Video: Gun Club Offers Course for the Deaf, Hearing Protection Optional?
OutdoorHub Reporters 07.21.16
One local gun club in San Antonio, Texas, turned some heads recently when it announced that it will be offering shooting classes for the deaf, taught entirely in sign language. Nardis Gun Club says it began offering the classes to fill a demand from the gun-owning deaf community, which rarely have opportunities to enroll in firearm training classes.
“A lot of people were uncomfortable having a deaf person in their class,” attendee Robert Anlauf told KENS5. “They didn’t know how to get around the communication part.”
According to instructor Jonathon Galloway, the club is only is only one of two institutions in Texas that can offer a firearm instruction course in sign language. The classes will be small, around only 22 participants, but Galloway expects that they will be well-attended.
“Another couple in here said they’ve been waiting almost 10 years to find a class because they’ve been turned down by every other school they went to,” he said.
Nardis Gun Club offers both introductory carry classes, as well as basic, intermediate, and advanced handgun training courses. Courses that focus on rifle use, specifically the AR-15, are also available.
So the real question is, do deaf participants need hearing protection at all? Well, many deaf shooters still elect to wear hearing protection for many reasons, including combating vertigo.
