“U.D.’S, A.D.’S, N.D.’S... NO B.S.

 Hi Gang, got something interesting for you.

They used to be called “unintentional discharges (U.D.), accidental discharges (A.D.) {and now they are called what they truly are …..} NEGLIGENT DISCHARGES! (N.D.)” Why negligent? Because two deliberate actions took place. The finger was on the trigger, and the firearm was not on target or commanded to fire when fired. Negligence on the part of the shooter.

I was at my personal practice session last Thursday night at Marksman Indoor Range. I had finished up when I noticed an Instructor (I assumed he was) setting up a group of shooters for a CHL Proficiency Test. I always feel I can learn something from other Instructors, and since I was done and packed up, I decided to stand back on the line and observe the Instructor.  Immediately noticeable was that the Instructor was nervous, and his trainees couldn’t hear his commands. He also could not observe all of his trainees at one time, and he was wearing shorts on the line ( good way to get hot brass burns or ricochet cuts.). On command to fire the second round of the one round portion at the three yard line a gentleman I was observing went to low ready and..BANG!!!.. He fired into the concrete and steel floor baffle at the 3yard line. It was obvious the instructor was shocked and I yelled “WOAH!! Negligent discharge” at the Instructor who asked me “What?” and I repeated “Negligent discharge.” Which he knew. He then proceeded to go over to the trainee and asked one of the dumbest questions I’ve ever heard any Instructor ask; “Did it (the gun)go off?”, and the trainee still had his finger on the trigger which prompted me to yell “FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER. HE’S GOT HIS FINGER ON THE TRIGGER STILL!”

What was even more astonishing was that this Instructor was letting the trainee continue to take his proficiency test even though SOP is to remove the shooter from the line (which I signaled the Instructor to do) and have them re-shoot the test.  When I saw the Instructor was going to allow the test to continue, I hauled my butt off the line and got out in the lobby behind the glass to finish observing the test. I was not going to deliberately stand on an unsafe line with an unsafe shooter and unsafe and irresponsible Instructor who continued on knowing he had an unsafe shooter on the line endangering not only the other trainees he had testing but the customers at the range practicing….The shooter who had the “ND” also, had a few stoppages with his P series Ruger pistol all due to his grip and lack of training/familiarization with the weapon. And folks?.... The Ruger P series of firearms don’t just “go off” on their own.

I contacted the Instructor and DPS CHL unit to report the incident and out of courtesy to the Instructor, and out of duty to CHL in Austin. They have both contacted me. DPS has forwarded it to the appropriate section and the Instructor asked for my phone # (which I supplied) so he could talk to me about the incident and his “philosophy “ about negligent discharges and why he allowed the shooter to continue. I haven’t heard from the Instructor again although I expect I will after this is posted.

I hate to criticize others in the Instructor profession  but if you have so many students on the line and in the waiting room that you can’t monitor either effectively you should reduce the size of your firing line so it can be safe. How can you claim to be “all about safety” when you allow an unsafe situation and an unsafe shooter to continue without remediation? Is it all about safety if the Instructor himself doesn’t enforce the basic safety rules without exceptions or is it about let me see…..10 students X ?$$ each = ???
 
SAFETY FIRST, SAFETY ALWAYS, SAFETY WITHOUT COMPROMISE.

Eddie … Taking Cover and Out for Now!