Tom Givens, of Rangemaster in Memphis, has taken his Instructor Course on the road. Contributor Lt. Chuck Haggard attended the "I" Course last summer and gives this report.

Over the past few years there has been an explosion in availability of firearms and personal defense training available to the average person. In the pre-Gunsite days, this sort of thing was unheard of. Now the number of trainers is almost overwhelming for anyone seeking firearms training. Aspects of the problem to decide on is what training you need and from whom to receive the training. In the words of Pat Rogers, "The mission drives the gear train." I believe that we can run with this idea and extrapolate that the mission should also drive one's choices in training. The vast majority of us pay for our own training and are limited by budget. While I have a deep and abiding respect for the warriors our nation has produced, we may find through the analysis of the mission of personal defense that the training offered by an experienced special operations guy, regardless of quality of the training, may not be exactly what one needs to fend off a carjacker in a dark parking lot. If we look at historical success rates when it comes to personal defense, no one else has the track record of the CCW students who have been taught by Tom Givens through his Rangemaster facility. The success rate of this group to date currently sits at 64 wins, zero losses, and two defaults (in both cases the students were murdered during the course of a robbery on a day they were not carrying a handgun). Due to the fact that Tom is obviously "doing something right" when it comes to personal defense training, when I was afforded the opportunity to attend his instructor course I jumped on it. The instructor course I attended was hosted near McLoud, OK at the Practical Shooting LLC range. The facility was easily capable of hosting a class of this size and type, with the only downside being that we were in Oklahoma during the height of summer. Folks not used to being outdoors in the heat were challenged by the weather.

The attendees in this firearms instructor course -- held principally for CCW instructors -- were 25% women, an encouraging number. Participants Melody Lauer and Megan Loomis are shown here.

I was very pleased to see that this class of 20 students included five ladies who were who were pursuing instructor credentials so that they could offer firearms and CCW training to others. Several traveled from quite a distance to attend, one coming from Idaho. This is the highest percentage of female students that I have ever seen attending a firearms instructor course. Tom is a very experience firearms trainer, having studied under and worked with such notable trainers as Jeff Cooper. Tom's experience base spans decades, so his students get a jump start as an instructor by being able to learn from past mistakes of others: not only students, but those lessons learned by Tom and other highly regarded instructors. He is expert at running a firing line, both in demonstrating drills and courses of fire, and in spotting student issues and making corrections. This instructor course was demanding not only in the degree of shooting skill needed by the instructor candidates, but also the mastery of the material for the written test, and in completing a lesson plan and delivering a short lesson to the class as the teacher. I noted during the course that this training was, in my experience, uniquely tuned for folks wanting to teach CCW students, verses other firearms instructor courses I have attended which are geared specifically towards a police or military audience. This course would still be very useful in developing a LE firearms instructor's skills, however the difference in course emphasis towards concealed carry was obvious. Included in this course was instruction on student handgun choices, revolver vs semi-auto pistols for CCW, wound ballistics, ammunition choices and identification, methods of instruction and adult learning theory, fundamentals of grip, stance, sight picture and sight alignment, trigger control, draw stroke from various concealed carry methods, holster and carry method choices, how to coach shooters on a line of fire, and various common student shooting mistakes and how to correct them. The only downside of this course is that it is only three days in length. Tom advises that he went with a three day class for the basic instructor school due to the difficulty of students being able to get away for five days straight to attend class. The good news is that one can continue their learning by attending Tom's Advanced Instructor course, which is two days in length. The Rangemaster Firearms instructor course is so good that I intend to follow up by attending the advanced course. For any student of personal defense firearms usage, particularly to become an instructor, I highly recommend the Rangemaster instructor course. (For information, see Rangemaster.) -- Chuck Haggard Chuck Haggard is a lifelong shooter and hunter, a 25+ year law enforcement officer and a military veteran. He has been involved in firearms and police defensive tactics instruction since 1989. Chuck has 18 years of SWAT team experience, and is an instructor for the National Law Enforcement Training Center and Strategos International. Chuck is a Life Member of the NRA and has carried a concealed handgun daily for the past 25+ years.