No experience in firearms a detriment?

[TLMaui]

I was going to phrase this question on whether I should go to the range and practice shooting, but after reading some similar posts it seems that self-training with firearms would most likely instill bad habits that may be difficult to train out of during the academy.

I have no experience with firearms apart from using a BB rifle when I was in middle school. I have not even held a handgun in my life. Will this be a factor in my competitiveness for a LE position?

Ok, crystal ball question aside as it would be impossible to answer. How about a hypothetical: You are in charge of recruitment/hiring for a local PD dept and a recruit has told you that he has never lifted a gun, or felt the recoil of anything larger than an air gun. Would this affect your view of said recruit?

Thanks for playing along with my mental wanderings.

[kels]

Depending on where you live, there is a very good chance
that most of your class may not have held a firearm.

Shooting is a learned skill. After you learn the basics,
the biggest part of it is practice.

I wouldnt worry about it. You will do fine.

[DeltaV]

It's not hard to teach someone to shoot, and very few recruits actually fail because they cannot pass firearms training. For that reason, firearms experience really doesn't play a part in hiring. You are correct in thinking that it would be worse to go start shooting and develop bad habits than to not shoot at all.

You're in what is probably the most anti-gun state in the country and has the strictest firearms laws. I wouldn't be surprised if not having firearms familiarity isn't something that is typical out there.

[TLMaui]

That was one of the reasons I was worried originally DeltaV. If I had to actually get practical training here in Hawaii, it may have delayed my application preparation even more due to the strict gun control.

Don't think that I am anti-gun, I am more gun-nuetral. Live and let live, just keep guns out of the hands of certain people. I think the gun laws as they are now are sufficient in that regard.

Thanks for the reassurance

[Piggy]

That was one of the reasons I was worried originally DeltaV. If I had to actually get practical training here in Hawaii, it may have delayed my application preparation even more due to the strict gun control.

Don't think that I am anti-gun, I am more gun-nuetral. Live and let live, just keep guns out of the hands of certain people. I think the gun laws as they are now are sufficient in that regard.

Thanks for the reassurance

I'd say you were more pro-gun personally, not that it matters to the topic of this thread. Nobody wants guns in the hands of the bad guys or the psychos.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

I've never heard anyone ask about a candidate being comfortable shooting firearms. Maybe some do, but I've never heard it asked myself.

What I have heard asked at each and every hiring board, is a question about my capability to take someone else's life. That may include a firearm, or a rock, or a squad car. They're more concerned with the candidate having a pre-determined moral point which allows them to kill another human being if required. Some questions were straight-forward and asked if I could take the life of another in the line of duty. Others were scenario-based where the only correct answer was to use lethal force on the offender.

Worry about the above more than firing a gun. You can be trained to handle a firearm rather proficiently in a short amount of time. If you are unwilling to killing someone when the situation calls for it, there's no need for them to continue the hiring process with you.