Negligent Discharge at Fredericksburg Gander Mountain
I heard that it happened during a handgun class not too long ago. Does anyone have information on this?
Who was the instructor? Who had the discharge (student or instructor)? How did it happen?
edited to add: This was in Fredericksburg, Va., just in case there are other Fredericksburgs which have Gander Mountain stores.
Thanks,
Randy
I took the course with the guy who took over after the incident.
As I live in the 'Burg, I took the CCW class at that Gander Mountain, mere months after the event occured. When I took the class, the gentleman who ran the course had just gotten the contract a few months ago, and was explaining why he had to zip-tie the guns (lock slide back, insert tie thru barrel, zip up). He brought up that the GM didn't use to have a strict policy on bringing the guns to class, as long as they were unloaded and checked at the front CS desk. Evidently, however during a break in class a student ended up loading a full magazine into his weapon, racking the slide, and then let another student handle it, and that student caused the ND. If you go into the lodge, I believe the hole from the ND is still there. The round passed through the wall, through a manager's office and into a beam in the opposite wall. Thats why the new class instructor got the job, because the students weren't being supervised well and the ND occurred.
The class wasn't very good, either. He kept making references to how everyone should only carry a gun with a caliber of .4 or above, and then even after I showed him the proof about open-carrying in ABC-licensed establishments in VA, still told the class you couldn't open carry in a restaurant. A lot of the students were very novice, and he wasn't helping them very much :mad: In fact, I remember ranting to my dad about how bad he was at teaching the course.
I believe the guy who runs it now is named Kevin Dameron, of Dameron's Tactical Solutions. I also believe he works at the GM part-time. No website though. I tried looking for it right now.