Integrity or "When someone asks you to do a bad thing"

The other day my van needed to be towed to the shop due to a sudden electrical problem.  As the tow truck driver was hooking my vehicle he was reading the CCW class advertising I have on my back window.  We got into a discussion about concealed carry.  The driver advised he always carried a fire arm in his truck but he had little time to take a CCW course. He then asked if I would give him a "quickie" course for $200.  My reply to him was to define a "quickie" course.  His response: "I'll give you $200. cash right now if you will sign off a  CCW course completion certificate for me".

My response was a simple no I can not do that.  It is illegal and you will be missing out on some very important information, at the minimum; use of force decision making skills and a basic understanding of our state's defensive force laws.  The driver rolled his eyes, completed his work, and we were off to the garage.  My fear is the tow truck driver may eventually find a trainer who will simply sign him off in exchange for cash.

This brief conversation got me to thinking about how important integrity is; especially in the world of defensive fire arms.   If you are a trainer you have a huge responsibility to pass along the most complete and current information you can to those who are trusting you to pass along life saving skills to them and their families.

That means reading the books written by Ayoob, Cirrillo,or Grossman; watching the tactical and skills DVD's produced by Suarez, attending shooting clinics at Front Sight, Thunder Ranch, and others; hone your skills by attending a IPSC or IDPA shoot.  And, at the end of each book, DVD, or program incorporating the fire arms skills you learned into your CCW lesson plan.

If a trainer does a "short" course or simply teaches just basic pistol skills the CCW student is not getting the full measure they think they have paid for.  Any one can learn to shoot a fire arm.  It takes some work to instill the decision making skills to use a fire arm defensively.

The student who completes a CCW class also has the same responsibility to read, view, and participate in hands on learning about the defensive use of fire arms.  Sources of after class training and information should be something the student (hopefully) obtained through a credible CCW trainer.

We expect integrity from those we interact with; from our elected officials all the way to the grocery store clerk.  As trainers and CCW permit holders we need to mirror the integrity we expect to receive from others.