The journey of becoming a firearms instructor. Advice requested.

[98z28]

It’s time for me to get serious about being a firearms instructor. There is an incredible amount of knowledge and experience on this board. I would like to humbly solicit advice from those of you who've been instructors for a while and those of you who've been to a variety of firearms-related courses.

I'm in a position where I can work (almost) part time and fund a reasonably intense training schedule for the next three years. I would like spend that time attending classes and training. The goal is to begin the journey of becoming a well-educated firearms instructor with an emphasis in handgun applications for anyone who might use a handgun in self-defense.

With that in mind, please consider offering feedback on one or more of the following questions.

1. What classes have you attended that were the most beneficial for building raw shooting skill?
   
   
2. What classes have you attended that were the most beneficial for building self-defense knowledge?
   
   
3. For the instructors: What classes have you attended or what experiences were the most beneficial to your development as an instructor?
   
   
4. Suppose you had the next three years to prepare for teaching handgun courses to LEOs and other responsible citizens. Skill levels will vary from novice to experienced SWAT guys coming in for a refresher or new perspective. What classes would you attend and what activities would you engage in to prepare yourself? Assume you could go to any three classes per year for the next three years.
   
   
5. If you could design your ideal handgun course, or series of course, what topics would it (they) cover? If it already exists, what is it?*

*#5 is highly personal. Everyone is at a different skill level with different needs, resources, and goals. I’m curious if any themes emerge from the varied answers. If you have a specific request for coverage, please consider offering some context for why you think it is important.

I have a notebook full of ideas, but I don’t want to bias the discussion by offering what I’m already thinking. I’d love to hear what you all have to say first.

Here is a bit of background to give the above questions some context:

I was a police officer with a busy ~300-sworn department in Alabama from 2004 to 2007. I worked patrol for the first two years. In my last year with the department I applied for and was selected to serve as a "Community Service Officer" with a unit that worked public housing. At the time, the unit was partnered with the Crime Suppression Unit because there had been a rash of homicides in public housing. It was a proactive unit not subject to calls. We went out every day looking for dope, guns, and felony warrants. It was hard work, but it was a ton of fun. In 2007 I applied for and was admitted to a Finance Ph.D. program. Law enforcement was supposed to be a temporary job while my wife finished grad school. It ended up being so much fun that I didn't want to leave. I resigned from the above department to enter the full-time Ph.D program, but did not completely leave law enforcement. I worked part-time for two smaller departments and eventually full-time again with one of the departments when my Ph.D. course work was finished (I still had to finish a dissertation, which happened while working nights for one of the smaller departments). Both were three-man departments serving rural towns in Alabama.

The transition was eye-opening. The larger department I first worked with believed strongly in training and equipping its officers. They sent instructors and officers to some of the best schools in the country for training on firearms, active shooter scenarios, driving, dealing with emotionally disturbed individuals, etc. Officers who went to these schools brought the information back to the rest of us through monthly in-house training sessions. In contrast, the smaller departments did not have training budgets. Officers were not given further training after the academy and were not encouraged to pursue any. Officers even supplied their own ammunition for annual firearms qualification. That's short sighted and dangerous for both the officers and the communities they serve.

After discussing the situation with the training staff at my former PD, they graciously agreed to let officers from the smaller departments attend monthly in-house training at no cost. The only sessions we had trouble joining were on firearms. Our officers needed to supply their own ammo and targets, which was costly to the officers who were grossly underpaid. The larger PD range facility was also stretched thin accommodating its own officers. They ran three shifts throughout the day to get all officers on the range. We needed our own firearms program. So, I put myself through the two-week FBI police firearms instructor school in 2009 and started a firearms training program for the smaller departments. I was able to convince the towns to supply each officer with 200 rounds of practice ammo each year. Not nearly enough, but better than nothing. A local land owner agreed to let me setup an ad hoc range facility, so I built target stands and started regular training sessions for our officers. Training included a lot of dry-fire drills officers could practice at no cost, role-player scenarios with airsoft guns, and live fire beyond simple qualification (moving to and shooting from cover, shooting with an elevated heart rate, shooting from unconventional positions, etc.). It was hugely rewarding - intoxicating even - to see our officers become safer and more proficient. That experience made me want to open a training facility that offered quality equipment and training to individuals at a reasonable cost - especially law enforcement officers who might not have access to such resources.

I finished the Ph.D. program, left law enforcement, and accepted a full time faculty position in 2011. The time constraints associated with raising three young kids, finishing a dissertation, and getting established as a faculty member put the dream of opening a training facility on the back burner. Just to keep my toes in the water, I have maintained state certification to teach “enhance” permit classes in Mississippi. I have helped teach a few classes, but the classes are very basic (“Bullets come out this end. Don’t point it at anything you don’t want to destroy”) and I haven't done many.

All of my firearms training has been law-enforcement specific and it is woefully out of date. The last classes I attended include a two-day FBI firearms instructor refresher class in 2012 and a basic rifle manipulation class last year. I now have the time and financial resources to start training nearly full time. It’s time to get to work.

Thank you in advance for your input.

[HCM]

I'll post more later but my impression is you are already a skilled shooter. Teaching is it's own skill set.

I recommend you start by attending the FLETC Law Enforcement Instructor Training Program (LEITP). It should be available to you via the Office of state and Local programs.

Many FI schools try and shoehorn in a day or two of adult learning or "how to teach" but this is a 10 days of it. The cool thing about doing this first is it will help you see the subsequent firearms classes you take in a new light and help you identify more of what you do, or do not want to emulate.

Program Curriculum/Syllabus

• Principles of Adult Learning
• Training Tools
• Presentation Skills
• Student-Centered Learning
• Instructional Systems Design for Law Enforcement
• Testing and Assessment
• Performance Objectives Development
• Instructional Methodologies
• Introduction to Presentation Graphics
• Lesson Plan Development
• Ethical Issues in Law Enforcement Training
• Evaluating Laboratories and Practical Exercises
• Classroom Management Issues

https://www.fletc.gov/training-progr...aining-program

[Mr Pink]

My feedback might be difficult to compare, since the majority of my training started with the military. We did our own tactical training but also spent a lot of time training with top level competitive shooters. That being said, I was also able to attend about 30 shooting courses.

1. What classes have you attended that were the most beneficial for building raw shooting skill?

-Mid-South Institute
-Roger’s Shooting School
-Universal Shooting Academy (Frank Garcia)

2. What classes have you attended that were the most beneficial for building self-defense knowledge?

-I would recommend tactical classes from TigerSwan, Northern Red or GreenOps

3. For the instructors: What classes have you attended or what experiences were the most beneficial to your development as an instructor?

-NRA Law Enforcement Tactical Shooting Instructor Development School
-Universal Shooting Academy Pistol Instructor Course

4. Suppose you had the next three years to prepare for teaching handgun courses to LEOs and other responsible citizens. Skill levels will vary from novice to experienced SWAT guys coming in for a refresher or new perspective. What classes would you attend and what activities would you engage in to prepare yourself? Assume you could go to any three classes per year for the next three years.

Work on your individual skills and assist other instructors. Actual teaching is where you'll learn the most as an instructor.
-Shoot competitions (USPSA/IDPA)
-Take classes from Top Level USPSA/IDPA instructors
-Attend basic level courses and take notes on what works. I recently attended the NRA Outside the Home Protection course and was really impressed with the way they taught the basics of drawing/presenting the pistol. Larry Vickers has some really great drills in his BASIC and Level-1 pistol course.
-If you have a range try to host as many courses from different instructors as you can (Langdon Tactical, Viking Tactics, TigerSwan, Vickers Tactical, etc…). I take notes in every class I attend. Later I highlight the top things I can use later in the courses I teach.

A couple of Instructor courses I have not attended but have heard great things about:
Sig Sauer Academy
Practical Shooting Academy
RangeMaster (I'm attending this weekend)

[Chuck Haggard]

The Rangemaster Instructor and Advanced Instructor courses are solid.

[okie john]

The goal is to begin the journey of becoming a well-educated firearms instructor with an emphasis in handgun applications for anyone who might use a handgun in self-defense.

Before any of this can work, it has to succeed as a business. The goal you have listed here is really broad in terms of your target audience(s), so I’d break that down a lot farther, then prioritize any preparatory work, research, and study accordingly.

In my limited experience helping to run training at a commercial range, you’ll find that it’s hard to get repeat business because most folks think they’re good to go after any training, so they never come back. Second-time students are rare, and third-timers even more so. On the other hand, a three-timer will probably become an eight-timer eventually.

I’d look for a hole in the market and train to fill that. That’s because so many students choose classes not for the curriculum, but for the teacher. They’re looking for one credential that matters to them—a badge, service in an elite unit, USPSA GM, etc. That drives their purchase decision, and nothing else will sway them except a “better” version of that credential. For example, there are tons of bona fide face-shooters coming out of the desert wars these days, and it will be very hard to compete with them for the type of students who seek that kind of teacher.

So what kind of student will seek out an instructor with your qualifications, and what kind of training to you need to serve that market?

What classes have you attended that were the most beneficial for building raw shooting skill?

Larry Vickers Advanced Pistol Marksmanship

For the instructors: What classes have you attended or what experiences were the most beneficial to your development as an instructor?

Not currently an instructor, but train with Pat McNamara to learn his approach to performance-based training versus outcome-based training. It’s one thing to read about it, it’s something else entirely to get it from him.

Suppose you had the next three years to prepare for teaching handgun courses to LEOs and other responsible citizens. Skill levels will vary from novice to experienced SWAT guys coming in for a refresher or new perspective. What classes would you attend and what activities would you engage in to prepare yourself? Assume you could go to any three classes per year for the next three years.

Read my advice about the market, then seek out celebrity instructors whose name will look good on your resume. Start with the old ones who are about to retire: Ken Hackathorn, etc. It’s a crass move, but the instruction is rock-solid and having trained with them gives you cred that's money in the bank.

If you could design your ideal handgun course, or series of course, what topics would it (they) cover? If it already exists, what is it?

Due to personal circumstances, I can only train for defensive handgun stuff. I’d love to spend some quality time with a Colt 6920 someday but that’s just not in the cards right now. I’m pretty happy with having trained with Hackathorn, LAV, and Mac, so I think that a very good (though not necessarily ideal) course would be two days with Hackathorn, then a two-day TAPS pistol class with Pat McNamara, then a two-day advanced handgun marksmanship course with Larry Vickers. From there I’d move into ECQC with SouthNarc, blade work, and stuff like that.


Okie John

[gkieser92]

Making it work as a business first is the key. A friend and I looked into starting a training business a few years ago. The real kicker was finding a location to conduct the live fire. He owned land but building a suitable range was exorbitant. Only one or two local ranges would host classes, but with outrageous fees and range rules that precluded any serious training. We finally scrapped the idea due solely to the lack of range space. I would work out the logistics first.

[YVK]

Wanted to post about the same as Okie John, but GJM interrupted. I would phrase it slightly differently because I don't know if market has specific holes to fill, but the idea is close: what would you use to sell yourself as a firearms instructor? This to me defines what your target audience is. What do you need to do to achieve that selling point? Do you think that taking a bunch of classes and building up a resume is enough for that? I don't know the answer but if I were to consider this career, I wouldn't move forward without having a firm grasp on this.

[HCM]

Not currently an instructor, but train with Pat McNamara to learn his approach to performance-based training versus outcome-based training. It’s one thing to read about it, it’s something else entirely to get it from him.

Bruce Gray and Operation Specific Training also use a performance / process based training philosophy.

Their Practical Fundamentals is an excellent class and was a great asset to my raw shooting ability.

[voodoo_man]

Just want to throw in the concept of finding a your own style of instruction and having a formula to that end

[David S.]

What everyone else said.

The Rangemaster Instructor courses seem obvious. They're developing an apprenticeship program that might be worth considering.

If you intend to spin this as a business, please, please, please develop and maintain a website and some sort of social media presence. Spend a several hundred bucks to get someone to develop a site that you can maintain. A blog, vlog, podcast, FB, Instagram, something. Blog about your training, products, influences and ideas. As a high-information consumer, I want some idea of what and how you think before I drop time and money on your class. It is one of my biggest pet peeves about this industry is that training quality seems inversely proportional to social media quality.