A nearly two-week-old op-ed by a local physician has suddenly become popular among anti-gun Democrats, as he reports his recollection of a North Carolina concealed carry class.

Our instructor was well-qualified enough – a very experienced local law enforcement officer, with considerable advanced weapons training of all sorts. We proceeded directly into the letter of the law regarding explicitly what the state did and did not allow regarding concealed handguns. And then, almost immediately, things began to descend into a mockery of reason and good judgment. One-in-a-million scenarios began to erupt from the audience, unveiling the emotional currents that lie buried just under the surface.

“What if I come home and someone is in my house? Can I take my gun inside and shoot them?” Well, the law says technically not if you’re outside, but as long as you put yourself in the house then you should be good.

“What if my ex-husband tries to come to the house?” If he doesn’t have a right to be there, then you do what you gotta do. … Remember, they don’t have to be breaking in for you to shoot.

Perhaps most shocking, though, was the advice we received from a practicing law enforcement officer regarding the storage of firearms: under the bed, preferably loaded. I’m not kidding. Fifty or so families, many of whom we must presume have children in the home, walked out of that classroom with the understanding that the proper way to store your guns was in a location that is within reach of a child, and loaded. No gun safe. No trigger lock.

Ugh. I know this type.

Dr. Bullard and his physician wife are the “better than yous” that show up to shooting courses mandated by the state, and then sneer down their noses at those they consider less deserving, less intelligent, and well, “less” in most every regard (while at the same time, they confess to being doctors who voted for Obamacare, twice).

I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in or watch several concealed carry courses in North Carolina, and I’m familiar with both the curriculum, and the wide range of attendees. Each and every class dynamic is subtly different, starting with the motives of the participants.

In my first concealed carry course, the overwhelming majority of those taking the class had no intention of carrying a concealed handgun regularly. The majority simply wanted to be able to carry a gun in their car, or be able to buy/sell/trade handguns without going through North Carolina’ Jim Crow-era permitting process where you have to go to the sheriff and get a permit each time you want to buy a handgun.

Along with different motives, there are differing levels of experience and competence in the students in each class. I’ve seen serious shooters with impeccably safe gun handing skills and competition-grade marksmanship, and folks still working on the first couple of boxes of ammunition they bought 40 years ago that made me nervous to be around them, and others using borrowed guns and holsters.

One thing common to all students is the inevitability of coming up with “what if” scenarios in their minds, due to the training course itself, which requires students to watch multiple videotaped scenarios. These scenarios were created to show students in the course when they are and are not justified in using a concealed firearm in legal self-defense. Somehow, Dr. Bullard forgets to mention this in his op-ed, even though these scenarios have always been the primary trigger for a deluge of “what if” questions as soon as the film ends.

For a doctor associated with a teaching hospital not to understand the natural tendency for students to then try to create and relate to scenarios of their own after viewing such a film betrays a man who doesn’t understand the process of learning in the slightest, and I pity his unfortunate students.

Concealed carry instructors expect and are used to the vast majority of these questions, which are generally variations on a simple “if, then” theme. Some are based on real concerns, such as a person worried about an abusive former spouse or significant other, while others are examples of students trying to think of the most outlandish parameters possible, in order to build a frame of reference for more plausible encounters. Again, a good teacher—which I hope that a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology would be—should recognize these learning styles.

It is because of his obvious attitude towards the class itself that I question the accuracy of Dr. Bullard’s recollection of the instructor’s alleged advice to put a loaded and unsecured firearm under the bed. After all, arrogant men in places they would rather not be rarely pay full attention to lesser beings, are are more likely to be fuming than fully listening.

On the other hand, there is the possibility that Dr. Bullard, despite the fact that he felt so superior to everyone else, actually listened to the instructor and recorded his words with 100-percent accuracy, in context, and that he left nothing out.

I simply doubt that his recollection is accurate in the context in which his op-ed presents it.

I strongly doubt that the instructor said anything that could be construed as, “put your loaded gun under the bed where your children can find it and blow their brains out,” which is what most of those championing his op-ed seem to have taken away from this paragraph.

Perhaps most shocking, though, was the advice we received from a practicing law enforcement officer regarding the storage of firearms: under the bed, preferably loaded. I’m not kidding. Fifty or so families, many of whom we must presume have children in the home, walked out of that classroom with the understanding that the proper way to store your guns was in a location that is within reach of a child, and loaded. No gun safe. No trigger lock.

Now, is it possible that someone asked the instructor where he kept his gun, or where he would advise keeping a gun, and he simply gave a possible location? That sounds quite plausible. Did the instructor go over safe storage in another part of the course before or after this question, but not right at this moment? I’d be willing to bet that he did and probably did so on more than one occasion over the course of the day.

Like so many educational opportunities, what you learn in a concealed carry course is largely determined by the attitude that the student brings to the course. Dr. Bullard quite obviously did not want to be in this class, had little respect for his instructor, and even less for his fellow students.

At least we can rest assured that Dr. Bullard is very safe with his firearms, and is unlikely to ever have the opportunity to use on in self-defense. After all, when is the last time you heard of someone being attacked while they were on a pedestal?