Should there be required training for new gun owners ?

[DuneHopper]

I do agree that some safety checks need to be put in place for anyone, new and old. They can be as simple as just taking an online test or written at a gun shop. Too many times do I see people that would deem themselves as knowledgeable about guns or grown up with guns make unsafe choices that don't affect themselves but others.

Great point and online would be a great idea and probably more acceptable to many .

 

[Morpheus]

Honestly I consider Hunting a privilege, where as the ownership of a firearm is a right.

Similar to speaking in public is your right, but attending a debate and actually participating in the debate is a privilege.

For myself, I don't think training should be mandatory. STRONGLY encourages, but not mandatory. There are ways to encourage this without infringing on the right. Insurance companies giving home owner policy discounts if you have training. Or carry insurance at reasonable rates if you take training. Perhaps have the manufacturers take some responsibility on their selves to offer free training classes. This not only encourages safety but could end up being an up sale situation.

All of these are fairly low cost, and would encourage the behavior without restricting the right. If someone doesn't want to do any of it, they don't have to do any of it.

 

[4m503]

i think first there should be some sort of training or testing for conceiving children instead.. regardless i dont believe my idea or your idea will come through.

Should there be required training for new gun purchasers ?
I am not saying a person needs a license to own a gun. However I am asking do you think people should be trained before they are allowed to have one.
I was trying to think of a analogy to compare it to and thought this.

Years ago a person went to the DMV got a license and went driving. Eventually they included a actual driving test.
Due to safety concerns they eventually decided that a permit for persons under 18 was a good idea.
I have the right to buy and own a car, I however should not drive unless I know how.
My brain tells me the same thing about gun owners, I am bothered but what I see as plain ignorance on safety and use.

Me and my wife were having our morning coffee talking about guns ( I love her ). Anyways she told me about this guy she works with. He took bought a new gun and is ex-military, and took his wife to go shooting in BLM. He thought he would play a practical joke on here. He took his 357 loaded 38 and shot it one handed, with just a little kick to it.
His wife decided looked easy enough. So he chambers a 38 round and then 357 next to it unknown to here. She fires the first one and goes not bad, fires the next and almost took her head off. Military training teaches combat safety not common safety. And this brings me back to anyone that first buys their first gun should have to take a safety class.

I ca not help but think this would sure put up a huge argument for gun haters, If people we trained it would be just like people learning to drive. I can already hey many say I know my guns bla bla bla, Well then this would not apply to you. I do think that if you can not show you either go to a range or have had safety training them it should be a no go.
And I think concealed holders should be required to take a safety class.

I am not telling anyone to compromise our 2nd rights, I am saying education goes along way in keeping our rights.
We can stand by and watch are guns are stripped away, or compromise and pass legislation to prevent it through training. I hear in this forum people complain and fear our goes may be taken, well then attack where they attack us.
They say guns are unsafe, lets prove them otherwise. The 2nd awesome as it is does not tell anyone you know how to handle a gun safely anymore then owning a car means you know how to drive.

Probably gonna catch slack but its how I feel and I am a 100% 2nd supporter, and support all rights to own and carry.
But we may lose these rights if we do not learn to fight for our rights like they do against it.

 

[DuneHopper]

People sure get aggressive when you talk about learning, I have been armed since the 60's and still think it is not a bad idea.
Voluntary never works, or people would do it now on their own. Juts makes me laugh seriously when I see people get all up in arms pardon the pun, and end up supporting people who say gun owners are not trained. It is not enough to tell people you are trained showing it will go a long ways and perhaps even bring back some rights we lost with our guns.
I get tired of the liberal view everyone that has a gun is a uneducated hillbilly, and it is a simple way to change the perception.

 

[Garg]

Great point and online would be a great idea and probably more acceptable to many .

Well... there is this one...

Welcome (Training Agreement)

It's pretty basic, but is acceptable for CHL in Clackamas County.

 

[Morpheus]

Me and my wife were having our morning coffee talking about guns ( I love her ). Anyways she told me about this guy she works with. He took bought a new gun and is ex-military, and took his wife to go shooting in BLM. He thought he would play a practical joke on here. He took his 357 loaded 38 and shot it one handed, with just a little kick to it.
His wife decided looked easy enough. So he chambers a 38 round and then 357 next to it unknown to here. She fires the first one and goes not bad, fires the next and almost took her head off. Military training teaches combat safety not common safety. And this brings me back to anyone that first buys their first gun should have to take a safety class.

Oh, and specifically on this note. This guy should be slapped back and forth for being an idiot. While sometimes we call firearms toys, they are in fact NOT toys. Honestly, if I was the wife I would be looking at him in a new light as someone not to trust in a life or death situation. Which using a firearm always consists.

 

[Nwcid]

There is no way to look at some one walking in the store to know if they are trained.

There is no way to know how "trained" a "trained" person is. That is TOTALLY subjective. Sure people have a "card" saying they are trained in something but that does not mean all are equal.

Do you think a safety class would have changed the outcome? DUH, he would have known the recoil
would have harmed her and learned about proper position to hold the gun again duh !

So you are telling me this ex military guy knows NOTHING about recoil? Sounds like he was showing off to his wife. NO training will fix that.
Then you have to take into account that even if he had taken this training you are talking about will he choose to follow it? Did he actually pay attention in training or blow it off? How long is your planned training class? How does one get a ongoing life time of experience from a short class? This is one of those cases that sounds good on paper but it is not how real life works. As I said above you can NOT train away stupid, it will NEVER work.

 

[spider]

it should be like the pharmacy, you can wait to talk to an instructor after buying your new gun, to get to familiarize yourself first if you're new, maybe they could offer it to every person that buys a weapon and like the pharmacy you can just decline and walk away with the weapon if you already know how to use it....but the tough part is finding knowledgeable people to do this.....

 

[Nwcid]

Voluntary never works, or people would do it now on their own.

Forcing people to "learn" never works either. You can NOT force someone to learn. You can NOT train away stupid.

Yes you can make classes mandatory but it has not changed anything.

Here is an example. WA is making boating cards mandatory and I fall into that group now. Guess what, I will be taking the online class and putting in just enough effort to pass it then forget it all again continuing to do what I have always done and move on with my life. What would make a mandatory firearms class any different?

 

[Kimber Custom]

Really that your answer LOL You just through assumption all over as fact.

There is no way to look at some one walking in the store to know if they are trained.

Do you think a safety class would have changed the outcome? DUH, he would have known the recoil
would have harmed her and learned about proper position to hold the gun again duh !

The car thing I addressed it not as right and the whole license thing did you not read my post or just jumped to conclusions when you say what you thought way gun control post.

I really hope you were not serious in your responses ???

Yes, that really is my answer.

Are you implying that someone accidentally wondered into a gun store and plopped down $300+ on an impulse buy without any concept of what a gun is or does? But I suppose if it hasn't been studied by the government maybe it isn't fact... right.

Duh? - Your friend knew damn well what was going to happen otherwise he wouldn't have done it. He wanted to see the look on her face when the recoil was x2 the .38 round. He was being a jackass and no amount of 'safety training' was going to stop that from happening. The basic safety training you are talking about would most likely cover the four basic safety rules. Nowhere in the universal rules have I ever seen 'don't load .357's after a .38 to scare the crap out of your wife'.

I read your post twice before I posted an alternative position. My bad; I thought you were looking for honest discussion. I missed the part about 'just agree with me'

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Who dictates what "proper" firearms handling and training is?
I know for a fact I can out shoot a leo and I handle my firearms with more safety and care then they do yet the media and our local government seems to think they have some kind of god given inclined ability to fire and handle firearms.. Because of their "training".. & well all know how "great" of shots they are..

I believe firearms EDUCATION should start at home an in school. Now I don't mean this anti firearms crap we see now, I mean NRA certified instructors giving lectures, letting the kids handle them unloaded with safety drills and practices then live fire. Once we stop tacking on this "evil" stigma to firearms we can step that much further away from "gun violence" and misinterpretation and fear from the hoplophobes (politicians)

But for someone to dictate to a grown adult if they think he's "ready" can easily turn into something corrupt and unconstitutional. Am I saying everyone even crazies deserve a firearm.. Well no, but a crazy will kill with or without a firearm sometime in their life regardless of strict access or mandatory training.

Also take into account, I don't enjoy bench shooting. I enjoy action ranges as well as 3 gun and IDPA +high movement drills. I like to practice and train reloading drills, one arm drills, two man team drills and I like to train as if UN troops or our government is going to go after its own people.

I practice very safe shooting skills, muzzle awareness..etc and what most shooters don't do CLEAN UP!
The minute you give the government the power to dictate who can and cannot own a firearm because of some illogical exam you open the rest up to a whole can of worms: national or statewide registration, heavy taxation and licensing (much worse than our CHLs) and the rates and fees only go up. Our government will treat it as their own piggy personal piggy bank. Dipping in when they need the money and raising the fees and taxes as well.

You have to know and just not assume our government is corrupt and no matter how much faith or good intention is put behind something like this it will only come to bite us law abiding firearm owners in the *** and snowball from there.

 

[WhyteCheddar]

Is hunting a privilege or a right? Because regardless of what it is Hunter's Safety is required (at least in Oregon anyway) before you can purchase a hunting license and I have never seen anyone on the soapbox about it.

Only for youth.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

+1 with Nwcid. Stupidity and irresponsibility will trump training every time. Also remember that to our 2nd Amendment opponents the end justifies the means. I have difficulty imagining that they wouldn't at least try to make mandatory training a choke point to gun ownership. It really is a puzzler because I would like to see some safer firearms handling out there myself.

 

[deadeye]

Lets just see into the future a little.

2012- Oregon requires hand gun handling safety course prior to purchase. This is mandatory per ORS.1234 and is to be given at point of purchase or online.

2013- Oregon house votes to ammend ORS.1234 to include a). instruction to be given by state approved instructor.

2013- Oregon ammends ORS.1234 to include b). state approved instructor has ability to determine if training is sufficient to warrent purchase.

2014- Oregon ammends ORS.1234 to include c). state to extend training to long guns with like rules for handguns to warrent purchase.

No matter what good intentions it may start out to be, the record of slowly erroding our rights is clear to see in many other areas.
To give any control such as this as a requirement leads to a very slippery slope and further errosion of gun rights.

 

[WhyteCheddar]

How is the government going to require I be trained on something they don't know I have?

 

[Muddslinger12]

NO absolutly NOT!

If someone purchases a firearm it is their RESPONSIBILITY and only theirs to learn about it and learn safe practice with handling it.

It should not be mandated but highly encouraged. The industry as a whole should encourage its customers to get educated and make it a point for "life long learning" And not because you have to but because we as a pro gun community ultimately are for the same goal and want everyone around firearms to be safe and make intelligent decisions. All the training in the world cant fix stupid but with some positive encouragement we can help minimize the bad apples, and help educate the idiots that think its a toy and that dont respect firearms. It obviously wont stop all the bad guys but it will help minimize foolish incidents such as accidental discharges and such.

Also teaching our kids and youth at a young age is very smart. The sooner they learn about firearms the better. Trying to be hush hush and secretive about firearms only adds to the curiousity of young minds. Do you want your kid to learn about the birds and the bees thro their friends or you? Do you want your children to learn about firearms and the importance of firearm safety at their friends house or thro you? Atleast if you educate your kids on the danger if they are at a friends and that friend finds his dads gun and wants to play with it your educated kid will know to tell him to stop or to get the L out of there. Knowledge is power!

I think this is something we will start to see more. there is a gun range in lewisville, Texas that hosts kids B-day parties and although the news said it like it was a bad thing and tried making it sound horrible we all know its not. What gets me is they had the owner start talking and cut his talk WAY short right after he admitted he host kids Bday parties. Because they didnt want his logic of teaching kids about firearm safety at an early age to be broadcast, just a bunch of fear mongers trying to make guns and anything to do with guns look evil to make a story that the kids are endangered by this somehow. Although all the kids go thro a safety class before they hit the range. Atleast they learn they are not toys and are something to be respected. Much safer than leaving them to learn about it on there own and thro video games or worse the media....

 

[Mutoman]

Do I believe in mandatory training for gun buyers: no
Do I believe it's a good idea to train gun owners on gun safety and use: Yes

Maybe it should be mandatory that gun sellers offer free training when you purchase a gun.

Intelligent replies only please.

 

[Morpheus]

Do I believe in mandatory training for gun buyers: no
Do I believe it's a good idea to train gun owners on gun safety and use: Yes

Maybe it should be mandatory that gun sellers offer free training when you purchase a gun.

Intelligent replies only please.

I don't think I would have an issue with it being mandatory for a FFL to provide free training of some sort. Again, it would be a great up-sell opportunity. If you offer a free class, and half the students buy a cleaning kit from your or holster and you have at least broken even on the class.

But I draw the line at FFL, not a person to person sale.

 

[Mutoman]

Lets just see into the future a little.

2012- Oregon requires hand gun handling safety course prior to purchase. This is mandatory per ORS.1234 and is to be given at point of purchase or online.

2013- Oregon house votes to ammend ORS.1234 to include a). instruction to be given by state approved instructor.

2013- Oregon ammends ORS.1234 to include b). state approved instructor has ability to determine if training is sufficient to warrent purchase.

2014- Oregon ammends ORS.1234 to include c). state to extend training to long guns with like rules for handguns to warrent purchase.

No matter what good intentions it may start out to be, the record of slowly erroding our rights is clear to see in many other areas.
To give any control such as this as a requirement leads to a very slippery slope and further errosion of gun rights.

I see what you did there. Good point. Unfortunately, this is how things seem to roll in our State. It's too risky to try to improve a situation because someone is going to take it way too far!

 

[Muddslinger12]

I think it would be nice to see (NOT the Gov't but) the Firearm Industry or a significant Firearm manufacture to step up with a campaign to get its customers educated. Like "Be Armed. Be Educated. Be Safe" would be a great slogan (or something along those lines)

Change is not something we should avoid, but something we should embrace. As with Bill Ruger he knew something bad was coming to the Gun Industry and stepped up to make sure we werent hit too hard with a GUN BAN instead proposed a "Mag cap ban" and although we disagree with this (and YES the thought utterly disgust me) atleast we could still keep our guns and time proved gun control (mag cap control) wasnt the answer. (lets not argue bout Bill Rugers decision to do this we all know his company was at stake too and $ is a big influence on anyone, point is he saw something bad coming our way and helped minimize the impact, saving his company at the same time)

Ultimately I believe Education IS the solution. We all need to be prepared to embrace change the only thing we can hope for is someone within our gun community steps up and helps "steer" it in the right err better direction that actually will help us. And the publicity of a Gun Mftr. stepping up with the movement will take the wind right out of the gun grabbers sails, and hopefully get them on course with promoting gun owner education. Not forced but encouraged in a positive way. And I think a free class with a purchase is a great idea! WIN-WIN for everyone!