Print
E-Mail
tool name
closeSumner residents learn shooting, firearms basics
Firing range offers live shooting practice, shooting simulator program to demonstrate what police officers must master
Roxanne Cooke
After her first time holding and shooting a gun, Sumner resident Jody Jackson decided it wasn’t for her.
“I’m still shaking,” she said shortly after shooting a .40-caliber pistol at a firing range in Puyallup. “After the first time it’s like ‘Oh my God, I just fired a gun.’ I wouldn’t want to do it again.”
Jackson is a student in the Sumner Police Department’s 2008 Citizen’s Academy. The program, offered to Sumner residents and those who work in town, provides a glimpse into the field of law enforcement. Firearms practice was one aspect of the 13-week program, which began in March and ended this week.
For the weapons portion of the academy, students listened to a lecture last week on the use of force and the basic rules for operating a gun.
There are four rules that must always be followed: Treat every gun as if it were loaded; be sure of the target and what is behind it; never point a gun at anything you’re not willing to shoot or destroy, and keep your finger off the trigger until it’s aimed at the target.
As part of the firearms lesson, the class visited The Marksman shooting range last weekend. For the first half, students tried out a shoot/don’t shoot simulator on a projector screen. Recorded scenarios played out while each student aimed a modified pistol at the screen, waiting for cues to shoot.
Most scenarios involved police confronting a criminal who would put his hands up but then start reaching into a pocket for a weapon.
Some students shot before the criminal did, but others waited too long and the criminal shot and then ran away. When students shot and hit, the criminal would fall down.
The mechanical aspect of shooting — as in, how to physically shoot a gun — is only 10 percent of shooting, said The Marksman’s chief instructor Ron Schmitt. That’s the reason for the simulator — the other 90 percent is the mental aspect, or when to shoot and why.
Students learned that “action beats reaction.” In other words, if a criminal manages to pull a weapon out and shoot, it’s likely he or she will shoot their weapon before the officer can respond. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to body language, such as a hand moving toward a pocket.
“We only care about what he’s doing” and not what he says, Schmitt said.
The point of the simulator was to show students how police must often make split-second decisions in their line of work, said Sumner Communications Officer Pamela Mandery. They experienced tunnel vision, sweaty palms, quick breathing, the adrenaline rush and the increase in blood pressure that occur in those situations.
The Citizen’s Academy has given Terri Olson a new perspective on police and what goes into their work, she said. She now views officers as peacemakers and helpers to the community.
“It was kind of an eye-opener,” Olson said.
Another student, John Emmons, enjoyed shooting a real gun at the firing range after the simulator portion was finished, he said.
“It was pretty cool,” he said “There’s a lot of power in those guns. This was interesting. It really gives you an appreciation.”