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Caution should be taken should the shooter be on medication
that has side effects.
admit to feeling pain. It takes experience
to be able to see the subtle signs
that something’s not right, and firmness
to insist on “safety first” if necessary.
Assessing all these elements can
be problematic, particularly if the
instructor isn’t experienced in dealing
with them. For this reason, I very
strongly recommend that the first
few training sessions with a disabled
shooter should not involve actual
firearms at all! There are Airsoft
replicas of many modern handguns.
These fire small plastic pellets, which
may sting slightly if they hit someone,
but are unlikely to cause any real injury
(particularly if routine precautions like
the use of protective shooting glasses
are observed). Novice shooters will
handle them with a lot more comfort
than a real gun, and they’re suitable
to teach basic techniques, particularly
safety precautions. If a shooter needs
to work on balance or related issues
while handling a gun, Airsoft replicas
are as safe as it’s going to get for them.
If they fall while using one, they’ll soon
learn how to do so in such a way as not
to trigger a shot–and if they do trigger
one or two in the process, the plastic
pellets won’t cause the same damage as
a bullet.
It’s also a good idea to let the shooter
experiment with different carry
methods while using replica firearms.
That way, they can position holsters
anywhere on their body or their mobility
aid, and try to draw the training
weapon, without fear that they might
accidentally discharge a live round. A
primary carry method can be selected,
and a holster ordered to fit the weapon,
before they ever start shooting “for
real.” This removes a great deal of stress
from those unaccustomed to firearms.
Of course, some shooters will become
impatient with “playing around,”
and want to get to “the real thing.” This
is understandable. I find the best way
to deal with it is to allow them to fire a
few rounds through some of my guns at
the close of each early training session.
They don’t have to draw the gun, as
they’re using a range table; they can sit
down to shoot, if necessary, rather than
try to balance themselves; and there’s
no pressure. They can have a little fun
and slake their appetite for the real
thing while learning the basics in a safe,
controlled manner. By the time they’ve
got the basics right, they will be ready
for a full session with a real firearm.
Finally, initial training sessions are a
good time to select the firearm(s) best
suited to the shooter’s limitations and
level of disability. We’ll discuss this in
detail in the next article in this series.
H
Peter Grant is a retired chaplain, now a
full-time writer. He has been exposed to
conflict situations around the world for
much of his life, and has had to defend
himself against unlawful attack on
more than one occasion. He has trained
disabled and handicapped shooters on
two continents for more than twenty
years. He writes about firearms and selfdefense,
and many other topics, on his
blog at www.bayourenaissanceman.
blogspot.com.
MAY/JUNE 2011 n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n USCONCEALEDCARRY.COM
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