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Thread: Gabe White Pistol Shooting Solutions - Tampa, FL Apr 13-14, 2019

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    Site Supporter Kanye Wyoming's Avatar
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    Gabe White Pistol Shooting Solutions - Tampa, FL Apr 13-14, 2019


    Much has been written about Gabe White’s classes, all glowing and all true, by top level shooters and by several of those in the training pantheon, such as Tom Givens and Mas Ayoob. This is from the perspective of an average Joe newbie enthusiast shooter who hasn’t seen and done everything in the firearms training realm.

    Quick background on my shooting/training history for context. I first picked up a pistol a little over 3 years ago, during the NRA Basic Pistol Course. I signed up for it not long after the Bataclan/kosher supermarket attacks in Paris, but with no real expectation of ever actually buying a gun; I mostly thought it would be good information to have, and would also add a practical element to my academic/historical/theoretical understanding of and enthusiasm for the Second Amendment.

    Long story short, at the range session I was fully prepared to be rocketed against the back wall by the recoil (not that I knew that word back then), but it turned out to be a hell of a lot of fun. The instructor assigned to me was excellent, and I took about 10 lessons with him over the next few months. I applied for my carry permit, joined the gun club that’s 2 minutes from my house, took the USCCA concealed carry course, and bought my first pistol. The first “real” class I took was an excellent 2-day Pat Goodale course in October 2016 after which I began to feel comfortable with the fundamentals. I then took an amazing and eye-opening 3-day Tom Givens course in May 2017 and another 2-day course with Tom in July 2018. I could literally listen to Tom talk all day long every day, and because of him I went from to beginning to feel comfortable with the fundamentals, to feeling comfortable and even confident with the fundamentals, and to learning how to train both mentally and physically to become even more confident and competent. (Everyone has voices of wisdom and guidance they hear in their head from the influential people in their life. In my case the most powerful such voice is that of my late grandfather; ever since that first course with Tom, his voice is heard with great regularity, and even my wife, who indulges but doesn’t share my new obsession, enjoyed the podcast in which Tom was interviewed by John Johnston, which I insisted she listen to with me in the car one day.)

    The course this past weekend was the second course I’ve taken with Gabe. The first was in September 2018, written about by Mas Ayoob here - https://gunsmagazine.com/handguns/ga...ing-solutions/

    Despite the obsessive dry fire and range time I’d put in, to be honest I was supremely anxious about whether I would be way out of my league in that first class with Gabe. Not just way out of my league but humiliatingly out of my league to the point my NRA membership might be revoked. That feeling was not lessened by having a legendary figure like Mas Ayoob a stand or two down from me. But, thanks to the foundation laid by Tom Givens, and the excellence of Gabe’s lectures and drills, I held my own, had 6 Dark Pin runs, 2 runs that missed altogether, and thereby earned a Dark Pin. I told Gabe afterwards that outside of a handful of academic and professional accomplishments, as silly as it might sound earning the Dark Pin was the accomplishment in life I was most proud of. Which was the truth. And Mas turns out not to be scary, but as delightful as can be.

    Gabe’s course is like drinking from a firehose. There is SO much information and nuance packed in and I knew I’d have to take it again and probably again after that to adequately assimilate it all. Meanwhile, the pins served their primary intended purpose, which is to motivate his students to push themselves and train more diligently and intelligently towards measurable improvement.

    Following my second class with Gabe this past weekend, I have no doubts that I was able to absorb, and will be able to assimilate, considerably more of Gabe’s wisdom and mindset. His material is meticulously thought out and extraordinarily well organized and presented, and he makes the Energizer Bunny look like a millennial slacker by comparison, with not a wasted second. It was pretty hot and there were times you wanted to tell him to sit down for a minute and have some Gatorade.

    Within the limits imposed by my job, winter weather, and the demands of life, I had pushed myself and trained in what I’d hoped was a more diligent, intelligent and focused manner since the first course in September. Would it be shown to have paid off? Since by nature I have to be anxious about something or other, that is what I was anxious about this time. Well, I’m pleased to report it did pay off - I earned another Dark Pin, but this time I was knocking on the door of a Light Pin, with 3 Light Pin runs, 5 Dark Pin runs, and no runs that missed altogether. And, thanks to Gabe’s wisdom, enlightenment, guidance and “bedside manner,” more of which I was able to absorb this second time around, I see the path forward to further improvement.

    Some other random notes:

    The class host, @TriggerControlDotOrg, was nothing short of amazing. Besides his being an overall great guy, organization was perfect, water and Gatorade was plentiful, he handled all setup, and he treated us like honored guests in his home, literally offering on numerous occasions to go to the store to get anything we might want or need.

    What a great group of students in the class, including some real life badasses. Among the ancillary joys of these classes are the people you meet and the friendships made.

    One of the most exciting things I’ve ever witnessed was @Ckossmann earning the Turbo Pin. Part of it is understanding what an outstanding and difficult accomplishment that is. Another part of it is I had gotten to know him from the September class, where he was the only Light Pin winner and clearly showed the potential to win a Turbo Pin some day. Another part of it is that he is a really first class guy. Probably the largest part of it is that it didn’t come easy - he had trained REALLY hard since September towards achieving this goal, and it was well earned and well deserved.

    Given the political leanings of most of my professional colleagues, it is always refreshing to be in a group where, politically, I am roughly in the middle and not the token Neanderthal.

    Finally, on a lighter note, I texted the class photo to my wife and kids. My daughter, who went to a Jewish Day School, responded: "The guy in the front, kneeling with glasses looks like a rabbi.”

    She’s right, Gabe could walk into the school she went to and be assigned a classroom without a second look. I responded with another photo of Gabe, and this comment: "Here is Rabbi White explaining the tractate pertaining to the rapid draw from concealment, as exemplified by David in self defense against Goliath.”

    It brought to mind this tweet if one can imagine Tom Givens with a long beard.




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    Last edited by Kanye Wyoming; 04-17-2019 at 12:27 PM.

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