Reporter's notebook: Gun assembly desired

CLOVIS — You can use a car without really knowing anything of its mechanics, but sometimes it helps. The same goes for a firearm, and after recent talk of gun control a local instructor is looking to revive “Shooters,” an AR-15 Build Class for small groups.

Greg Weigl, a firearms instructor for over 40 years, said he put on the class three times in 2015 and four times in 2016, but since then hadn’t seen the need to put it on again. That is, until some developments of the past month.

“This goes in political cycles, period. That’s why. We are now in the discussion on gun restrictions, on firearms laws,” he told The News. “I haven’t done (a build class) in two years just because nobody was afraid of losing their Second Amendment rights once Trump was elected.”

But as those fears are enhanced, more people buy weapons, and as more people buy weapons the importance of seeing them properly trained with them also rises, Weigl said.

That’s consistent with some observations nationally: NPR reported on Tuesday that many gun shops carried excess inventory post-election due to the so-called “Trump Slump,” while The New York Times reported Thursday that the maker of Smith & Wesson guns noted “increased foot traffic and sales after the (Feb. 14 Parkland) Florida high school shooting.”

For Weigl, the recent surge of interest in the weaponry recalled to him the reason he started the assembly class in the first place.

“I put on the class simply because I was getting so many questions,” he said. “I got to thinking, as many AR15s as are being bought out there, these people need to know something about them ... Most owners don’t even know how to disassemble one to clean it.”

Weigl prefers 10 people for class and has heard so far from a few. The course normally takes about four hours, but “you can actually assemble one in about 20 minutes if you know what you’re doing.”

— Compiled by Staff Writer David Grieder