Someone needs remedial training
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Someone who is brand new to shooting doesnât always know what direction the ammo should go in. Iâve seen it with people on their first trip to the range and with people who havenât shot in a very long time.
Itâs not that theyâre a dumbo, itâs that they need assistance. Thankfully, our RSOâs are very good at working with less experienced shooters and catch their mistakes before they cause any issues.
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Itâs true Dawn, seems like people just donât have common sense anymore and theyâre too cool to read that ownerâs manual that came with their new gun. 
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Remember, a lot of these people are taking the advice theyâve been given and are renting a firearm before buying one.
Theyâre out there trying to learn. If youâve never held a gun before, it can be terrifying the first time. And the range can be loud and scary if youâre new to guns. We should be educating and encouraging them. Not coming down on them because they made a mistake or didnât know something. We all had to start somewhere. 
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@Dawn I donât come down on anybody Dawn, I donât. Some are unwilling to learn, some are with people that they should not be at a gun range with but as I said a long time ago I donât say or write anything that I may regret at some future point. You could think anything that you want but committing it in writing or speech well that is something you can not pull back on. I do see and understand your point as well with your background as a safety officer. Maybe it would be a great idea if gun ranges everywhere offered certain basic rudimentary tasks when buying a firearm to show the beginning gun owner what is something that experienced life long shooters just do and just know.
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Why I dont like ranges that have one RSO for multiple firing lines.
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As far as loading it backwards, almost every newbie Iâve taken to the range has tried to load them backwards. I donât know what it is that makes it look like it âshould point that wayâ? Obviously, Iâm there watching so can correct it, and they will only do it once, but I have found it odd that almost universally their first attempt is to put the rounds in backwards.
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@Dawn Loud and scary=intimidation+mistakes.
Itâs true that you canât fix stupid, but I agree that ignorance is repairable.
Newbies are pretty easy to spot. Why not nicely and humbly volunteer some help when we notice them on the range? We may help make a safe and effective gun owner. And as a bonus:
The life you save may be your own.
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@Harvey With no real knowledge of the âwhole pictureâ and how all the parts interact in a firearm, it would appear to the person that the cartridge easily inserts in the magazine this way. It makes perfect sense to him because he doesnât understand the interaction between the magazine and the slide etc.
Hand someone with no mechanical ability some tools and tell him to do a simple oil change on a car. Depending on how unlearned the person is you may get vacant stares, serious mistakes, or even have a wrench thrown at you.
Understanding purpose is also important. Any time you donât understand the purpose of a thing, you will abuse it. You canât ask the thing. It doesnât know. Purpose must be learned. If you donât know the purpose for medication you will abuse it. If you donât know the purpose for a wife, you will abuse her. If you donât know your own purpose, you will abuse yourself. Always search for purpose. This is the basic problem in the world.
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The range I work at offers the First Shots program for people who have never held a gun. It takes them through a introductory course and out on the range with a .22 under the supervision of range officers and an instructor.
There is a small charge to hold your space in the class, but then you get it back as a gift card for the range when you take the class. Itâs an awesome experience for 99.9999% There have been a few that just couldnât get over their fear of guns. I give those people the upmost credit and respect for trying something they fear.
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@Dawn Well thatâs a great idea, next time I visit the gun store I am going to see if I can get something similar there and when I get to another range same thing. I think itâs good to not begin a gun education with someone you pay or otherwise not familiar with for different reasons. 1. Familiarity with a person 2. Just because a person is knowledgeable does not make you a teacher 3. The trainee may not want the trainer to see vulnerability 4. The Trainer may not have patience to be an instructor 5. As a good example many years ago my father who has been dead since 1986 to give you a little time reference paid for my mother to get drivers education training because he well they never discussed or argued in front of me or my siblings they took it somewhere else so following that up if my mom screwed up he didnât want to get upset, mad, or otherwise so she went to drivers school for training. So tying this up for you, I cannot see any downside in stores offering this to their customers. And also; bonus the new person doesnât develop any bad or lazy habits.
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True, but remember, ignorance you can fix, stupid you canât do anything withđ. I fear anyone handling/loading a weapon with no experience and without having a knowledgeable person with them must fall into the latter category.
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Stupid is as stupid does, but ignorance does according to teachingâŠor lack thereof.
My mama always said life is like a box of bullets.
You gotta know which end to start from.
I always got a bang out of that one.
I think Iâm gonna go home now.
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Someone who is nervous, absent minded or simply a newbie who is unfamiliar with the cutouts and shape that make it obvious.
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I like your mom already.
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When I sat in on my sonâs CWP class last week, I saw it happen. Everyone waiting for their range test were loading magazines. This fellow standing next to Cody held up his first mag and asked it it looked right. Cody quietly helped him. I told him they do look like the fit easily that way. Heâd have had a pretty embarrassing moment if he hadnât asked.
Any time someone asks for help, please give it.
The life you save may be my own.
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My closest friendâs son-in-law is, by all manner of definition, extremely bright. When my daughter and I had dinner at their house a few years ago, he asked me many intelligent questions about guns, handling, safety, home defense, personal defense, etc. He had two very young daughters at the time and was concerned primarily about home defense. At the time, I owned a Glock 17 and 43.
He ended up purchasing a Glock 17 (I told you heâs bright 
). His first trip to the range was with his father-in-law. First trigger pull, nothing. He attempted to rack the slide and my friend knew something was wrong. The young man had loaded a full magazine with the ammo in backward. When my friend told me that, my first response was, âI didnât know ammo could fit into a magazine backward.â My friend agreed.
Three of us learned something with that first trip to the range.
Itâs nothing more than not having been shown before how something is done.
Yes, the Glock 17 manual has instructions for loading the magazine, but because the photographs show the âspeed loaderâ already in place at the top of the magazine, I can see how one can get confused. I get the direction confused sometimes, and Iâve loaded Glock magazines 100 times.
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Directions? We donât need no stinkinâ directions.
It would be wonderful if we read directions. We have videos and tutorials on line to learn step by step how to operate and maintain any mechanical device. Unfortunately far too many will not take advantage of them.
I watched the people in the CWP class. A family of three, mother, father, and daughter, took the class together. The mother and daughter finished the exam quickly, while the father took quite a bit longer.
Even though trigger discipline was stressed continually in the class, when the two women took their handguns from their cases, their fingers went straight to the trigger. The trigger discipline was not present in their minds. Obviously theyâre intelligent enough, but it seems their intent was to just hear the lesson so they could repeat the information on the test. The father took much more time on the printed test but was ready to safely perform with his weapon. He paid attention to the application of the class lessons.
I am not making a statement about women shooters. Too many people hear but donât listen and few apply the lessons as they receive them.
These people cause accidents and give us a bad name.
When you see unsafe habits, point them out and nicely explain the consequences.
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