IDPA Safety Officer Training
by
Gary W. Burris

Something I’ve been thinking about for quite a while is how we can keep our Safety Officers up to speed with the latest rules interpretations. As a Certified Safety Officer Trainer, I try to teach the 27 IDPA rules as I understand them in the SO classes I teach. I’m no different than any of the other trainers; we all try our best to impart our knowledge and understanding of the rules to those in our classes. But because we interpret some of the rules differently, not all areas of the country apply the rules equally.

This fact was made clear to me at this year’s Nationals match. I gave a procedural error for dropping a loaded magazine. The shooter protested and the Chief Safety Officer as well as the Match Director stood behind my call. However, after reviewing the rule book and talking with Carroll Lawrence, I decided that it was a bad call and had the procedural removed from the shooters score.

So now I have a clear understanding of the rule, but what about the rest of the Safety Officers and Safety Officer Trainers? How do they learn how a specific rule is to be applied?

I believe that there are some basic flaws in the way we conduct Safety Officer training that we need to address. I think that Safety Officer Trainers should attend seminars so they can learn of any specific areas of rules interpretation that have been clarified. The Nationals would be a logical time and place for this to occur. A Safety Officer Trainer should be required to attend a seminar every couple of years or have his certification revoked.

Currently if one wants to be a Safety Officer all he has to do is be an IDPA member and attend a Safety Officer class given by a Certified Safety Officer Trainer. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem I have with the system is that the shooter is given a card and certificate identifying him as a Safety Officer that has no expiration date. He is a Safety Officer for life. How does he keep current with rules interpretation? My idea would be to time limit the certification to two years. This would require the Safety Officer to attend another class where he could learn of any changes.

Another idea would be to appoint someone to a position of Certified Safety Officer Trainer Coordinator. This individual would be responsible to keep trainers informed of what is happening in the IDPA as relates to rules and rules interpretation. Perhaps set up a web site where Safety Officers and trainers could go to stay current. The staff at headquarters is fielding questions regarding rules as best they can. However, their workload is such that they cannot devote the time required to support an effort like I’m proposing.

How does someone who was raised in New York get involved with handguns? Until I was out of my teens I though as the T.V. news and print media told me, only the bad guys and police had guns. No law abiding home owner needed nor wanted a weapon for self protection or just piece of mind. It was not necessary or almost un-American to own, let alone know how to handle a weapon. This was of course pre-911 when the entire nations’ thinking was altered.

My life seemed to change one day when I was about 18 years old living in a quiet suburban neighborhood on Long Island, NY. My father, like every other father in the area worked in the City and mom stayed home with the kids. One afternoon the entire neighborhood heard yelling and banging on a door at the neighbor’s house and then the crashing of glass. It seemed that all of the kids in the surrounding houses came out into their yards to see what was causing the commotion. We all heard what we thought was a car backfiring but quickly realized it was gun fire; we heard one, two, three shots in quick succession. We learned later that the owner of the house was firing at the person who was kicking in his side door. At the time of the shooting all of the older kids ran but the youngest kids just stood on the sidewalk and watched not knowing what was happening. I saw them standing there on the side walk very vulnerable, not knowing what to do. My thoughts were that the bullets might travel across the street into my parent’s house, penetrating the walls and hit me. It was a very brief period of time in my life that I have thought about many times since. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. I have thought about that incident many times over the years and I would not want to feel that way again. We learned later that the person breaking down the door was hit with at least one round and survived. He was a former resident of the house which his parents had sold. He was on drug therapy and thought that he still lived there.

It has taken almost 30 years from the incident including extensive travel outside of the United States to realize that one must take responsibility for his own safety or at least piece of mind. This was not a quick realization. A number of unrelated incidents have brought me to a point of enjoying shooting handguns and long guns which in some way may allow me to take control of a situation if it were to arise.

One of the items that affected my thinking was age. When I was younger I taught Karate and thought that I was in good shape and fast with punches and kicks. Over the last few years I must admit that I have slowed down with many aches and pains when I over do it. If I were to try some of the defensive Karate moves at my age I would need Ben Gay for sure.

The major item that pushed me into firing a handgun, which I had not done in over 25 years, was the fact that my son was training to become a Texas peace officer. He and his training buddies let me “tag along” and shoot during one trip to the range, I was hooked. My youngest son had been shooting skeet with his buddies on numerous occasions and I had to do what my sons were doing. Prior to this time I would not have entered the gun shop on my own. My thoughts were that the shooting range was inhabited by guys that liked to kill things and would love an opportunity to razz a “non gun person”. Boy was I wrong. Yes, there is a little strutting and chest inflation going on at the range or at the gun store but this is usually done when non-gun persons, particularly women are present. But that is the extent of the “I’m better than you” attitude. In fact I have found that a majority of people that you meet at the range are very helpful and willing to offer supportive suggestions and incites. In particle some of the shooting clubs such as IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association), etc. are very good places to learn the most important aspect of gun handling, safety. Safety is stressed as the most important point at each of the clubs that I am involved with. Gun safety provides the new shooter with the confidence that is required to accept the responsibility of handgun ownership and specifically gun handling. Shooting has become a very enjoyable activity in my life and in fact does provide some piece of mind.

I would encourage anyone that is even remotely interested in the sport of shooting to attend an IDPA match as a spectator. It will not cost you anything, it will be safe, you will meet a great group of people that will be willing and able to answer all of your questions. A phone call to your local shooting range or a quick search on the web will give you all of the scheduled matches in the area. Pick one and attend. Arrive early and let the Match Director (MD) know that it is your first time. He will take it from there and introduce you around.

John Igoe
John.igoe@ashbrookcorp.com
IDPA member number A16200
Certified Range Safety Officer
Classified SSP marksman
Classified CDP sharpshooter

ARE YOU ALL POLICEMEN?
by
John Igoe

How many times have you been asked this question when a non IDPA member wants to know who the people are shooting the match. It seems that the public has this pre-conceived notion that anyone who can handle a firearm must be in law enforcement. They seem to get very interested when they realize that we are very much like them, your average citizen.

You can spot the interested non-member right off. They usually are carrying their new weapon in the manufacturer’s box or wrapped in a towel. They will stand around until almost everyone has left the range and wait for one of the club members to approach them. I have found this to be one of the most rewarding aspects of the shooting sport after seeing the interest of a new shooter when he realizes that not all shooters are in law enforcement but are average people. That he may also fit in with this group and become as comfortable shooting as he has just seen during the match. We all need encouragement in all that we do and a little direction at this point in the newbie’s learning curve will usually produce a safe shooter. We should all try to encourage the person to attend the next shooting match and let him know that we all started out as novices. Some of the match shooters are very good although the majority is average to good at the shooting sport.

A few pleasantries are exchanged to illustrate the fact that we are not up tight gun nuts which puts the newbie at ease. The fact that we are regular working people is a surprise to most that I speak with. You can almost hear the question forming in their mind, “How can a bunch of old guys be so good with handguns?” but of course the question is never asked.

I have found one of the easiest methods to transmit information to the interested person is to direct him to the IDPA web page, club web page or to a search engine which will then give him local club schedules, locations and maps. I have been in this situation four or five times which has now caused me to look for the interested person. That guy or girl that is hanging around and doesn’t want to look too interested in the match. After the discovery that the shooters are neither gun nuts nor policemen peaks their interest. When they learn that we are students, businessman, blue collier workers, ex-military and some law enforcement members they are put at ease. Many times we will see the newbie at the next match. We all can than encourage them to learn the basics of safe firearms handling, tactical proficiency and of course have a great time with a good group of people.