Learning to shoot better is a journey, not a destination!
In the training industry we see a lot of one and done people seeking training. This can be for many reasons, they just bought a gun and are terrified of it or whatever drove them to purchase, someone is seeking to get their LTC, they had good intent but life got in the way, it seemed too expensive, etc.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep training to maintain your skills at the current level. And if you want to level up, your time (and financial commitment) must level up too. Watching you tube is good for some mindset things and issue awareness but not so great for the range and actual skill development. Please don’t confuse practice for training. They are not the same thing.
People often say “I have my LTC, I’m good”. Um, NO! Maybe they are good if they love to do everything in a minimal fashion. But, when there is a firearm potentially involved, you better not rely on a minimal mindset and skill level! The stakes are incredibly high and if you make a mistake in judgement or marksmanship, you will go to jail. It’s really that simple. This is said in every single LTC class I teach as well as talking about the importance of good holster skills so people don’t shoot themselves!
Recently a person that works in the medical field in this area came to me for the LTC shooting portion. She said, and I quote, “you can’t believe how many people come to the emergency room for shooting themselves in the ass or the thigh”. Let that sit there for a minute. How expensive an emergency visit do you think that is? In the thousands would be a pretty safe bet! How expensive is a holster clinic? $95… And the ammo for that clinic? $40?… And the time for recovery from something like that? They aren’t likely to be at work the next day. At a holster clinic you don’t only learn how to holster and unholster your firearms safely and correctly, you also learn about the holster itself. What makes a good one, or a terrible one. How much is a good holster made to fit your exact gun? $75-125. Ongoing training being too expensive seems a flimsy excuse to me.
Most people treat learning to shoot as a destination. I’ve learned, therefore I’m an expert because my target looked pretty good and I’m good to go, I’ve got my LTC. One of the nightmares I have is to hear that one of my one and done students got in legal trouble because of a lack of training and had to squirm on the witness stand knowing they should have trained more. If I’m ever called to the witness stand as their instructor in the past, what can I say about them? I mean it, this is nightmare fuel. Yes, they attended one class years ago. Yes, they understood the safety rules or they would never have been allowed to continue in the class or lesson. No, I never saw or heard from them again. Here is a copy of everything I taught in that class or lesson and here is the safety brief given at EVERY lesson, class or event. Here are my certifications, etc. Hence the nightmares. Versus the person that has trained with me regularly and I know their level of understanding on all of these topics. Reverse of nightmare fuel! I get to say that they worked diligently over a long period of time. I’ve seen them shoot under many different circumstances, their skills are at a high level and they have a deep understanding of the issues. They took that shot because they needed to in order to save their life! Here are my credentials, blah, blah, blah. Which student would you prefer to be?
Everyone’s journey looks different and that is okay. It’s also okay to take a break when needed because life events take over for a while. But, regular practice (that is shooting at the range) AND training (that is taking a class or a private lesson to improve your skills) are necessary to develop a solid set of skills that work for you under extreme duress and mindset that is very resilient and nimble under that same extreme duress. Firearms Fellowship was designed around this exact issue. To have a regular timeframe to attend, learn, build skills and practice. Your Group Guyde is a highly trained firearms professional and can help you in your journey at events and more in-depth in their classes, which is training. Check out what they are offering and expand your knowledge by diving deeper into a topic that we can possibly cover at an event. You will be so glad you did!
Hope to see you on your journey in the coming months. Stay safe and keep training!
