A thread over in the cafe about whether new-to-the-field folks should acquire a kit AR made me think of this, and this might be a better place to toss ideas around.
I'm sure most or all of us who are seen as "gun people" by others have been approached by family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances etc recently to either provide some gun instruction or to help a new person with purchasing their first firearm.
What do you think is important to teach or impart to them? Are there things that are really important that are maybe beyond your abilities or knowledge to teach, but this person should perhaps take a class or some training from someone who is an expert in X area?
Already I've made some assumptions that I should back up and state. In the last 2-3 months, I've been approached by and am working with at least four sets of folks amounting to about a dozen people (a couple are families, one is a local Tea Party kind of group, it's not just individuals) and the motivation was the same for every one of these folks: getting a gun and some training for self-protection because of all the 2020 stuff going on.
So I suppose we could phrase this conversation starter with the understanding that the training/skills etc you're recommending are for someone with this interest. I'm trying to make sure I haven't missed anything in the thought process though, so please chime in even if this isn't quite what you're thinking of.
I have a couple of proposed ideas to kick around along these lines.
The overall goal, even if the person asking hasn't thought it through in every direction, is to be safer and more in control of your own life so that includes eventually prepper kinds of things like food security, medical/first aid, supplies etc.
Most people probably see the sense of that better now in June 2020 than they did a few months ago.
There's some overlap with the skills and gear we'd like to teach with this, since if you go extend the horizon out to there you need more than just concealed carry skills, you need rifles and other stuff for neighborhood protection teams.
I would doubt I'll weird out anyone here with that kind of talk but it probably would be counter-productive to blow a new person's mind with all that upfront and at once.
I say that but I am always fighting the tendency to bring all this other stuff up when I hear someone say "I just want to get my carry permit and then I'll be ready for X." Must. Bite. My. Tongue!
The stuff I've settled on, combining things from "general gun knowledge" and various classes, experiences etc is as follows.
#1) The armed defender should learn:
How to shoot (including firearms safety)
How to fight/defend with a gun
When to fight (the legal stuff)
#2) For most folks in suburban/urban areas, I'd propose starting with the above in handgun, getting a concealed carry permit, and get experience carrying after enough instruction to do it safely.
It may make more sense for your locale to start with rifle/long gun, but in central Florida and the 'burbs I think most people will get the most utility quickly from handgun and CCW type skills.
#3) For rifle, I'd propose as a minimum someone take an NRA Basic Rifle Class (if you can find one).
Better would be to just go through a 2 day Appleseed event- it will cover some things they won't yet care about but it will provide 2 days of quality experience in the basics. Or, some kind of class that would cover basic rifle marksmanship and field shooting techniques?
After the basics, something like a (tactical) carbine class.
After that, if you can get them to, some kind of team tactics class. These classes are a rare bird and you have to be careful since not everyone teaching them is what you'd want...
Back to #1, how/what would you cover, more specifically?
I was thinking/would propose something like
-a basic pistol class akin to the NRA Basic Pistol class (for someone coming in with no background). That covers gun safety and very basic gun operation, and basic marksmanship.
-something akin to a 2 day or more defensive pistol class.
It might not be ideal but the NRA Personal Protection Inside the Home class (1 day) and the NRA Personal Protection Outside the Home class (1.5 days) together.
This covers introduction to defensive shooting skills, and also one way (the NRA way) of drawing from a holster and getting a couple hundred rounds of experience doing various drills.
I've seen some defensive pistol classes (usually taught by ex LEO or ex MIL) that get more advanced in the techniques maybe and maybe more reps, but have less legal stuff or less intro to self-defense maybe.
"When to fight" - the NRA PPITH/PPOTH classes scratch the surface with this, and per their rules are supposed to be taught by either an LEO or a licensed attorney.
Perhaps add to this by adding reading or extra class stuff for those who might be up to it, such as Mas Ayoob's MAG-40 class or Andrew Branca's online class.
"Good Enough, Part A"
Related to whatever gun class content might be in there, I'd like to throw out another idea I've been using with the folks I'm working with. I'm glad to go over all this stuff with them and give them the best equivalent of a class that I can, but, I think they really need to pass an independent test at the end to really have a bit of confidence that they can deliver "performance on demand".
Some classes (like Ayoob's MAG classes, but many others too I'm sure) have you take a standard LE or MIL shooting qualification. Appleseed has their "AQT" which is similar to a mil rifle qualification, and I always tell people who shoot say Sharpshooter or better that if they were in the .mil, they'd have earned an extra ribbon award to put on the uniform for doing that.
So, some kind of shooting test with a defined passing score. Passing that doesn't mean you've hit the top of the mountain, but at least by some measures you're "good enough".
"Good Enough, Part B"
The second test I'd like to use (am using with the folks I'm working with) is for them to shoot a match successfully. Steel, IDPA, IPSC, whatever, the particulars aren't important but I propose that being able to go somewhere, gear up and shoot a few stages with people watching you, and finish without being told to "STOP!!" or getting DQ'd is a worthwhile test of safe gun handling under a little bit of pressure. Of course it's fun, and good stress inoculation, and many other things too. But it's an experience that I hope will not only get folks to grow their abilities and confidence some, but also understand the whole "performance on demand" thing for defensive shooting skills better too.
Any thoughts, comments, stuff you'd not bother with or stuff you think is important that you'd add?
Having thought about this for awhile and then some more while I was typing this out, I'm (we?) are trying to get folks up to at least a basic level of safe gun operation, and hopefully more so that as they learn new things and new skills, they get better at knowing what questions they should be asking and will maybe guide themselves beyond where they were when they first said "All I want to do is to get my concealed carry permit and I'm good for X"
What are your all thoughts and experiences with this kind of thing?