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Safety first, then pull trigger

Eighteen WTI students go to the shooting range for a day of weapons training.

By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE
Published February 19, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Ron Thompson] Muzzle loading instructor Dan McNulty watches senior Rachel Fults fire her weapon at a target Friday at a shooting range in Lecanto.

LECANTO

Withlacoochee Technical Institute high school criminal justice instructor Dave Miller says that gun safety doesn't mean staying away from guns - it means knowing how to safely deal with a gun if you encounter one.

And gun safety is a must for students heading toward careers in law enforcement.

With this in mind, Miller took 18 high school students who are interested in such careers to a shooting range in Lecanto on Friday. The Sheriff's Office, the Technical Institute and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission use the range.

Three FWC instructors worked with students in three groups. Kim Sundberg, Dan McNulty, Bill Wilson and the students spent a couple of hours shooting black powder rifles, bow and arrows and muzzle loaders - and shivering in the cold wind.

Sundberg helped students practice shooting clay pigeons with rifles. Wilson taught students how to use a compact bow and arrow. McNulty instructed the students on how to load muzzles with black powder and balls. All taught the students how to use the equipment safely.

Friday's program was the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hunter education course that anyone born on or after June 1, 1975, must take to obtain a hunting license.

Upon completion of Friday's instruction, the students were eligible to apply for hunting licenses. But the main point of the exercises was safety.

"Today's kind of special because Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has come up to certify the criminal justice students in firearm safety," Miller said.

The high school criminal justice course Miller teaches is designed to prepare students for careers in law enforcement. "When they finish this class, they'll be certified police aides," he said. "It's a 540-hour course. It's almost a police academy."

His students will be able to process crime scenes, conduct accident investigations and be dispatchers. To be sworn officers, the students will need to continue their criminal justice education.

Josh King, 17, a junior, came to the range with a lot of gun use experience. "I've been shooting shotguns since I've been about 7," he said.

He learned a couple of new things about how to clean a gun, he said, and he had never shot a compact bow.

Josh plans to join the military police in the Air Force after attending the University of Florida for officer training. He has only been in the WTI criminal justice class since January.

Travis Folsom, 17, is also a junior. He said he had never shot a gun before Friday. He said he learned "how to take off the barrel and loading it." For safety, he said, "you have to keep your finger off the trigger at all times."

Travis had shot a bow and arrow, though he didn't claim to be any good at it. But that could have just been the equipment.

Travis is also a newcomer to the class. He plans to join the Army after high school.

Jeremy Creel, 19, Drew Wortham, 16, and Tyler Horton, 17, have been in Miller's class since August. All three had previous gun experience. Jeremy and Tyler are hunters.

Tyler, a senior, said Friday's event was a good review. "It just freshens up my memory about everything," he said.

Jeremy, a senior, said that when he first took a gun safety test, what he thought he knew about gun safety wasn't accurate. He barely passed. That was four years ago.

Since then, he has learned the correct handling of firearms. "I consider myself gun safe," he said.

For Drew, a junior, skeet shooting was new. "I've never shot skeet in my life," he said. "I got one."

He also gained another lesson: "I learned how to always treat the gun like it's loaded."

After graduation, Jeremy wants to join the Coast Guard to be a rescue swimmer. He then wants to return to Citrus County and join the Sheriff's Office.

Tyler is applying for a position in 911 operations. He wants to do that for two years, then become a deputy. He plans to attend Central Florida College in the criminal justice program.

"Then I might move to Melbourne one day," he said.

Drew plans to get a four-year degree in criminal justice and come back to Citrus County to work for the Sheriff's Office.

Sara Giddens, 16, and Rachel Fultz, 18, are two of the few girls in the class. "I've been able to practice all the things I've learned for four days and I'm very happy to be able to experience what I have today and I wish other kids could," said Sara, a junior.

Rachel, a senior, said she learned how to shoot a gun, something she'd never done before. She also learned how to point the muzzle in the right direction and to always keep your finger off the trigger if you're not going to shoot.

As for their future plans, "I'm going to be going to a criminal justice two-year program and then to a federal bureau prison and become a corrections officer," Sara said.

Rachel plans to attend CFCC or a community college in Sumter County to get an associate's degree in criminal justice and then take online classes through the University of Central Florida to earn a master's degree in criminal justice. She eventually wants to work for the Sheriff's Office.

"I want to do SWAT and eventually become a detective," she said.

[Last modified February 18, 2007, 21:31:46]