Harold Mayo
Member
Although I now live in Arkansas after several years in Indiana, I was born and raised in southern Missouri and still consider myself a Missourian even if the guvment does not. I was thrilled when MO residents "won" the "right" to carry concealed.
An acquaintance of mine is quite a good firearms trainer and does it for a living (www.aptacademy.com) and he is giving some good classes from lesson plans that he and a former professor of defense studies (now an assistant SECDEF) drew up several years ago. I haven't been to his CCW classes but I am certain from other classes that I've had with him that he covers the legalities very well as well as instructing the students in shooting and trying to make sure that they are capable in 8 hours of time. He goes beyond the minimums required and that's a good thing. Just owning a gun and having a concealed carry permit does not a gunfighter make.
I've been disappointed with some of the attitudes of people that I know in Missouri, though. I shouldn't be, though, I guess because their attitude is really no different than that seen anywhere else. Most people want the permit because it enables them to carry a weapon in their vehicle without worrying about the legality of it. That's it. Most already did it, anyway, but now they just want to pay $100 or so to not worry when they get pulled over for speeding and they have a gun in the vehicle. Few care about the text of the law, where they can carry (since few plan to carry on their person), or the implications of shooting someone.
I just have to shake my head. My own father asked me if one of my friends who is a firearms instructor (not the one mentioned above) would just "sign off" on him so he could get the permit and not have to go through the class. A local guy is offering the course and has slyly hinted that his course probably won't be the full length as they can cover everything in much less time.
It's just sad. I guess that I love firearms and self-defense stuff far more than most, of course, but you'd think that people would be a little more responsible.
An acquaintance of mine is quite a good firearms trainer and does it for a living (www.aptacademy.com) and he is giving some good classes from lesson plans that he and a former professor of defense studies (now an assistant SECDEF) drew up several years ago. I haven't been to his CCW classes but I am certain from other classes that I've had with him that he covers the legalities very well as well as instructing the students in shooting and trying to make sure that they are capable in 8 hours of time. He goes beyond the minimums required and that's a good thing. Just owning a gun and having a concealed carry permit does not a gunfighter make.
I've been disappointed with some of the attitudes of people that I know in Missouri, though. I shouldn't be, though, I guess because their attitude is really no different than that seen anywhere else. Most people want the permit because it enables them to carry a weapon in their vehicle without worrying about the legality of it. That's it. Most already did it, anyway, but now they just want to pay $100 or so to not worry when they get pulled over for speeding and they have a gun in the vehicle. Few care about the text of the law, where they can carry (since few plan to carry on their person), or the implications of shooting someone.
I just have to shake my head. My own father asked me if one of my friends who is a firearms instructor (not the one mentioned above) would just "sign off" on him so he could get the permit and not have to go through the class. A local guy is offering the course and has slyly hinted that his course probably won't be the full length as they can cover everything in much less time.
It's just sad. I guess that I love firearms and self-defense stuff far more than most, of course, but you'd think that people would be a little more responsible.