The basic pistol class where my hubby and I are instructors is sort of a beginner's class. It covers gun type, ammo, SAFETY (the most important part!) and the fundamentals of good target shooting. It is probably one of the best courses in the country. The man who owns the gun store is very committed to teaching anyone who wants to own a gun for personal protection the most stringent safety rules for gun handling. The NRA requires that this course be 10 hours. Paul's version involves over 20. And it includes a full day on the range. In the morning, we do a round robin where everyone gets to shoot all kinds of guns owned by the store. Pistols, rifles, shotguns, a muzzle loader, an uzi, an AR15, etc. Then after lunch, we have one on one instruction with a student. We do have some experienced shooters come through who have to unlearn bad habits and learn NRA fundamentals. :-D This class meets the requirement to get a concealed carry permit in Colorado.
The course I took this weekend is called Personal Protection in the Home and is geared toward training for a reaction to an intruder in your home. (There's another course called Personal Protection OUTSIDE the home.) It covers different types of situations and how to prepare and PLAN for them. It also includes a section on the law and what you can face if you do shoot someone who is in your home. Paul also works for the public defender's office doing forensics and he often testifies at trials. One of the people who went through the basic class was an 84yo grandma. She shot and killed a rapist who came into her house. The guy had assaulted several women before that.
Yesterday at the range, we did several exercises on shooting quickly, but accurately. We also practiced shooting from behind cover. After all of the various exercises, we did a mini-match. Moving from target to target quickly and safely, using cover, shooting bad guys and shooting a steel ram from a "window." (I was so excited that I got the ram on the first shot!) One of the targets was holding a hostage and we had to shoot the bad guy without hitting the hostage. The hostage didn't survive every shooter, but I didn't hit him! ;-) One target was 3 bad guys, one partly covered by a wall, one behind the other two. Yep, I got all 3 of 'em with 2 hits each. (The targets were all cardboard silhouettes, we didn't actually shoot any bad guys. LOL) Then we did El Presidente, 3 targets a few feet apart, 2 shots each left to right, then reload, then 2 shots each left to right.
The last drill was called the pit bull drill. Someone runs away from the firing line, pulls a water bottle on a rope, so the bottle is traveling toward the shooter and they have to hit a moving target. Yep, the rabid dog died! About half of the students missed the pit bull. It was so much fun and I was quite pleased with my shooting. I've definitely developed more skills than I had! And the weekend definitely wiped me out! I slept for about 12 hours last night. Definitely needed it. (And yes, we know that not all pit bulls are BAD. :-D It's just an example of a possible living animal threat.)
Didn't track my eating at all this weekend. But I packed healthy food for the classroom and for the range yesterday. Today I'm back into the groove. Did my ultimate abs ball, 1 set of lifting weights before taking my son to OT and doing my 40 minute walk around the park. Got rained on a little bit, but it kept it nice and cool and the thunder didn't start until I was done. Woot!
4 comments:
LOL, I'm jealous! Not allowed guns in Australia... well, sort of, but not really. It's too hard to get them though. Such a contrast to Colorado. I remember lots of times going out shooting for fun. My sister's ex had an AK47 semiauto, SOOOOO MUCH FUN!!! Hand guns freak me out though (bad experience with an exboyfriend). I like basic 22 rifles. *sigh* I miss colorado!
I wish I could sign up! I need my cw permit for AZ. Fun stuff, that would be awesome to run a class. I, like Annalisa, am totally in envy.
I grew up around guns and still own a handgun. To me, this sounds like a weekend well spent :)
They should make courses like this one required when you sign up for a permit. When I got my concealed permit here, all I had to do was shoot a target and take a written test..it was quite lame.
wow.. this is so foreign to me! (Canuck here) I have never seen a gun, never mind held one. Unless you count my dad's old 22 that we used for chasing groundhogs out of the garden.
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