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View Full Version : AAR: NRA LEO Handgun/Shotgun Instructor 7/8-7/13 2013



rsa-otc
07-17-2013, 06:22 AM
Last week I attended my 4th NRA LEO instructor course. First let me give you a little history both about NRA Law Enforcement Division and Personal.

The NRA started their Law Enforcement Division back in the 1960's and it has had several names since then such as "Law Enforcement Activities Division" (LEAD). They have instructed over 50,000 individuals with 12,000 still actively certified. A little personal history, my father attended the first Police Firearms Instructor course the NRA put on. I followed in his footsteps and attended my first course in 1979 and have maintained my certification since then.

The Law Enforcement Division offers the following week long Instructor level courses:
Handgun/Shotgun
Handgun
Patrol Rifle
Precision Rifle
Select-Fire
Tactical Shooting
Tactical Shotgun

2013's Tuition for each school is $595 with the host range may requiring a separate range fee.
If your agency hosts a course, the NRA for a class of 24 provides 2 free slots to the agency for that class.

Further information on these courses, schedules and requirements can be found at: http://www.nrahq.org/law

As the title says I attended the Handgun/Shotgun Class which was held at the Manchester, NJ PD facilities.
We had 24 students.

Each day was broken up into approximately 4 hours of classroom time and 4 hours of range time, with additional range time occurring Wednesday night for our Reduced Light portion.

Classroom topics covered were:
Handgun Marksmanship
Handgun Handling
Coaching
Legal Outline
Safety & Range Organization
Cover & Concealment
Methods of Instruction
Reduced Light
Lesson Plans
Off-Duty Safety
Practical Range Training
Shotgun Handling
Shotgun Marksmanship
Being an instructors class all topics were covered from the point of view of an instructor.

Range Time:
We were broken up into 2 man shooter/coach(instructor) teams being encouraged to have a different partner each day. The idea being that we would practice teaching the skills covered in class as an instructor and then switch having your partner practice those skills as well. All skills were practiced Dominate & Non-dominate sides.

Required Load out was:
900 Rounds Handgun
100 Birdshot
50 Rounds Slug
20 Rounds Buckshot

I finished with very little left of any of my initial ammo.

This is not a give me course. You are required to qualify with both the handgun and shotgun with a 100% score. You are allowed up to 3 tries at the course and if you don't make it you can schedule an additional attempt at another course. You also must pass a 50 question written test with a score of 90% or better. Both instructors remarked that ours was one of the very few classes that everyone passed all phases of the course. In one of my previous courses there was one student who constantly finger fondled the trigger and was told early on that he would not be receiving a course completion certificate.

Back in the day an instructor certification was valid for life. In the early 2000's the NRA changed that to your cert expiring every three years. The requirement for recertification is that you have 24 hours of instructor level continuing education during those 3 years. They will accept other schools, ILEFIA Master Instructor Program, give partial credit for armorer's schools, hours for attending the NRA Police National Championships. Quite frankly one of the more economical options is just to take the NRA course over again.

In conclusion I find that the NRA LEO instructor courses are very good beginning instructor training and would highly recommend them to any Public or Private LEO Agency wishing to have their own instructors. At $595 for 5 days of training you can't beat the cost, especially if the training is local to you. Something that is important with training dollars being in short supply.

Jay Cunningham
07-17-2013, 06:47 AM
I don't think I've ever seen an AAR on an NRA class... pretty cool.

Cheap Shot
07-17-2013, 12:03 PM
I don't think I've ever seen an AAR on an NRA class... pretty cool.

Agreed, I wish people would do more.

Thanks rsa-otc

jlw
07-17-2013, 05:48 PM
I've been waiting for their Patrol Rifle Instructor and Tactical Shooting Instructor courses to be held close by. Dang if one close enough for me to drive to from home each day didn't appear a day or so after I made a commitment to something else.

TGS
07-17-2013, 07:16 PM
Thanks for posting buddy.

What's the instructor:student ratio like, and do you cycle through instructors or have the same however many throughout the week?

rsa-otc
07-17-2013, 07:38 PM
Thanks for posting buddy.

What's the instructor:student ratio like, and do you cycle through instructors or have the same however many throughout the week?

There are normally 2 course instructors from NRA Headquarters. Usually retired LEOs that spent a good portion of their careers assigned to their department's academy. Both of this week's instructors were long time SWAT officers and trainers.

The students are paired up in shooter/coach pairs to practice our instructor skills on each other. We were encouraged to switch partners each day. So depending on how you would look at it the ratio could be 12 to 1 or 1 to 1. Remember while we put plenty of rounds down range this was an instructor development school not a shooting skills school.

rsa-otc
07-17-2013, 08:02 PM
I've been waiting for their Patrol Rifle Instructor and Tactical Shooting Instructor courses to be held close by. Dang if one close enough for me to drive to from home each day didn't appear a day or so after I made a commitment to something else.

Quite frankly those were 2 of my first choices this time around since I had already went through this course previously. I would have little use for select fire or precision rifle. Handgun and Tactical Shotgun were not conveniently located. Both of those courses require an AR style rifle. In the past I haven't had much interest in black rifles. Recently I have developed said interest. Unfortunately With NJ considering more firearms laws I held off since past experience shows NJ doesn't grandfather anything. Banned is banned.

mark7
07-18-2013, 04:09 AM
I've been waiting for their Patrol Rifle Instructor and Tactical Shooting Instructor courses to be held close by. Dang if one close enough for me to drive to from home each day didn't appear a day or so after I made a commitment to something else.

FWIW, training is regional, but you might want to talk to someone who attended the Patrol Rifle Instructor course near you. When I took it last year in eastern PA, the course syllabus was geared towards taking a new in the box Colt 6920 and using it for the course. There was a lack of discussion on current optics, carry options, and LE focused deployment.

The NTOA Patrol Rifle Instructor program, IMHO, outshines the NRA's offering.

ToddG
07-18-2013, 07:49 AM
About ten years ago, I took the Tactical Pistol Instructor Development class (what has now turned into Tactical Shooting Instructor which includes carbine as well). It was a very good class and, as Scott said, far more focused on actual instructor development than shooter development. Even though the class was intended for instructors who'd already taken the NRA Law Enforcement pistol/shotgun or pistol/carbine class it still covered a wide variety of skills and exercises intended to make the student think about teaching.

The entire NRA LEAD course curriculum got a pretty significant overhaul or two since then so I cannot speak directly to the current offering.

ST911
07-18-2013, 11:04 AM
The NRA LE courses aren't tip of the spear and new TTPs are slow to enter, but it is fundamentally sound basic curriculum, nationally standardized and commonly recognized, legally defensible, requiring continuing education, and an excellent baseline. These courses also tend to be true instructor methods courses, unlike many other that are simply shooting courses thinly masked as instructor courses to keep seats full.

OP- Who were your instructors?

rsa-otc
07-18-2013, 11:33 AM
OP- Who were your instructors?

This Course:
Tom Powell & Tim Lynch

Last time was:
Mark Peters & Walt Dunkling