While the hysteria of wearing masks, with government agencies overreaching their authority and mandating masks in public, and so much more unrelated to health, swirls about, here are a few facts that govern our business.
Let’s examine what happens in a good (ie. our) firearms training class. First of all, 10-12 guns are on display in the classroom, to be handled later. Each participant is encouraged to bring their own handgun if they have one, so they can become familiar with it. The majority of these are people with little or no handgun shooting experience, even though some have a gun they have never fired. All these people must be met at the door, their guns taken, unloaded, made safe, and set in proper display by their seat. Proper display itself requires at least five factors. Of course, the participants don’t yet know what they are, so we handle them for the safety of all.
People are coming in, guns are being checked and 10-12 guns are on display. The room is filling with people the instructors do not know. Imagine if we could not see their faces either, to read their emotions and notice any telltale signs of distress, as we have been trained to do, and our security cameras could not pick up their identity. Who is the world could think that is a smart move, to have masked and unknown people coming into a room full of guns?
The three basic safety rules are that we must always keep a gun pointed in a safe direction, we must always keep our finger off the trigger until ready to shoot, and we must treat every gun as if it is loaded until we personally verify it is “made safe.”
The classroom portion is much more than dispensing information. Each participant must clearly demonstrate each of these safety principles in action in the classroom, or in the extreme, they will not be allowed onto the range. We need to see every grimace, frown, smirk, or other emotion they are experiencing, as it is our responsibility to keep everybody safe, from mistakes as well as those with ill-intent. Al parties need to hear every word of instruction and masks impede both sound and lip-reading, which is an integral part of all of our communication. We need to see if they can manipulate a semi-auto slide, safety and slide release. We need to see if they can manipulate a revolver cylinder release and properly engage the ejector rod. And they need to be able to do these with their bare hands — sweat, sores, and anything else they may be experiencing notwithstanding. Part of the exercise is that they learn to property hand a gun to another person safely. None of this can be done properly at 6 foot intervals, with gloves, or with masks.
So now we get to the range. Live fire. Loud noise, even with mandatory ear protection. Live ammo. Deadly weapons. What fool would suggest that we could teach a person how to load a magazine, stand, hold a gun, align the sights, squeeze the trigger, and learn self-defense tactics at 6 feet? In fact, many ranges (including the one we primarily use) are not set up to even allow that distance and actually be able to see the student! All people in the range are wearing hearing protection and there is loud gunfire all about. Students need to hear our commands instantly and we need to hear their issues instantly, and lip-reading is a big part of that. We need to be able to see their faces and the emotions they are experiencing. Commonly a new shooter (and a few with experience) will turn around and point the gun at us or other people at the range. It is our job as instructors to be so close to them that we can grab them and the gun instantly to prevent such a potential tragedy.
We are not spending much time documenting the known data regarding reduced oxygen levels associated with masking, and reduced visibility (especially when wearing protective eyewear which steams up immediately) and how they both endanger shooters and all nearby. That should be intuitive and obvious. Add to that the ridiculous notion that we could (even if we wanted to) REQUIRE somebody, whose health condition is unknown to us, and which even if know we are not qualified to assess, to require masking or to determine a suitable exception, and to explain that to the rest of the masked class. Silliness.
Gun businesses and ranges are considered “essential businesses” in this time of hysteria. We train Patriots to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights to bear arms. Let’s set aside the fact that the State of FL has already infringed on those God-given rights by even requiring such a class and the permit it enables, but the government at any level will certainly not consider this business one that requires masks, gloves or “social distancing.”
NO MASKS ALLOWED. NO GLOVES ALLOWED. NO “SOCIAL DISTANCING.”