MA Firearm Safety

NOTE: Optional,(*After you receive your license, I can give you a familiarization shooting class with the gun(s) you bought so that you feel comfortable with it/them). Or go with a friend that is a member of a gun club. 

Why I DO NOT have you shoot in the initial class. 

 *In a nutshell, it is a waste of your time and extra money, read on… 

I have an educated, common-sense theory as to why the state has not made shooting mandatory for the state certification (so far). The course is carefully titled Basic Firearm Safety with emphasis on the ‘basic‘, it covers gun laws and safety aspects. You do not want to run afoul of the gun laws in Ma., that is a point of the course.  The main reason I believe that shooting is not required can be summed up in one very big word, liability. The police are extremely careful about who will receive that little plastic gun license, they do an extensive background check before they will hand it out. Someone may be a felon. No one has done a background check on the people I initially see, that certainly is NOT my job.  I would not want to put guns into the hands of a felon who may only want to steal the firearm(s) and ammunition, endangering me or anyone else at a range. That is number 1, my safety, call me selfish OK………….

There is a very foolish push by a panel of left wing academic so-called experts that would mandate you must shoot in this initial class to get your state certificate. In other words, to them it is OK to endanger firearm instructors PRIOR to the background check! But no one is allowed the little plastic gun license prior to the background check, BRILLIANT! I pray I never get as smart as these so-called academic experts…. who must live in La La Land.

Prime examples are two instructors, Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. Good instructors with good intensions, who were murdered by Eddie Ray Routh while instructing him in firearms at the Rough Creek Lodge in Glen Rose Texas. They set him up with a firearm, briefed him on safety, he picked the gun up then killed them both. Routh then stole the firearms and Chris Kyle’s vehicle. He was apprehended the next day. there was NO background check done on Routh prior to this double murder, they did not know his real motives, they had no idea he was already a felon. 

Another prime example:

Woman intentionally shot firearm instructor in face. 

http:www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/30/firearms-teacher-shot-woman-scheduled-for-lesson-a/

Accidents also come under the heading of liability. The state does not want to be sued for making shooting mandatory in case of an accident (so far). The Representatives we elect may never be bright enough to balance a budget, (it’s easier to spend someone else’s money) but they are not crazy. Also, the state would not want the appearance of discriminating against the disabled, etc. 

These things are legal and political landmines that will always be avoided. The state is perfectly willing to let private instructors take any falls should there be an accident, i.e., the little boy in Westfield MA. I have something to say about that ‘accident’ in the supplemental chapter ZERO GUN SENSE= UZI SUB-MACHINEGUN TRAGEDY IN WESTFIELD MA. The/any instructors who do infer that shooting is required in MA do so at their own risk and if they are careful/smart, they carry insurance, which of course will drive the price of the class up to significantly impact your wallet. The statewide average runs around $155 per person, (a house call and/or discounts not included).

I do not believe, knowing what I have learned in a lifetime of shooting, that the extra cost is justified, this is where knowledge through experience comes in… If you already know how to shoot, it is a waste of your time and additional money paying for the instructor’s liability insurance, range, ammo, guns, lights, targets, and other overhead etc. to take a few shots. On the other hand, a complete novice will not even begin to retain any of the fundamentals. I know I cannot instill the fundamentals of shooting by waving a magic wand after a few rounds. 

Well intentioned or not, the few shots taken are more about justifying their higher price for the course than anything else. I strongly advise that the novice would be far better served by joining a gun club, to learn from knowledgeable members who will gladly help. Or, by taking the time for a series of lessons from an instructor, which most clubs have, to get you started down the right path over time. 

In my experience with this state course since 2000, I can say without any question that a majority of the people I come into contact with have had previous experience with firearms through one venue or another. Some had moved into the state and needed the course simply as a way to legally keep the guns they already own. Others, through life experience and/or military training. Still others because they had just come to figure out that the old FID card that said ‘indefinite’ in their wallets was no longer indefinite, it had expired years ago, October 1998 to be exact and had to be brought up to speed.

Then there are those who take the class because they want too legally keep guns that have been inherited, for sentimental or other reasons. There are people that want their spouse to have some knowledge of the firearms they keep in the house as well as the laws surrounding the proper storage of those guns. Then there are people that learn certain laws loosened in 2004, that no longer keep them from getting their gun permits back, lost years ago over something minor.   

After looking at all that, it is not quite as dire as “No one could possibly know anything about firearms or the proper use of them” until they talk to someone like me. I wouldn’t flatter myself for a second by thinking that egotistical nonsense. For the types of circumstance’s surrounding the people I have just mentioned, people like me are useful in helping them understand the MA state firearm laws so that they may stay in sync with them, as well as introducing/reiterating specific safety aspects. 

Discovering the varied levels of firearm experience that I have come into contact with from class to class, really does not surprise me. On the contrary, considering that firearms are an American birthright and are estimated to be numbered in the hundreds of millions throughout America, it would be foolish of anyone to think all people looking for a gun license are completely ignorant about firearms or incompetent in the handling of them. I cannot resist inserting a quote by one of America’s greatest Founding Fathers, (in my opinion) as it happens to punctuate what I have been saying about American citizens. This is an excerpt from the very first session of Congress, made by our first President:

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the Peoples liberty, teeth and keystone under Independence, the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable…more than 99% of them by their silence indicate that they are in safe sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. When firearms go, all goes, we need them every hour”. –George Washington    

Note: The word “Keystone” is from 1630, it means: “The central supporting element of a whole”. Synonyms include principle, foundation, basis. 

It is obvious to me, the meaning is clear, firearms and American citizens have had and will continue to have a long-standing relationship. Despite the socialist’s twisted agenda otherwise.  

    
Gun Sense Massachusetts Gun Law Information and Common-Sense Firearm Safety by Mark R. Shean Sr.

Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!!

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