Instructor Nick Dalhberg: Reasons To Take A Concealed Carry Permit Class
Gun safety and firearm training has been a passion of mine for many years now. I was recently asked by an individual “what do people enjoy about gun training?” While this answer can vary from person to person, I thought I would take a few moments to share my experiences as an instructor and discuss the various reasons why people take gun safety/firearms training courses. Thank you for taking the time to check out this article, we would love to hear at the end the reasons why you have taken (or are thinking about taking) a firearms safety course.
When teaching a class about firearms or shooting, especially in a permit to carry class, it’s common to see people who come through the class with little to no experience. People often end up attending a permit to carry class because it’s a required part of the law for one to get their permit. While many people say that they WANT to take the class, I wonder how many individuals would actually participate in the training if they didn’t have to. There will always be students that are there only because they have to be and as an instructor for the most part it’s very obvious who those individuals are. As somebody who is very passionate about shooting and gun safety – I often ask myself “how can we, as instructors, get people more interested in training”? What is it that motivates individuals to want to learn more? Not only how to shoot but to go far beyond that basic level of understand and become someone that is very well practiced and prioritizing their training, making it apart of their lifestyle.
Gun Training: The practical aspect.
A common reason people become interested in learning more about gun safety is simply the practical aspect. The practical aspect refers to the idea that many are motivated to be prepared to protect one’s self or loved ones in a dangerous situation. Arguably this is the most important reason anyone develops an interest in the subject. Most people reading this would understand having skill in handling a firearm would mean you are more prepared to defend yourself in a dangerous situation(if you have said firearm with you that is). And again, most people, even the inexperienced, probably realize that learning how to shoot, and safely and effectively handle a firearm, requires training. That fact is frequently stressed and agreed upon within the industry. There is an enormous amount of information to learn and most people will understand there is quite a bit of education surrounding all aspects of firearms training. The difficult part isn’t trying to get people to agree that it takes education and training, the difficult part is getting them motivated enough to want to take the time and effort that it takes to become well trained. What I have found is that more often than not instructors and schools that teach people how to shoot will motivate individuals by asking the following questions:
How confident are you in your skill with a handgun?
Do you feel like you are prepared to handle some kind of lethal encounter?
What conclusions can be drawn from asking these questions? The fact is that most people would agree that you can never be overly prepared and most attending your introductory level class are there because they already understand they need the training. Put even a skilled shooter in a scenario like that of any recent mass shooting and look at all the factors working against you:
– you might need to take a shot at a distance longer than the 21 feet, preached by so many
– there could be innocent bystanders all around you and the target
– the target may not present his entire person for a clean shot
– target could be moving
– you could be moving
And that just covers some of the more physical factors directly related to the things people SHOULD be familiar and comfortable with when shooting; comfortable with close and long range targets, shooting at moving targets or shooting on the move, accuracy, speed, positions, etc. Situations like that present an enormous level of difficulty even for the most skilled shooters. This is why training and continued education are so important regardless of your title (novice, expert, instructor, etc.).
Gun Training: As A Hobby.
While many may find that after being motivated by the more practical applications of learning how to shoot they discover that, guess what… shooting is fun! And of course for some the initial interest in shooting may come from looking at it as more of an entertaining hobby, with the real world application in defending one’s self being more of an afterthought. More and more people get involved in the shooting sports every year with a drastic spike in popularity over the last couple of years.
This is what leads me to what I believe is the best combination of reasons for getting involved in shooting: the real world factor of developing a skill that enables you to defend yourself (as well as others) and the fact that many find it to be an entertaining hobby.
To me, in a perfect world, everyone would place value on learning how to shoot, knowing how to safely handle a gun, continuing to learn, and being better prepared to protect yourself/others in a dangerous situation. Gun training provides all the entertainment of a hobby and at the same time develops a valuable real world skill. I’ve had the pleasure of watching many people go from novice to very skilled shooters after developing a love for shooting – it’s a very rewarding feeling. There will always be those who are only motivated by the practical reasons behind learning how to shoot and there is nothing wrong with that either. But to me it seems that those who also find it entertaining are the ones that make it a larger part of their lifestyle, become the most skilled and as a result want to learn as much as possible.
