Culture of Judgement and Negligent Discharges?

[11B10]

This is simply a difference between how people deal with personal responsibility. Some people screw up, take full responsibility and learn.....others make excuses for everything. This is usually with everything. In the firearms world, you will find that many of your biggest safety Nazi's (different from range rules idiots who think 23 things on a sign and a cold range make you safe) tend to be the same folks who have very good real backgrounds at being successful in crisis's....because they have learned the hard way about trying to cheat Murphy. My N/D.....I called my agency myself and ratted myself out for it, and actually didn't suffer much punishment because I was FAR harder on myself than anything they could have ever done to me. This was different than other people we had who did some seriously dangerous stuff and made a billion excuses why it was someone else's fault....and they got hammered with punishment. I also teach better because of it, and it was a huge learning experience on mixing tactical and administrative handling that changed how I teach those subjects for the better.

Folks, these words ^^^^ apply not just to safety with firearms, but to life itself. Yet another bookmarked post for this student. Thanks, nyeti.

[psalms144.1]

While there is, as usual, almost nothing important I can add after Nyeti and SLG have weighed in, I'll run my gums (fingers?) anyway.

I had an ND early, clearing a malfunctioning newly acquired pistol. Left me with an EPIC scar. It happened because I KNEW all there was to know about handguns, I was an EXPERT. When all was said and done, I lost some use of one of my fingers (and my chance to become a rotary wing aviator along with it), and nearly had to have another removed after a bone infection set in - multiple weeks in the hospital on IV antibiotics knocked it out, thank the Lord for protecting fools and drunks. No one had to say a word to me about the ND, I knew EXACTLY what I did and how I did it and nothing anyone did/could ever say about it is going to make me feel worse than the internal ass chewing I gave myself. I use my gnarly looking hand as a teaching tool all the time on the range now with other shooters, and it usually has the effect I want.

How an instructor or RSO responds to a safety infraction is CRITICALLY important. To just say "everyone's going to f*** up eventually" is, IMHO, the equivalent of letting your friends drive drunk. That's NOT to say that you have to be a raging lunatic @$$h0le when you see a safety issue - doing so is just going to cause extra embarrassment, which, in today's society is almost ALWAYS going to create a negative, defensive response from people who've been taught since birth that NOTHING is their fault. There is a way to have a teaching moment that is powerful and impactful in a professional, PRIVATE discussion with the shooter/student. It's not being judgmental to correct improper behavior, it's doing your job as an instructor.

And, because it's only been said 10,000 times, there are 4 cardinal safety rules FOR A REASON. They overlap FOR A REASON. When we get the unintentional banging noise, if the shooter doesn't IMMEDIATELY have an "oh $hi+" response and start to evaluate the situation, the instructor/RSO has to be there to intervene. Hell, I've unintentionally double-tapped targets trying to shoot too fast, and I immediately stop what I'm doing and mentally review what happened - even when the only "damage" was an extra hole in the paper target and berm behind it. It's what RESPONSIBLE shooters do.

[SLG]

144.1,

I'm sorry to hear that you suffered an injury from your ND. I would think that would be pretty powerful for students to see, and a good reminder to us all that not all ND's are just loud noises. The rules are there for a reason, but we are all human, so regardless of the rules, we are capable of screwing up.

I think Awerbuck said it best, If the Space Shuttle can turn into a flaming ball, I'm pretty sure I can screw up my procedures as well. (paraphrased).

[Josh Runkle]

I'll rehash my stance on this from other threads. Sorry for the repeat for those that have read the other threads. This is aimed at the people who are debating this topic, or rethinking it for the first time:

I have been present to witness about 5 total ND/AD situations. Two of them resulted in a gunshot wound to the shooter. I treated both. The first when I was an EMT, the second as a paramedic. I was also involved in a safety related incident that was a result of a poor stage setup and my poor accuracy, and I took a .45 to the glasses. The glasses exploded and I was thrown backward/staggered backward where people on the line (friends and RO) were now forward of me. I couldn't see anything including the direction I was facing, so, I put the gun on the ground. CCT125US was on the line and recalls this as me just chucking a loaded gun on the ground pointed at a bunch of people. Regardless, even if we don't actually have an ND/AD, safety or potential danger issues will ALWAYS be present in one form or another in relation to shooting sports...in the same way that they would be with parachuting sports or racing sports.

With the large amount of LE, .mil, Fire and EMS on this forum, many people here are familiar with NIMS or ICS in one form or another as a standardized response to emergencies, and one of the best things that has come out of that "death by PowerPoint" is the Emergency Response cycle/wheel/recovery phases.

We have identified that emergencies typically have 4 stages:

1). Preparing for the Emergency
2). Mitigating the Emergency from occurring
3). Responding to the emergency
4). Recovering from the emergency

When we discuss this topic of NDs/ADs, we typically discuss mindset in preparing for them. We watch videos to prepare for them. We then implement safety protocols to mitigate those events from happening. We continually enhance those mitigation techniques.

In this thread some people are even discussing how to recover from those events, and use that information to enhance preparedness and mitigation, all of which is excellent.

Where we fall short, terribly, terribly short, especially for a community that typically considers itself a community "ready to respond if necessary" is in the "Response Phase". If you carry a gun and shoot on a range, you should at bare minimum have adequate training in responding to medical or other emergencies that occur at a range.

Fires occur at ranges, and yet many people know where a fire extinguisher is, but have never actually used one.

Dehydration, heat and sun related emergencies happen far more often than gunshots, and can be just as deadly. Frankly, a gunshot through the outer aspect of the hip/thigh can be way less dangerous than some serious heat related emergencies I've seen on ranges. Do you sincerely know how to deal with these things?

Do you know how to treat a serious gunshot wound like a sucking chest wound or a wound that is compromising someone's airway?

It is wonderful that we are preparing for, mitigating and learning how to recover from emergencies that occur at the range. But frankly, all of that is worthless if you are not truly prepared to respond to an emergency at the range. Reading a book or taking a weekend class on it doesn't mean shit.