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.
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I couldn't agree more on your perspective on integrity in teaching a ccw course and NOT signing off on a certificate for cash.
ReplyDeleteI was a little disturbed by the comment on your website "When shopping for a CCW Instructor ask if they have significant law enforcement experience. If not, you are simply purchasing an expensive Basic Pistol class."
I am a NRA Certified Instructor but I have no law enforcement experience. I recently talked with my supervisor who took a ccw course from a local police officer and I asked him about the course and range time. He said it was so-so and they only shot 10 rounds during what is supposed to be 2 hours of range time.
Thanks for the comment Chris. First my apologies for taking so long to get a response back to you. For some reason your post landed in the spam folder and I check that infrequently.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't mention what state your supervisor lives in. If he took a CCW qualification course for Missouri, Kansas, or Nebraska the CCW course was not legal with only a 10 round course of fire. If he lives in Iowa, Utah, or North Dakota, which do not require a CCW course of fire, then he needs to chat with the instructor about adding more depth and value to the class.
Which brings me to your second point. In a perfect world a fire arms course that teaches others to shoot another person in self defense (CCW)should be conducted by someone who has significant training in defensive force law, defensive weapons handling, actual and significant experience as to pointing a gun at someone, and possibly being involved in an actual deadly force shooting.
However we live in a real world and most CCW trainers (most of which are NRA Instructors) don't have the LEO or military close quarters combat experience that would add a significant depth of experience to a CCW class. So, what does a CCW trainer do about that?
The next best thing, which is attending as many credible advanced and basic defensive fire arms courses as you can afford and watching other trainers video's on the topic of using defensive force. In an earlier post on this site I also recommended a list of books that should, as a minimum, be passed along to every CCW applicant as required reading. Before an instructor starts teaching they should read these same books and be very familiar with the information found there.
Locally, here in the Kansas City area, Kevin Jamison's Use of Force legal video gives a good understanding of the defensive force laws. Many CCW instructors utilize Kevin's video in their classes and that's good thing; but videos are one way. A video cannot respond to a students question. If a student has a question can the instructor provide a reasonable answer or recommend another source for the information desired? That's what I'm talking about when I state "depth of experience" in a CCW course. Also locally, Bill Regina, a recently retired LEO does an excellent series of advanced defensive force firearms skills classes that would benefit any CCW trainer.
Since you were motivated to make a comment to this post I imagine you are the type of instructor who strives to give their CCW students the very best info they can. I teach because I want honest, law abiding, folks to have the ability to defend themselves and their families. I sense you do to.
Towards that end if I can support you in your CCW training efforts I will be happy to do that. That's the reason I established this blog and a private gun range that is set up and designated for trainers only. I don't know what you don't know.
Have a CCW training question? Send me an email or give me a call via www.SafeShoot.com If you are local let's meet somewhere and I'll even buy the coffee. Best Wishes to you!