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REDMAN “REALITY TRAINING PROGRAM FOR CIVILIANS”here is a rather famous quotethat goes something like this,“With great power comes greatresponsibility.” Unfortunately, it’s kind ofsad that these words of wisdom did notcome from a famous gun writer or guninstructor; instead, they flowed from thepen of a comic book writer for a popularsuperhero comic book character whichwould lead to a multi-million dollar comicbook series and movie franchise.And yet, I cannot think of anybetter quote that fits the bill for peoplewho take on one of society’s greatestresponsibilities, as well as the possibleconsequences that are involved incarrying a concealed weapon.Unfortunately, for the average citizenwho has been indoctrinated into thebelief that the state in which they receivedtheir carry permit from, sufficed all theirown individual training requirements withthe common misconstrued thinking, thatamount of training for state requirementsmeets all the training they will ever need.Since many states mandate only one totwo hours of training (in my state, it’s amandatory one hour class and shootingone bullet to satisfy state requirements) aresponsible citizen would realize that forwhat it is, it’s both a joke and a farce.So, the next logical question is where doyou go to get good training on a limitedbudget and what training program bestsuits your needs?There has been a plethora of gunmagazine articles devoted to the subjectof “shooting schools” as well as writtenprofiles on individual, well-knownshooting instructors. What you mightnot know is what vested interest thatparticular magazine has to promote thatparticular school over another. Manytimes it simply boils down to money andwho advertises with that magazine andwho does not. Brace yourself: what I’mabout to say may come as a completeshock to many of you.The majority of shooting schoolsacross the country do not in fact caterto teaching law-abiding citizens, eventhough the majority make most of theirmonies off those citizens. Shootingschools are primarily centered on trainingmilitary and law enforcement personnel.The vast majority of tactics, as well astechniques, taught by those schools havealmost nothing in common with lawabidingcitizens.Before going into cardiac arrest,please let me defend that statement. Ihave personally attended ten nationalInstead of a law enforcement scenario, imagine this as a countercarjack scenario.shooting schools (some multiple times),of which I am a certified instructor for sixof them. I have attended those schools inthree different capacity roles: the first asa solider, the second as a police officerand the third as a regular citizen. Do youknow what? There were no differencesin any of the materials covered at thedifferent schools regarding lesson plansgeared to the clientele those schoolswere teaching. This is simply wrong.This is wrong for several reasons. Theprimary reason being that each studentcategory (military, law enforcement andcivilian), by law, has a different set of ruleson the use of deadly force requirements,but the shooting schools rarely, if ever,break this down to their students.The second reason this is wrong isthat all you have to do is take a look atthe majority of the advertised shootingschool’s websites and ask yourself howmany of those students attending thoseschools are actually wearing clothes thata normal citizen would wear—from aconcealed carry stand point?In just about every photo thosestudents are wearing BDU-type cargospants, generally carrying a gun in anexposed plain sight fashion and don’tforget the particular firearm they carryeither. Some are over-priced 1911’s thatshould be tucked away safely in a displaycase to be forever admired, or some arehigh capacity semi-auto’s accompaniedby three or more magazine pouches withsix to eight extra magazines strappedto their person. Now, what normalcitizen carries that way? And are we notsupposed to live by the mantra—train theway you fight?As another point of interest: whenwas the last time you ever saw aninstructor have a student on the line witha shoulder holster? How about a purse?Or how about drawing a gun from thepants pocket? They don’t because theythink that’s not a practical way to carry,but for whom? That’s right friends, forlaw enforcement and military that’s who.And yet these are the very applicationsin which ordinary citizens carry theirweapons on their person every day.12 Concealed Carry Magazine www.usconcealedcarry.comVolume 4 - May/June 2007