Teaching Gurls Ta Shoot

Since I am the person all of my friends know as "the gun guy" it's fallen to me to teach many of them how to shoot; nearly always a handgun.

I like to take my student out with one of my guns first.  If they're having some fun and want to keep going the next stop is a gun show.  Then I have them handle every single gun in the place.  I figure if they buy one that doesn't fit, they will not shoot it and then never get any good at it.

I try to insist that they pick at least a .380 ACP.  I don't think that .25 ACP or .32 ACP have enough zip to be counted on.  So far it's been .38 Special, 9x19mm, .357 SIG and .40 S&W.  Only twice have they picked a gun I would have bought for myself.

So far all but one has picked an auto, and she's a special case.  The very first handgun I ever fired was an auto, my dad's Bauer .25.  In basic training we trained on the M1911A1 and the M9.  I figure if a recruit can learn auto without trouble, than it's within the reach of most anyone.

The only time I've recommended a snubbie revolver; the woman in question has nerve damage in her "strong" hand and literally cannot work the slide on an auto.  Her good hand is her weak side, so we had to teach her to shoot with her off-hand from day one.  There's damage to her shoulder so we had to get her as light a gun as possible too.  We ended up with a S&W 642; alloy frame hammerless.  The DAO trigger was very trying for her and the recoil from standard .38 was just about all she could take.  But she put a lot of effort into it and became a fair shot after that.  She later discovered that she can work a tip-up barrel Beretta Tomcat in .32 ACP and since it's lighter and has less recoil, that's what she carries now.

So far everyone has succeeded in learning.  I am not teaching tactical shooting, just basic gun-handling and marksmanship.  Two of my students have gone on to get their carry permits.  Only one has stopped shooting.  I consider that success; more shooters are better than fewer.