Recently I had a conversation with a CCW instructor who has been teaching for about two years. He was lamenting as to why the State of Missouri requires 8 class hours of training and he could only come up with about 5-6 hours of information. He said he starts his class at 8;00 am and usually ends around 3:00 pm.
I encourage CCW students to give me a call if they have a post class questions regardless of who they took their class from. Unfortunately I'm hearing many comments from students about an instructor showing them how to shoot but not talking about how to carry a concealed weapon or use of force decision making. Many CCW instructors shooting back ground consists simply of hunting experiences and hunter education classes. A hunting experience focus and a defensive firearm focus are two completely different universes.
Some CCW instructors make up for their lack of defensive shooting back ground by hiring a gun friendly (and knowledgeable) attorney or a police officer (with teaching experience) to come into class and talk about use of force decision making. I commend those instructors for doing that. Those instructors that simply do a Basic Pistol Course and simply show a video on use of force decision making are doing their students a disservice.
If a CCW instructor does not have a significant law enforcement back ground or actual military close quarters combat experience then that instructor needs to do the next best thing and avail him or her self of classes and writings that will make up for that lack of experience. When a CCW student leaves the class room at days end they should go away with three items from the instructor that will continue to allow the student to learn.
The first item is a list of credible web sites that give reliable information on use of force laws locally and on the national level as well as concealed carry techniques and common sense tactics. Secondly the student should leave the class with a bibliography of appropriate Decision Making/Use of Force books. Any publication by Cirrillo, Ayoob, and Kevin Jamison's Missouri Law and Self Defense are good books to start off with. Thirdly is the name and phone number of a criminal defense attorney the student can call with legal questions.
I would suggest a CCW instructor study these same authors and become very familiar with the concepts they are trying to pass along. If a CCW instructor is lacking in defensive shooting tactics then make the investment and attend any one of a number of national defensive tactic shooting schools. For a CCW instructor I would recommend making the financial investment and traveling to a program put on by Massad Ayoob, John Farnham, or the firearms instructor development work shop by Tom Givens in Tennessee.
For a technical shooting skills work shop any program by Gabe Suarez, Rob Pincus, George Harris (Sig Saur Academy) or Marty Hays (Seattle Fire Arms Academy) will benefit the instructor and subsequently all they teach. I've not attended these programs but they come highly recommended. Avoid the tactical/swat type shooting programs. Those skills are not relevant to the average CCW student. Avoid an instructor that shows up on his web site wearing a muscle shirt and their base ball cap on back wards.
Yes, a CCW instructor can make a few or a lot of dollars depending on how hard (and smart) they want to work. However, a CCW instructors first responsibility is imparting defensive and decision making skills to keep families safe. If a CCW instructor is not willing to put forth the effort to acquire the intellectual and technical skills to do that then I would kindly suggest they take up selling used cars or running a hedge fund for a living.
