Texas Concealed Handgun License Training

Texas requires, by law, that the Concealed Handgun License class be no less than 10 hours and no more than 15 hours. By default, instructors try to force the entire program into a one day class of only 10 hours. This allows the student to get the least amount of training available. Sure, they will tell you that they are getting it all covered, but they are really just saying, “Not my problem”.

Originally, Instructors would brag about getting everything done in one day: Class, Range, Fingerprints, photos, notary, application, exams, and everything else. However, in 2011, the ability to do fingerprinting was taken away from instructors by the Department of Public Safety. This, pretty much, shoots the "One Day does it all" sales point.

Many instructors now use a "Bait and Switch" approach; they tell the student that they can get everything they need in one day... only to tell them in class that there are a few more hurdles to jump. Now that they have paid for the class, there is no turning back.

While teaching the CHL program it became clear to me that many students have never fired a gun before. What makes them think they need to be carrying a pistol into public mystifies me. Still, it is an American Right. Let’s face it: having a gun on you is not as important as knowing how to use it correctly. Knowing when you can use it is good, but hitting the target is much better.

So, my mission is not to provide the "Cookie Cutter"+"Cattle Culling" class for rapid concealed carry license issue that many people are drawn to. As a former Army Combat Medic, a licensed nurse, an Emergency Medical Technician, and a Father of 4 (+2 Step Children), I see the need of providing a class that offers training with a different point of view.

Where most instructors strive to make a buck pushing "Your Rights" and "The End is Near" teaching approach, I try to push the understanding that "Freedom is not Free!" Owning a gun simply means that you had the money to buy one (or someone gave you one). Knowing how to use a gun safely and responsibly means you made the effort to be a part of that purpose of "Security of a Free State". Any “scum-sucking, low-life, maggot” can tell you their Rights… but having no clue what their responsibility to the Security of a Free State means they need to be locked in a box to keep others safe.

Guns won't protect you, but you can protect yourself with a gun. Leave an unloaded gun on the table for a year or two and (if not stolen) it will do nothing more than rust away. Take it out and practice with it once a month and it will be ready to defend you on a moments notice.

Because of this philosophy, I will no longer teach the CHL program in one day. Instead, I will focus on those students that “Have a Clue” and want to know more about their “Responsibilities” than their “Rights”. Classroom training will take about 8 hours to get everything about "Responsibilities" taught (4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening). Then another 3 hours on the range should do it (maybe more). I have never had a student on the range tell me, “I have had enough. I don’t like this.” Most students would rather be on the range shooting and improving their marksmanship. For this reason, I like to spend more time on the range.

Sometimes I have students that know more about pistols than I do. This is “Few and Far between”. When these individuals want to shoot and get on with the day, the Range time can be as little as 15 minutes. However, as I have said before, it is rare that I have a student that is as comfortable with a pistol as I am. Therefore, most students really need to be on the range practicing marksmanship and safety for more than an hour. For those that have no clue what a pistol is… make that 3 hours+.

If you want the "Cookie Cutter"+"Cattle Culling" training (because you already know it all), then look somewhere else. I give a more comprehensive training program that will last you a lifetime.

They can take your guns, but they cannot take what you have learned.

Oklahoma is OK!

BLANCHARD, Okla. (AP) -- Authorities don't plan to file charges against an Oklahoma woman who fatally shot a New Year's Eve intruder at her house while she had a 911 dispatcher on the phone, but the intruder's alleged accomplice has been charged in the death.

A 911 tape released to Oklahoma City media outlets Wednesday reveals that 18-year-old Sarah McKinley asked a Grady County dispatcher for permission to shoot the intruder. McKinley's 3-month-old son was with her when she shot Justin Shane Martin, 24, at her Blanchard mobile home.

"I've got two guns in my hand. Is it OK to shoot him if he comes in this door?" McKinley asked the dispatcher.

"Well, you have to do whatever you can do to protect yourself," the dispatcher is heard telling McKinley. "I can't tell you that you can do that, but you have to do what you have to do to protect your baby."

Oklahoma law allows the use of deadly force against intruders, and prosecutors said McKinley clearly acted in self-defense. According to court documents, Martin was holding a knife when he died.

"Our initial review of the case doesn't indicate she violated the law in any way," Assistant District Attorney James Walters told The Oklahoman newspaper.

However, prosecutors have charged his alleged accomplice, 29-year-old Dustin Louis Stewart, with first-degree murder. According to authorities, Stewart was with Martin but ran away from McKinley's home after hearing the gunshots.

"When you're engaged in a crime such as first-degree burglary and a death results from the events of that crime, you're subject to prosecution for it," Walters said.

Stewart was arraigned Wednesday and was being held in the Grady County jail. A bond hearing was set for Thursday. His attorney, Stephen Buzin, did not immediately respond to a message left at his office Wednesday night.

According to court documents, Martin and Stewart might have been looking for prescription drugs. McKinley said it took the men about 20 minutes to get through her door, which she had barricaded with a couch.

She said her husband had died about a week earlier - on Christmas Day - after being hospitalized with complications from lung cancer earlier that month.