I came across this video earlier today on Facebook, and…oh holy crap. Seriously.

https://www.facebook.com/shootingfast.ab/videos/2089795321241446/

Now, I’m not sure exactly where this is, as what language we hear doesn’t appear to be English, so this is probably not at a U.S. school, but regardless…

I’m hardly a training expert by any stretch of the imagination, but one thing I do know is that I don’t want to be anywhere near a school that thinks popping off round that close to me in an effort to, apparently, simulate realism. It doesn’t take a paranoid personality to see all the potential accidents that could be taking place here. I mean, those are live rounds. They’re not even blanks, for crying out loud.

Look, I get it. Everyone wants to make the training as realistic as humanly possible and anyone with two functioning brain cells can tell you that there’s a lot of levels of realism between static bullseye shooting and force-on-force. It’s tough to find that perfect place in between. Like I said, I get it.

However, that’s no excuse to get stupid.

Watching the video, we see rounds going off near feet, near heads, and way too close to living flesh. While the Earth is an effective backstop, that’s only true if there’s nothing between you and the dirt. One rock you don’t see and you’ve got a ricochet, and that increases the chance of someone being the proud recipient of aggressively punctured exsanguination ports.

Not a good thing.

There’s literally no reason to shoot like that while someone is training. No reason at all. Hell, you’d be better off using fireworks. At least then there’s no slug or wadding (from a blank) that could cause injury. Frankly, if you’re that worried about realism in your training, find a good school that knows how to safely conduct force-on-force training. At least thing you’ll have targets that are actually shooting back at you in a way that minimizes the chance of injury.

Folks, if you do encounter a school that does this, do me and your family both a favor and leave. Then pass along the word that they’re engaging in some very questionable training behavior. These operations need to be called out and then let the free market handle business from there.

Again, it appears these aren’t Americans doing this, but that doesn’t mean some turdnugget won’t see this and decide it’s a hell of a great idea, then implement this during his own classes.

You know the kind of people I’m talking about. The kind of people that make this guy look like someone who ran with Chris Kyle or Marcus Luttrell back in the day:

Use your brain when dealing with trainers, and just because the trainer says it’s safe doesn’t mean it is. After all, even trainers from established school have been known to do some stupid things.

If you see a trainer doing something you believe is unsafe, question it. Also, don’t feel like you should stay in that environment simply because you dropped gun money to attend. Your family would rather you write off a few hundred buck and not be killed by moron trainers.