The NSSF is ensuring shooters of all levels have the proper training to be safe and accurate with their firearms. (NSSF/)
We are in the midst of a gun boom.
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, another two new firearms will be purchased somewhere in America by an owner who has never before purchased a gun. Very few of these new gun owners have adequate training.
How big is the information gap? Statistics compiled by the FBI’s National Instant Background Check system show that over 5 million first-time gun owners bought a firearm so far in 2020. These new shooters join the 100 million Americans who own guns. The pace of firearm sales this year is expected to shatter previous records, with some 35 million guns adding to the approximately 400 million firearms already being used for hunting, personal defense, collection, and recreational shooting.
Guns are tools, as those of us veteran firearms owners have heard since we joined the community of shooters. We probably heard this truism first from a certified firearms instructor, or maybe a parent or trusted family friend. Some of you heard it in a hunter education course. For almost all of us, that “guns-as-tools” phrase was reinforced by time at the range or in the field, actively handling guns, learning how they work and their safe operation.
That hands-on instruction made us safer, smarter, and more effective shooters. But, like any tool, misuse or operator confusion can be dangerous. So how can a beginning gun owner learn all these things, especially while restrictions designed to minimize COVID-19 transmission prohibit in-person gatherings and hands-on learning?
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