http://www.conwaydailysun.com/node/479046/WAKEFIELD — The Mark Allen Ranch Shooting School is named after a cowboy and stuntman, but the skills it teaches aren't for the movies.
The ranch, which opened this fall, was founded by Pam and Ken McGovern, of Effingham. The couple owns and operates another company called Global Security Professionals, a security consulting firm that does physical security assessments and training for U.S. and international government agencies and large private interests.
"About a year and a half ago, we decided to do one of the things we do for the government and bring it to the civilian market for our local community and that's shooting," said Ken McGovern. "We have taught shooting ever since we started Global Security, for federal agents and law enforcement. We said it should blend easy to the community and we identified a need."
The ranch is named after Ken McGovern's brother, Mark Allen. Allen was a "modern day cowboy" who ran with a reenactment group called the Salt River Gang. Tragically, Allen passed away in 2009 at the age of 45 due to Sudden Epileptic Death Syndrome.
On Dec. 17, eight people, including a Conway Daily Sun reporter, participated in the MAR's eight-hour basic shooting fundamentals course. Also participating were the McGoverns' son K.C. and his wife Angel.
The first half of the class began around 8 a.m. at the Wakefield Public Safety building, and the second half was at the Wakefield Police Department's shooting range. MAR also offers classes at Ossipee Town Hall and in Madison at the Carroll County Fish, Game and Shooting Club. A one-year membership to the club is included in the cost of MAR's eight-hour classes. MAR also has half-day classes.
Ken McGovern and Dino Scala led the classroom portion of the class. Ken McGovern's career in law enforcement includes experience with New Mexico State Police and a police force in Ireland.
Today, McGovern is a federal firearms instructor who also works part time for the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. Scala works as a part-time Carroll County Sheriff's Deputy and is certified firearms instructor for New Hampshire law enforcement.
Students' firearm experience ranged from an Army veteran who was only familiar with rifles to a woman who never shot a gun in her life. At the end of the day, all the students said they liked the class.
"This is the exact audience we are trying to reach," said Scala at the beginning of the class.
Among the students were Jane and Dennis Downey of Parsonsfield, Maine. Dennis just recently acquired a handgun but had owned other types of guns all his life. Jane never shot a gun before. Jane wanted to learn shooting so her husband didn't have sole responsibility for their self-defense.
"My feeling about guns before I came here was that guns kill people so I didn't want to have anything to do with it," said Jane Downey. "I had to get into the mindset of that (I'm) educated and well trained and they are safe."
On the range Jane Downey was pleased to hit bulls eyes with two different types of handguns.
Dennis Downey also had a positive experience at MAR.
"I was amazed how quickly how quickly they could take away some of the apprehension I had," said Downey of the instructors.
Claude and Nancylee Berman, of Effingham, both enjoyed the class. Both were more familiar with rifles than handguns.
Claude Berman said he only learned to shoot rifles when he was in the military 25 years ago. Claude Berman was thinking about purchasing his first handgun for home defense. After learning about handguns Claude Berman concluded a shotgun would be a better choice for him.
"One of the big benefits (of MAR) is it demystifies handguns," said Berman. "You see handguns in Hollywood and TV all the time. Really, they are not that scary. They have their uses. "
Nancylee Berman enjoys target shooting and used to do that with a .22 rifle as a child. She thought it was valuable that MAR had a female instructor Pam McGovern who understands what its like to shoot as a woman with small hands.
Students are slowly acclimated to real guns. At first, students are presented with yellow rubber model hand guns, which have locks where the trigger would be. The yellow guns were used to impress two basic points: Never point your gun at anything you don't intend to shoot, and keep your finger off the trigger until your ready to pull it. Movies and television shows don't portray proper techniques, said McGovern.
"The biggest problem is Hollywood," said McGovern.
The instructors played several video clips to illustrate their points on gun safety. In one of the most shocking clips, a federal drug enforcement agent accidentally shot himself in the leg while presenting a safety lesson to parents and students. Despite being injured, the unidentified agent uses his mistake as a teaching point.
"We want to develop muscle memory for you not to put your finger in the trigger guard," said McGovern. "Even law enforcement officers don't put their fingers on the trigger until we're ready to fire."
McGovern says anytime a gun goes off accidentally it's a "negligent discharge" because there's always someone at fault. McGovern admits to making two negligent discharges during his career and vows there won't be a third. Neither of his accidental discharges resulted in any injuries.
Later in the day, students start handling real weapons. Ammunition isn't allowed in the classroom. Before the class began. Scala and Ken McGovern carefully inspected the guns that students brought in to ensure they were unloaded.
Anytime the instructors handled a new gun, they would encourage the students to make sure it was empty of bullets. With semi automatics, the procedure was to lock back the slide (the top of the gun) and have the students use their fingers to make sure there's no magazine in the grip or bullets in barrel. With a revolver students inspected the barrel and the cylinder.
"You can't do it often enough," said McGovern.
After the classroom exercises were complete, the school took an hour break for lunch and most students went to the Poor People's Pub, which is within walking distance from the Wakefield public safety building.
After lunch, students drove to Wakefield Police's shooting outdoor shooting range. Paper and cardboard targets were stapled to wooden poles. The backstop consisted of a large mound.
At the range, students put the skills they learned in the classroom into practice. Such skills included aligning the a hand's front and rear sites and the "weaver" and "isosceles" shooting stances.
Three students were able to shoot at a time. Students on the firing line were given one-on-one attention from the instructors — the McGoverns and Scala. Each student was able to shoot several sets of five shots.
On a typical hand gun, the rear site looks like two little rectangles spaced apart. The front site should appear to be right between the rear sites and be the same height. For example, a shot will land above the target if the front site appears taller than the rear sites.
Instructors encouraged students to take their time when shooting. They told a reporter to slowly take up the"slack" (the distance the trigger moves before the gun fires) Then apply apply slow and steady pressure till the gun fires. They counseled students not to anticipate when the gun will fire because that will cause flinching and inaccuracy.
Despite a lack of experience, the women in the class were quite accurate.
Student Carlene Stewart had never fired anything other than a BB gun before taking the course. By the end of the class she was repeatedly making bull's-eyes.
"The classroom portion was very, very helpful," said Stewart. "He explained how to pull the trigger, to slowly pull it, that was a real key to keeping the gun steady."
On the range, students were able to choose from 18 handguns of all different shapes and sizes.
One of MAR's goals is to help prospective handgun buyers to pick a weapon that's appropriate for them. Instructors suggested that revolvers make a good for the first-time gun owner. That's because it's easier to know how many bullets are in a revolver's cylinder than a semi automatic handgun's magazine. Also, semi automatics have a cocking slide, which some people might find difficult to manipulate.
At one point, McGovern asked the reporter to lock back the slide on a semi automatic handgun in order to render it unable to fire. The reporter said he couldn't do it.
McGovern replied that gun was a cheap Saturday Night special, which didn't have a locking mechanism for the slide. McGovern told the class to avoid cheap $100 handguns because they often lack critical safety features. Another factor to consider is trigger pull — or the amount of force, measured in pounds, that it takes to pull the trigger. Typically, a semi automatic might have three or four pounds. A light trigger pull makes the gun easier to fire but can potentially make it less safe.
The instructors also said its important to match the size of the gun to your hands.The goal is to put as much "meat" of your hand on the gun as possible.
Your trigger finger should stay on the rail (the side) of the gun until you're ready to shoot. The webbing of your trigger hand should be snug against the "beaver tail" or the curve at the rear of the gun. The thumb on your trigger finger hand should rest on top of the other hand's thumb.
After the class was done with the shooting range, the students returned to the classroom to clean and oil the guns. The instructors stressed that it's critical to make sure the guns are unloaded before cleaning begins. Proper cleaning after the gun is fired can prevent misfires.
Students were also shown a wide range of holsters. Ken and Pam McGovern recommend picking the holster that's designed for the particular make and model of gun because universal holsters might not fit properly.
In addition to the the basic shooting fundamentals course, MAR also offers National Rifle Association basic pistol shooting. That class meets the requirements for obtaining concealed weapon permits in Maine and Florida. In this class students will shoot .22 .380 and 9 mm guns. MAR offers basic classes for women and seniors only.
Students may use their own handguns in the classes as long as they aren't usual models.
Before launching GSP, Ken McGovern lived in a number of places including the western United States and Ireland. Before coming to New Hampshire, Ken McGovern was working for Intel Corporation in Boston. The McGoverns moved to Effingham for its rural character.
"My wife and I love it up here," said McGovern. "She spent vacation here her whole life and we were married in Albany at the Darby Field Inn. We thought how cool it would be for us to live up here sometime."
For more information visit
http://www.markallenranch.com or call 539-4113.
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