On September 26th, 2015- we held a Level 1: Basic Introduction to Handguns for a great group of students. Though we had to endure quite a bit of rain, we were fortunate enough to be able cover most of the lecture portion of the class under shelter during the worst of the down-pours. All of the students kept a positive attitude and were able to learn basic firearm safety and basic handgun skills. The students shot both revolvers and semi-automatic handguns.

As we always do, we began with classroom style discussion to dispel any myths that the students may have previously been exposed to. We moved into being able to identify and understand all of the major components of both semi-automatic handguns as well as revolvers. After demonstrating their understanding of the components, we moved on to an explanation of ammunition and it's four major parts: brass, powder, primer, and projectile. Armed with a working knowledge of the way that the firearm and ammunition both work together, it was time to move on to how the shooter can control the firearm effectively and efficiently. 

We began by understanding one of the most vital fundamentals of shooting: the proper grip. While this is one of the most important fundamentals of shooting, it is also one of the least understood. Even with shooters that have years of experience, it is not uncommon for us to see many mistakes in the way that they grip their firearm. I place a lot of emphasis on this fundamental because it directly impacts the consistency in results, the ability to control and manage recoil, and the ability to perform weapons manipulations in the future as we begin to acquire those skills.

As we begin to understand the grip, we move on to understanding the proper stance. While I understand the concept that stance is very secondary to grip, I also believe that it is important to develop as many "constants" as possible with new shooters. This allows them to better isolate and eliminate anything that they are doing which might hinder the desired results on target. Regarding stance, we teach two methods: the isoceles stance, and the Weaver stance. While we prefer the isoceles stance, we certainly welcome either of these accepted stances with any of our students. 

Now that we know how to grip the gun and how to position ourselves correctly for maximum results, it's time to move on to sight alignment and sight picture. This is a concept that is sometimes quite foreign to new shooters, yet is one that is absolutely vital to their success. We use a combination of graphics and descriptive instruction to help them understand the iron sight system that is most common on modern handguns. 

With sight alignment and sight picture conceptually understood, we moved on to trigger control. Understanding the four steps of trigger control is crucial because it is the last touch of human interaction between the shooter and the firearm prior to the bullet travelling down range. We pay specific attention to the "break point" step of the trigger control process because if new shooters can understand that step then they stand a very large chance of being able to score good hits on target.

Throughout each step of the above process, the students were interacting with discussion and demonstration to make sure that they understood each piece of the process. However, prior to us engaging in live fire exercises, I use airsoft training pistols for the students to demonstrate their ability to combine all of the fundamentals into actionable understanding and score hits on target. This is done from a close range of only about 5 yards, but it shows a solid understanding of firearm safety and basic fundamentals using tools where the students have no intimidation of recoil or noise. It has proven to be a very effective way for students to gain confidence without any fear or intimidation of a "real gun" as their first step.

With a solid understanding having been displayed, it was time for us to move on to live fire exercises. Using the 6' steel silhouette targets provides fun and effective visual and audible feedback for the students' hits on target. The students started on a .22 LR semi-automatic handgun and all moved on to shoot 9mm handguns. Many of the students brought their own handguns to train with and for many this was the first time they had fired these handguns. This was an enlightening experience for some of them, with some negative and some positive first impressions. The students were able to fire extensively without allowing the rain to become too big of a distraction. 

The course was effective at introducing new shooters to handguns and we had a fantastic time meeting our new friends and training partners. From a State Judge and local business owners to college students and stay-at-home moms, we had a great group that enthusiastically participated in everything we did. We look forward to seeing them in our future classes.