Hell in a Handbasket

From Tony Rodgers, we get How Not to Teach Your Girlfriend to Shoot.

My God, that is actually painful for me to watch!

UPDATE
Hmmm. It occurs to me that I wasn't very clear as to why I am so disgusted about this whole thing. Something that is obviously wrong to an instructor might not be as clear to a casual shooter. So let me embed the video so we can take a look at it together.

The video is only 38 seconds long, but it is jam packed with teeth-grinding idiocy. Let us start it up and take a look at some of the more egregious errors.

00:00 to 00:08 There is a young woman pictured in a kneeling position, pointing a scoped shotgun off towards the right of the frame. A male voice is heard, giving her instructions. But then something occurs to him. "Galvin! Hold on! Hold on a second!" he says.

The correct command is, of course, "Cease fire!". Anyone properly instructed in firearm safety would immediately place their weapon on the ground, with the muzzle always pointed in a safe direction, and take their hands off. You know, make everything absolutely safe until everyone agrees that it is time to fire. But she never does that, and she doesn't even take her finger off of the trigger!

There is also a minimum of safety gear that is necessary before someone practices with a firearm, specifically hearing and eye protection. She certainly isn't wearing any safety glasses, but maybe she has some of those foam earplugs to protect her delicate ears from the sound of the report.

00:08 to 00:10 The instructor is talking again. "Galvin, cover her ears!" he says.

So they didn't bring enough hearing protection for everyone, not even the shooter on the firing line. Maybe they didn't think to bring any hearing protection at all!

00:10 to 00:15 The instructor is still talking to Galvin about protecting the hearing of his student. "Just put her head down on your chest and cover one side!"

So his brilliant plan is to use his buddy's chest as a pillow to muffle the sound of the shot. Do I need to explain why this is utterly, completely, fantastically moronic?

00:15 to 00:38 The rest of the video is Exhibit A as to why these people should never breed in order to spare future generations from their brain-dead progeny.

Right before the young woman fires, some guy shoves his belly against her ear! (WTF!!!) The young woman has not properly braced the shotgun, and so the recoil bounces the scope against her forehead and apparently causes her to become woozy and disoriented.

It isn't certain that the whole belly/ear maneuver caused the injury to be worse than it would have been had there been no belly in the way, but it certainly couldn't have helped.

The guy who is pressing his belly against the shooter's head snatches the shotgun from her hands as soon as the shot rings out, and he places it flat on the ground after he sees that she has a bloody forehead. The camera pulls back and we see that the belly belongs to the instructor whose brilliance has resulted in this complete clusterfuck.

Then, with the young woman bleeding from a head injury and apparently dizzy, he grabs her head in both hands and starts hauling her around by the neck for some goddamn reason I just can't figure out.

This whole thing is a disaster from the word "Go!" No hearing protection except some asshat's belly. No one has any idea as to the proper safety procedures on the firing line, even the moron who is supposed to be running the show. Unsafe handling of firearms, as seen by the snatch just as soon as the shot was fired. And, of course, the shooter wasn't shown the proper way to handle a shotgun because she wouldn't have been injured if anyone involved had a clue!

Last but certainly not least, can one of my readers please explain to me how rubbing up against someone on the firing line, someone with a loaded firearm they are about to fire, is supposed to be a safety measure?

I'd hope that someone would have the decency to horsewhip all of the skin off my ass if I ever put one of my students at risk like this. That would be the mildest punishment I can imagine that would fit the circumstances.

I'm just glad that the young woman in the video got off with nothing more serious than a bloody forehead. The potential for true disaster was very real, and was only averted through sheer luck.

ANOTHER UPDATE
Ride Fast has more.