Rules in classrooms (concealed carry)

[ModernGunner]

My range rules (in no specific order) concerning your question are:

1- Unarmed people make me nervous.
2- We perform some drills with unloaded guns, but as a policy, I will not send you off the firing line without a loaded gun in your holster.
3- I run a hot range. All guns are always loaded - so, unless on the firing line and it is clear downrange, there is no reason your gun should be out of your holster other than immediate self-defense.
4- If you show up armed, just leave your gun in the holster. We do all gun handling on the line.
5- I don't use live guns in the classroom, nor do I ever unholster any of mine in the classroom.

Short of cavity searching each student and locking them in a cell, we can make all the "no ammo, no live guns", etc., rules we want and it will still amount to taking everyone's word for it. I don't take anyone word for it - I simply assume all guns are loaded and present the class accordingly. When guns are out on the firing line, we can avoid muzzles and work around them. When I see a gun out anywhere off the firing line I know we have a problem on one level or another.

^^ This. ^^

It should be noted that very few of those I've instructed have been 'absolute' beginners. They may be taking the NRA Basic Pistol, etc. course, but they've grown up hunting and shooting or something, for the most part.

 

[bwframe]

...very few of those I've instructed have been 'absolute' beginners.
...they've grown up hunting and shooting or something, for the most part.

There are no absolutes, but some of the worst gun handlers I've seen have "grown up with guns," or came out of our military.

 

[NIFT]

There are no absolutes

Ah, the classic oxymoron.

 

[rhino]

My opinion:

As long as it's not an explosive or poison gas or a bio weapon or the like, I don't care what someone possesses.

As long as the guns stay in holsters or cases where fingers can't get to the triggers, I'm generally okay with it. Whether they are known to be loaded or not makes a lot less difference to me than whether or not it's being handled.

I'm also someone who is troubled by separate rules for handling loaded guns vs. "unloaded" guns. I also think cold ranges can easily breed a mentality that implicit handles "unloaded" guns differently. Once people start to assume all the guns are unloaded just because it's a rule, bad things can happen.

 

[Glock21]

My opinion:

As long as it's not an explosive or poison gas or a bio weapon or the like, I don't care what someone possesses.

As long as the guns stay in holsters or cases where fingers can't get to the triggers, I'm generally okay with it. Whether they are known to be loaded or not makes a lot less difference to me than whether or not it's being handled.

I'm also someone who is troubled by separate rules for handling loaded guns vs. "unloaded" guns. I also think cold ranges can easily breed a mentality that implicit handles "unloaded" guns differently. Once people start to assume all the guns are unloaded just because it's a rule, bad things can happen.

Yep.

 

[IndyGunSafety]

The NRA has a strict NO LIVE AMMO IN THE CLASSROOM rule. This should not vary from instructor to instructor, and we abide by that rule. However, when I teach a non-NRA course my rule is "Don't show me yours and I won't show you mine!" That is to say don't coon finger it, don't pull it out to show your friend, etc. We do not disarm our customers and clients unless it's an NRA course. If someone thinks we don't have contingencies their logic is perhaps fatally flawed.