"Training" Guns

Firearms owners, trainers, and vendors can learn some hard-earned from General Aviation (GA).

Evector SportStar -- a Light Sport 2 Person Trainer

While flying an airplane is not a right (the privilege must be earned through a various series of tests and qualification assessments), there are many similarities to the problems, challenges, public perception, and overall approach to owning and operating a machine that can cause harm.

Here are a few similarities:

• GA is populated by enthusiasts with varying levels of commitment, training, and experience.
• GA "accidents" get wide press.
• GA pilots are often the cause of concern (and rightly so when they do dumb things).

GA has several advocacy groups, but the most effective combine public advocacy and training and support (AOPA for pilots, NRA -- to some degree -- for gun owners).

My purely anecdotal, non-scientific estimates of the distribution of commitment to safety and proficiency (as a Flight instructor I get to fly with a wide range of pilots for training, re-training, and flight reviews):

• 25% of pilots are committed to training, safety, and proficiency.
• 50% meet standards and seek to improve or at least maintain proficiency.
• 20% are barely proficient.
• 5% are hazards.

I'd guess the distribution is similar for legal handgun owners (illegal owners are all in the "hazard" category as they have not pursued the most basic requirement of gun safety -- remaining legally unblemished).

The View from the left seat

Here's where the similarities end.

Basic Training

The majority of GA pilots learn on a simple trainer (Cessna 152/172, Cherokee 140/160/180) with basic instruments and move up as knowledge and proficiency increases. This is a function of the availability and cost for high-end aircraft (there are some who learn in a $500k Cirrus, but most do not).

The Standard Flight Trainer: Cessna 152

Does it make sense for someone who wants to learn handguns to start with a a"trainer?"

I think so.

For example, a new shooter might start with a Browning Buckmark .22 LR. The pistol is as heavy as most service pistols, has similar operation (safety, slide, magazine), and shoots inexpensive .22 LR ammo.

Browning Buckmark Camper .22 LR

The new user has plenty of time to focus on sight picture, grip, bod position, loading/ reloading, and safety fundamentals before graduating to a louder, sharper shooting duty pistol.

The BuckMark is equivalent to the Cessna 152 - operates and handles close enough to larger aircraft to inculcate good fundamentals, while being the least expensive way to burn holes in the sky. It is also relatively docile and predictable, so the novice has time to adjust and learn the correct response.

You can still crash a 152, so it is not completely safe. But flying is not inherently "safe" -- and neither are firearms. So there's enough potential danger to teach respect also.

Of course there are other .22 LR pistols, but I found the Buckmark to be the perfect compromise of quality, durability, accuracy, and price. It's an excellent platform for introducing new shooters to handguns without the distractions of recoil, loud bangs, and muzzle-end flash.