I know how it is taught with a shotgun to shoot with both eyes open. I can tell you, when I shoulder my gun properly and close my dominant eye, I don’t miss. If I don’t do BOTH of those things, I miss. My sight picture with both eyes open - even when pointing and not aiming - is a mess and it is not correct.
You are not wrong, snow. You are actually completely right. The “both eyes open” technique is absolutely the correct way to shoot a shotgun and the correct way to teach someone to shoot a shotgun but it should be taught in conjunction with eye dominance so your dominant eye is on the barrel or you may be opening them up to a world of problems. I’m sure those problems can be overcome eventually with eye patches and whatnot but it probably isn’t easy for some folks. When that’s not the case - as in my case -you have to figure out what works. For me, it is an absolute must to close my right eye. I could cuss my dad out for not teaching me correctly but he didn’t know any better.
The good shooting instructors I’ve met won’t even let a kid pick up a shotgun until eye dominance has been determined. Once that is figured out, you WILL be learning to shoot with that hand as well so they can actually teach you correctly to point with both eyes open instead of aiming with one eye shut like me.
How many of you guys know someone who absolutely can’t hit the broadside of a barn with a shotgun? I do. Almost without fail I have found out those guys are shooting with their non-dominant eye and have developed every other bad habit known to man because of it as they struggle to figure out how to shoot. That includes not swinging through the shot and aiming instead of pointing, which I agree is not correct. I also know guys who are shitty shots for other reasons that I’ve nothing to do with eye dominance.
Just to be clear, I’m not arguing your point, snow. I’m actually reinforcing it. The way I shoot now is just a bad habit I picked up as I figured out how to compensate for being taught to shoot ever since I was a kid with my non-dominant eye. It just so happens I have perfected that bad habit after many, many shots and I can’t argue with imperfect perfection at this stage of the game.