Via Jeff, a Penn student takes a gun safety course. Overall, a much better situation than I was exposed to this weekend, but a few things caught my eye here:
Our instructor, Ken, then came in with an unloaded 9-mm Glock and fake bullets. After 30 minutes with Ken, practicing loading, unloading and aiming, we were ready to shoot.
Why would you bring a 9mm firearm with blanks or simunitions? Beginners should be taught on a .22LR pistol, and then work up to something with recoil when they are comfortable with that. It’s a basic pistol course, not a combat pistol course.
There’s too many macho assholes out there that think .22LR is a wimpy cartridge, but they are perfect for a beginning pistol course involving people who’ve never fired a gun before.
Should you ever come across a gun laying on 42nd Street, with a simple lesson in gun safety, you could feel comfortable disarming it, instead of leaving it there for the next criminal to pick up,. It’s a small step to making Penn, and West Philadelphia, a safer place.
Should you ever come across a gun on the streets, don’t touch it. Call the police and allow them to handle the recovery. That firearm is potential evidence. It could have been used is a crime and ditched by the criminal.
UPDATE: I think I misunderstood what she meant by “fake bullets”. I was assuming blanks or some kind of submunitions. She meant the dummy rounds you use for classroom instruction. In that case, no foul. But I still think 9mm is too much gun for someone who’s never shot before.
I start every new shooter with a 22.
But as to show how to load unload, it is easier to see & do the first few times with a larger caliber, with dummy ammo.
Very often I have to supply a student, because the gun they bought is way to much for them, with a 22lr.
But the quality of instructors can vary
I’m going to have to disagree with you here, dear. Loading and unloading exercises take place in the classroom, and caliber doesn’t matter. It’s been a while since I’ve done by the book training, but I believe that’s even after the caliber discussion, so having the different sizes available is actually quite relevant.
What she’s describing should have been a classroom exercise, not the first shots at the range. (Haven’t read the full story, I confess.) I agree with shooting .22 for the first time, but loading and unloading with dummy rounds doesn’t matter much.
Not to mention the fact she thinks a “gun hat” might make an armed lunatic think twice before attacking.
She’s open-minded and has some common sense. I scanned a couple of her other articles as well as the one linked to. She doesn’t seem to be swallowing the typical college PC nonsense.