As a certified instructor, I think I should weigh in on this. In my humble opion, LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, who are required to take a forty hour class in North Carolina, don't get nearly enough training. CCW permit class in North Carolina is at least eight hours long, with a minimum of two hours spent on law. Only thirty shots are required to qualify. Eighty percent must be hits, on a "silouette type target". I wish there were some way to add a time limit, or make them qualify at ranges longer than 3, 5, and 7 yards. I also wish that I could make them carry 24/7. Three kinds of guns are worthless. The first is the one you don't have with you. The second is the one you can't hit anything with. The third is the one you won't use.
Nothing will replace trigger time with the weapon you will actually carry. If you can use some kind of wax or rubber bullets in a revolver, or a .22 conversion on your autoloader, and practice in a SAFE manner in your garage or basement, then you should shoot about three thousand rounds a month until you get your speed up to drawing and firing two or three shots on targets the size of a snuff can lid a twenty one feet, in two to three seconds. I leave this as an either or because some people can't morally justifie the failure to stop drill, or the two to body one to head, as it is almost universally fatal.
The level of training that CCW permitees get is a moral quandry for me. On the one hand, I know the level of proficency that makes me feel comfortable in my abilities. I also know what it cost me in time and money. I know that the majority of my students will never shoot more than a few hundred rounds of ammunition a year. Many of them will only renew thier permits once, if ever. Less than ten percent will ever understand that the only gun that they can depend on is the one they have on them, right now. Most of them will cripple themselves by buying a gun "made for concealed carry". I can put six shots through the head of a sillouete target with my detective's special at twenty five yards, given eight to ten seconds. Most of them will never be able to put all their bullet in the kill zone from twenty five yards FROM A REST! WITH A SERVICE SIZED HANDGUN!
On the other hand, I can see that someone with a carry permit should be well versed in the laws concerning the use of deadly force, and when they get their permit, they have a vested interest in the great second ammendment debate. The more guns there are on the street, in a holster on the side of an upstanding citizen,the less violent crime there will be. The more people get carry permits, the less afraid the anti gunners will be. Statistical evidence (wich the antis ignore or twist) already shows any reasonable person(again, not a common trait amoung antis) CCw permit holders are not a menace to society, but a great help, like a person who knows first aid or cpr.
There will always be trainers who are in it for the money. There are two others in my area who practice good ethics, and run a class that passes the minimum standards set by ther state. Every one of the rest of them in my area Have reorted to teaching classes less than eight hours long, and a lot of other stuff that is ILLEGAL.
As for me, I have decided to take the high road. My classes never have more than eight people, six is preferable. I take them to a public range, that they can use anytime for free. It is outdoor, and never crowded, so they avoid the two hazards of an in door comercial range , lead poisioning and getting shot by some idiot. I have decided to teach them how to reload Speer plastic cases for 38/357, and to show them all about 22 conversions for GLOCKs and other autos. I beat them over the head not so much about caliber, as anything more powerful than a +p 38 will work, PROVIDED THE HANDGUN IS ACCURATE ENOUGH TO HIT SOMETHING. I have broken the eight hours into Friday night and Saturday morning sessions, so butt fatigue doesn't cause brain sleep. I want them to ask questions, and to replay parts of the one video I use( legal stuff) over until they get it.
If you haven't guessed by now, I'm a crusader. I believe in personal security. I am a deacon in my church, and I spend many hours most weeks volunteering there. I am a prayer leader, I am on the security team, I sometimes go on visitation, and often write or call radio and news paper media concerning moral issues, right to life, and gun rights. I open and close my classes with prayer, as the battle is the Lord's. In the world I am working for, the prisons would be nearly empty, not because of people"taking the law into their own hands", but because the would use deadly force often enough to 1, kill a good many rapists, murderers, and armed robbers, and 2, scare a lot of people who think about commiting these kind of crimes into getting a real job.
