Responsibly armed with Lee Weems and Randy Harris - 2/23/2019
Took this past weekend. Two very qualified individuals putting together a VERY well rounded, highly informative and wisely combined class. I believe this is a perfect class for individuals new to firearms, newly gaining a carry permit or looking at firearms for defensive use. Also for anyone and everyone who looks maturely and intelligently at the possibilities and realities of ever having to defend oneself, loved ones or the like with (and without) lethal force.
The day was broken into 2 parts - first Lee with a 3 hour classroom block on self defense/stand your ground discussion and the law/legal/LEO aspects. Then a lunch break. Then Randy gave a 1 hour classroom presentation of his material on recognizing and handling a threat being brought to you. This was a VERY condensed version of his classroom material from one of his flagship close range gun fighting courses. Then we headed out to the range for about 2 hours of responding to a threat with out pistols. We had around 20 some participants. Many I have seen and trained with before and also many new faces to me. Also, Shawn (? spelling, sorry) was in attendance and offering info/views from his profession, I'll leave it for him or others to expand on that any.
My first time meeting Lee Weems. His experience and training he has gone through is quite extensive and impressive. He is very good at presenting this material and breaking it down to layman's terms. I was learning and taking notes from the very beginning. There is a lot of "what if's" and "could you" in a lot of this talk but Lee is very good at keeping things on track and bringing it back to "must I" and looking at what the realities are. I was very thankful and pleased he keeps things focused - I've been around enough gun folks talking endlessly about some perfect scenario, yaddy yadda.
This was highly informative and gives more understanding of what I can expect and what the process would likely be like, god forbid, I ever have to defend myself. I would love to talk and learn more of the stuff Lee has seen and hear and learn more about some of the training he's been through. I hope to see him in the classroom or on the range in the future.
Having gone through Randy's class before, I thought I had most of his material covered and in my tool belt. This was a foolish mistake. I was fortunate to get a needed refresher on his materials on recognizing and reacting to a threat. His PESTS EAT FAST material is golden. I made myself memorize it all before we left the classroom. This is great stuff for anyone, armed or not - to have in their tool belt. Randy is very good at presenting material in a very down to earth way - you can see yourself being in the situations very easily, he makes you think - then equips you with very solid options of responding to advancing threat(s).
Getting out to the range, the monsoon parted and we had fairly dry weather. We worked dry for a bit - going over getting our pistols out, some basics - sights,grip,trigger. Then getting off the x and finally putting rounds on the threat. Then we split into groups and went live - first putting rounds into a 3" circle showing basic marksmanship - think everyone passed with flying colors. We then moved onto various phases of drawing, getting off the x and putting rounds on target and then assessing things after firing. This was a lot more than a basic defensive handgun class but very well suited to beginners or folks new to drawing/moving and shooting in a dynamic fashion. This was great reps for me - exploding off the X and putting rounds on a target. I found myself easily challenged balancing between speed and exploding off the x and focusing on getting better hits on target. I pushed both ways - found it is always better and worth it for me to see what I need to see to ensure good hits. I was pretty impressed with many of my partners around me - some very solid shooters. We worked these things a good bit and then went into a little discussion of cover/concealment and then worked at getting off the x and to cover/concealment and putting round on target - I thoroughly enjoyed getting reps in doing this as well.
This was a very well put together package of learning and training. I was very happy to have attended, to meet Mr. Weems and get to be in class and on the range with Randy (something I am fortunately able to do often). Also, to be in the company of some really good, like minded folks. If/when I have friends or family who get serious about any of these things I will be directing them to this class (and probably going again with them).