Gunsite - Letter of good character -- isn't my CHP enough?

[ratcatcher55]

Pathfinder,

Let me put it another way.
It's real simple, it is their business,  they can run it anyway they want.
If you don't like it, don't go there.

[Kettlebelly Slim]

I don't mind having my fellow students vetted.  I don't really know who they are.  Of course, a clean history is no guarantee of future behavior - but it's one predictor.  I've had good training at facilities that required credentials, and at some that didn't.  Either way, it wasn't a deal-breaker for me.

When I first attended API (currently known as Gunsite) back in the Dim Ages, they already had a credentialling policy (infact, they've always had it).  Back then, they did accept letters from presumably "credible" sources.  In recent years, they've accepted a back-gound check-form from my county sherriff's office that said little other than that I was not a felon or the subject of an outstanding warrant.  The local police department and sherriff's office provide these things all the time for people appying for jobs that require it.  They have clerks there who do little else but run these checks.  When I let more than a year go by without attending a Gunsite refresher of some sort, I have to get a new letter. 

The Gunsite Student Coordinator told me that this showed that I hadn't got into any trouble since my CCW was issued.  And yes, they expell students who misbehave on their ranges.

Compared to the logistics-challenge and expense of training at Gunsite, the credential is a non-issue.  Remarkably good training is available at other venues, but Gunsite is still the "Gold Standard."  I don't know anyone who's trained there who came away from the experience grumpy because they'd had to provide a credential.  Don't let your pride interfere with your judgement - you know who you are, but they don't. 

-KBS