Safety First: Classes can keep new gun owners from joining another statistical group – gunshot victims

This article was originally published in The Examiner on Dec. 29, 2016.

By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer

Two recent accidental shootings in PortArthur suggest some residents don’t how to safely handle weapons, and the number of new gun owners grows all the time. This year alone, the FBI recorded 185,713 background checks through the National Instant Criminal Background system for Black Friday purchases in the U.S., 400 more than 2015, Business Insider reported Nov. 28.

Although they’re often given as presents, firearms are not toys. Mishandled, they can lead to injuries that range from embarrassing to life-threatening.

A Port Arthur resident suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his foot Friday, Nov. 11. The injury was not life-threatening, and he ultimately refused medical treatment and was released, Port Arthur Police said in a news release.

In a separate incident, an 18-year-old man at Prince Hall Village apartments accidentally shot himself on the right side of his abdomen, but told Port Arthur police officers he had hurt himself in a recent fall, Port Arthur Police said in a news release. After he was transported for medical attention, he told officers that his injury resulted from dropping his weapon.

Ten accidental shootings have been reported in Port Arthur in the last two years, according to City of Port Arthur spokesperson LaRisa Carpenter.

Port Arthur Police Detective Joe Paul has taught NRA gun safety classes locally for the last 24 years since leaving the Marine Corps, both privately and for the police force, and many first-time gun buyers do not receive training in handling deadly weapons, he said in an interview with The Examiner.

“Number one, treat all guns as if they were loaded,” he said. “You never point the weapon at anything you’re not willing to shoot and kill and destroy. You don’t want to point the weapon at yourself and you don’t want to point the weapon at a loved one or somebody else. That’s the second rule of gun safety.”

“The third one is keep your finger off the trigger,” he said. “Don’t put your finger on that trigger until you’re on target and ready to shoot the weapon. The last rule of gun safety is know what your target is and what’s beyond your target,” explaining that bullets discharged from high powered rifles can hit a target and keep going.

Paul’s regular duties involve dealing with sex offenders and registering sex offenders. He has been a firearm instructor in Port Arthur since 1999 or 2000 and concealed handgun instructor since 2006 or 2008. When asked what might be causing accidental shootings in Port Arthur, Paul said he believes the “trending market” and increase in gun sales, especially on Black Friday, could be a contributing factor.

“Everything’s uncertain, everybody’s just uncertain what’s going to happen,” he said. “You’ve had riots going on, increase in home invasion and robberies.”

“If people would learn these gun rules and adhere to them, you probably wouldn’t be having a lot of these accidental discharges,” Paul said.

Paul recommends a basic beginning shooter course and concealed handgun and license to carry courses, which he called “informed carry” courses since open carry became legal in Texas on Jan. 1, 2016.

The courses are usually taught in four parts and cover use of force, gun safety, deci- sion-making, and state laws regarding the use of deadly force.

Paul said he also taught school children gun safety with the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program.

“That’s where a lot of it needs to start, but a lot of schools have gotten away from that because they don’t want to bring anything about guns into schools, but it’s a good pro- gram,” he said. “I think schools should offer it; most police departments teach it — we teach it down here in Port Arthur PD.”

Paul has been teaching his own children gun safety since they were young, “ever
since they were little kids shooting BB guns.”

“Now they shoot assault rifles with me, and they go to the firing range every time I go,” he said, “but I started at a really young age teaching them gun safety and how to respect the gun.”

The Eddie Eagle courses teach children to find an adult if they find a gun and to not pick up, touch or point guns, Paul said.

He said the classes are grouped by age, pre-K to third grade, fourth grade through seventh grade, and other courses for high school students.

Half of any beginner shooting class is just gun safety, Paul said.

“I have some friends of mine that they took it, him and his wife and they said yeah we really didn’t do much shooting; it was just a lot of talking.”

The classes also teach how to maintain and store weapons securely.

Paul recommends that those interested in taking a class seek an informed instructor.

“Not all instructors are created equal,” Paul said. “Some instructors really know what they’re talking about and they’re really good, and other people are in it just for the money.”