Anyone that knows me; knows I just can’t keep a lid on my opinion long. I think this is probably the longest I’ve just “sat” on something that I have felt so strongly about — EVER.
Today is Sunday. Saturday, we were attending a banquet for our school Archery team. A LOT to celebrate. Students and families showed up eager for the fun and fellowship. I won’t mention the venue (why give them the free advertising); but, remember, it’s an ARCHERY team. These are kids that are not strangers to outdoor sports with weapons. Most of them are taught early about safety. They practice safety on the line during tournaments and practices. They hear about safety thousands of times. It’s drilled into their brain. Fortunately, as long as I have been a member of this program, there’s been NO incident where safety had been compromised – NO accidents at all. Add to this, most of these kids are not strangers to firearms. They are from all walks of life. They respect the weapons. They are TRULY great kids. That being said – this was not a unruly group.
This event allowed for some to enjoy paintball while others got to enjoy skeet shooting. Some had never done either. Some did both. Our youngest chose to shoot skeet. We’d done skeet a few times as a family. It was never as fun as just target shooting and at any point in time; either kid would experience the ultimate ‘kick’ of the shotgun and shy away for a while. Finding a fitting gun. Building their confidence. Teaching them the correct way is important. They can tell us when they are ready. This time, our youngest was eager. Unfortunately; looking back over 24 hours later, I think I should have handled this situation a little differently.
Here’s what happened:
I sat watching from a distance, listening to who I learned was an ’employee’ of the range, brag about their success as a skeet shooter and answer questions about the range. My husband stood on the range with our youngest and the fellow archery team members. Things were going slow with their group; but they had a few first time shooters so no reason to be alarmed. Then, I noticed my child taking their turn. My husband did a good job just standing back letting the ‘range official’ do their job. It looked like my child was very nervous. The body didn’t look relaxed. A shot was taken; it was a miss. The body language told me my child was NOT happy. The ‘range official’ immediately began coaching. After about two minutes of talking and demonstrating. This adult ‘range official’ did the absolute most shocking thing. I watched as he stepped right in front of my child, who was holding the gun in the “ready to shoot” position and he looked down the barrel right into the shooters’ eyes! I ABOUT LOST IT!!!
My heart skipped about twenty beats! Before I could even think about it, I let out a very vocal, “What in the world is that blooming idiot doing!?” I took a breath as another parent was gasping at the same scene. “Looking down a barrel of a gun is the dumbest thing I’ve even seen” I said.
The ’employee’ brushed it off saying, “Oh he does that all the time. He made sure it wasn’t loaded before he did it I can assure you. That’s the only way you can make sure the shooter is looking down the sites correctly”.
Of course, I was ready to just leap out on the range and remove my family from this potentially dangerous situation. I wanted to be NO PART of this potential fatal mistake that was unfolding before my eyes. I retorted, “Excuse me! The first thing we teach kids is not to point at anything they don’t intend to shoot and that is NOT the only way to teach”. Another mother was pretty much saying those exact same words with me.
She retorted, “It’s probably a first time shooter, so he has to get right in line with their eyes to make sure they are looking in the right place”.
I quickly corrected this obviously uneducated, wanna be pro skeet shooter, “That is my child and they have been shooting for a few years. Furthermore, as a conceal carry instructor, the very first thing you teach is NOT to point that weapon at ANYTHING you don’t intend to destroy, loaded or unloaded.”
I was so upset. I wanted to leave. I wanted to get out of there before this got ugly. I could tell my child was shaken. While this guy tried hard to get my child to shoot again, with another gun (that shouldn’t kick back as badly), I could tell that the brief moment staring down the barrel into this eyes had shaken this shooter. Emotional; my child came to my side and sat. The very distraught look told me, all these years we’ve taught our kids about safety, had rattled these young nerves. We talked about the experience, the kick NOT the idiot looking down the barrel and I promised we would go to our own private range and work on it so they could try again. Understandably hesitant and reluctant but it was agreed.
Less than 24 hours later. We have an opportunity to shoot on a range. We had a Glock .380, ammo, targets and time to burn. Our kids have NEVER turned down shooting handguns or some rifles and shotguns when we are together as family. Sometimes, we have to work on them to convince them they can handle the recoil. In the last 2-3 years, neither of our kids have EVER not stepped up and confidently shot any of our handguns. Today. Was. Different. Three times, our child would step to the line, pick up the handgun, load the magazine, pull the slide then just before aiming, quickly render the weapon safe and step away. The last time, the words I didn’t want to hear were uttered, “after my bad experience yesterday, I’m not ready”.
ONE time. ONE person. ONE move….and my child is back to stage FEAR around firearms.
We did talk about the whole, “looking down the barrel” later and yes, my child mentioned how uncomfortable it was and how wrong it felt. What I feel like I failed to teach my kids is, no matter what, adult or not, it’s okay to point out that “around deadly weapons, if anyone, including adults, make you feel unsafe, TELL THEM!!!!” I apologize for any of those other kids that saw that….hope it didn’t rattle them as badly. I hope they realize, as mine do, it was very unsafe and this adult needs to be corrected TODAY!!
My apologies if you are offended. This is what happened. I have NO reason to fabricate the details. Regardless of the circumstances you will NEVER convince me that looking down the barrel of a gun is smart!! NEVER! NEVER! NEVER!!
CLIMB ABOARD MY SOAPBOX 