How much training?

[jnyork]

Just out of curiosity, how much FORMAL firearms safety and proficiency training have you had? This does not include "My dad taught me to shoot", rather Hunter Education, CCW class, NRA Firearms Safety Class, etc.

Reason I ask, there are many, many people show up at our public range that have obviously never had even 30 seconds of instruction in the Four Rules, or how to behave at the range, or how to aim and fire other than spray and pray.

 

[yeti]

"My dad taught me to shoot"

Might depend on who your Dad was.

 

[Robert]

Oh heck let me take my shoes off and do the math. Somewhere in the area of 65 to 70 hours of formal training on both pistol and shotgun. Plus a life time of shooting.

Forgot to add in the Hunter's Safety class so that will bump me up to around 85 to 90 hours.

 

[CountGlockula]

I first took a NRA Basic Handgun class from my local range. Then found a guy who teaches self defense handgun...took Basic, Basic II, Intermediate and Advanced handgun.

All worth it.

 

[The Deer Hunter]

I have taken a Hunter's Safety course, and I sat in on my mother's Hand gun safety course when I was probably 13. So not a whole lot.

Everything I know about firearm safety was just taught to me by my father and from when I started trap shooting at the local fish and game club when I was 14.

I have been shooting regularly for 5 years, and with my dad a since I was very little.

there are many, many people show up at our public range that have obviously never had even 30 seconds of instruction in the Four Rules, or how to behave at the range, or how to aim and fire other than spray and pray.

That is so true. When I go to the range, and it's crowded, the other party is almost always someone who is completely ignorant in gun safety and use. Most of the time, they follow general safety rules and do take it seriously, but don't have much of a clue.

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

Yup, depends on who your teacher is/ was.

Pa - WWII vet.
Dad - Vietnam vet.

Both were shooters and hunters.

Also, there is nothing I do halfassed, I try to do it right or not at all.

 

[DeathByCactus]

Hunters education and CCW are all the training I have had besides personal shooting and reading books.

 

[coloradokevin]

Might depend on who your Dad was.

True enough. As far as I'm concerned my "formal" training started as a child at the hands of my dad, grandfather, and uncle.

From there I attended a Hunter Safety Course, and spent the next few years hunting. I became a cop at 25 years old (with about 20 years of shooting experience under my belt), and attended a police academy which included over 100 hours of firearms time. Later, while employed by my current department, I attended another 50 hour tactical rifle course.

 

[30 cal slob]

i suspect i have several hundred hours under my belt . not that i'm counting.

but i'm a gun camp junkie.

 

[ArmedBear]

True enough. As far as I'm concerned my "formal" training started as a child at the hands of my dad, grandfather, and uncle.

Yeah, and an NRA instructor probably wouldn't actually spank you for not following the 4 rules.

 

[olav_a]

I got in over 300 hours of formal training last year alone.

Split evenly between carbine and pistol.

Then add personal training at the range, competitions, defensive shooting clubs.

A pile.

 

[Just One Shot]

Let me see..............

I started rabbit hunting at 15 and have owned numerous guns over the years.

As far as formal training goes, Army basic training in 1976 and nothing more until I took the NRA basic hand gun course for my CC license.

Does that mean I have to sell everything in my gun safe?

 

[Todd A]

"My dad taught me to shoot",

But wait....my Dad was a NRA Pistol and NRA Hunting instructor.

(He taught half my high school senior class so they could get their Pistol Permits many,many years ago )

I never had to pay to learn to shoot though.....so it's not really "Formal" training is it?

 

[hso]

Preface all the following with "probably" -

The majority of gun owners don't even shoot.

The majority of those that do fire their firearms don't do so more than a couple of times a year.

Of those that do so more often than a couple of time a year, the majority of those have had no formal training.

It is the rare individual who has had even the most basic firearms safety training and the exceptionally rare gun owner that has had any applications training.

And even with all of that and all the millions of firearms in this country and the millions of times a year firearms are used to prevent/stop a crime we have so few firearms accidents.

 

[JohnBT]

And my father taught me to drive, too. Can you double clutch your way through 15 gears?

Hey, he taught and tested over the road truckers too as a safety officer after he left the State Police. And the State Police came after he served in the Pacific in WWII.

It's not how many hours of classroom training that's important, it's what you actually learned. That applies to computers, English or anything else.

John