equation if liberals are behind the government push to get gun owners to practice? Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, a Clintonite from Denver, is among a bipartisan quartet of senators behind legislation to use federal tax dollars to pay 90 percent of the cost for five years for states to build and run shooting ranges.

Anything that encourages firearms owners to practice is A Good Thing.  

This is the kind of program which could be expanded:
. Perhaps more firearms and ammunition sales would provide funding to teach Firearms Safety classes state-wide?
. Encourage (or fund, or subsidize) "Eddie Eagle" type programs?

Two-Faced about Colorado Carry Bill, because USPSA!

I find myself ... to my amazement ... giving credence to  Liberal cautionary remarks.

Gun bill to allow "constitutional carry" passes GOP-led committee:

 “If you’re legally eligible to possess a firearm, you should be able to carry that weapon concealed for self-defense without begging for government’s permission,” said Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton, the bill’s sponsor. He called it “common-sense legislation.”
 Mary Parker of Ken Caryl, who has a concealed-carry permit, opposed the bill. She said there’s not enough training required now to carry a gun, and allowing untrained people to walk around armed won’t end well.

I've been training people for six years now, and I've never rejected anyone from my "INTRODUCTION TO USPSA" class FOR THE SOLE REASON THAT they are a total incompetent.

That's why I'm there; to teach the "incompetents" to become competent.

Having said that, I admit that I've passed too many "Total Incompetents" through the training regimen.  Usually, they're just unfamiliar with the concept of "drawing from a holster" and it's obvious that they will improve with experience... so we treat that First Match as a "Training Experience" and allow them to continue.

If they're "irredeemably totally incompetent", they usually figure it out for themselves and they don't show up for the monthly matches (unless they have elicited some private/personal training; not a common thing.)

OTHER THAN THAT:

I've said it before, I'll say it again, here and now:

SOME PEOPLE SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO HANDLE A GUN!

S,C deputy: "It Just Went Off! I don't know how it happened!"

Was this another "Blame it on the Buckle" Incident?

Upstate deputy transported to hospital after accidentally shooting self, sheriff says:

Anderson County Sheriff's Office officials said that one of their own was taken to AnMed Hospital after accidentally shooting himself in the leg. Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper said that the deputy was coming home from an extra duty assignment at NewSpring Church. As he removed his gun from its holster, it went off and the bullet struck his leg, Skipper said. Skipper said the deputy is regularly assigned to Westside High School as their resource officer.

Somebody ought to shoot his Training Officer, too, for not teaching the deputy to keep his finger off the trigger until he's ready to shoot somebody.   (Preferably, somebody else!)

Considering that the deputy is a high school "resource officer", it might be a good idea to reassign him before he shoots a kid.

Either that, or fire him

PS:  The headline line quote I added wasn't in the article, but you can bet that's what he said to shis sheriff.

The YouTube School of USPSA Competition

I'm looking forward to teaching my Introduction to USPSA class this coming Saturday because it's going to be SO EASY!

The class is only 3 days away, and the sign-ups have been available for a month, but so far nobody has contacted me to pre-register!   Which is surprising, because it is sponsored by my home club, and we don't charge you for the class.

And it's too bad, because when you get a chance to learn about USPSA competition and it doesn't cost you anything but a few hours of your time (one Saturday afternoon) and a couple of boxes of ammunition.

That's a bargain that's hard to find.

 Looking at the USPSA website, I can't find any place where people can look up clubs which offer this training.  I think that information should be available for potential new shooters.   And I wouldn't expect to find it on the official website, because most of the people who are doing this training are offering private or semi-private lessons/classes.

But private classes take enough time to deal with each individual shooter to correct problems, provide guidance, and evaluate student performances.  Those which teach a group, rather than an individual, allow students to learn from each others' mistakes as well as their Good Practices.

One resource which I have found (for those who can't find or afford a private class) is You Tube.

I've spend the past  couple of evenings surfing YouTube channels for videos of training sessions.   I haven't seen anyone teaching an actual class, but several are available showing individual training sessions.

Unfortunately, even long videos don't show you everything you need to know to begin competing in USPSA matches.

Usually, the videos are limiting their content to one of three categories:

The Clue Meter: Gun Skool Thoughts, Part II

The Clue Meter: Gun Skool Thoughts, Part II:

 So, when talking to folks who have never been to formal training that did not involve everyone wearing the same clothes and addressing others as "Sergeant" or "Sir", I've found some... odd ideas.

(There's also a Gun Skool Thoughts, Part I.)

I thought Part I was okay, but Part II was bang on!

I found that the points made by the author were pertinent and important.   So you should go read it.

As you may have noticed, I have used the word *(I)* a lot already, and I will be using it all through this article; the reason is that I will be discussing my personal experience as a firearms trainer.

I've been instructing in a class named "INTRODUCTION TO USPSA" at my local club for the past six years now; sometimes nobody registers, my largest class has been 15 students, but the perfect class size is about 7 members.   That's enough for them to learn from each others' mistakes ... which is a powerful learning tool.

(I've talked about this a LOT over the past few years.  If you're heard it all before, this is a good point for you to move on to a much more 'fresh' topic.)

"Competition Will Get You Killed" (Oh, not THIS again!)

Is it that time of the year again?  Already?

Okay, NJT brought it up, so let's look at this misunderstanding again:

New Jovian Thunderbolt: Never understood that:
Never understood that The sentiment that "If you do handgun competitions, that is too much game and will get you killed in real life so don't ever do that!" What? I never understood that worry. Yeah, the whole when to reload and how, &c.and what have you might cement habits not ideal in every 'tactical' situation. I can see that part of the argument. But so what?

I never understood that mind-set either.   The best I can do is go back to an article (under the title I've used) which was published in a gun magazine a decade or two ago.   And people who have little or no understanding of what you can learn from competition 'heard that' from someone, and believed it.

I don't think they're talking about rifle and shotgun competition, not any kind of bulls-eye shooting, but 'action pistol' shooting such as IDPA and USPSA (IPSC).
(If you read the linked NJT article above, there's a link to an article from Lucky Gunner which provides a better detailed description.)

Here's the thing:  Competition isn't possible without training and experience.  Even without training, when you shoot an Action Pistol Match you need to know the rules and you need to be able do demonstrate Good Gun-Handling Techniques.

The rules are important for the match; the techniques are vital for self-defense.

TRAINING IS THE KEY

People who criticize "competition" as being either unrealistic or impractical seem to miss the point.

 Competition provides many opportunities for both training and experience which most shooters are unlikely to garner in any other venue.  Sure, you can spend hundreds of dollars taking 'professional' courses (most of which teach you to react to a combat situation) but does that really provide them the opportunity to PRACTICE their gun-handling techniques under the pressure of time and necessity?

And since when is it necessary to grow a beard and wear green pants to learn to handle your pistol well enough that you can shoot accurately and consistently under pressure?

Lots of people teach courses in competition (I'm one of them) and the virtues of that training is that they teach you practical techniques and practices.   When you go to an IPSC or IDPA match, you get to EXPERIENCE the effect of either knowing the techniques, or not knowing the techniques.  If you don't know how to handle your pistol safely and effectively, the feedback is immediate:
That cute little blonde girl is going to kick your ass in the finals, and your friends will laugh at you.
(And you're going to practice more, and better!)

The pressure of competing under pressure, and comparing your performance against other shooters, is perhaps the best feedback to your training regimen you can find; and it's difficult to imagine a venue which might provide a comparable benefit.

SAFETY IS THE PRIORITY: COMPETENCE IS THE EXPECTATION

People shoot competitively for many reasons:

• learn gun-handling techniques
• learn the rules, practices and procedures of  'action pistol'.competition
• get some range time with good targets and actual, interesting stages
• meet new friends with similar interests, and share experiences

What they discover is that they learn things they never expected.   Training is available, if not in private classes then at least during matches from more 'experienced' competitors.   We correct their grip, and the proper placement of their finger on the trigger. We teach them how to draw from a holster, how to reload from the belt, and how to safely move from one shooting position to another.   When someone violates a safety rule during the Live Fire Exercises, the rest of the class learns from their mistakes.

We learn the three kinds of Immediate Action Drills in response to the three basic kinds of firearms malfunctions:

Stovepipe

Tap/Rack/Bang (failure to feed: didn't seat your magazine properly during load/reload)

The Jam From Hell (another feeding failure)

IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER what kind of 'action pistol shooting' you do, there are always going to be some range safety rules, and some competition rules, which don't seem to apply to a self-defense situation.   IDPA teaches you to use cover and concealment and ammunition retention because these are specific DEFENSIVE PISTOL TECHNIQUES which you need to at least be aware of.  You may lose your head (zone out) in an emergency, but at least you have learned the drills and this is going to be an asset on 'the worst day of your life'.

In USPSA we do fire a lot more rounds per match and that may provide you with more opportunities to practice your reload, refine your grip and trigger-finger placement, and every round you fire for score is probably going to provide more effective training than taking yourself to the range for an hour a month and only practicing the things that you're already 'good at'.  

PRACTICE is an issue with most folks.  We don't know what to do in practice, so we do the things we already do well, because (a) we don't know any better and (b) it's fun.

When you engage in competition, you learn quickly and quite well what you do NOT do well!

Can you reload quickly without taking your eyes off the target?  Can you keep track of the rounds you have expended, and know when you need to reload, without thinking about it?   Can you engage a wide variety of targets at varying ranges?  Can you move laterally, forward, or retreat to a new shooting position ... all without losing situational awareness (and maybe performing a reload on the move)?  

Can you engage targets from a prone, kneeling or standing position, or shoot around a corner from cover or concealment?   Can you hit targets which are moving?   Can you hit targets while YOU are moving? Can you consistently hit small steel targets at 7 yards?  Can you double-tap three targets at 10 yards, perform a reload, and hit them again in under 10 seconds?   Can you accurately engage targets with either hand?

ALL of these techniques are commonly practiced in Action Shooting Competition.

Anyone who thinks that Competition just means standing in only place and plunking round after round into a bullseye target sitting placidly 50 feet downrange does not understand the full concept of Competition Shooting.

You may get killed, but it won't be because you've been honing your skills by competing in pistol matches.

This didn't have to happen

Father Accidentally Kills Teenage Son at Florida Gun Range - NBC News:
July 04, 2016 6:01pm ET

A 14-year-old boy was fatally shot by his father at a gun range in Sarasota, Florida, Sunday, according to police. 

William Brumby, 64, was at High Noon Gun Range when he shot his son, Stephen Brumby, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. The boy was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital shortly after 3 p.m., but died there of his injuries.

Witness accounts and surveillance video revealed that a shell casing had ricocheted into the elder Brumby's shirt, police said.When he went to pluck it out, using the hand in which he was holding a loaded handgun, he accidentally pulled the trigger and shot the son who was standing behind him, according to a statement from the sheriff's office.

I can only don't want to imagine how that man must feel.

Business As Usual; Thanks, Mac!

Yesterday I had posted (since deleted) that I was voluntarily discontinuing my instructor's position with my 'home' gun club, and I was disappointed that matters seemed to make this adviseable.  It was not a disagreement with management that caused me to make this difficult decision, but a matter of liability insurance.  

More than that, it was a missed communication because the dialogue was conducted by email, and misunderstandings were conveyed by everyone in the loop.   That's the problem with email; you don't have the 'personal touch', and it's too easy for misunderstandings to occur.  

MY concern was that I had asked about liability insurance, and the response was that the club and the directors were covered quite adequately.

Any participant at any range event is covered.

What I took from that was that instructors were not specifically covered by any liability insurance.   And so I backed away, with reluctance, from the position which I've filled for more than five years.

I wasn't afraid of getting shot; I've been shot at before and it doesn't hurt when they miss.
I was afraid of getting SUED!

This afternoon, "Mac" ... who pretty much runs the joint (until he retires at the end of the month,  and who is a past-president of the club and a current Board Director, as well as a personal friend) ... decided to enter the dialogue.

He did it the old fashion way:  he phoned me at home.

It was nice to hear from him, and within a few minutes he resolved the mixed understandings with his usual good humor and fine appreciation for 'the human touch'.  Yes, the club is fully covered, and as an official instructor I am personally covered both for liability as well as injury to a limit of ... well, more than I make all year.

Which means that next Saturday I get to go back to work at the best job I've ever had:  introducing "new shooters" to the gentle sport of Practical Pistol Shooting!   I feel much as I use to feel on the last day of the school year, way back in ... uh ... y'know.  Back then.    (vague wave 'thataway')

As the sun is now officially over the yardarm, it's time to raise a cup to the Peacemakers of the world,  and I don't mean a Colt Revolver.   I mean "A Man Named Mac".

PS to "The Hobo Brasser"   yes,  I will be taking in more matches, just as soon as I load enough 10mm to get me through a match, including all the 'misses' I have to make up.  I figure 250 rounds should get me through a 140-round match.

The State Of Firearms Training (STOLEN FROM ENDO)

The State Of Firearms Training:

I saw this fascinating article/interview with Firearms Trainer Dave Spaulding, and I thought it was about the most down-to-earth discussion about training I've ever seen.

No BS, no ego, and (spoiler alert) no training tips.  Just one man with experience telling his unscripted and unsolicited (?) opinion on the state of his 'industry' today.

The industry?  Taking people with varying degrees of firearm experience and training them to be safe, accurate, and effective.

Favorite quote;   

"People ask me, 'what kind of shoes do you wear?'   WHO CARES!   The kind that fit my feet!"

Go watch it.  I won't give the link to the video because ENDO deserves the blog-hits.

-------------

Oh I almost forgot!

I get the most interesting stuff from places like gunbloggers.com and The Gun Feed, and there's always The Firearms Blog, and .. well, you get the picture.  There are many 'mainstream' and more 'niche' gunbloggers that I regularly visit as well.  most of those websites will show up frequently on those sites, but some of them only post when they actually have something to say.

Want more? See an extensive list of gun blogs here.

New Shooter Smile...

View From The Porch: That New Shooter Smile...:

It's often noted that people seem to have a lot more fun at a gun range than they do at the anti-gun range. Of course they do. "Free Beer!" is an easier sell than Temperance and always has been.

I have no idea what an "anti-gun range" may look like.  Tam has a point to make, so I'm going to imply my own interpretation.

For the past six years it has been my privilege, and my honor, to introduce New Shooters to IPSC competition.

Most of them smiled.  A LOT!

A few of them frowned; they didn't typically follow through by showing up at a match.

But the overwhelming majority of the (several hundred) people whom I have guided through the "Introduction to USPSA" course at my home range  have been all smiles.

Why?
Because shooting pistols at cardboard and steel targets .. especially when you're in the process of learning how well  you compare with more experienced pistoleros .. is FUN!

The most wonderful thing about introducing New Shooters to a competitive shooting venue is that the proficiency curve is so steep.

It's easy to analyze the things that untrained shooters are doing, and it's even easier to make them 'better shooters' in a single afternoon.

Why?

Because they are intrinsically motivated; they WANT to improve their shooting skills, their gun-handling skills.   Their accuracy.  Their speed in slinging a lot of bullets downrange to hit the target in a high-scoring zone on the target.  Most of the people who seek training recognize that they do not know what they should be doing; they know that their level of proficiency is not what they envision for themselves, and they want to learn the skills, hone their practices, and improve their scores.

Usually, it's as simple as saying:
"You're shooting low; you are either jerking the trigger or you are breaking  your wrist at the shot".

All they need is someone to help them correct their deficiencies; they know they HAVE deficiencies, they just don't know what they are.

Funny thing is, these people who are determined to shoot a pistol accurately and consistently are not as 'ego-driven' as one might expect.

It's easy to develop the intrinsic skills in a single afternoon, if you (as the instructor) are willing to take the time and able to use your experience to help them.

It's even easier for them, the 'students', to accept the 'criticism' as  a Learning Experience,and benefit from the tutorials ... as long as the Instructor is presented as a 'helpful friend' rather than a 'critical analyst'.

Shooting is fun.  Shooting well .. accurately, quickly, competitively .. is even more fun.

A lot of the instructional venues which are commercially available are geared toward making the student proficient in self-defense scenarios.  Not everyone wants that>   A lot of people are attracted to Competitive Shooting (such as IPSC/USPSA and IDPA), and their needs are few:
(1) they need to learn basic safe gun handling skills
(2) they need to learn the rules of the game.

Somewhere in there, if they are lucky, they learn that its fun to shoot!  More, the find themselves in a group of people who not only encourage a 'new shooter' ... but they are so stupid that they don't realize that "SHOOTING" a firearm needs to be restricted because: "BAD!"

It's not "bad".  It's FUN!

And we need to keep that lesson in mind when we introduce New Shooters to the art, the practice, and the enjoyment of flinging lead down-range.

98.6

It's  hot here.

"How hot is it, Johnny?"

"Too Darn Hot to be running around in a gravel-surfaced pistol range, Doc!"

Last year I changed my "Introduction to USPSA" schedule from 3 hours to four hours, because it was impossible to cover all the necessary material: there are often one or two participants who need more training in Gun-Handling skills than may be provided in a three-hour class.

And I changed the hours from 1pm to 4pm, to Noon to 4pm.   More daylight in the cold season, and it gets us off the range 'earlier' in the hot season.

This is, officially, "The Hot Season" here in Oregon.

It's 6pm as I write this, and the ambient temperature is .. you guessed it .. ninety-eight point six degrees.

Since it was easily 100 degrees on the training bay, I closed the class at 3:30pm so we could all get out of the heat.   Not just because of my concern for the welfare of my students, but I announced that my eyeballs were drying up.  And actually, they were.  I hydrated myself well (drank two bottles of water from 12pm to when we quit) but the glare on the gravel-surfaced bay acted as a reflector, so the accumulative heat was beyond the safety margin that I had established for myself and the students.

We still managed to get the basics covered, and even did the final exercise ("El President") where I recorded time and scores, and used that to demonstrate how Hit Factors are used to determine where each competitor placed in a given stage.

And we did "Mandatory Reloads", "Transitioning Between Targets" ("close" and "far"), "Steel Targets vs Paper Targets".

One of my students was kind enough to (inadvertently) NOT seat her magazine firmly in her pistol,, and when she turned to me for advice I informed her:
"It's your gun.  The clock is still running".   She finally realized the cause of the problem, applied the solution, and got back into the game.

 I let her complete the stage with benefit of instruction (but with the timer still running) so she could demonstrate the "Tap/Rap/Bang" clearance drill in real time, and we discussed the three kinds of malfunction ("Stovepipe", "Tap/Rap/Bang", and "Failure To Feed").

(This "Failure To Feed" malfunction is when a round .. usually the first in a reload magazine ...can best be resolved by dumping the magazine, the round which is jamming the slide, and loading a new magazine after which you trombone the slide to chamber the top round in the new magazine; when you struggle to make the 'old' magazine work it takes more time than this 'immediate action drill'.)

We even did the exercise where I have students shoot paper targets up close, then move to another shooting box and engage steel; that provides them the opportunity to judge when they can emphasize speed in addressing targets  vs when they need to focus on accuracy.

Another of my students was kind enough to demonstrate the fallacy of performing a reload during "Dead Time" (movement), when he had two rounds in his magazine and moved to engage a Pepper Popper and a U.S. Popper;  he missed both shots, and had to do a standard reload in his single-stack 1911.  [When asked, he said he was "trying to save time by not doing a reload"; he admitted that, in retrospect, that was a 'poor economy' considering that it cost him over 5 seconds to realize he needed to reload, cursed himself under his breath, complete the standing reload and get back to the business of engaging targets.  It only took him 2 shots to knock down both steel targets at 35 yards].

But the part that is most interesting to the students comes after we have completed all the Standard Exercises and invite them to design their own shooting problems.  We just didn't have time to do that.

I regret that the participants didn't have the opportunity to test their acuity in some of the more complex drills.  They were all bright, attentive and SAFE shooters, and none of the three students made the same mistake twice.

 Also, I regret that I didn't have time to even mention "Strong Hand Only" and "Weak Hand Only", let alone give them a chance to see how it feels.

One of the students had only brought 100 rounds to the class, and he was running low on ammunition, so I didn't really feel that anyone was ... you know ... shorted in their instruction.  Still, although everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, I know that there was more I could have taught them,

About "El Presidente":

Ron Avery, Sight Alignment and Calling Your Shot

When I first started to think that I might want to do a LOT of IPSC/USPSA shooting, I actually invested in a series of video tapes (yes, I am that old) which provided a basic course of "how to do this stuff".

The source: Ron Avery's Three-tape (VHS) called "Secrets of a Professional Shooter".

(It's still reviewed here on VHS, and available here on DVD.)

It helped me a lot, and I was impressed when I watched him shooting Pepper Poppers on the move; I was encouraged because I eventually discovered that I too could do that .... just a lot slower.

Now he's got a quick video out on The Truth About Guns, called "Your Rear Sight Matters, Too".

He's still the master of 'shooting on the move', as far as I'm concerned.   And although the content may seem elementary to some viewers, there are pertinent tips about shooting in both a competition and in a self-defense situation.

One element which I thought was underplayed in this very short tutorial was the importance of 'calling your shots'.   I'd like to see someone put up a well-edited commentary on that methodology.

When I teach a class I try to stress the importance of 'calling your shot', but the class is too short (only four hours, one of those hours in lecture mode) to really TRAIN people in this important skill.  You can tell them "take a mental snapshot of the sight picture when the shot breaks, and replay it".  It's better than nothing, but I'm sure there is someone who can produce a professional level video which demonstrates the process.

Still, it's great to see Ron Avery back in the role of Tutor, which he does so well.

Now, if I can dust off the VHS player, I think I'll go re-watch his 3-part video.  I know there's still lots of stuff I can learn from Mister Shoot-On-The-Move.