I have had to teach 3 people to shoot, who never shot before.
I KNEW what was going to happen the first time they shot- so I held onto their hands while they pulled the trigger- the very first time you shoot a gun the recoil is unfamiliar and you NEED TO HAVE A PRACTICE.
I was in the Air Force security police the first time I went for handgum training and it surprised me enough that the gun almost popped up out of my grip.
that should be the first question you ask someone- have you ever fired a gun before? and if the answer is no, you HOLD ONTO IT
This instructor was dead because he handed a mchine gun to a person who never fired one. the repeated recoil forced the weapon up aand to the left where it shot him.
He should have been behind her AND helping to brace her just in case.
Agreed, but I’d go one step further.
I cannot fathom, even by parsing the situation to the Nth degree, how a nine year-old girl could handle a FA UZI. Remember, and eight year old kid shot himself in the head with a micro UZI in Maryland about ten years ago. He was being supervised at a private range by a cop.
A kid shooting a semi-auto long rifle off a bench isn’t such a worry, as long as they’re supervised.
Would people hand a chainsaw to a eight or nine year-old?
I was showing my younger sister how to shoot a G32 (.357SIG), at my company’s private range, and as she fired, the gun flew out of her hand and back over her head. Two people moved to catch it, and I had to block them and let it fall into the gravel. Only after explaining everything, did they understand the gravity of what could have happened. Both were experienced shooters, too. Brrrrrr.
“Never try to catch a falling knife.”
I know this may sound stupid, but are there simulator guns to give that first beginner a feel what is like to shoot off a gun especially if it recoils? So when they actually hold a real one to shoot, they already have that sense in holding and controlling the weapon.
I let a visiting British friend - a grown man who had been in the Forces - shoot my .44 Desert Eagle. The first time he shot it, it had one round in the magazine so he could get a feel for the recoil. After that he was good.