NRA Home Firearms Safety – Required for licensing in Massachusetts
The NRA Home Firearm Safety course teaches students the basic knowledge, skills, and explains the attitude necessary for the safe handling and storage of firearms and ammunition in the home. In addition, the course includes the Massachusetts State Police Basic Firearms Safety curriculum. Students are taught NRA’s three rules for safe gun handling; primary causes of firearms accidents; firearm parts; how to unload certain action types; ammunition components; cleaning; care; safe storage of firearms in the home; and the benefits of becoming an active participant in the shooting sports. Students will receive the NRA Home Firearm Safety handbook, NRA Gun Safety Rules brochure, Basic Firearm Training Program brochure, course completion certificate. The course includes a live fire session at the following the classroom work. During this session, the students will have the opportunity to fire a number of handguns ranging in caliber from 0.22 to .045 under the supervision of an NRA certified firearms instructor.
Basic Pistol Skills
This course teaches the basic knowledge, skills, and attitude for owning and operating a pistol safely. This course is 2 ½ -hours long and includes classroom and range time learning to pistols. This course is for people who have their License to Carry (LTC) or are in the process of getting one. The NRA’s rules for safe gun handling are reinforced and practiced on the range. The skills practiced include; pistol parts and operation; ammunition; shooting fundamentals; range rules; shooting stances, and cleaning the pistol. This is a hands-on course which is best if done with the students’ own handgun, however “loaner” guns are available. Fundamentals of shooting are taught including, the grip, the stance, sight alignment/sight picture and trigger control. This course is intended for shooters who have their license and may have a gun or are in the process of buying one but are unsure of your basic abilities or need a refresher on basic pistol skills.
Basic Pistol Skills Plus
This course expands the basic knowledge, skills, and attitude for owning and operating a pistol safely which are learned in Basic Pistol Skills. This course is focused on shooting and is for people who have their License to Carry (LTC) and a gun. The curriculum works to improve the fundamentals of stance, posture, sight picture sight alignment, grip and trigger control. In this course, we don’t pull the trigger, we press the trigger. We work on focusing and hyper-focusing on the front sight. We start off working on fundamentals and making good shots and transition to basic shooting drills, which help the students see more and begin to practice more complicated shooting situations.
Beyond Basic Pistol Skills
This course teaches expands and builds upon the basic knowledge, skills, and attitude learned in the Basic Pistol Skills plus course. This is a shooting course, during which the students will learn and practice drawing from a holster, presenting the gun and shooting with accuracy. Drills will include multiple shots on a single target as well as engaging multiple targets. This course is 2 ½ -hours long on the range experience. Fundamentals of shooting are reviewed including, the grip, the stance, sight alignment/sight picture and trigger control. The students work on shooting drills which challenge the shooters to be accurate while engaging the target or multiple targets. This course is intended for shooters who have experience with their own guns and want to further their abilities. The Basic Pistol Skills Plus course is a pre-requisite for this course.
United States Concealed Carry Association – Concealed Carry and Home Defense Fundamentals
(Florida and/or Connecticut Licensing certification with a course supplement)
Concealed Carry and Home Defense Fundamentals is a comprehensive course for anyone considering owning or carrying a firearm for self-defense. The course is a complete guide to understanding conflict avoidance and situational awareness; home security and home defense; handgun, shotgun and AR-15 basics; shooting fundamentals; the physiology of violent encounters; the legal aspects of using deadly force (including knowing what to do in the aftermath); and a complete guide on gear, gadgets, and ongoing training. The Previous course description is quoted from the USCCA website usconcealedcarry.com.
Defensive/Tactical Workshops
These workshops are held every Tuesday evening from April through October at the Riverside Gun Club in Hudson, Massachusetts. The workshops are designed to provide a progression of the shooters’ skills. Shooters with skills from advanced basic to experienced will benefit. Although the focus in shooting drills is to make good hits on the target, tis is not a “learn how to shoot” event. Shooters are expected to be able to competently handle their firearm and make reasonably accurate shots on a flat range. In these workshops, shooters will draw, present and shoot in a fluid motion, engage multiple targets, move before, during and after the shot and deliver multiple defensive accuracy rounds onto the selected ares of the target.
These workshops are a lot of fun. This training/practice is important for anyone who carries or is considering carrying. You must train frequently.
3 phases to every workshop:
- Shooting Accuracy
- Defensive Drills
- Tactical Course of Fire
These workshops are intended to elevate shooting skills in a positive learning environment.
- No Pressure, just pleasure
- No Rushing, work at your pace
- No Judgements, no criticizing yourself either
- Added pressure/stress when appropriate
Although the workshops focus on pistol shooting, periodically they also include carbines, shotguns or all three platforms.
Required equipment:
- Centerfire pistol (future sessions will include rifle and/or shotgun)
- Extra magazines, or speed loaders three or more preferred
- 200 Rounds of ammo
- Pistol Holster
- Magazine or speed loader holster
- Eye & ear protection
- Notebook
- Vest, or other garment, which covers/conceals the holstered pistol
- Baseball type cap
- Proper range footwear