NRA Certified Instructor: Which is Most Useful?

[Trebor]

Is there a renewal requirement on the instructor certificates?

Yes.

The first time you are issued the certification you need to renew after one year.

After that, the renewals are every three years.

(I think. It might be every five years. I don't have my certs handy to check)

You are required to send one page reports on whenever you hold a NRA class and they check your activity based on those reports when you renew. I don't know what the "minimum" activitity level is, but I understand you need to give a good reason for a renewal if you try to renew without having done any instructor work since your last renewal.

 

[Havegunjoe]

I am certified in Pistol and Personal Protection and I think they are the best overall options.

 

[scurtis_34471]

I would start with NRA Certified Pistol Instructor, then Certified Personal Protection Inside The Home Instructor and Certified Personal Protection Outside The Home. I would not look at it as a second income; you’re not going to be able “make a living off it”. By the time you get past your expenses you will only have a couple of dollars left, that being said I still went through it myself. We need to educate people as to what happens in real life and dispel the fiction that is in movies.

Actually, you can make money doing it. I have several acquaintenaces who make their living doing it. It is not a get rich quick scheme or easy money, however. These guys do marketing, work with local gun shops, carefully cultivate referals from their students and work very hard to get repeat customers. It is a real business with all the requirements of a real business if you are going to make real money at it.

I've done the math. In my area, after paying for classroom space, range fees and NRA materials, I could clear about $50 per student per class. That's $500 for a class of 10. Do three classes a week and that's $1500, but getting 30 students a week is a lot of work, as mentioned above.

 

[Trebor]

That's $500 for a class of 10. Do three classes a week and that's $1500, but getting 30 students a week is a lot of work, as mentioned above.

If you are getting 30 students a week you are the most succesful NRA Instructor *ever!*

Unless you are *the* instructor for a local range, try more like 10 students a month.

The problem with trying to be *the* instructor at a local indoor range is you'll find they all already have an instructor, or two, working with them. Usually the owner, an employee, or someone who is a friend of the owner.

For guys who just rent range time by the hour you won't get that "low hanging fruit" of students who ask about classes at the store and then are refered to that store's own classes.

Now, if you can get a set up where you are *the* instructor for a local gun store, that's another thing entirely. Good luck on that though unless you have part ownership in the store or have worked their for awhile.

EDIT: I should say this may vary greatly by where you are in the country and how many other instructors there are in your area. I think in my part of Michigan we have more instructors per capitia then most everywhere else. You can't swing a blown-up Glock around here without hitting an instructor...

 

[Ghost Walker]

Yes. The first time you are issued the certification you need to renew after one year. After that, the renewals are every three years.

I just renewed! The paperwork is sitting, here, on my desk. 1 year is $24.00. 2 years is $46.00; and 3 years is $68.00.

I've done the math. In my area, after paying for classroom space, range fees, and NRA materials, I could clear about $50 per student per class. That's $500 for a class of 10. Do three classes a week and that's $1500, but getting 30 students a week is a lot of work, as mentioned above.

Back to the drawing boards! Don’t forget accident and liability insurance; and, ‘range fees’ do NOT include your own transportation all over the county, or that other frequent necessity: rented classroom space. You’re going to need that, too!

I got my certifications from one of the best known Training Councilors in Pennsylvania. He would often travel in order to hold classes and, only occasionally, taught these courses on his own farmland. As far as making, ‘money’ at it? Naaa, before he retired his real job was as a county Deputy Sheriff; and, after retiring, he became an associate professor and taught something to do with police science at Penn State.

I don’t think most instructors are in it for the money. The few that I’ve known who tried – and I’m being brutally honest – all blew out within a few years because they were simply: too greedy, too time conscious, and (in my opinion) too superficial. NRA training courses really aren’t the kind of classes you can run for profit. The motivation, the time, the effort, and the idealism, don’t lend themselves well to a typical commercial enterprise. It's altruism and love of the shooting sports that causes most people to continue on as NRA Instructors.

About the only way I know for a fulltime instructor to, ‘make money’ is to own some sort of shooting facility – or, maybe, work for an established shooting facility - where you can offer specific firearms courses as an additional range service. Even then, unless that shooting facility is nationally recognized, you’re going to be geographically limited to only the surrounding area and a finite number of shooting clientele.

Another thing: Instructor certifications have to be done in person. The only exceptions I know of are (1) Personal Protection Outside The Home, and (2) Reloading; and, then, only if someone is already a Certified Instructor in another pertinent discipline.

This is because, 'Personal Protection Outside The Home' training was initially included in the original comprehensive Personal Protection course. (The way it was when I became certified.) Later on I received a notice from the NRA that my original comprehensive personal protection certification was being separated into two programs for what were explained as, 'legal' reasons. At the time I was given an option to complete the new, 'outside' course at home.

Historically the NRA has, also, had a difficult time trying to find knowledgeable certified instructors who are, also, reloaders AND have some sort of portable bench setup that can be moved from class to class as they travel around. Finally, the shooting sports can always use more Range Safety Officers! It's just easier to become an RSO AFTER you're already an instructor.