I was deeply saddened to learn of the death this past weekend of Bob Smith in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. We had been friends and colleagues for about forty years.
Bob was one of the best firearms/self-defense instructors I ever met. We often taught together in Idaho. His skillful teaching saved many lives and kept many good people out of trouble. Bob talked the talk and walked the walk, as a champion shooter and master instructor. He had a long and successful career with the Spokane Fire Department as a paramedic, where he saved more lives still. As an expert witness in shooting cases, he saved people’s futures and careers with his solid, compelling testimony that freed innocent people who were criminally charged or civilly sued.
Bob is widely considered the inspiration for NRA’s “Eddie Eagle” program, where he adapted the fire service’s motto for young people finding blasting caps to kids coming into contact with firearms unexpectedly: “Stop! Don’t touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!”
As a person, Bob was totally honest, fair, and caring – one of the best friends I’ve ever had in my life. He was deeply loved by his wife Melanie and his step-children…and by countless friends.
Bob’s legacy includes one of the finest shooting facilities in the country: the Fernan Rod and Gun Club on the outskirts of Coeur d’Alene. Working with the Idaho Department of Fish & Game and the US Forest Service he created FRGC (https://www.frgc.org/) and took it from some sandbanks with a tiny clubhouse and an outhouse to the fabulous training center it is today, used heavily by both law enforcement and armed citizens.
My heart goes out to his widow Melanie, to his loving stepdaughter Tambra Leslie who not only trained there regularly but survived a deadly encounter thanks to the training Bob provided, and to his other loving stepchildren and his legion of mourning friends.
Bob Smith will long be remembered for his many contributions to public safety and individual safety. May he rest in peace.
Bob and I were classmates in LFI III in 1997, Stressfire Instructor that same year at the Firearms Academy of Seattle, and LFI IV in 1998. It was during that class that Bob and a physician from Pennsylvania shot an LFI qualification course, and then injected themselves with epinephrine and shot the course again. Mas wrote this up in my favorite column of his, which was published in Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement shortly after this.
For all the reasons Mas details we have lost someone who made important contributions to our art.