Firearms training for beginners


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walther380

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A lady from my office and her family want to learn to shoot guns. Her husband has been a anti for years and is finally coming around that they are the devil and actually wants to own one for personal protection.

since this family has never been around guns I am taking the opportunity to get them pointed in the right direction. I have taught some of my younger friends about gun safety and how the firearms work, the basics, in the past. What I would like to do with this group because 2 are adults and the one is a very mature teen is get them to do a little reading before we start the hands on stuff. Are there any good sites (or even this one) that I can find first timer lessons on shooting? I have googled this subject but what I find is shooting schools that want big money to tell you anything or even go to their school out of state.
 

Your best bet is to find an NRA certified instructor. Have the family enroll in the course and contact the instructor to see if you can "audit" the course (attend with them for free but not receive any credit) with them or simply pay to take the course yourself. I am not saying that you could not do a good job teaching them. However, NRA instructors work from a carefully developed and refined curriculum. This is designed to teach the novice what needs to be learned. I would worry about missing key pieces of information, or worse introducing bad habits that will be with them forever.

NRA courses provide reading material, knowledgeable and certified instructors, and solid and safe instruction on the range. Trying to teach them yourself could put a strain on your relationship with them. Worse still your unintentional exuberance may turn them off at a very delacate time.

Most local gun shops. ranges or gun clubs have either instructors on hand or can refer you to a local NRA instructor. The NRA basic pistol course or its equivilant for long guns is usually very reasonable and contains exactly the sort of information your freinds need.
 
I'm confused how someone saying that finding a certified instructor is a good plan is also insulting to you... If their competence and outlook on firearms is important to you it might be worth taking a step back from the situation and evaluating the suggestion. If you are determined to teach them yourself consider going to some instructor training as it could teach you more, not only about firearms but about how to teach.
 
I didn't find the suggestions insulting at all and will actually be using this advice for some friends of my wife that are in need of training. I can gun sling but I know im not the best teacher/and or too close to the people involved.
 
When my wife, 13 an 11 year olds were ready to learn about firearms and shooting. I hired an NRA instructor former Leo for 4 hours of private classroom and range instruction. I add to what he initially provided when I take one of my family members to the range for 1 on 1 time.
 
walther380 said:
Thanks, but this is not what I was looking for. This is more of an insult to my intelligence.
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I am sorry, but no insult was intended.

Teaching someone about any subject is a difficult task. The more information a potential instructor has on a subject, the more difficult the task of instructing becomes. It can be difficult for someone who has mastered a subject to break down his chosen field into basic building blocks of knowledge suitible for the uninitiated.

Then there is the matter of your relationship to the students. A friendship or god forbid romantic attachment, introduces an authority problem into the student/teacher relationship. There must always be both a positional and knowledge based authority behind a teacher this is a type of command authority which requires obedience. This can be difficult to establish if there is already a relationship based on friendship which contains only relational authority, which operates by mutual conscent. The introduction of more invasive and demanding authority into a pre existing relationship causes significant stress.

My advice to you was aimed at relieving you of the problems involved with taking on students in general and taking on people you know well as students in particular. I am sorry if I gave offense but I stand by my original advice.
 
walther380 said:
Thanks, but this is not what I was looking for. This is more of an insult to my intelligence.
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It's not most of the comments are saying you're not qualified, but saying you're not certified. I would suggest following everyone's advise on this. Especially seeing these individuals are from your work. Conflict and or animosity could be generated if you are taken wrongly in some example or instruction. With that said, I do fell competent in instructing, used to do it in the Navy. But I'm not a Firearms Certified Instructor and would gladly pass this on to someone who is. This would also help showing these individuals how serious handling of a firearm is. Just my 2 cents..........
 
Well, I agree that the suggestions are not insulting and first thing I thought was to use a professional instructor. I like the idea of an NRA instructor, but I will also suggest a local concealed handgun instructor. Many of these teach handgun proficiency when they are not teaching a concealed class.
I say this because I believe there is no substitute for a pro's perspective to learn the basics and maybe even more advanced skills. The pro's have honed their skills not only to use a gun, but to teach how to use a gun, where an individual may be unknowingly introducing bad habits they have. If we're talking target shooting no big deal - but personal defense?
I have been around and used long and short guns for 50+ years and I will be attending a shotgun class next month. So I do practice what I preach, and hopefully I'm not insulting anyone with this.
 
walther380 said:
Thanks, but this is not what I was looking for. This is more of an insult to my intelligence.
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Doc Mustang has it right. This is exactly what they need. Not someone teaching what he "thinks" is proper firearm safety, handling and fundamentals. The basic fundamentals either make or break a new person's embracing of firearms. A first shooting experience can be a lot for a convert to swallow.

The NRA created the "First Steps Pistol Orientation" class specifically to cover these issues properly. One must also consider that they may hold civil or criminal liability for negligence for accidents that arise during training and use. Most professional instructors are insured for professional liability for this very reason.
 
Firearms Training for beginners.

Having read through this discussion I am a little confused, Let me start by saying that my Wife and I are Certified NRA instructors in Rifle,Pistol,Shotgun and Personal Protection we are also certified State CCDW instructors from the State of Kentucky.
We run a shooting school here in Kentucky and in addition to the NRA courses we run other courses ranging from Night courses to personal one to one as well as being certified Hunter Education Instructors ,which is a voluntary position.

So we see a wide variety of students here,from those who want a Concealed carry permit and those beginners who feel they want to learn how to safely handle a gun. To teaching 10-14 year olds the basics of gun safety.

The initial question was regarding training for beginners and that depends on your budget and your location. Most instructors are unwilling to travel long distances to teach one to one instruction. They also have certain overheads such as Classroom hire and Range Hire. We are lucky in that we do not, so we can lower our prices proportionally .
The Cost of training is therefore a matter of shopping around. The NRA do not set a scale or suggest prices for training.
The Kentucky Dept of Justice do for Concealed Carry imposing an upper limit of $75.00 per student for an 8 hour course of which they claim $25.00. Therefore when we teach a CCDW class with 2 or 3 students we are barely covering the cost of electricity and refreshments.

However most NRA instructors are not Instructors to become rich. Most have a genuine desire to ensure safe instruction is passed on to as many students as possible. I do personally believe that it is not a good idea to teach your wife or husband to shoot,even if you are a certified instructor. Anyone who ever tried to teach his wife or child to drive will understand what i mean.

The NRA website lists instructors and courses nationwide by State, just type in you Zip code to find the nearest to you. Again Prices vary wildly for the reasons aforementioned .

Steve Challis
 
Are you serious? Either refer them to a class or grab a couple of firearms of your own, get some ammo/targets, and take them to a range. A "certified instructor" isn't necessary to teach firearm safety or how to shoot one. Learning these things are like learning to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission, you can read and be told how to do it till your head hurts, but the only way to learn is to just do it. Also by the way if you even needed to waste a post on this as well as "have your intelligence insulted" then you obviously don't have very much intelligence to insult. Good day.
 
To actually reply to your question as opposed to giving gratuitous advice, there are a few websirtes I would recommend.

The first (and, IMO best) is actually aimed primarily at women, but I have used it before for people who had little or no experience and want to start with the basics...Cornered Cat. Kathy also has a book on self defense that is excellent called "Lessons From an Armed America"...

Actually, as I look through my reference material for the "very much beginner", I find that pretty much all of it is written with a basic aim at women....another good one is Link Removed
 
Terminal Lance said:
Are you serious? Either refer them to a class or grab a couple of firearms of your own, get some ammo/targets, and take them to a range. A "certified instructor" isn't necessary to teach firearm safety or how to shoot one. Learning these things are like learning to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission, you can read and be told how to do it till your head hurts, but the only way to learn is to just do it. Also by the way if you even needed to waste a post on this as well as "have your intelligence insulted" then you obviously don't have very much intelligence to insult. Good day.
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You, sir, are an arrogant idiot...

Not to mention very wrong...
 
There are no books or videos that will take the place of a good instructor. If you give them advice and they get injured, remember they can sue your "butt" . If you and your friends are ok with that and you feel qualified , then go for it, but I would advise them that a professional instructor may teach in a different manner, allowing for age , experince etc.....
 
What I am going to do is the same thing that happens when a dad takes his son out shooting for the first time. Im not going to teach them personal defense techniques or some fancy stuff. Thats over my head and thats not really what they are after right now.

It will be more like this:

Here is a rifle. This is how it works. What ever this end is pointed at will destroyed. You insert the cartridges here on this type of rifle. blah blah blah.

Well not exactly....

What I was looking for was something that showed the different types of actions on rifles and pistols and how they all worked. Then something that showed how bullets move from the brass to the paper. Then all of the safety aspects of handling firearms. Its not rocket science guys. You all are making it like Im training them for life or death situations. They just want to shoot a damn gun. They dont need a certified instructor to do that.
 
Oh and another thing. I dont know a single person among our hunt club that took a class by a certified teacher before they picked up a gun. They were taught by their parents and grand parents. Not a "certified" person trying to make a buck.

Yes some did take classes on more advanced material but that was after the fact when they started shooting for sport and defense.

Although terminal lance seems to be an idiot I am going to get some ammo and take my guns to the range.
 
I am new here. I have had my Taurus revolver for 5 years. My DH is a disabled vet from the Marine corps (shattered his ankle). He takes gun safety and education seriously. However he sent me to a NRA instructor for a beginners class and will do the same for our 7 children when they are ready. I was very familiar with my firearm. I am glad my DH did that, I learned so much more from the instructor than my DH, why I do not know. The instructor told me that he does the same thing for his wife (sends her to another instructor). The best thing I learned was proper form which helps me with the recoil and improved my aim at least 75%! I will be going back for some more classes, :)
 
The OP starts "A lady from my office and her family want to learn to shoot guns. Her husband has been a anti for years and is finally coming around that they are the devil and actually wants to own one for personal protection"

Training a family member is totally different then someone outside of your family. Although dynamics and safety are the same, your instruction to someone else could open you up to all kinds of liability issues. I stand by original post "use a certified Instructor" for education, handling and safety, range time as well. Put the burden on the instructor.
 
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