In one of the most recent Friday 15 episodes that I released, I talked specifically about non-shooters and what they need to know about guns and gun safety was one of the topics that I decided and touted is probably one of the most important gun topics that anyone needs to know about. Whether you’re shooter or not a shooter and they’re all kinds of reasons why you might find someone that’s a non-shooter needing to know about gun safety.
The idea of why someone that’s involved with firearms needs to know gun safety, well, that’s just plain simple, completely logical and easy to understand. Gun safety is without a doubt the most important topic in gun training. Anyone that is handling firearms and even those that may not be handling firearms need to know gun safety simply because the consequences of an accident with a firearm are severe.
We’re talking about serious injury; we’re talking about potential death. Anytime we’re dealing with those kinds of consequences it makes sense to have training in safety. We need to focus on gun safety with anyone that potentially is going to be handling guns every person needs to be taught about gun safety especially today.
We’ve got tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands maybe even millions of brand-new gun owners here in the US folks that are for the first time becoming interested in firearms. Those folks need quality instruction in gun safety but where is that going to come from? With that many people needing instruction it makes it difficult to get that task taken care of. There’s no law that requires gun safety instruction nor do I think there should be. I firmly believe that’s the responsibility of the gun owner, the responsibility of the responsible adult that knows that they may choose to or need to interact with firearms.
So again if a responsible adult knows that that’s their job to make sure they get gun safety training or safety in anything else how is it that they go about doing that and making sure that it’s quality training?
That’s we’re to talk about today in the Safety Solutions Academy podcast how it is that folks like you, folks that are casual gun owners or folks that are avid gun owners or folks or instructors or folks that are competitive shooters, folks that are defensive shooters, folks that the take training courses for enjoyment and for their own projection? How is it that you can help other people in your life that might not be as into guns as you are learn about gun safety? So stay tuned this is going to be full of important information you can use to keep yourself, those you love and those around you safer.
Folks welcome to the Safety Solution Academy podcast I am so glad that you are here with me today. My name is Paul Carlson and I’m looking forward to talking with you today about gun safety. As I mentioned in our little intro we have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of brand-new firearms owners here in the United States. Even more people that are interested in firearms for the first time and what that means is we’ve got a tremendous number of people that need firearms safety instruction.
Whenever there’s a huge influx of people that need to learn something or need some kind of a service there tends to be a lag in how it is that that service is delivered. Oftentimes there simply isn’t enough manpower that’s formally trained or formally prepared and ready to go to help people with what it is that they need help with. And what that means is that things like firearm safety instruction falls on the average person that’s involved in a hobby or a sport or whatever it is that you might be involved in.
You know you folks out there whatever walk of life you come from, probably are considered by many in your life to be a firearms expert. You might not be the most knowledgeable person that ever existed when it comes to firearms but you probably know more than the average person in fact you probably know quite a bit more than all of the people around you that is the definition of an expert.
And in many cases its people like you, firearms experts, folks that have some experience spending time on the range practicing, experience with several different types of firearms may be used in different manners. Maybe taken some defensive courses maybe you carry concealed; it’s you experts that are helping to spread the word on a grassroots level about gun safety.
You know that brand-new shooter the person that’s going out for the first time their probably not going to invest in a gun safety class before they fire their first shots. In fact they’re probably going to be heading to the range with someone like you to help introduce them to the sport. It makes the job of teaching gun safety so very important because it’s the very first exposure that individuals have to firearms safety and that first exposure, that primary exposure, that initial exposure has a tendency to stay with people for a very long time.
So I think it’s very important that teaching firearm safety is considered a very serious topic. Not just because of the idea that the consequences of an accident with a gun are so severe again serious injury, potential death. But also because the lasting impact on those that learn gun safety lessons for the very first time, well that lasting impact tends to be very great. The habits that people develop with regards to gun safety will come right back to the foundation of where they learned about gun safety.
And thats I wanted to take some time today to talk about how it is that we can make sure that we are teaching gun safety in the most efficient manner possible to those folks that are around us.
So let’s start out with that idea and understanding that you as the expert, maybe the person… probably it’s already happened you but maybe in the future you’re going to be that person that’s called again to teach about gun safety. So let’s begin with preparation. What is it that you need to do before you teach gun safety? How is it that you can be ready?
The first suggestion that I would have for you is to actually make sure that you are an expert and an expert specifically on gun safety. You see when it comes to teaching gun safety I don’t really care how accurately you can shoot a firearm. How precisely you can shoot a firearm, how efficiently you can manipulate, how quickly you can get shots on a ray of targets that’s presented in front of you, how fast you can draw from the holster.
You may be an expert at those things but that really has no bearing on your expertise of gun safety and the other way around as well. Just because you’re a gun safety expert doesn’t mean you’re awesome at those things. Just because you’re awesome at those things doesn’t make your gun safety expert. What I’m saying is to teach gun safety you should be an expert in gun safety.
You need to know the topic inside and out I’m talking about more than just being able to recite the rules of gun safety. What I’m talking about is understanding the concepts behind gun safety what it is that you’re teaching from conceptual standpoint and what it is that folks need to learn and understand.
You can expect that when you teach gun safety especially to someone that’s brand-new to firearms you may be asked some questions that you’ve never even consider before. You know when your spouse or your child or your boyfriend or girlfriend or whoever it is that you’re teaching has a question and they ask you that question you need to know and understand the answer that question.
You can’t simply say well you know I mean the rules say don’t do this so we’re not going to do that. You actually need to know why you’re not going to do that. What are you going to do instead, why is it important to do one thing as opposed to another. What would be the consequences of not following firearm safety? You see when you’re teaching, teaching is almost as much about learning as it is teaching.
I spent years teaching math and science to middle school kids and I thought I got math, I thought I understood math. After I graduated college and went into the classroom I didn’t really think I was going to learn more about math. But you see the questions that students asked me forced me to think about math in a different way. They forced me to think about how to explain things in terms that were different from what it is that I already understood.
It’s the same with gun safety you may right now believe that you understand the big concepts behind gun safety and then you may find that when you’re asked questions you begin to wonder yourself. Those are the kinds of things you need to be paying attention to before you start teaching gun safety.
Sorting out the idea of what questions might you be asked, how deep can you take the conversation about gun safety, where it came from, why it is the way that it is. And you need to be ready to learn while you’re doing the teaching. That’s part of being prepared as well prepare yourself for that learning. And this isn’t easy, it’s hard sometimes to set aside that ego, it’s hard to say gosh I don’t really know let’s figure this out together. Let’s jump on the Internet and do some research. Let’s call an expert, let’s send an email to someone that really knows the depths of this.
You need to be prepared to learn as well. But the topic is serious enough that it’s certainly worth the commitment to prepare ahead of time and also know that there’s more to be learned as you teach gun safety. So that’s the first thing I’m going to say in preparation is be prepared, be that expert and be prepared to learn more.
So another thing that I think is critically important in preparation for teaching safe gun handle is if you’re going to be that expert then you actually have to be doing what it is you’re about to teach. You need to practice safe gun handling all of the time. Now this is important for several reasons.
First of all understand that your students if they ever see you handle guns even if you’re not officially teaching them; let’s say that we’re talking about your children or we’re talking about loved ones that you spend time with or maybe just friends that are around you while you handle firearms from time to time. You are teaching them even when you’re not formally engaged in that teacher-student relationship.
Remember you’re the expert, you’re the person that has firearms in their lives. You’re the person that they see as knowing much more than they do about firearms. So they’ll be watching even when you’re not formally teaching them. They’ll be paying attention they’ll be cataloguing what it is you do, where it is you do it, how it is that you do it and the manner that you conduct yourself. If you’re not practicing safe gun handling today how in the world is that student going to take you seriously when you explain to them how incorrect it is for them to do what it is that you we’re just doing yesterday.
And that’s one of the big challenges not just in teaching gun safety but in teaching anything we actually have to really buy into what it is that we’re teaching. We have to really actually believe what is we’re teaching and why it is that we’re teaching it and if we fail on that level our students will see right through it. They’ll see right through it in our behaviour, they’ll see right through it in our tone of voice and our commitment to things and let’s not forget that gun safety is important.
You also need to be practicing safe gun handling always for your own safety and the safety of those around you. But if you’re going to propose to teach that to someone else to be honest to that teacher and student relationship you need to be willing, be committed to following through on what it is that you’re going to do. So make sure that before you teach gun safety you’re that constant practitioner of safe gun handling.
I think another important aspect of preparing to teach anything as well as gun safety is being ready to set your feelings aside and I kind of started talking about this a little bit like mentioned that you need to be ready to learn. Even though you’re an expert coming into the situation of teaching gun safety you also need to be ready to learn.
Well you need be ready to set your feelings aside your ego is one of the biggest obstacles to being able to teach something efficiently to other people. You know you may be presented with situations that are frustrating, maybe intimidating, maybe they even appear disrespectful from the position that you’re in as you see things happening. Don’t forget this if you’re teaching gun safety to someone else it isn’t about you, it’s about helping the people that are around you probably those people you care about deeply learn lead a safer life.
And so set aside all of that other stuff. Set aside whatever baggage you may have in the relationship with the individual that you’re teaching. You know maybe this is again your spouse, your child, those relationships don’t come without their complexities. Be ready to set that aside because gun safety is a topic that expands beyond whatever those complexities are. Those complexes can always be worked out later.
A gun safety accident, an accident with a gun maybe that can’t be worked out. Maybe that has consequences that cannot be undone if you’re not able to set aside those complexities then maybe you’re not the person to be teaching gun safety to that individual or maybe to anyone and that’s okay. It doesn’t make you a bad person it makes you somebody that’s just not suited for teaching that topic in that set of circumstances.
Set your ego aside and be ready to own up to that be ready to get professional help there are gun safety classes out there you just have to seek them out and get folks enrolled. Now if you head to safetysolutionsacademy.com/teachgunsafety again that’s safetysolutionsacademy.com/teachgunsafety I’ve got a lot of resources and other things that I’m not specifically going to talk about here in the podcast that are available on the website.
So for instance I got a section on how to teach kids safe gun handling. There’s some teaching practices that work especially well with children. I’ve got some tips on how to teach gun safety to your spouse that might be of interest to you and then some thoughts about who it is that should be teaching gun safety. And maybe if you read it the other direction who it is that shouldn’t be teaching gun safety that’s up to you. So make sure that you head to safetysolutionsacademy.com/teachgunsafety and when you get there you can check out those additional resources that are there for the show.
Now teaching gun safety isn’t really all that different than teaching anything else except it’s one of those activities that has high stakes. I often talk about my experience teaching mathematics and science. If my students or I did a poor job when it came to the teaching and/or the learning that went along with mathematics class students would get a poor grade on their homework or maybe they’d flunk their quiz or test maybe even get a bad grade for the card marking of the semester.
Now depending on the student and how important mathematics was in their academic future for how important they perceived it to be maybe that was a little bit of a big deal maybe it wasn’t but either way it was nowhere near the consequences involved with learning about guns.
You see if you are I have a bad day teaching gun safety well the consequences we discussed repeatedly, serious injury potential death those are pretty final consequences, and so despite the fact that teaching is teaching is teaching we do have to keep in mind the consequences of poor teaching when it comes to things like gun safety, or skydiving, or scuba diving or wrestling with sharks you better be on your toes when you’re a teacher of those types of subjects.
So first example, first really important technique that I think works well in teaching in general works well when it comes to teaching gun safety and often times just happens based on being around the people of the region is that idea of teaching by example. We’ve mentioned this already people are watching you’re the expert make sure you’re doing it right teach by example.
Now I’m not necessarily saying that you need to get all of the people that you want to know what to teach gun safety to that are in your family or your friends and you have them come to the range to watch you out on the range for hours on end that’s not the point. I’m talking about those times when you are doing the normal things you do with a firearm make sure that you are being the example that your students want to be themselves.
Be the example that you want your students to become, be the example that the person that taught you about gun safety would be proud to see teaching someone else and this goes back to the idea of practicing safe gun handling all of the time you never know who’s going to be watching. Well the fact is your future students are going to be watching so make sure that when you are handling firearms for your own safety, for the safety of those around you and for the value of those that are learning from you make sure that you teach by example. And that example is exhibiting proper gun handling techniques.
Now also understand that we all make mistakes we should strive to not make mistakes but they can happen even when it comes to gun safety. When that happens make sure that you are ready to fess up to those mistakes own them fix them immediately and then get on with business.
This idea of responsibility is really what it comes down to it’s an important one because that’s what gun safety really comes down to. It comes down to responsibility so when you’re teaching by example just through your daily interaction with firearm if you make some kind of an error be ready to fix that. And we’re going to talk more about that idea of fixing it even speaking out loud about your thoughts as you fix a problem and how important that can be as we continue to talk about teaching techniques.
Another technique that would be really beneficial for folks is the idea to teach and learn through conversation review. And in this is a great kind of thing maybe you’ve spent some time in the home with your loved ones cleaning firearms, storing firearms, repairing firearms, getting them ready to head to the range. And so you’ve done some talk and conversation about and demonstration and maybe even some action related to gun safety.
And then you jump in the car and you head up to the range you know this is a great time to continue that conversation about gun safety and review what it is that’s been learned so that you can strengthen the understanding. Maybe you just got done with a range session you’re heading home. Debrief that range session talk specifically about gun safety.
Review what it is that was taught, review what it is that should’ve been learned, review the mistakes that were made in a nonjudgmental, in way where responsibility is important and have that conversation. Again it helps people to own gun safety to be able to talk about it thoroughly. I think that can be important.
I also think it’s pretty important to teach people to think about gun safety think. And this is the idea that I talked and in teaching for example and being able to talk through a situation as to how you’re going to do something, why you’re going to do it as your teaching by example having the thoughts that are inside your head actually become words that come out of your mouth can really help.
This is this idea in education fancy buzzword it’s called metacognition it really means thinking about your thinking. But it works really well, both from teaching standpoint and from a learning standpoint it’s a tool that you can use when you are showing people what to do by example, but it’s also something that you can have your students use when they’re getting ready to do something. As opposed to right off the bat having them do it you can have them explain what it is they’re going to do and why they’re going to do it.
It gives you a chance to interject any thoughts maybe there are some ideas that are incorrect, maybe some things that they don’t understand, maybe some mistakes that they’re about to make. As they explain what they’re going to do and they explain an error you have a chance to fix that error, to correct that error before it actually becomes a physical error before it actually becomes a gun safety violation simply a misunderstanding is not going to harm anyone until it turns into a physical manifestation of that misunderstanding.
So taking some time to have people explain what they’re going to do, how they’re going to a do it and you model that very behavior can help you. And then having them continue to explain while the do it can help to slow down those actions and give you the opportunity to correct any misunderstandings that have persisted so that they don’t become that gun safety violation. That talking about what you’re going to do is the preview, they discuss it again as they’re actually doing it and you have the chance to both verbally and physically if necessary interject to make sure that your training session stays safe.
And yet you know it does need to get physical both from a instructor standpoint you keeping the gun safety instruction/lesson safe may be physically interacting with the firearm with the student. But it needs to be physical for the student as well because as awesome as you know teaching by example is, teaching through conversation and review and teach about the metacognition that goes along with gun safety there simply is no better teacher then doing.
And in this is the case again with just about anything that people want to learn. You learn better by doing than you do by any other mode. I know that there are all kinds of different modalities of learning and blah blah blah. I mean I went to college and have a degree and all that BS right. And sure there are some people that learn better by listening then reading. And there are other people that learn better in all the modalities. I’m not going to go into it the fact is that doing trumps them all for everybody.
If you really want to learn something then you need to do that thing. Let me repeat that if you want to learn something the best way to learn it is to do it. So I have a degree in mathematics and a degree in mathematics education and I came right out and said it in the beginning of this podcast, I really learned mathematics when I started teaching it to other people. That’s when I learned mathematics that’s when I learned how to teach mathematics. All the theory in the world didn’t do me any good. When students started to throw questions at me I had to learn right then and there what it is I’m going to do and how I was going to do it to be most efficient.
Now there’s a problem when it comes to gun safety to right. This idea that we’ve talked about throughout the show this idea that the consequences of gun safety accident are unacceptable and so that’s where teaching by doing becomes a challenge. That means you need to be on your toes as an instructor making sure that you have reduced the risk of a gun safety accident happening so that your student can learn by doing but not have catastrophic outcomes.
Maybe you’re going to start teaching gun safety as I mentioned before by preparing firearms for the range. We’re not talking about firearms and ammunition. Just prepare the firearms make sure before you even engage with your student, that at all the firearms you’re going to be handling are unloaded. They’re in a safe condition. Have a plan for where firearms are going to go in cases, in boxes and bags and all the things that you’re going to do.
And then with your student after you’ve explained the rules for safe gun handling physically help them do what needs to be done to get those firearms ready to head to the range. Keeping your fingers someplace other than the trigger keeping the muzzle pointed in a relatively safe direction whenever possible.
If you physically help them to do that when ammunition isn’t involved at all; number one you’re physically helping them so you can physically interact to prevent violations. You can move fingers off of triggers you can help muzzles be pointed in the right direction by having a hand on the firearm with the student or a hand in a position where it can be, where it needs to be when it needs to be there. And what do you know they’re learning by doing without any significant risk.
Then you had to the range and you get those firearms out and again you have that opportunity to interact review in conversation on the drive and then that physical interaction and physical doing of gun safety. Then by the time you’ve talked about it again and you’ve done it again and you load those guns up what do you know you’ve made a significant improvement in that student’s ability to deal with guns safely. All of those are important ideas verbal directions are important but never forget that when you’re teaching gun safety you need to be ready to physically interact with your student and the firearm when you need to.
That’s an important concept to understand. When you get out to that range understand that that needs to be your soul focus. One of the most important things that I think you can do when it comes to teaching gun safety is making that you’re focus, that your duty, that your job right when you’re doing it.
If you’re heading to the range to teach someone gun safety don’t be heading to the range to work on your split times as well. Don’t be heading there with the idea of getting some reload practice in. Head there with the sole purpose of teaching gun safety. You can’t afford to be distracted, you can’t afford to have your focus elsewhere. You can’t afford to have a moment of inattention at the wrong time where someone can make a choice that has those catastrophic consequences/results that we’re trying to avoid through the lesson altogether.
I really do believe that gun safety is the most important topic in guns. You know you’re going to be interacting with your firearms on a regular basis for the rest of your life and you may or may not ever need to defend yourself or those people you love. That means that gun safety is just as important as defensive firearms training so make sure that you have your gun safety skills in order.
And if you’re that person that gets called on by friends or family or acquaintances or the gun club or the range that you do some shooting at make sure that you are up to the task. Make sure that you are an expert, make sure that you take gun safety seriously that you’re using it all of the time. Make sure that you’re ready to set your feelings aside when you get ready to teach that lesson. Make sure that you teach through example, conversation and review.
Don’t forget about teaching the thinking that goes along with gun safety. It’s not just about a set of rules it’s about understanding the big concepts behind it. And most importantly make sure that you are teaching gun safety by having your gun safety students doing what it is they’re going to need to do probably someday when you’re not around.
Folks I hope that you found this episode of the Safety Solutions Academy podcast helpful of course if you are looking for professional instruction in gun safety. Maybe you’re brand-new to shooting you don’t have folks that you know, that you can trust to teach gun safety I encourage you to check out the National Rifle Association’s page. The NRA does a great job in teaching gun safety. You can find gun safety courses in your area if you just search the NRA website find instructors that are close to you that can teach you gun safety.
You can also find the Eddie Eagle gun safe program that is a great gun safety primer for children. If you have firearms in your home or if your children ever spend any time anywhere where there may be firearms; that’s all children in case you were wondering they should have the information that is in the Eddie Eagle gun safe program thoroughly mastered so they can deal with that kind of situation.
Of course if you are interested in travelling to training with Safety Solutions Academy as many folks are or you happen to be lucky enough to live in the Northeast Ohio area simply taking one of our concealed carry handgun courses. A tremendous amount of gun safety information in that course as well as our critical defensive handgun courses, and in fact all of our firearms, it’s an important component of all firearms.
So can take advantage of those resources just head to safetysolutionsacademy.com and you can find out about our courses. Also there is a book that I would recommend to you from Massad Ayoob who’s an instructor that we host here at Safety Solutions Academy each year.
He’ll be coming in and teaching a MAG-40 and a MAG-20 course here in the month of June we’re not very far off; has a great book again his book is called Massad Ayoob’s book of ‘Gun Safety in the Home’ an outstanding primer for gun safety if you are just looking for that extra resource to brush up so that you’re ready for teaching or some information that gives you a leg up before you take a course.
Massad Ayoob’s book on Gun Safety in the Home’ is an outstanding resource. And again you can find those links and other links if you simply head to safetysolutionsacademy.com/teachgunsafety. Now folks gun safety is best learned by doing, so find those folks that know more about gun safety than you if you want to learn it. Find those folks that need to learn about gun safety and get to it.
Now before I let you go today I would like to ask you to do me a favour. I very much appreciate you being here today, I hope that you found the information here valuable maybe took two or three important ideas away that you’re going to be able to either incorporate into your life, into your teaching of gun safety to others or maybe you found a better way to look for someone who is going to teach you that gun safety.
If there was value in today’s show I would very much appreciate you letting me know about that value in letting other folks know as well and the best way for you to do that is to head to whatever your listening to your podcast in and leaving a review. I know a lot of you are out there on iTunes if you head to safetysolutionsacademy.com/iTunes it’ll take you to the page where you can learn how to leave a review and where to leave a review for the Safety Solutions Academy podcast.
I’d love it if you could leave a rating or review. It’s one of the ways that we can spread the word about the Safety Solutions Academy podcast. iTunes takes a look at the number of episodes that gets released, the number of reviews, the number of ratings, the quality of those reviews and ratings and that’s how it ranks podcasts and we would certainly love to see the Safety Solutions Academy podcast be up where it deserves to be in iTunes which is on the top of the list when it comes to outdoor and sporting or whatever the categories is that doesn’t really fit because there is no awesome podcast about guns category.
But nonetheless please head to saeftysolutionsacademy.com/iTunes leave a rating a review it would be very much appreciated. Most importantly folks remember that firearm safety is about doing so get with those folks that know more about gun safety than you and do gun safety. And if you’re the person that knows the most, the expert get those folks that need to know more and help them do what they need to do to learn more. Gun safety and just about everything else is about doing so do it. Get on out there; get yourself some training, when do make sure you keep it simple. Please stay safe and as always have a great day.