Cops. Heh.

Had a great weekend of shooting fun. Wichita Falls Saturday for some USPSA action. DPC Sunday morning for some steel action. A little visit to the local cigar shop, and then a drive down into Dallas Sunday night for some IDPA fun. That's the way to spend your weekend!!!

Sunday night, at DFW gun range, we had a great turnout for the IDPA match. There were several brand new shooters there as well as some more experienced guys that have been around for awhile and then some folks somewhere in the middle, who have been out a handful of times and are starting to look familiar. After working the timer with one of the new shooters - a tiny young lady - and watching her struggle to control the pistol - I passed off the timer and took her over to the safe area to help her out.

I explained the fundamentals of the grip and stance and tried to get her a little more comfortable with the pistol she was shooting. I probably spent 10 minutes or so with her before I ran out of time and had to get back to work at the match. I had noted that one of the other shooters - a local cop - had followed us in to the safe area and was watching everything I was telling this young lady. I could tell from the look on his face that he disagreed with about everything that I was saying, but I just ignored him as I'd seen him shoot and wasn't really that impressed with anything he had done. As soon as I left, he took the opportunity to jump over to the gal and I suspected that he was busy spending some time telling her that I had no idea what the hell I was talking about since I was just a civilian and that she'd be better off listening to him. Whatever.

We finished the match, and I was back in the safety area with another new shooter - a young man this time - helping him with the same issues I had pointed out earlier. Since he was shooting a nice 1911, that was absolutely bone ass dry, I ended up spending some time with him about proper lube and cleaning of his pistol as well. About that time the young lady I had helped earlier walked in with her boyfriend and then another couple that had come with them to watch. We started talking about what kind of gun she should buy for herself since she was shooting a borrowed gun that night. I told her the same thing I tell all new shooters - buy a Glock, M&P, XD, or now even the new Ruger SR9 - whichever one fits their hands the best and is in their price range. The young lady told me that "the guy, that cop, had showed her his sig suey something" gun - to which I said, you mean a Sig Sauer??? Yeah, that was it - the cop let her fondle his Sig and told her what a fantastic weapon it was, that SWAT uses it, and SEALs use it blah blah blah and that the gun felt perfect to her.

I said, "hon, whatever you do, do NOT buy a Sig." To which her friend replied "told you, they're all going to say this that or the other is their favorite and no one will agree on anything."

I finally lost what patience I had left in dealing with this particular officer and just flat out told the girls - "look - why don't ya'll go look at the scores from tonight's match and tell me who you should be taking advice from, OK?" The room got pretty quiet all of a sudden and I just walked out to help with clean up after the match.

I usually don't ever talk that kind of smack to anyone but my friends. But this particular fellow touched a nerve with me. He displays the typical attitude that some (not all) law enforcement officers display. That they are the only people who know anything about firearms because they've been "trained". While us lowly civilians don't know squat because we don't have to go through a "rigorous" training program and annual qualifying.

The fact of the matter is - and this is based on a decade of watching - is that the vast bulk of law enforcement officers don't know jack about guns. They don't know jack about muzzle awareness. They don't know jack about trigger control. They don't know jack about how to shoot. In fact, if you come to my range and tell me you're a cop, I'm going to watch you like a hawk, and watch you closer than I'll watch a "civilian" because my personal experience has shown me that chances are, you're going to scare the hell out of me.

Now, there are a handful of officers that I've come across that DO know how to shoot - and bless them, most of those guys try hard as hell to get their law enforcement brethren up to speed - but the fact is, they are a very, very small minority in the police community.

And oh yeah - I kicked this guy's ass by 45 seconds in a 5 stage match. For those of you who aren't familiar with IDPA scoring, that's what you call an ass whipping.