"Cease fire, Cease fire, all shooters cease fire! Unload all firearms, remove the magazines, open all actions and lock them open. Place all long guns in the rifle racks, handguns on the shooting benches with the slides locked back, cylinders open, magazines out, completely free of ammunition, and muzzle pointed downrange. Once your firearm has been cleared, step back behind the yellow line and wait for clearance to go downrange. As a reminder, once your firearm has been cleared, you may not handle it for any reason during the cease fire."
I should have been more clear. When the gun is empty the slide should be left open. I don't use chamber indicators. If I have any question at all if the gun is loaded or unloaded I clear the gun. When it comes to a loaded gun I'm not going to trust a part that could fail. I am only going to trust my own eyes. Plus I never point a gun at anything I don't plan to destroy.You do not use open action and empty chamber indicators?
If not, you should.
Sorry to say, but I think this is partly back on you, as you had indications of that before the shot was fired, but didn't pick up on it and intervene when you had the chance.The guy came to you with a question, which implies that he didn't understand the instructions that were given. At that point, he's done exactly what you want him to do.
Biting his head off after he discharged the round (with your permission, as far as he understood it), though understandable (you were taken by surprise and upset that this infraction occurred on your watch) was not the best way to respond (did your response teach the guy anything useful that will prevent the same mistake from happening again). Hopefully, you didn't scare him off from asking questions, when he lacks understanding. This happens a LOT, and next time he may hurt someone... maybe even you.
I'd encourage you to learn all you can from this experience and to become a better RSO and coach because of it.
spent some time NOT yelling at him wherein I explained explicitly what was wrong, why it was wrong, and what to do in the future. He acknowledged all that I said, explained himself, and we parted on good terms
Usual procedure there is to call a cease fire over the P.A., customers drop their mags/open actions, etc... and RO's check that all weapons are clear. Then everyone goes downrange. So today, we're checking the line, and a customer comes up and asks if he can "clear his SKS of the round in the chamber"
Some people load bullets hard into the lands for bolt actions. If you try to open it, the bullet gets pulled from the case and dumps powder in your action. I now tell the RO ahead of time so when they call a cease fire they give me the single ok to fire to clear my rifle.