Why You Should Never Teach Your Significant Other

Photo Credit: Carolina Sporting Arms

This post isn’t only geared towards those that are married but are dating as well. I’ll be presenting my case as to why you should never teach your significant other firearm safety and, instead, why they’re better off learning under an outside professional.

Let me begin by stating that, regardless if you’re a certified instructor or not, it’s strongly recommended that you never provide firearms training – particularly when it comes to a basic handgun or CPL course – to your significant other for a variety of reasons (ex: legal, etc). As a certified instructor, I will not allow my fiancée to take a basic handgun and CPL course with me! To be honest, I simply can’t be objective with her like I can with everyone else. Realistically, it’s simply not possible for anyone to be objective and unbiased when teaching their significant other. However, I will gladly pay for lessons through another instructor who she can get another perspective from because I care about her so much that I want her to learn the skills that are necessary to handle a firearm safely and accurately.

I’ve never fully understood why – typically the boyfriend/husband – never wanted to pay for their girlfriend/wife to take a basic handgun course with me at the indoor range where I also work if they’ve shot less than 100 rounds. If they’d rather do the teaching due to a small financial factor, what’s their significant other’s safety along with everyone else’s worth then? If you think that you can teach your significant other after recently completing a basic course or acquiring your CPL, can you explain the “why” behind such things as malfunctions, grip, stance, etc? Would you know how to quickly diagnose and properly clear various malfunctions while explaining the process? There was one occasion where a husband brought in his wife to take a new shooter class with me because, apparently when he tried to teach her, she had accidently shot herself in the hand. As a result, she was petrified of firearms! We began with shooting one round at a time and slowly increased the capacity. Over the course of the class, she eventually relaxed and began to gain her confidence back. With that said, if you’re the kind of person that believes that they can do a better job of teaching their significant other as opposed to spending some money to have someone else provide the lessons, I strongly urge you to reconsider. By having an outside professional to conduct the lessons, it can make the experience more enjoyable and memorable!

Click here to read some tips of what to look for in a good instructor. Also, check out this blog post by USCCA instructor, Beth Alcazar for wives that are trying to convince their husbands that they should train with and/or carry a firearm.