Biggest "surprise" at your CCW class

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Mine was getting into a small argument with the instructor about using the slide stop as a slide release. He insisted I use it as a release throughout the day...I was surprised at this opinion from someone with his extensive experience (he's an older guy with plenty of real-world experience).
 
my bride just finished her CCW here in raleigh-wood and did very well. we had taken fighting pistol together at tactical response in tn and i knew she could shoot but she needed the class.

she did her best to do only what was instructed and not fall back on prev instruction, such as the slide lock vs slinging it with every reload.

i told her nc proficiency requirement were essentially 'keep it on the paper' or 30/50 from 3/5 and 7 yards, i believe...but she tore a ragged hole with just a few in the 8/9 from nerves or whatever.

she was pretty happy with the instuctor and the class, although she did mention they did not discuss mindset or post shooting issues in any details.
 
My biggest surprise was the number of poor shotsw that are allowede to carry!! While mine was a ragged hole, most others looked like a shotgun pattern.
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Aren't those shotgun pattern hits still contacting paper or their intended target?

Therefore in a defensive situation they will cause damage?


Still good hits in my opinion.


Slow and steady aimed fire -- I can make mine look like a raged hole.

In a defensive situation -- mine will probably look like a shotgun pattern as well.
 
Good reasons to take a CCW class even if you know how to handle a gun.

My surprises were different. You see, I live in the Great NW and I was surprised to see how much the law protects the criminals. Things like don't shoot a criminal who is in your house and stealing your family silverware and refuses to stop. I guess you have to give them a fair chance to fight back or something. Your life must be in immediate danger for sure no guessing.

I also don't like the not shooting through doors or walls. Yes I understand the importance of identifying the target visually but really; If someone is crazed, broke in my house and me and my family are barricaded in the back bedroom and can't crawl down the downspout to safety and door is being broken in, why do I need to see his face? The old "Here's Johnny" as the ax comes through the door should be good enough reason to shoot through the door and drop that sucker.
 
The biggest surprise at my CCW class was that I outshot the other 9 people there.:what: Got into a friendly match with the instructor and outshot him too. If you've ever seen me shoot you would be very surprised.


P.S. Criminal's come in all shapes, sizes, and races. Large chip on shoulder, Dark Knight?
 
Had a few surprises in mine. Learned that "defense of property" is not justifiable for homicide. Well, I knew that but Castle Doctrine only protects homicide in defense of life or major felony like kidnapping. But it was very interesting to see the range of people in the class.

It was about 50 people more or less, all ages, races, backgrounds, and with varying levels of skill. You could see that CCW is of interest not to some political group, but to anyone who has made the decision to not be a victim. That was cool.

As we were lining up for the "shooting test" (more on that later), an assistant instructor went out with a class member who wanted to show off his gun. The instructor came back in furious that he'd been muzzle swept by a guy who'd just left a two-hour course on safety procedures. Seriously - what part of "don't point the gun at someone you aren't going to shoot" is hard to understand?

Then, when it was my turn to enter the range, I was handed a .22 revolver and told to shoot two rounds into a firing box. OK. I put the muzzle into a tube and squeeze off two rounds. Why this was part of the course I don't know.

I've already had extensive and much more thorough practice and training, and this was just needed to get my FL permit, and there was a lot of excellent legal knowledge imparted, but those were the surprises. Regardless, if you want to do CCW, no training or instruction will be a waste. Learn all you can.
 
Biggest surprise in my CCW course was how many people were rushing to get a carry permit, but had limited or even no experience with handguns. Another surprise were some of the interesting CCW handgun choices some of these folks were contemplating.

One odd looking fellow had his Desert Eagle set for his CCW handgun of choice. I suspect he'd been watching the Matrix one too many times.

One very petite lady was attempting to do the CCW course of fire with a 1911, which she acknowledged she had never handled before. She deferred to her husband (a real bubba type) when the instructor encouraged (begged0 her to experiment with other handgun choices, or get really familiar with the 1911s workings before carrying it. Bubba interjected himself to the effect that "oh, she'll probably never have to use it. It'll just be her purse gun. She's got a big purse.'

Oy vey.
 
P.S. Criminal's come in all shapes, sizes, and races. Large chip on shoulder, Dark Knight?
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If you agree with me that criminals come in all shapes, sizes and races, then how do you agree with someone spotting "the criminal element" merely on visual appearance?

Did you even read the context of my remark? You're saying the same thing I'm saying. Guess we've both got a chip?
 
THE DARK KNIGHT said:
If you agree with me that criminals come in all shapes, sizes and races, then how do you agree with someone spotting "the criminal element" merely on visual appearance?

Did you even read the context of my remark? You're saying the same thing I'm saying. Guess we've both got a chip?
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An individual is responsible for their own habits of dress. If a heavily tattooed individual in a 50 Cent t-shirt walks into the class with a handgun tucked into their waistband, one might reasonably state that they're "criminal looking." It's not illegal to be "criminal looking," but if they don't care to be judged on that basis, they might consider changing their appearance.

Race, on the other hand, is not something anyone can change. Thus it is very different to judge someone on the basis of their race--an individual cannot help but be subjected to that judgment.

When TheProf says an individual was "criminal looking," I think it is reasonable to assume that he made that judgment based on clothing and other such factors, rather than race. Perhaps I'm wrong. I certainly can't say for sure. But I think it is extremely rude to jump on him as racist without evidence.
 
When I took my first class (the one that got me my CCW- I took it again with a friend even though I didn't need to, to make the friend feel better) I was surprised at the questions asked. Seemed there were a couple folks that basically thought a CCW was a 00-licence to kill. "If I see someone doing (something hinky) in (a highly improbable situation) with (unusual circumstances), can I shoot them?"

But that wasn't the worst.

The thing that bugged me the worst was the number of people who showed up with brand new, never touched guns. The first rounds fired were their CCW quals. The first rounds loaded were for CCW quals. These folks didn't know how to get the gun in battery, how to eject a magazine, how to release a slide, load a mag, anything.

The worst was a husband & wife duo sharing a new stainless Walther. Turned out to be a Friday Afternoon gun that had mechanical problems and wouldn't fire two shots without a hard jam. Luckily I brough a gun care kit with oil & etc. and by liberally dousing the Walther in oil and cycling the slide by hand vigourously a couple hundred times it loosened up enough to actually shoot- but it still jammed.

I recall I shot my quals pretty quickly, then went around helping others to shoot. Better hand position, better stance, eliminate flinch, etc.

An LGS I frequent also teaches CCW and they have stories- like the folks who come to class with a pistol in their pants already. The people who bring the wrong ammo. etc.
 
I was helping a coworker run his CCW class and the biggest shocker for me was the number of people that showed up with .32 H&R revolvers. We had tons of misfires, until we realized that they had all gone to Walmart and asked for .32 ammo. out of a class of 20, 5 were trying to shoot .32 acp out of their .32S&W guns.

We took those guys off the line, and let them qual with our personal guns.
 
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evan...you bring up another thing that got me. We had about 40 people in my class. Of those about 15 walked into the class carrying concealed. The instructor, trying to be nice, gave a general warning on this to individuals.

The one guy insisted he was open carrying with his hip holster, even though it was completely concealed by his oversized shirt, and coat.

The guy next to me was funny though. He kept asking me questions on using his gun (he had a pretty beat up 22). I dawned on me, he had never fired the thing. he was next to me on the line when we did the qualification and his gun jammed repeatedly, he had no idea how to use it, he abused the crap out of it. Asked me after I got done, if he could use mine. Before I could answer (which would have been NO) ask the instructor (who was getting annoyed with the dude a bit), leaned in and told him he needed to go to the counter and rent one of the range guns.

I guess why that got to me, I had recently purchased my M&P 40 I was using and had made a point of running 700+ round through it to ensure I was accurate with it and extremely familiar with it. I am thinking, these people will be armed around me!?

While I strongly support the RKBA, I think with that right comes a responsibility to learn to use them properly. Particularly if you intend to carry around in the general public. I don't expect folks to be a USMC sniper with it, but if you cannot put 35/35 rounds on the target (when the target is a 500 lb guys shape) at the ranges required in NC, you need to go to the range and learn to shoot before you go out in the general public with a gun on you. Otherwise, you are about as dangerous to the public as the BG.
 
^^ Damn, sometimes I think canadian gun owners would be wayyy safer carrying concealed than the average joe in the U.S. From what I read here and there, just a few of you actually know how to shoot your carry piece, and actually shoot it regularly.
But there's a big bunch of losers who don't even know what model their gun is, that's pretty scary.
 
Biggest surprise? The gentleman shooting a revolver with a price tag hanging from the trigger guard. He said he bought it 20 years prior but never used it. ....He did not pass the shooting portion of the test.
 
artiz said:
Damn, sometimes I think canadian gun owners would be wayyy safer carrying concealed than the average joe in the U.S. From what I read here and there, just a few of you actually know how to shoot your carry piece, and actually shoot it regularly. But there's a big bunch of losers who don't even know what model their gun is, that's pretty scary.
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Is there not an "average joe" element to the Canadian population that would concern you? It's good to know that you formed your opinion based on some things you read here and there on the internet, but it hardly seems to be a problem in real life. If you get concealed carry in Canada like we have here, I would look forward to reading about Canada's "big bunch of losers".
 
My biggest surprise at my CHL class was that I was the only student there under the age of 40 and the only one that wasn't white.

Although I was kind of surprised by the fact that two women that had never fired a gun in their entire lives tried to qualify with a .45. Took them several tries before they "passed"
 
I remain surprised (perhaps amazed is a better word) that no demonstration of handgun proficiency was, or is, required for people in Oregon who obtain a concealed carry permit. Essentially, you take a three-hour class, pass a written exam at the end (if you get a answer wrong, the folks who run the class will walk you through to the right answer so that everyone passes), and then you turn the "I passed" certificate in with a couple of checks (one to the county sheriff, the other to the state police for a background check) and wait 45 days to get your permit. Not a single round is required to be fired to obtain a permit. I still find that odd.
 
My take? As we get older, many of us figure out that we're no longer the invulnerable bad-asses we were (or thought we were) in our teens and twenties.
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Agreed. When I took my permit class it was literally 2 weeks after my 21st b-day, and I was the youngest in the room by a good 15 years. Average age was right around 40-45yo. I was probably the biggest surprise to most of the people there, being 'just a kid' and all.

Biggest surprise in my class? Probably the really big fat Mexican contractor in the back of the room who was one of the funniest and nicest people I think I've ever met. You could tell he was the wise-guy in his elementary school. He kept cracking jokes in his heavy accent from the back of the room, and making everyone laugh. He was a damned good shot too!!!
 
But I think it is extremely rude to jump on him as racist without evidence.
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"Rude" doesn't begin to describe how unfair and derogatory The Dark Knight's comment was. You apparently don't need evidence when you walk around with a 2x4 perched on your shoulder. Stay on the High Road.
 
P.S. Criminal's come in all shapes, sizes, and races.
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I saw nothing about race. That's just jumping to conclusions.

Saying that there's no such way to mentally label someone as 'possibly criminal' is foolish. The manner of dress and body language is there to impress others sporting similar dress and body language, regardless of race.

If you see someone wearing a tank top, pants under his butt and held up by a hand at his crotch, and sneering at the world from under a bandana, you can not in all seriousness tell me he's on his way to a lucrative job interview for his coveted career as an investment banker.

Actively profiling is wrong, but when someone's appearance and demeanor is actively geared to appear imposing and threatening and you feel that you would be best to keep your distance--there's a very good chance you're right.

Even if they're decent people at heart, fitting into a certain demographic tends to put humans in general in a position to do stupid things to impress that crowd.

Aaaanyway...

The biggest surprise in my case was, once again, people who had just bought a new handgun and their first box of ammo was run there in that class. The people that couldn't hit a silhouette at 3 yards. The ones that thought 'concealed' was more important than 'weapon' (an NAA .22 Short in the middle compartment of a purse, which the instructor was quick to correct) or the 100 pound woman that thought she'd be carrying a full-sized 1911 OWB, and didn't even rack the slide before trying to fire.

Just slapped the mag in and jerked the gun forward a few times in her attempt. Too much TV. And she still had better aim than a couple of the guys with their factory-oiled Beretta 92's and Glocks.

After seeing this, I'm a firm believer that rights exist as long as you don't jeopardize other peoples'. Rights come with responsibility, and whereas I don't think you should need a license to own a gun and protect your home, if you're carrying it you have the responsibility to not prove that you're going to shoot everything but the intended target.
 
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