Many people started purchasing new firearms at the beginning and throughout the pandemic. I feel that virtual shooting ranges and dry fire training can help new gun owners in a variety of ways. I feel that in order to get your permit to purchase a firearm, you should be required to have some amount of gun safety classes hawaii.
There are many gun related accidents each year, and having virtual shooting range time can help reduce this number tremendously. This can help with gun safety and showing people where and where not to aim. I also feel that once you purchase a new gun, even if you already own a very similar one, you should have required dry firing training to get used to this gun and how it works. This can seem like a hassle, but overall it helps with safety because every gun is different in many ways. I think there have been a lot of people who have purchased a gun during the pandemic “just in case” but really have no idea how to use it or what they are doing if they were to use it. Requiring these two things can help people learn how to use their guns. It can also expose people to an environment where they can learn the rules of the range before they go into the range.
Virtual shooting ranges and dry firing simulators can also help you practice your aim and other things, without the cost of ammunition, since that has also skyrocketed during the pandemic. Other things that this avoids the cost of are paper or cardboard targets, and cleaning the gun. This might be the reason some people have not gone to the range and gotten familiar with their guns, so this can be a safe and cheaper alternative.
These things can also help children get used to shooting handguns. In my area, all that is offered for children is hunters safety, which only covers long guns. The first time I went to the range, I was very scared to shoot handguns even though I had my parents there with me to guide me because I didn’t know what could happen and what could potentially go wrong. I think both a virtual range and dry fire training would have helped me overcome my fear a lot quicker. I also think this is a safe alternative for children who want to shoot handguns, or even long guns but are not of age to be in a gun range and do not have the means to shoot outdoors.
Another thing that these practices can help with is people with special needs who want to shoot real guns but can’t for various reasons. For example, if someone has autism and is sensitive to noises, real guns might not be for them but a virtual shooting range or dry firing practice might be their new favorite thing. If someone has Tourette Syndrome and could potentially have a tick and fire the trigger, making it unsafe for them to operate a real gun, this could be a safer alternative.
Overall, I think these types of ranges and training will help a lot with gun safety and open more people up to being able to try it out without going all in and purchasing a gun themselves. They do this through introducing people to the rules of the range before actually exposing them to an environment where they could hurt someone, reducing the cost of practice, and expose people who shouldn’t or can’t shoot handguns otherwise.
