A few weeks ago we told you about a negligent discharge by an instructor during a Tactical Response pistol class at the Sacrememto Valley Shooting Center in California. Lots has gone on since then and I was remiss in keeping an eye out for a statement from James Yeager. I’d like to apologize for not getting this out sooner. But consider this, the incident reportedly took place on 18 February. My story was on March 3rd, after it had started to become a well known issue on the Internet. Yeager didn’t issue this response until 9 March, a full three weeks after the incident.
Below is the letter he sent to students of that class. It was posted to Facebook on 9 March, 2016.
Hello Alumni,
Well now that you have trained with us you are a part of our family…our big dysfunctional family. As I write this message I haven’t spoken with my crew that taught your Fighting Pistol class in Sacramento but I can still draw a conclusion. One of my instructors, Tim Morris, did something that was not in our curriculum, was not authorized, was not allowed, is not condoned and was very reckless, dangerous and negligent. We are all very fortunate no person was injured.
People from your class are already telling this story on-line and, of course, as it turns from an eyewitness account into gossip the story will get more and more outlandish. One day it will be so preposterous you yourself will have to interject that you were there, and that is not what happened, and you will be scoffed at. Such is life… I thank those of you who have not gone on-line and bashed us.
Well, I certainly cannot take that errant round back but I can deal with the consequences. I can tell you that Tim has never done anything like this before. It is still hard for me to believe he even did it! It is very unlike him but facts are facts. So I am left with what to do with Tim. I simply cannot do “nothing” but what do you do with a devoted employee that has worked very hard to be good at his job that does a hair brained thing like this? It is even tougher when this knucklehead is my friend. We are a close knit team here at Tactical Response.
So I am left with the aftermath to sort through and clean up. I have to decide to fire a guy on his “first offense” or if I should suspend him or make him do remedial training. There are many wrong answers and no 100% right one. Any decision like this weighs heavily on my heart.
I will end with this – I GIVE YOU MY WORD that nothing like this will ever happen again in one of my classes and I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE to every student in that class for his unprofessional display. It was WRONG and will NEVER happen again.
Respectfully,
James Yeager
Please visit www.facebook.com/JamesYeagerofTacticalResponse/posts/972134806196651 to read some of the student responses to Yeager’s letter.
Say what you will about the guy but he says what he thinks. But there’s one thing I’d like to address. Although Yeager didn’t name names when he spoke about those who had written stories about the incident he did mention that no one had contacted him. I fully admit that I didn’t. I knew about the incident not long after it happened when a disgruntled student made a post on the Tactical Response forum, Getoffthex. It was quickly deleted so I waited until more evidence was available about the incident. For me, the deleted post was a sign that Tactical Response wanted to sweep it under the rug and I saw no point in getting a statement from them. I’m glad to see James Yeager offer some transparency on the incident. Whether he wants to admit it or not, it does affect the training industry, despite what sounds like an impressive safety record.
I for one don’t want to see him fail. I want the same thing for any firearms instructor, but James Yeager influences a great deal of firearms owners. Instead, I’d like to see James Yeager be the best instructor he can be and to consider that influence when he acts, and to promote positive, responsible firearms ownership in all things.
