Comments on: Beyond the Mandatory: Becoming a True Defensive Shooting Instructor

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 17:25:03 +0000

Good Article, I see so many “Instructors” who become certified and teach people, in the same methodology. It is a shame that so few stop at the point of certification. To me it is a lifestyle choice, and one that I take with grave responsibility as the material I teach, could make the difference between someone’s life/death and/or where they spend the next 20 years. Becoming “certified” to instruct others, is just the door, of education that one should be learning and perfecting each time. My experience is that each student is unique, as well as, each class. I have had the pleasure of being able to mentor a few certified instructors, and they find that it does take time and self interest to be a truly good instructor.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 06:23:39 +0000

its something i would love to do

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 17:05:49 +0000

Spot on. Great article.

In NM, the state requirement is a 15-hour course – more than enough time to cover required topics plus other important concepts and still have lots of range time. My class runs 16-18 hours. While many of my peers do an excellent job, I still see instructors spending little of this large time block on the range giving students practical handgun skills practice and too much time in the classroom on filler material.

By: Rich Yount

Rich Yount — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 07:42:52 +0000

As a Certified Pistol Instructor we teach our students the importance of not only the Legal Requirments of ownership but also the physical aspects of the Firearm Handling. Body Carry concealed and open. Defense inside the home versus outside and the vast differences between those situations. Just the Basics doesn’t cut it anymore. This article is spot on and drives the importance of proficiency, continued training and variations, & constant drill to increase skill mindset. This prepares you for that “critical incident” should it arise.

By: TAC01

TAC01 — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:40:09 +0000

As a Texas CHL Instructor I agree completely with this article. I spend so much time teaching new gun owners the basics and I stress constantly doing some sort of “continuation training.” Spot on!

By: Kyle Kutach

Kyle Kutach — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:40:09 +0000

Excellent article, and I echo many of your sentiments, as I am also a Texas CHL instructor. I try to maximize the impact and benefit of instruction to my CHL students within the context of the course by presenting extra content and detail on shooting fundamentals, however it is important to remember that the CHL class is not a fundamental marksmanship or weapons handling course – it is primarily a legal course, designed to fulfill the state requirements as there is time for little else. I have found the vast majority of my CHL students have no interest in additional training – they are there to ‘check the boxes’, do what they need to do to get their CHL and move on. Not surprisingly, most of them are not “gun folks” – many have purchased their first handgun only weeks or even days before the class. I encourage them to seek extra training, whether it’s from our school or someone else’s, but I estimate that less than 10% ever do so.

By: hipshootchl

hipshootchl — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:40:09 +0000

I understand that the primary purpose of the course is to teach the state law and I agree with your sentiment that a lot of non- “gun people” aren’t interested in learning new things. However, a part of the curriculum is “handgun use” and that to me means more than proficiency qualification. I have found that many of my students after being intrigued by what are new techniques and mindsets to them that I present on the range are at least interested in visiting sites like this and learning how to train on their own. I follow up and facilitate this with tips and techniques on my social media page and it has generated enough interest to cause me to pursue more instructor development to be able to offer some follow on training myself in the future. Think about why you train. Someone somewhere or of some website or in some book or class sparked your interest. I try to do that with my students, as you apparently do as well. This probably has better results than you know and will continue to get better as you evolve as an instructor. Thanks for the feedback and thank you for doing more than 90% of CHL instructors are willing to.

By: Instructor

Instructor — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:40:09 +0000

I completely agree with Aaron’s observations and assertions. I cannot figure out why instructors who have been trained and represent the organizations that trained them. Not to mention, they represent the greater community of gun owners across the Nation.
I used to think that some of the instructors in my locale were just “cash grabbers” who wanted to pump as many student through as possible in order to make money, and I couldn’t figure out why they wouldn’t offer more and charge accordingly in order to satisfy their need for money.
I have sine realized that it’s not a matter of money and trying to pump the students through, but the fact that they just haven’t taken the time to advance their education and training and therefore are not able to teach any more to their students.
We have an 8 hour minimum in Michigan and we have many instructors who are not able to fill that time with pertinent information. Of that 8 hour minimum, we have a 3 hour firing range requirement. These instructors who are not able to fulfill the 8 hour requirement are also spending as little as a half of an hour on the range with their students.
These inadequacies are disturbing, in and of themselves. This is one extreme. Less extreme, are those instructors who fulfill the time requirements, but do not focus on the progress of their students.
At West Michigan Firearms Education, we pride ourselves on the success of our students and we spend 11 hours for this same course. Four of those eleven are on the firing range and we find ourselves looking at spending even more range time than that.
I’ll step off my soap box now and just say that I find it a little frustrating that we have instructors who feel it is OK to certify folks for their CPL training with less than basic understandings of what it means to use a firearm in their personal protection plan.
All of that aside, Aaron hit the nail on the head with this article, nice job!