Kelly Green
Member
My wife and I are good friends with a lady who is a U.S. Army veteran (Afghanistan), a CHL instructor, NRA certified firearms instructor and a fine competitive shooter. She told us a story this past weekend that has me rethinking gun ownership and wondering if some people should not own a gun, much less be allowed to carry a handgun or even be granted a CHL.
I will try to tell her story as she told it to us. Her story:
I was working in the shop last month when a young woman, early twenties, came in and inquired about our CHL classes. As with all perspective CHL students, I asked a few preliminary questions. Did she have experience with firearms? She had absolutely none. Did she own a gun? I thought I knew the answer to that one but she surprised me when she replied yes, a Glock 26. I asked, “why a Glock”, and she replied that her boyfriend had picked it out. He thought that carrying a Glock would be really cool. Uh oh, alarm bell.
She had that way of speaking like a lot of young women of her generation, every answer sounded like a question. Short of that, she seemed pleasant enough.
We both agreed that before taking the CHL class, she needed to take a firearms training course and we set up a schedule.
We started our training with the basic rules of safety and progressed from there. When I began explaining and demonstrating the workings of the gun, I could sense that she had no mechanical aptitude what so ever—probably didn’t know how a can opener worked either but knew that it opened cans. I began slowing everything down and speaking as simply as possible.
Our next stop was the range. I explained “Rule One”: Always keep the muzzle pointed down range. If you turn away form the target the gun stays on the bench, muzzle pointed down range. She gave me an OK. I loaded the magazine with three rounds, and put a tight group of three on paper. The model 26 is a nice shooter with a good trigger, not to heavy, with a short pull but it does have heavy recoil. Probably not the best gun for a beginner. I handed the gun to her.
Now it was her turn. I told her to load the magazine. When she tried to shove the rounds in backward I stopped her. More instruction (reinstruction) needed. Once we got that resolved and the gun loaded, I found that she had a problem keeping her finger off the trigger. More instruction. I explained that she should rest her trigger finger along the pistol’s slide. The girl looked at me and replied in all seriousness, “If I keep my trigger finger on the slide then what finger do I use to shoot the gun?” I should have stopped right there but, I continued on.
I stood behind her while she fired her first live round. The girl managed to hit paper and became so excited that she turned around, gun in hand, finger on trigger and muzzle pointed at my chest. I saw my life flash before me. In reflex, I grabbed the gun around the slide with my hand and forced the muzzle off myself. This caused her to send a wild round ricocheting off the floor and into the back wall of the range. Because of the way I had grabbed it, the gun jammed. I took the gun from her, cleared it and emptied the magazine. Training was officially over. I was shaking and this woman was completely clueless.
At that moment, the range manager came running in. He took possession of the gun and we all went into his office. After listening to the story, he placed a nylon tie on the Glock, taped the magazine to the grip and gave it to her. He refunded her money and told her that he she was banned from his firing line.
As she was preparing to leave, I told her to forget the gun, that she would be safer with a canister of pepper spray. She replied, “Why would I need pepper spray when I have a gun?” I thought to myself, I have just met the stupidest person on the planet.
After the girl left, the reality of the situation hit me hard. I, the student or someone else could have been seriously injured or killed. From now on, if a student has no prior firearm experience, I will not allow a loaded magazine in a gun. It will be single shot only until the student proves he or she is capable of firearm safety.
I will try to tell her story as she told it to us. Her story:
I was working in the shop last month when a young woman, early twenties, came in and inquired about our CHL classes. As with all perspective CHL students, I asked a few preliminary questions. Did she have experience with firearms? She had absolutely none. Did she own a gun? I thought I knew the answer to that one but she surprised me when she replied yes, a Glock 26. I asked, “why a Glock”, and she replied that her boyfriend had picked it out. He thought that carrying a Glock would be really cool. Uh oh, alarm bell.
She had that way of speaking like a lot of young women of her generation, every answer sounded like a question. Short of that, she seemed pleasant enough.
We both agreed that before taking the CHL class, she needed to take a firearms training course and we set up a schedule.
We started our training with the basic rules of safety and progressed from there. When I began explaining and demonstrating the workings of the gun, I could sense that she had no mechanical aptitude what so ever—probably didn’t know how a can opener worked either but knew that it opened cans. I began slowing everything down and speaking as simply as possible.
Our next stop was the range. I explained “Rule One”: Always keep the muzzle pointed down range. If you turn away form the target the gun stays on the bench, muzzle pointed down range. She gave me an OK. I loaded the magazine with three rounds, and put a tight group of three on paper. The model 26 is a nice shooter with a good trigger, not to heavy, with a short pull but it does have heavy recoil. Probably not the best gun for a beginner. I handed the gun to her.
Now it was her turn. I told her to load the magazine. When she tried to shove the rounds in backward I stopped her. More instruction (reinstruction) needed. Once we got that resolved and the gun loaded, I found that she had a problem keeping her finger off the trigger. More instruction. I explained that she should rest her trigger finger along the pistol’s slide. The girl looked at me and replied in all seriousness, “If I keep my trigger finger on the slide then what finger do I use to shoot the gun?” I should have stopped right there but, I continued on.
I stood behind her while she fired her first live round. The girl managed to hit paper and became so excited that she turned around, gun in hand, finger on trigger and muzzle pointed at my chest. I saw my life flash before me. In reflex, I grabbed the gun around the slide with my hand and forced the muzzle off myself. This caused her to send a wild round ricocheting off the floor and into the back wall of the range. Because of the way I had grabbed it, the gun jammed. I took the gun from her, cleared it and emptied the magazine. Training was officially over. I was shaking and this woman was completely clueless.
At that moment, the range manager came running in. He took possession of the gun and we all went into his office. After listening to the story, he placed a nylon tie on the Glock, taped the magazine to the grip and gave it to her. He refunded her money and told her that he she was banned from his firing line.
As she was preparing to leave, I told her to forget the gun, that she would be safer with a canister of pepper spray. She replied, “Why would I need pepper spray when I have a gun?” I thought to myself, I have just met the stupidest person on the planet.
After the girl left, the reality of the situation hit me hard. I, the student or someone else could have been seriously injured or killed. From now on, if a student has no prior firearm experience, I will not allow a loaded magazine in a gun. It will be single shot only until the student proves he or she is capable of firearm safety.
