Vetting An Instructor

It seems I'm hearing more stories about bad experiences in training, or about people making poor choices based on their training.  

The wrong instructor can get you hurt, in deep legal trouble, or worse.  Whatever kind of self-defense training you do, it is important to vet out the instructor. 

Just the other day I was sitting in a bank talking to a bank manager who had recently put up a "no gun" sign.  He did so because a CCW holder had made a very poor choice in his bank and had endangered the lives of numerous individuals.  To this day that CCW holder believes he acted wisely.  Its important to note that this bank manager is NOT an anti-gun person.  He too has a CCW permit and shoots regularly. 

Sometimes its not the anti-gun people who are our enemy.  Sometimes our own ignorant actions make it harder to defend our stand.  DON'T BE THAT PERSON!

A good way to make sure you don't become that person is to vet your instructor.

Did you know that its very, very easy for someone to become an instructor?   Its a few days and a few hundred dollars and you too can hang out a shingle and start "training" people. Think about that.  Your life and the life of your loved ones may be hanging on the training of one of those folks. 

How can you tell?

Do some research!

• Ask them about not only their credentials, but their experience.

• Did they work under a more seasoned, experienced instructor, or did they just strike out on their own after getting their credentials?  

• Have they done further training themselves, and do they continue to do training themselves?  Ask!
  
  
• Ask other instructors who you trust.  In many cases other instructors know who is good and who isn't. 
  
  
• Don't trust ONLY reviews.  Basing your information only off of that instructor's reviews can mislead you because most people who take a class have no idea what is good and what is bad and tend to believe all training is good.  Trust only the opinions of people who actually  know something about their discipline and who are not looking to make money off of that class.  

This not only goes for firearms training, but for any self-defense training. If you believe that your life is worth defending, then its also worth a bit of time to check out an instructor.