I forgot about the friendlies: First-person look at the Bay County gun-safety class

PANAMA CITY − Local law enforcement officials recently offered a free opportunity for residents to become more proficient with firearms.

To help people learn more about guns and practice shooting, the Bay County Sheriff's Office held two gun safety classes on May 18. The first was a beginner class from 9 a.m. to noon, and the second was an intermediate class from 1 to 4 p.m. Both were only for handguns, and they were held at the Campflower Road Gun Range.

I was one of about a dozen people who attended the intermediate class.

Though my experience shooting pistols is fairly minimal, really having shot them only a couple handfuls of times, I felt that if I were going to participate in the class, I wanted to get the most out of the experience. So I opted for the "intermediate" class.

I own a Stoeger STR-9SC, a subcompact 9-mm pistol, that I got a few months ago after trading in a Kahr cm45 to C&G Sporting Goods in Panama City. I had not yet gotten a chance to shoot it, so I figured the BCSO event would be the perfect opportunity to break it in.

I brought with me to the class the Stoeger, three magazines ranging from 10- to 13-round capacities, about 150 rounds of Fiocchi Range Dynamics 115 grain 9-mm ammo and eye and ear protection.

When I arrived at the range, which was somewhat secluded down a windy dirt road, I was welcomed by former Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen, retired BCSO Maj. Greg Peel and Jacob Cook, assistant state attorney for the 14th Judicial Circuit.

Of the dozen people who showed up for the intermediate class, more than half were women. The class started with an approximately 30-minute presentation from Cook, who walked us through some legal aspects of gun ownership.

Knowing the law

BCSO offers these classes about every other month, and they were created in the wake of HB 643, which went into effect in July 2023 and eliminated licensing requirements to carry a concealed weapon or firearm in most public places across the state.

There are some key differences gun owners should know when carrying a firearm under HB 643 compared with a traditional concealed carry permit. One is that those with a concealed carry permit do not have a three-day wait period when purchasing a gun, while those who carry under HB 643 still do.

Another is that HB 643 does not grant reciprocity with other states like a concealed carry permit does, meaning gun owners who carry just because the bill says they can might not be able to legally travel with their concealed weapon into other states.

The class also highlighted that Florida is a stand-your-ground state, allowing legal gun owners to defend themselves with deadly force in any place they are legally allowed to be, as long as they have a reasonable fear of eminent death or great bodily harm.

Some basic practice shooting

During the class, participants took turns individually shooting on the range under the guidance of McKeithen or Peel. We first shot targets from 7 yards, and our goal was to maintain the tightest bullet pattern possible.

Partnered with McKeithen, I managed to land the majority of rounds center mass, with only a few drifting outside the portion of target he described as "the donut."

From there, we took turns shooting six metal knock-down targets from about 10 yards away. Missing a few shots, I managed to knock down all of the targets, and they were then reset with a pulley system for the next person.

Running through a home invasion

After everyone completed both drills, we navigated one by one through a "shoot house." The structure featured multiple rooms, some of which had targets displayed on the walls. Our mission was to sweep the house and eliminate all threats.

Before we entered, McKeithen set the scene. He said the situation was a home invasion, and our job was to shoot threats, not friendlies.

He then put us in the front seat of his patrol vehicle, sounded its sirens, slammed the door and started banging on the hood, screaming for help. This added a sense of urgency to the situation that I was not expecting.

I then hopped out of the vehicle, grabbed my pistol from Peel, and with McKeithen walking behind me, entered the house. Even though it was just a drill and I didn't feel particularly nervous, the noise of the sirens and McKeithen walking behind me yelling "help me, help me" did make it harder to focus.

And to be honest, in the heat of everything, I completely forgot about there being "friendlies." Around each corner where there was a target, I shot, only realizing after that I had mistakenly shot both a target of a police officer, and a target of an intruder holding only a drill.

Local event: Bay County Sheriff's Office offers its next free gun safety classes on May 18

Though someone with a drill might be threatening, McKeithen cautioned me that they might not pose enough of a threat to be able to justify before a jury using deadly force.

For me, the shoot house proved just how difficult it might be for anyone, especially an average person and journalist, to make sound decisions in a potentially life-or-death situation.

A free concealed carry permit course

After the gun safety class, those who were interested were offered a free concealed carry permit course overseen by Peel.

Four of us stayed, and the course covered a variety of topics, including how guns should always be pointed in a safe direction, how they should always be stored so they are not accessible to unauthorized people and how carelessness is one of the major causes of gun accidents.

Going into BCSO's gun safety class, I didn't really know what to expect, but I'm thankful for the experience. It showed me how gun ownership comes with the responsibility of knowing how to properly use a firearm, as well as knowing when it is legal to use one in self defense.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: First-person account: Bay County sheriff's gun-safety class