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On November 9th 2002, I attended The
Firearms Academy of Seattle’s "FAS-0" FREE
HANDGUN SAFETY SEMINAR. I was accompanied by 4 friends, each with
differing levels of training experience. Two had fired maybe 50 rounds
each, to an experienced Law Enforcement Officer.
Below you will
find my analysis of each component of the class. Overall I really enjoyed
the time, Marty and his team are doing an excellent job in providing a
free opportunity to assist responsible citizens in the safe handling of
firearms. You may notice that in some areas I may be critical of the
class. Let me make this clear here. This is my review of how I believe
the course went. As with any endeavor there will be room for improvement.
As I deal with each section, you will find points that I found lacking,
and points that were superb. Plus a copious amount in between, If you
disagree with me. Fine. Have a good day and write your own review. :)
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The Review
One of my general concerns with most of the training I have attended has
been a lack of professionalism in one area, their speech. It is this
reviewers belief that foul language has no place in such a venue. It
detracts from the course and for some it will give the picture that the
instructor is in someway uncouth or ignorant (though in most case's this
is not true and clearly not the case with this course)
Classroom
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Opening Remarks:
Marty began the session by giving us an overview of the days activities
and introducing us to our instructors.
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General Firearm Safety:
Both this section and the one that follows were primary taught via a
videotape. Marty explained that by teaching via the video they were able
to ensure a consistent standard for all of the those who take the
course. This would provide protection for both the student and
instructors in the unlikely event that questions would be raised as to
the training received at this course.
Emphasized during this section were the 4 rules that everyone need to be
familiar with.
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Treat all guns as if they were loaded
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Never allow a gun to point at anything you are not willing to shoot.
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Keep your finger out of the trigger guard and off the trigger until you
are ready to shoot.
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Positively identify any target you intend to shoot, and know what is
behind and beyond.
They added a fifth rule
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Keep all guns locked up and secured when not in use.
As Marty was going over this section of the course, I noticed that this
area would present a wonderful opportunity to include some visual
instruction, either demonstrated with a "blue gun", i.e. this in on the
trigger, this is not on the trigger, or maybe via some other form of
instruction, i.e. Power Point, Charts, etc.
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Dry Fire Practice:
As with all the areas of the course safety was put first as we
considered "dry fire" practice. They taught a verbal re-enforced mental
shift. Telling yourself that you were entering a practice mode and then
reminding yourself verbally that you were ending it.
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Manipulations
Marty covered some of the more common manipulations regarding the safe
use of a handgun. The Draw Stroke, Re-Holstering, and Malfunction
Clearing. They were presented in an easy to understand manner.
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Legal aspects
During this section of our classroom element. We examined an overview of
Washington state law in regard to the justifiable use of deadly force. I
will not go into much detail with this area or the one that follows,
suffice it to say that the private citizen who considers carrying a
weapon capable of deadly force, must know how and when they can use such
force.
Gila did a wonderful job summarizing the basics of both Washington and
Oregon Concealed Carry Laws, and as she suggested, so will I, check out
www.packing.org. This site has some
of the most current state by state info you can find on the internet.
Range
For the last section of the 6 hour course we spent approximately 2 hours
on the range. The class was divided into two sections and our section
was taught by Gila and two assistants. Gila did a superb job
demonstrating each of the drills. (by the way she also was quite a fine
shooter, before it got dark all of her shots were creating one nice hole
in the paper bad guy)
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6 slow shots (load one shoot one) In order to familiarize everyone with
safe gun handling, she began by having each student load one round and
safely discharge the firearm at our assigned paper miscreant.
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2 sets of doubles, load 6 shoot 2,2,2
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Malfunction drills
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Manual Failure to fires (2) "tap rack and roll"
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Manual double feeds (2) "tap rack click, lock strip, load rack and bang"
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2 sets of 6 consecutive shots
The Verdict
Overall this course was worth every minute of my time (including the
drive) They could easily charge for this course and it would still be a
bargain by any standard. Each of the ones who were with me took away
some valuable insight. This course would not in my mind be enough to
prepare a person to carry a concealed firearm safely. I would encourage
just as the instructors of this course do, that interested parties seek
out at east 40 hours of top flight training. |
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