I took my class Saturday. Six hours including the qualifying time. Nearly 2/3 of the class was women ages 30 to 60. Our instructor was a retired cop and he had served on the dept’s SWATT team.
We spent a lot of time on the Carry law and the law regarding shootings. The class is worthwhile whether you plan to carry or not. Right now I don’t plan to concealed carry all the time (in a holster). I wanted a carry license to legally keep one in my car.
A few interesting items from 5 hours of class for my state.
DUI is the number 1 cause of losing a carry license. Our state allows us to enter restaurants or convenience stores that sell alcohol. But buying or consuming any alcohol when you’re carrying is a big no. He mentioned our neighboring state (TN) doesn’t even allow you to enter a convenience store that sells alcohol. Guns and booze don’t mix. Period.
Property is never a justified reason for a shooting. If the roar of your truck wakes you at 2 AM you can’t shoot at the S.O.B. that just stole it. Dogs are property too. Someone steals or shoots your guard dog? Any property loss, Call 911
You’re guard dog poisoned? Be very concerned. There’s a good chance someone is getting ready to burglarize your home.
You can defend yourself in your own home. He stressed making a defense plan just like you do a family fire drill. Every member of the family needs to know what their role is if someone is breaking into the house. Our instructor outlined his own family plan. The daughter stays in her room and calls 911. The dad and mom arm themselves and rush down the hall to her room. Then make a stand in there. There’s only one door to defend until the cops arrive.
Our instructor noted that most burglars wait until you leave to break in. Anyone that breaks into an occupied home is extremely dangerous. Don’t assume they are just there for the flat screen tv.
Never try to clear your own home. You take your kid to school. Come home 20 min later and the front door is open. Back the car up and get the hell out of there. Call 911 and let the cops clear the house. Even with SWATT experience, our instructor said he’d never go into a house alone and clear it. You never know how many people are in there and how well armed they are.
Women have a big advantage with concealed carry. Over the shoulder purses are the ideal place. Keep the main compartment clear of everything except the gun. You don’t want anything (pens, change, makeup) in the compartment with the gun.
If you’re leaving work late and the parking lot is dark and empty. Walk with your hand in the purse. If you need to defend yourself don’t waste time drawing the weapon. Shoot through the purse.
Three ladies in the class mentioned they had protection orders against guys stalking them. This training could save their life someday.
The last step was qualifying with the weapon. Everyone had to put holes in the target at 10 and 20 feet. It was also a way to confirm everyone knew how to safely load & use a semi-auto pistol.
Everyone was strongly urged to qualify with a semi-auto. That gives you a unrestricted license. Everyone in our class qualified with a semi-auto.
If you qualify with a revolver you get a restricted license and can only carry a revolver. You have to attend class again and pay all the fees to carry a semi-auto.
Agree. The only exception is if you see someone committing arson, and you have reason to believe there’s at least one person inside the building. In such a case you are justified in stopping the arsonists using any means necessary, even it means they’ll end up dead.
Very true. You should also think twice about clearing your home even if you’re in it.
Let’s say you’re sleeping in your upstairs bedroom in the middle of the night, and you believe someone broke into your house. Should you grab your gun and go downstairs to investigate? It all depends. If you have children sleeping in other rooms, then you may want to investigate. If it’s just you in your bedroom (or you and your SO), then you are much better off staying put. Let the burglar come to you.
Not a bad plan. But she should practice shooting from the hip at the range.
The class was $125. I put down a $35 deposit when I registered a month ago. Paid the balance of $90 during a break in class. When I mail my application to the State Police a $141 check goes with it. They have up to 120 days to issue the license or reject it. Either way, they keep the money.
They were teaching every other Sat. But plan to start teaching every Sat because of demand.
A friend showed me his CCHL and it looks just like a drivers license. They even used the same picture.
CCHL expires here in 5 years. You have to re-qualify at a range and pay the application fee again. You don’t have to take the class again.
Most people came to the class with a handgun. I had mine in my car trunk unloaded. If I had been stopped the cop would need probable cause to search the car.
Guns and ear protection can be rented at the range too.
And this probably goes without saying: you never want to have to shoot someone, even if they’re a scumbag criminal. If you’re on foot and confronted by a would-be attacker, pull your gun, scream at him to get away, and run away (if you can) while pointing the gun at him. If he continues to come at you, stop him with your weapon.
The mere sight of your gun will make 90% of attackers flee. After they flee, call 911 ASAP and tell them what happened. If you do not do this, the attacker will call 911 and claim that you pulled a gun on him without provocation. The first person who calls 911 gets to be the victim.
When I took mine the instructor provided the guns. Also in many (most? all?) states the concealed carry permit is separate from a permit to own a handgun. How you can transport a gun you legally own from, say, your home to the range without a carry permit almost certainly varies from state to state.
When I took my class it was actually a fundraiser for a political candidate so I ended up with a concealed carry permet even though I’ve never owned a firearm.
Another thing the class does is tell you where you can and can’t carry.
A big no.
Any Federal bldg, Airports, State buildings or state offices, Police stations, jails or prisons, Courts, Church (at least in my state its not allowed)
Most anywhere else is fine unless there are signs posted saying you can’t carry.
Private Homes require the homeowners permission. If you visit Aunt Sally for Sunday dinner then you are supposed to ask if you can enter with a weapon. Or, leave it in the trunk of your car.
Thanks for this post. I don’t know how much is generalizable or just AR-specific, but either way it’s nice to learn.
Or stupid.
They make CCW purses, too. Usually a separate zipper compartment on the outside, etc.
I know they recently changed the law around here. I might be off a bit, but I think it was the same. And there was something about only being allowed to carry the pistols you qualified with.
My questions: what did they say about situations like if you were concealed carrying in public, and someone came at you with a knife? Fists with intent to cause serious harm? Obviously, once you draw you had better use it and not as a threat, or you risk it being taken from you.
The curriculum of my class was pretty much the same. Nebraska does not differentiate between semi auto and revolvers though. Our qualification was at three feet, seven feet, fifteen feet and twenty one feet.
If you send your wife or gf to one of these classes make sure they don’t wear a V neck shirt. Hot brass and bare titties is not a good match. It is sort of entertaining though to watch them flop the shirt around to get the hot brass out. I thought one lady on the range needed the bathroom the bathroom to remove her shirt. That casing was way down there. But, she just reached way in there and yanked it out (the casing).
We were told repeatedly to keep the handgun concealed at all times. Never take it out in public to show anyone. Most definitely don’t wave it around showing off.
We were strongly discouraged from warnings or warning shots. If you feel threatened enough to draw a weapon. USE IT But, be sure the danger to your life is real.
That is a grey area. What is a dangerous situation? A guy with a knife? I think so. A big dude that wants to beat my ass? In my case yes, that is a threat to my life. If I was 20, then “maybe” I’d try to outrun him. But pushing 50 I’m not out running anybody and my fighting days are 35 years behind me.
One of the most important things I took away from my CCW class was “Never go into a situation with a gun that you wouldn’t go into without a gun” He gave three examples as he went on to explain it:
1)If you’re at the gas station pumping gas and you see them getting held up, even though you have your gun on your hip, just put the nozzle down and drive away.*
2)Just because you now have your CCW and you went out and bought a gun…it doesn’t mean you should drive to the 7-11 in the bad part of town at 2:30am to get a bag of chips. In other words, don’t go looking for trouble.
3)If you’re in line at Walgreens and the cashier gets held up at gunpoint you have to make a decision if you’re going to put your life on the line to defend hers. He said, his life is more valuable then some random person’s and he’d rather risk seeing their blood on the back wall then pull out his gun and end up with the robber pointing a gun back at him. It’s just safer to comply, be a good witness and let everything play out as smoothly as possible… but he stressed that this is a decision you have to make on your own.
My class was a non-shooting class. I’ve since gone shooting twice with two different people. One was an NRA instructor who, IMO wasn’t very good. I think she got her NRA credentials, had some experience and started teaching. The other, also and NRA teacher, a friend, a retiered Lt and someone that taught gun handling to cops for many many years. He did thousands of post shooting interviews with cops/sheriffs and has, himself been in a real shootout…this guy knows what he’s talking about.
Something I took away from that class** was that if you have to pull your gun on someone you don’t point it at the center of mass, you point it right at their god damn face. Again, remembering that he’s done thousands of post shooting interviews. He said that 9 out of 10 times when a cop pointed a gun right at the suspects face they complied with the officers orders. Something about looking down a gun barrel causes their thinking to lapse for a split second and sort of reevaluate what their doing. He said that the more often then not when the cops points the gun at the center of mass and barks out orders the situation escalates because it just doesn’t command the same amount of authority.
When I took the class I had NO intention of carrying a gun, ever. I took it for two reasons. 1)For kicks and I had the time 2)Just in case. Just in case I ever found my self in possession of a gun. Just in case I ever found myself getting patted down by a cop and had a knife or box cutter on me from work. Who knows? But for $100 I’m covered for 5 years. But then my store got held up so I’m seriously rethinking it. I’m trying to get some range time in and if I feel comfortable I may start carrying during the last hour or two before we close.
*I know, call the cops, be a good witness etc, he was just making a point to explain that you shouldn’t pull out your gun and rush the guy when you’re already in a more or less safe area.
**This wasn’t really a ‘class’ since he has a range in his backyard and I asked him to take me shooting since I felt the first class with the bad NRA instructor wasn’t very good. He also dabbled a bit in personal protection which he also teaches.
Another thing I took away from that class is practice practice practice. If you’re going to keep a gun by your bed, practice grabbing it. Keeping it in your car? Practice grabbing it. Keeping it in your purse? Practice grabbing it etc.
To demonstrate this he put three guns in three different kinds of locks and gave the keys to three people. At a certain point he signaled the three people to run to the front of the room and unlock the guns. It was at least 30 seconds before the first gun was unlocked and about a 90 seconds before the last one was. Now imagine doing it in the dark with someone heading towards your bedroom.
Even if you don’t keep it locked. His point was that if you keep it in your nightstand, under your bed, under your pillow, loaded (safety on/off) magazine in/out, bullets in or out, bullet chambered or not etc practice reaching over, grabbing it, getting it ready to fire and pointing it. Over and over and over*. If you change anything or swap out the gun, practice again. Make sure it’s always in the same spot. Did you accidentally toss a book under it or did the vacuum push it farther under your bed?
His fear is that people will get a gun, they might even take it shooting a few times and think they’re comfortable with it. Then they’ll take the magazine out, lock it all up in a case like a good parent, put it in the nightstand and not even think about it again until they need it three years later when it’s buried under everything and they don’t even remember where the key is anymore.
Also, you should know what’s behind where you’re going to shoot. I know that if I shoot at my bedroom door, I’ll hit the spare bedroom, not my daughters room (for example).
Lastly (for now) something else I’ve learned as I’ve talked to people. Everyone you talk to about guns is right and everyone else is wrong (and stupid). The NRA has opinions, lawyers have opinions, cops have opinions, gun shops have opinions, Massad has opinions (which won’t jive with the cops) and you just have to sort of take them all in form your own.
*Don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong.
I would seriously question if this is good advice for a civilian. It’s one thing for a cop to draw weapon as a means of stopping a situation form getting out of control, but I’ve repeatedly read, even in this thread, don’t draw a weapon unless you intend to use it, and in particular, don’t threaten with it. Draw and shoot, and the head is a rather difficult target.
Very cool thread. I have shot a gun twice in my life, both times at shooting ranges. I was the top markswoman in my dorm, booyah! But I don’t think I have it in me to get a gun, much less a concealed carry license. I’m sure it makes more sense to victims of stalking, but I just couldn’t bring myself to shoot somebody so it’d be pointless to carry a gun.
I’d like to get my CCH someday; as an assistant county attorney, Texas provides for me to get a special permit that allows concealed carry in many places that other CCH holders cannot, such as “51% facilities” (businesses that derive more than 50% of their income from the sale of alcohol), sporting events, hospitals, amusement parks, and churches. I could carry in the courthouse with the permission of the county commissioners, but they have so far not permitted it.
Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York City, Illinois, and Washington DC all require a license before any gun purchase. That’s about 12% of the US population.
It is sort of entertaining though to watch them flop the shirt around to get the hot brass out. I thought one lady on the range needed the bathroom the bathroom to remove her shirt. That casing was way down there.