After 30 years of experience as a Tactical instructor, I still more than never an advocate of a Sirt Pistol or a "blue" gun for a responsible and safe firearms training.Every single year students get shot and die because of a negligent discharge while performing drills in training ranges across the globe. Accidents may happen some say; not in my watch, not in training I'm running.Some instructors think that clearing the gun before doing the exercises are enough, further from the truth!Controlling what a large number of people are doing is very hard. That is the main reason I recommend trainers to use Sirt Pistols to conduct new drills or to teach brand new students that have zero firearms experience.Few reasons why you should use Sirt or Blue Guns:1. A firearm is designed to shoot, treat it as if it is loaded 100% of the time even if someone clears it in front of you!2. Ammo will appear out of nowhere. Ordinary people and professionals are stoped every year in airports with loose ammo in pocket and backpacks that they never had any idea it was there!3. If you are using only Sirt Pistols or Blue Guns, will be very easy to spot something unusual such as a real Black shining pistol!4.Teaching methodology: Sirt or Blue Guns are great tools to teach your brand new students their first contact with firearms. If you are in a classroom, that is a no-brainer.5. All mechanical mechanism will fail, the real safety is between your ears. Your attitude towards policies and procedures are the critical factor for a long life of training without any accidents.By Joshua BarbosaChief Instructor at BTS Firearms and Tactics Training AcademyNRA, USCCA Certified InstructorCenter Axis Relock System Practitioner5th Degree Coral Belt in Sakusen-Do-Ryu Combatives SystemBrown Belt in Kodokan JudoBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu PractitionerWing Chun Kung Fu Practitioner
