This may seem weird coming from me, but I don’t believe carry permits are constitutional. Thus, I don’t believe in competency tests…unless y’all want to reinstate the literacy test and proof of ownership of real property or a business for voting rights. Unless we amend the Constitution, we should be abiding by it. That’s my 2 cents.
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I have mixed feelings on this topic. While I don’t want infringements on constitutional rights, I also don’t like unsafe yahoos running around in public.
I guess my ideal solution would be to mandate firearm safety and shooting classes in high school where students need to display safe handling and adequate shooting skills in order to get their diploma. Then everyone would be safer and more qualified.
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I’d be willing to bet none of us here do. Now look at a typical anti-gun progressive; they think anyone aside from LEOs (and lately even them) with a gun is an “unsafe yahoo.” So who gets final say on who’s an unsafe yahoo, and who isn’t?
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Do you drive much?
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I agree with many of the comments in this thread about our 2nd amendment right and therefore not mandating things from the government. Getting involved with the government is another hot topic.
However, I have heard that there are about 9 million new gun owners this last year. I work 2 days a week at a gun range and I am beginning to believe that 1 million of those new gun owners show up the days I work.
Just in the last two weeks I have seen the following:
• Two guys showed up and rented a gun and then complained it didn’t work. So we showed them how to put the bullets in the magazine the correct way and not backwards.
• One guy shows up and has a brand new gun that he hasn’t fired and had never fired any gun before. He just purchased something that he wanted. After watching him a while I see he was looking around like he had a question and appeared confused. I went over to him and he tells me his gun isn’t working. The magazine is loaded correctly. But apparently when he puts in into the pistol it doesn’t fire. I showed him how to rack it and then the thing worked just fine. I guess he figured you load the magazine, insert it, and then pull the trigger, and it should go boom.
• Four people show up who are 40 to 50 and wanted to rent a couple of guns. I find out none of them have ever shot before. I show a gun to one man and he stated “this is the first time I have ever held a gun”. I then told them I was going to go out there with them for a bit to get them started.
• A guy had a Taurus Judge and wondered if the ammo he had would work in it. The Judge shoots 410/45. That part I knew but was not that familiar with whether it can handle the 3 inch 410, which I found out it could not. He was trying to put the 3 inch shells in. They are not reading the manual or knowing what they have. I asked about his manual with the gun and he said he left it at home.
• The age range of the new people is all over the place.
I think people are buying any gun that is in the store or they can find some place. Again, I agree people have the right to have a gun.
I do think the “gun community”, whatever that is, should also be helping, sponsoring, or doing more to help new shooters. USCCA, the gun ranges, gun clubs, or volunteers need to offer “Free” classes to new shooters to get them started before someone gets hurt. All the anti folks need will be some of the folks mentioned above out on the street hurting someone and then we will end up with more laws.
I know ranges and stores need to earn money and trainers need to get paid, but something needs to be worked out for the millions of folks out there that have no idea what they are getting into.
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I do a bunch of work in SoCal which has to have the worst drivers in the US. The world is definitely overflowing with yahoos. I would hope any school based firearms training would be designed by professionals who knew what they were doing and go on for a couple years instead of the couple months drivers ed lasts.
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This is an excellent idea, Robert, and would benefit new shooters, ranges/schools, gun & ammo stores, and the community at large. If a range were to offer a free safety class, and provide a number of range sessions for free, or at a discount, maybe with an ammo and targets purchase required so they’re not losing money, they could improve overall safety, and gain some new, loyal customers.
I was surprised, shocked even, at some of your observations from the range; doesn’t it require some kind of safety or competency check before someone is allowed on the line?
When I bought my first pistol, one of the things foremost in my mind was that I didn’t want to be “that guy.” I read everything I could get my hands on about gun safety, terminology, range etiquette, etc. before I ever loaded my gun and took it out for practice. Clearly, that’s not the case for everyone, and it would change things so much for the better if we could instill responsible gun ownership practices in all new buyers at a very early point in their path, however long it will be.
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LOL, I once saw a couple guys all elated that they had shot the biggest deer they had ever seen. The were from North Carolina and had never seen such huge deer as they had bagged that day. They did not believe me when I told them that, That was a bull Elk. 8x9 antlers too. It was big for an elk.
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I’ve run several shooting range facilities and hunt clubs. Just 15 years ago, nobody complained about or tried to weasel out of gun safety/range safety classes before using a facility or upon joining a shooting/hunting club. Today, it is the #1 complaint you get. Almost everyone thinks THEY should not “have to” take a safety class.
What Robert15 described is now routine at public ranges, most of which have “range rules” posted on the wall somewhere and make you sign a piece of paper saying you have read them before taking your money and allowing you to shoot. That IS the “safety briefing.” There is no safety CLASS anyone takes once/year anymore. This stuff would not have flown 20 years ago. Today, it is the standard.
In the past 6 months, I’ve been asked by 3 different men over 50 to teach them to shoot a pistol. 2 of the 3 bought pistols before asking. The 3rd was smart enough not to do that. When all 3 discovered that learning to shoot involved regular trips to the range with 100-200 rds of ammo (I offered to train them for free), targets, hearing and eye pro, etc. that they would have to buy, all 3 declined. They felt 20 rds and 1 trip to the range should be sufficient.
You can lead a horse to water…
You can sell any yahoo a firearm and a box of bullets…
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@Shamrock My point was relative risk tolerance and normalcy bias. You put yourself in more danger of “dangerous yahoos” every time you get behind a steering wheel (by a wide margin).
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Very good point. Though fortunately the politicians don’t threaten to take all our cars away every time some yahoo, drunk, or road rager crashes into innocent people with one. Wish it were the same for firearms.
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Thank you.
This must be why my USCCA instructor told us in class that he never shoots at indoor ranges.
I don’t have any formal public ranges near me, so I shoot on BLM land in an area customarily used for shooting practice. I haven’t had the “opportunity” to observe this kind of behavior.
Someone should write a book: Home on the Range, True Stories of a Longtime RSO. Maybe it should be shelved in the horror section.
And given free to every new gun owner!
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I do teach people for free, and I have a NRA pistol instructor certification.
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In the UK and Ireland, the flocks have different colors on them, but that is to differentiate them as they graze in the same fields.
What we have, I think, is a failure of culture.
The average citizen used to get familiar with firearms because they were tools for hunting or sport, Instruction came from accomplished adults(usually the father) within the family.
OR
The military
This is increasingly rare these days.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but firearm education outside of the military was never a Federal interest until the formation of the NRA for the promotion of marksmanship.
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I did not grow up in the gun culture. I went shooting a couple times with friends in high school but didn’t get into it until much later when I decided to try out hunting and personal defense. So I needed to start from scratch on my own. But I am one of those silly people that tries to learn as much as I can about a new activity before jumping in. I also lucked out with finding a good hunter safety course and excellent 2 day defensive handgun course early on in my journey. They gave me a foundation to help differentiate between some of the good and bad info online.
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Thing is, there never really was a gun culture any more than there could be a hammer culture
For most people, a gun was a tool.
“Gun culture” outside of quick draw contests, is a recent development I think fueled in response to the anti-gun culture, quite possibly with inspiration from Col. Jeff Cooper who popularized modern combat handgunning
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By “gun culture” I was trying (too succinctly) to say that I did not grow up in an environment were a gun was considered a common tool for hunting, plinking and self defense. Not referring to the more modern usage where it seems, for some at least, that guns have become a way of life instead of tools to help you live. Not that there is anything wrong with that as long as you don’t let the rest of your life get out of balance.
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In NC at the last time I read. We have 8 hours classroom then range. Requirement was to fire 30 rds in the black on a B series silhouette target. Its been 15 years since I did it distances were 7,14,21 feet. I think it isn’t a bad idea to do a competency shoot. Folks here pay 75.00 for the class and 95.00 for initial permit.In most cases we think of folks being experienced. But I have observed folks weapons who have no exprience what so ever. Not fun to be swept by a loaded weapon. May be make the classes free. with instructors being compensated through grants. Because their time is also valuable