Rob Pincus
Member
I posted this a few moments ago at Tactical Forums in response to a thread which started about firearms safety issues in response to a recent tragedy:
With all due respect... Denny and I had this conversation earlier while discussing recent incidents and I've been saying it for years, but let me say it "publicly" here first:
Pat is right that negligence reflects on all of us and quoting rules that are not realistic and then standing on a soapbox when a tragedy occurs could well fall into that category.
Rant On:
The four rules are BULL????. "We" as trainers neglect them constantly. Now that I've got your attention, ;et me say that I admit there may be some of you who actually obey them 100% of the time, but I highly doubt it. Every instructor I've ever seen (including myself) violates these rules... examples:
1."Okay, this gun is unloaded" (show it to students or AI's, everyone agrees...) and we now proceed to violate rule #1. Note that rule #1 does NOT say "All guns are always loaded, unless we agree that they are not."
2. "Finger straight... until sights are on target": yeah, right. For those of you still preaching front sight focus before any shot is fired, you still have "speed rock" or other retention or extreme close quarters shooting positions.
3. "...anything you are not willing to destroy.":
a. Aside from those times in example one after you have violated Rule #1, they are undoubtedly many times when we "paint" our muzzle during every course, and that we allow our students to do so without correction, that we are not "willing" to destroy.
b. ever pick up an "unloaded" gun at a gun shop or gun show and point it at the table, etc....?? oops.
Is this Nit Picky? Am I playing semantic games? I say, "No" .. not at all. This is about integrity folks. Posting those rules all over your range and then proceeding to give any demonstration with an "unloaded" gun is the same as saying grace while your eating dinner with a hooker and asking her to pass the god damned salt... BS posturing. The other examples are just as valid, though perhaps less substantive or common.
Am I pissed? yeah. You noticed.
Maybe the good people in this thread, whom I respect regardless of their stance on "the" 4 rules, do abide by them every second they are on the range, but I doubt it. Sacrilege? I'm sorry. I haven't been in a course with most of you, but I've been in a lot of courses where these rules were announced and then violated habitually. I've been told that we need to stand by them for liability reasons, "even though...". I've read them on business cards of guys who I wouldn't want on the range with me, let alone setting examples for others to follow.
I've been asked by a few people why "the rules" aren't posted at Valhalla. Simple: We are not hypocrits. The rules at Valhalla, and on any range I'm running, stress redundancy in the system without being hypocritical:
1. No one person can declare a weapon "unloaded."
2. Keep all weapons pointed in a safe direction when they are unholstered.
3. Keep your trigger finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot and remove it after you have completed your string of fire.
That's it. No unrealistic expectations or demands. Note that we can declare a weapon "unloaded" after inspection and proceed to do a demonstraion or pose for a picture. Note that these are range rules, and don't have words like "never" or "always." Note also that being "ready to shoot" includes identifying your target and either it's ability to stop the round or your knowledge of the background OR your disregard of it (ie- in certain self defense situations). At no time do we allow a violation of these rules, however slight, to go uncorrected. Could an accident still happen? Absolutely. But, at least I can sleep at night knowing that the rules I support are realistic and I don't violate them during the course of teaching a class, demonstrating a techinque or checking out a gun at the local gun shop.
Rant Off.
------------------
-Essayons www.valhallatraining.com
With all due respect... Denny and I had this conversation earlier while discussing recent incidents and I've been saying it for years, but let me say it "publicly" here first:
Pat is right that negligence reflects on all of us and quoting rules that are not realistic and then standing on a soapbox when a tragedy occurs could well fall into that category.
Rant On:
The four rules are BULL????. "We" as trainers neglect them constantly. Now that I've got your attention, ;et me say that I admit there may be some of you who actually obey them 100% of the time, but I highly doubt it. Every instructor I've ever seen (including myself) violates these rules... examples:
1."Okay, this gun is unloaded" (show it to students or AI's, everyone agrees...) and we now proceed to violate rule #1. Note that rule #1 does NOT say "All guns are always loaded, unless we agree that they are not."
2. "Finger straight... until sights are on target": yeah, right. For those of you still preaching front sight focus before any shot is fired, you still have "speed rock" or other retention or extreme close quarters shooting positions.
3. "...anything you are not willing to destroy.":
a. Aside from those times in example one after you have violated Rule #1, they are undoubtedly many times when we "paint" our muzzle during every course, and that we allow our students to do so without correction, that we are not "willing" to destroy.
b. ever pick up an "unloaded" gun at a gun shop or gun show and point it at the table, etc....?? oops.
Is this Nit Picky? Am I playing semantic games? I say, "No" .. not at all. This is about integrity folks. Posting those rules all over your range and then proceeding to give any demonstration with an "unloaded" gun is the same as saying grace while your eating dinner with a hooker and asking her to pass the god damned salt... BS posturing. The other examples are just as valid, though perhaps less substantive or common.
Am I pissed? yeah. You noticed.
Maybe the good people in this thread, whom I respect regardless of their stance on "the" 4 rules, do abide by them every second they are on the range, but I doubt it. Sacrilege? I'm sorry. I haven't been in a course with most of you, but I've been in a lot of courses where these rules were announced and then violated habitually. I've been told that we need to stand by them for liability reasons, "even though...". I've read them on business cards of guys who I wouldn't want on the range with me, let alone setting examples for others to follow.
I've been asked by a few people why "the rules" aren't posted at Valhalla. Simple: We are not hypocrits. The rules at Valhalla, and on any range I'm running, stress redundancy in the system without being hypocritical:
1. No one person can declare a weapon "unloaded."
2. Keep all weapons pointed in a safe direction when they are unholstered.
3. Keep your trigger finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot and remove it after you have completed your string of fire.
That's it. No unrealistic expectations or demands. Note that we can declare a weapon "unloaded" after inspection and proceed to do a demonstraion or pose for a picture. Note that these are range rules, and don't have words like "never" or "always." Note also that being "ready to shoot" includes identifying your target and either it's ability to stop the round or your knowledge of the background OR your disregard of it (ie- in certain self defense situations). At no time do we allow a violation of these rules, however slight, to go uncorrected. Could an accident still happen? Absolutely. But, at least I can sleep at night knowing that the rules I support are realistic and I don't violate them during the course of teaching a class, demonstrating a techinque or checking out a gun at the local gun shop.
Rant Off.
------------------
-Essayons www.valhallatraining.com
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