NRA Basic Pistol Instructor - prerequisites?

I believe you just register and show up.

mgmorden:

While you don't need to be a crack shot to become a NRA Certified Pistol Instructor, there is an official "pre-course qualification" that a NRA Training Counselor may wish to have you complete if he doesn't know you. If you would like a copy, PM me with your e-mail address, and I will send it.

I have been a Training Counselor for a bit more than 20 years and an instructor for 50. There are a lot of guys who think they should be a NRA pistol instructor because they have a "Y" chromosome and they know all about guns. I require new instructor candidates to fill out a questionnaire to learn of their experience level and motivation to become an instructor. If they lack experience or other issues raise a red flag, I arrange for an opportunity to run them through the pre-course qualification test. There are some people who really should not be instructors.

What we teach in the NRA Pistol Instructor course is how to teach the 8 hour NRA Basic Pistol Shooting class and the 4 hour First Steps Pistol class. We also explain your obligation and responsibilities as an NRA Instructor. Learning how to organize and conduct NRA training classes and following NRA guidelines and the course curricula is also covered. Usually this is a two-part class with 6 hours of Basic Instructor Training, and another 11-12 hours of Pistol Instructor training. Afterwards, there is a 50 question written test (can be open-book) that you need to score at least a 90% to pass.

Don't be surprised if you actually learn something. NRA instructor training is less about you as a shooter and more about you as a teacher and helping others learn to shoot safely the right way the first time.

Curator summed it up very well.

Follow this link: http://www.nrainstructors.org/SearchCourse.aspx

Click the classes you want to become an instructor in, enter your zip code and find a training counselor in your area that is teaching that course.

FYI: NRA just revoked the certifications of a handful of instructors in OK after they found out they couldn't shoot worth squat, so the TCs are going to be watching the shooting skills pretty closely for a while.

Good luck and I hope you succeed. I have lots of fun doing NRA courses.

ClickClick:

While I don't know the particulars of what happened to the Oklahoma NRA instructors who had their credentials revoked, I am somewhat certain that it wasn't over their shooting skills. The NRA Training Department only revokes an instructor's credentials for proven flagrant violations of NRA policies or safety issues. Something like having live ammo in the classroom will get one's credentials revoked, as it should. Selling course completion certificates (diplomas) to people who haven't completed a course will result in the same effect. NRA instructors don't have to "re-qualify" at the shooting range every so often like law-enforcement officers do. Can you point me to an article about the revocations?

Can you point me to an article about the revocations?

Click to expand...

Sorry, nothing printed that I know of. I'll PM you the details as some of it may not be public yet.

One nice side benefit to being a NRA certified instructor is discounts are available direct from some gun manufacturers. Kahr offering one of the best, I saved hundreds on my PM9.

You need to contact the manufacturer, some are very good and others are not so much so.

BIT course

Before you can take the Basic Pistol Instructor Training Course you have to complete the NRA, Basic Instructor Training Course (B.I.T) first. Need to contact someone in the NRA Education and Training Division at headquarters. Might be able to find a BIT training course on their website.

Tom:

The Basic Instructor Training (B.I.T.) class is SUPPOSED to be an integral part of every NRA Instructor course, not a separate stand-alone class. Having completed the B.I.T. class (as part of a complete Instructor course) within the past 12 months, a new instructor does not need to repeat this class if taking another instructor course for another discipline. For example: having taken the Pistol Instructor course which included B.I.T., someone decided to also take the Rifle or Shotgun instructor courses within 12 months of the first, they would not be required to attend the 6+ hour B.I.T. portion of the subsequent courses. This has probably contributed to the confusion about the B.I.T. class being a "prerequisite" to NRA Instructor courses.

Yes it is true that some Training Counselors offer B.I,T. as a separate, or additional class but this is not approved by the NRA Training Department according to recent specific bulletins clarifying this matter.

I am an NRA shotgun instructor, RSO and Metallic Cartridge Reloading Instructor and took my BIT about 15 months ago. So if I want to add pistol and rifle instructor over the next year, by the rules of the game, I have to take the BIT again? Is the cutoff really just 12 months?

It is a bit frustrating as my profession in instructional design and facilitation of training programs. My last training counselor for the reloading cert did not think I needed to take the BIT again, is there any discretion on how long it has been since a person has completed the BIT from the Training Counselor or is it just a hard and fast rule?

Capybara, have you been actively teaching courses? If so, your TC may not put you through BIT again. If you have been idle, or you work with a new TC, they will probably put you through BIT again.