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You may have seen the above video in the attached you tube link. How many fire arms handling errors, repeated on both sides of the counter, do you see? Is this a good video to use in a class? Notice the gray hair of the participants. Probably between them they both have decades of safe gun handling experience. So much experience and repetition that complacency sets in.

When I worked in a gun store and in my class room, I always have a designated safe direction to point an unloaded handgun while clearing the gun. In my class room it was always a wall target placed behind my desk and off to the side. In the gun store with a customer it was a spot towards the bottom of the counter. I always cleared the gun pointed at the same spot and directed the customer/student to do the same if they were clearing a “purchase” gun.

Here is another safe teaching tip that I use in my class room. When doing a safe handling exercise always use a “blue” gun or an air soft gun. Yes, air soft guns can be charged and go off. At very close range they can be painful and even cause injury. When using an air soft gun for a demo, just like a real weapon, always make sure it is unloaded and uncharged. As a safety precaution put a short strip of double layer duct tape or packing tape across the muzzle to stop a discharged plastic pellet in the event of a gun handling discharge. When a real fire arm is handled in the class room by basic students I set up a faux firing line at the front of the class room. I use the “safe direction” target. Once lined up and your class assistants in place the students can complete the exercise in a safe manner.

Business Tip: If you are very comfortable with your public speaking skills and don’t mind being challenged contact local litigation and defense attorney’s and offer your expertise as an expert witness in safe gun handling in civil cases. You can charge a simple flat retainer up to the deposition or charge by the hour for research time and a higher rate for actual testimony time. Once established, being an expert witness can be a substantial part of your annual income. That’s the good news. The bad news is being an expert witness and testifying in court for ether the plaintiff or defense is not for the faint of heart.

If you have a teaching tip you would like to share with others please forward it to me. If available attach photo’s or a video link. My intent is to have all of you as busy teaching as you care to be. That goal can be accomplished by all of us working together and perhaps taking a class from another trainer in an area where you would like to gain expertise.