The picture was posted on the Facebook page of a training company I’m not otherwise familiar with (although I do like their reaction to this nonsense, and would like to know more about them). In case you can’t read the writing in the screenshot, here’s what their post said:

“One of our instructors attended a course last weekend in Oklahoma. One of the drills entailed unloading your gun then pointing it at one of the class instructors and dry firing. This was to get you used to pointing your gun at a real person. Please notice the loaded mags still on the belt. I’m pretty sure this violates one or more of the four Golden Rules of gun safety. Our guy DID NOT participate in this portion of the class. What do you guys think?”

Smart firearms instructors do not break the Four Rules when they handle firearms, and they don’t make excuses that let students break even one of those rules during class. Smart gun owners don’t throw out the Other Three Rules every time they think they’ve unloaded the gun. They don’t break the rules just because they think they have something more important to do with the gun than not shooting innocent people. There’s always a plausible-sounding excuse to break the rules, especially those other three rules. But too often those excuses lead to tragedy.

via “But it’s unloaded…” | Cornered Cat.

As usual, read and come back.

Basics, Basics, Basics. When in doubt, default to the basics.

RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED

RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY

RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET

RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET AND WHAT’S BEHIND IT.

We have common sense. If something looks funky, just avoid it or quit. As much as possible, before taking any class, do your due diligence and investigate the instructor. If they have videos online, check them out and see if they fit what you are trying to achieve. And even if you are already taking the class and their adherence to the Four Rules leave a lot to be desired, walk away. You won’t get a refund but you won’t get shot or learn drills that may hurt somebody.

I know it is tempting to go to a school that does High Speed-Low Drag tactical stuff, but you ain’t gonna be kicking doors in Afghanistan or a Meth Lab in Oakland: You are a frigging civilian.  Good and very good shooters take basic classes over and over again because the basics never die. Invest your money on instructors and schools that are recognized and have been doing this for a long time. Gunsite or Thunder ranch graduates that become instructors tend to concentrate a lot on the basics of shooting and to ingrain safety on the shooters. I know there is now a fashion where a new generation of “instructors” dismiss the teachings of Col. Jeff Cooper because it is “old” and out of touch. That would be like dismissing the alphabet for the same reason.