Originally Posted by
Suvorov
Thanks for all the great replies folks! My examples are hypothetical, however they do have some application to a person I'm currently working with and people that I have and will deal with in the future. While I think everyone here sees firearms training as a continual journey to achieve some sort of elusive level of mastery, much of the world (including most gun owners) do not. While the idea of a one day "crash course" to shooting seems abhorrent and counter productive to me, it may be the only training many people are willing to undergo. Examples I can think of off hand are the training of a spouse or loved on who is not into guns, the training of a store employee in use of firearm where guns are kept on premise, training of ranch hands, or even training someone with no firearms experience to use on in a survival situation.
The situation I am facing and that prompted me to ask this question is as follows. A friend and colleague has asked me to give his wife a day of training on how to use a pistol for home defense. While I am still not a certified instructor, he regards me as the most competent gun person he knows (he obviously doesn't know any of you), he and I have both flight instructed together so he knows I have decent teaching ability, and I have a good relation with his wife. I immediately suggested she take a course from one of the local schools or the next KlyeLamb/MagPul/InsertSuperHSLDInstructorHere class, but that idea turned her off immediately. She might be convinced into taking the NRA basic handgun class, but I frankly think she can get better more defense oriented instruction elsewhere (and from me).
As my colleague and me spend a good deal of our life thousands of miles from home he understandably wants her to be able to use a gun if the need arises via break in, riot, or post-earthquake (all the things that Kalifornia is famous for). Somehow he has convinced her to take some training. She is not a hoplophobe, she is OK with guns being in her house and around her kids and her father was a police officer, however she is a product of the University of Kalifornia school system. While she in convinced that a Monsanto conspired death awaits her behind every non-organic vegetable or Big Mac, in talking to her it seems she does not believe or refuses to believe that there are two legged predators out there who would like nothing more than to do bad things to her and her family if given the opportunity.
Her husband has a small collection of guns including a couple of DA/SA autos, a couple Shotguns, and Rifles. He relies mostly on a P229 and P239 for defense and maybe the shotgun at home. She will not likely do any follow on training other than occasionally shoot with her family, and there is no point in him going out and buying a gun for her. Her husband will maintain the guns so there is no need to waste time on disassembly and training.
So should I punt or can I make it worth her and my time? What should be a reasonable level of proficiency to attain at the end of a days worth of training? I have a Power Point detailing the basics of shooting as well as use of lethal force. I plan on appealing to her motherly instinct to develop what I can of a mindset and using the Sarah McKinley shooting as a positive example. What more can I add?
I'd also like to say that since I am NOT certified yet, I will not be compensated in any way other than reimbursed for ammo and range fees.
This is very interesting. The husband of my wife's friend that is about to go into the diplomatic service is actually about to receive some similar training as is excited about it despite the fact that he is an anti. What was the general willingness of your students to accept the idea that their lives may be threatened or that they may be responsible for defending themselves?
Since you have done this type of thing a few times what would you consider an acceptable level of competence at the end of 1 day of training?