Talking about ingraining safety habits in all things
before lead me to more self-reflection.
On a square range my habits are excellent. Well ingrained. Solid. I can carry on a conversation over a shoulder and never even muzzle the overhead target trolley, much less the side walls. I find it hard to even try to turn the muzzle somewhere else. Like there is a great magnet at the backstop always pointing that tube down
there. Long, reinforced, habit in the building where the loud noises happen.
But it's easy to do that in that building.
That building is unlike any other. Funny booths, the air feels weird, wearing ear and eye pro, lots of banging noises. It
IS square. Designed to get you to just point the danger-pipes the right way as much as possible.
And here is the other worry. What do I do that I
do not notice? Complacency is not my friend in there.
And there is a feeling in the back of my head... What if I ran into a fool that DID need smoking... A legitimate bad guy knife wield maniac that needs to be shot before he kills me and everyone else around. He needs shooting. But there is that part of me that says "no, don't muzzle a person, not safe!" I wonder if that could be a hesitancy factor?...
In the SIRT training there are time when you are expected to check your surroundings, including behind you, and to do it safely. The instructor will occasionally sneak up on you with a pool noodle if you fail to check six. If he hits you in the crotch or head with the noodle, you have failed. AND you are supposed to SHOOT him with the fake simulator pistol. Feels funny. But it's a controlled room. No ammo or weapons allowed. All 'guns' are training guns and he instructs me to shoot. Like I said, it still feels funny turning a pistol 180 degrees from the target area in there.
