I am helping/working with several families in my neighborhood who we know through church. A couple of them already have firearms but are now wanting some training, and another family is in the same frame of mind but only a week or two ago acquired their first firearm (a 9mm Sig whichever one is the one the .mil adopted, fine & motor on). I showed them examples of M&Ps, Glocks, XDs but already everything seemed to be sold out so they jumped on the Sig when they found one.
For a number of years I did the thing a lot of guys do in picking up several NRA instructor certifications and then trying to sell slots in NRA Basic Pistol and the NRA Personal Protection classes. A few years ago I shut down my LLC and don't do classes for $ anymore, I thought it was too much hassle for a hobby job and what I really would rather do is train, and to share training with people who actually want it vs trying to convince a bunch of cheap asses they should go beyond the minimum state CCW class. At some point I got into (and still am into) Project Appleseed and after making it through their instructor training program, I believe for me at least t's better to separate the "making a buck" thing from learning to become a trainer thing.
So, I think it was right to tell these folks (and they seem to appreciate it) that I'll gladly give them the same training experience of NRA Basic Pistol/Personal Protection Inside and Outside the Home, plus other stuff from Mas Ayoob's MAG-40 class and some other trainers at no cost. There is a condition to this though, which is that they do complete enough of the training to be competent.
Whichever set of classes or syllabi you draw from, I think most would agree that means learning
-how to shoot (basic firearms)
- at least a bit on basic defensive handgun/manipulations/tactics/drawing from a holster
- when to fight (ie the legal stuff)
"Checking the box" and getting our state's CWP is a pretty low standard. To come across as a little less of a gun freak about it, I told them I'd settle for getting them up to a competency level each of them would want for any armed person who might come into their house and handle guns around them and their family. Put that way, I think it's easier to appreciate why we want to do better than just getting the permit.
Their graduation exercise will be to go shoot some kind of a match with me nearby, without getting DQd (for a safety or gun-handling issue).
I would feel even better if there were a hundred retired professional ex-door kickers in my neighborhood, but I'm optimistic this will help build a bit more community and hopefully make us all mutually safer.
As far as one of the original questions re getting hardware into new folks' hands, that's tough when it comes to black rifle kind of things. Brownell's still has some of those retro AR special things they're selling, but those and the $3000+ rifles are all I've been able to find recently when I went looking online. The gun panic seems to have accelerated again in the last week even more than it already had been...
If I haven't burned these folks out by this point, this is where I'd like to start getting them thinking about rifles and ARs, which is more to the point of this thread.
Doing an Appleseed and maybe a carbine class would be great, but realistically I think only the small tip of the bell curve of gun owners will approach that many training hours. These folks seem so far to be motivated by a desire to control their own safety, so I'm hoping to keep them on the path after we get through most of the defensive handgun stuff. If I run into any ARs for sale right now though, I'll point them at it...