From the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch:
Instructor shoots student in gun-safety class
A firearms instructor accidentally shot a student while teaching a gun-safety class on Saturday in Fairfield County to people seeking permits to carry concealed weapons.
(read the entire article here)
Luckily, the injury was minor and there were students in the class who were trained to treat gunshot wounds.
This is why I prefer a SIRT (or something like a Ring’s blue gun) for any demonstration that doesn’t require the gun to be fired intentionally. It simply becomes too easy to make a mistake with a real firearm, especially in a classroom setting.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
(hat tip to BaiHu at pistol-forum.com)
Perhaps the instructor isn’t big on the NRA gun safety rules? Or perhaps his age is an issue.
In either case he shouldn’t be instructing anyone. This is one of those type of situations in which one mistake equals permanent disqualification.
It is always good to have an Assistant Instructor with you when you are teaching, to be responsible for double checking you.
Maybe he was a police officer! Something “MAJOR NEWS” failed to mention in their propagandists tirade raining deserved political hellfire upon foolish armed citizens!
Two of us frequently taught Basic classes together (less frequently now that we’ve both moved). The only thing we used a functional firearm for in class was to hand it back and forth, allowing each to check for clear as we accepted the gun, and again before passing it back, to demonstrate that when receiving a gun into your hands, or handing it to another, it is your responsibility – and no one else’s – to confirm beyond doubt that the gun is clear, and that doing so immediately after the other person has does not constitute anything negative about the other person’s gun handling but confirms you accept full responsibility for the gun’s status when you accept the gun and before handing it to another. If we’re teaching alone we’ll recruit a student to participate.
If one develops the habit, especially important in a teaching environment, to check clear beyond doubt (or loaded status for daily carry guns) each time a gun is touched it sets an example for the student(s) and prevents untoward events.
Habits are a good thing to have, but I take issue with people who say you constantly neec to press check. Unholster, press check. Reload, press check. Order a hamburger, press check. I feel that if you constantly keep press checking your gun, and it becomes unconscious habit, you might just not process the fact that the gun is loaded. When you check the chamber of your firearm, you should do it deliberately to assure yourself that there is a round in there. But making safety an unconscious habit means you aren’t thinking of it. (steps off soapbox)