I meant no offense, I can only relate to the classes in the state of Nevada. For us we are given instruction and a test, you must pass the test, then the range test. It doesn't say you must sit in a classroom for 8 hours or 4 hours. If the guy broke the law then he needs his license revoked.(period) I wish every state had Vermont carry, but sadly that's not the case.
Every state's laws are different. (Bet you never heard that before, right?) There's a legal aspect, and there's a contractual aspect, and they may overlap. I can speak knowledgeably only about my state. The law pertaining to the training prerequisite to a carry permit says:
Upon the application of any person having a bona fide residence or place of business within the jurisdiction of any such authority, such chief of police, warden or selectman may issue a temporary state permit to such person to carry a pistol or revolver within the state, provided such authority shall find that such applicant intends to make no use of any pistol or revolver which such applicant may be permitted to carry under such permit other than a lawful use and that such person is a suitable person to receive such permit. No state or temporary state permit to carry a pistol or revolver shall be issued under this subsection if the applicant (1) has failed to successfully complete a course approved by the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection in the safety and use of pistols and revolvers including, but not limited to, a safety or training course in the use of pistols and revolvers available to the public offered by a law enforcement agency, a private or public educational institution or a firearms training school, utilizing instructors certified by the National Rifle Association or the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and a safety or training course in the use of pistols or revolvers conducted by an instructor certified by the state or the National Rifle Association, ...
Elsewhere in regulations, it is clarified that the NRA course approved by the State is "Basic Pistol,"
NOT "Home Firearms safety," NOT "First Steps," NOT 'Personal Protection ..." So, in order to satisfy State law, an instructor either offers the NRA "Basic Pistol" class, or some other class put on by a law enforcement agency -- and I don't know of any law enforcement agency in the state that will train "civilians."
So we instructors offer the NRA "Basic Pistol" class. The NRA has a printed course outline and lesson plan for the class. In the NRA Trainer's Guide, the following statement is made:
It is more important that training objectives be achieved than time requirements met. The time requirements for each lesson are the estimated minimum times needed to accomplish them. (See Figure 3.) (Some states have minimum hour requirements to meet carry permit criteria.)
Then we go to the course outline for "Basic Pistol." Right up front, on the page where they put the overall course outline, it states:
Length of Course: 8 hours. Additional time may be desirable in order for students to develop skills before moving on to the next lesson.
The NRA requires its instructors to follow its curriculum if presenting a class purporting to be an NRA class. That's pretty basic, and in addition to being a violation of the NRA's rules, offering a class as an NRA class and providing something else probably constitutes fraud. So the "Basic Pistol" class is supposed to be 8 hours in length -- MINIMUM. Some states require 8 hours as a minimum.
The NRA "Basic Pistol" class requires live fire, and my state's regulations require live fire. Here's the live fire protocol for NRA "Basic Pistol" (these are all
minimum round counts, for EACH student in the class):
ONE HANDSingle Shot: Two groups of 5 shots, loading each cartridge one at a time for each shot. If student can't hit paper, repeat until he/she can stay "on paper." (10 rounds, minimum)
Five Shot: Have students load five cartridges and fire at a blank target, at their own pace, to achieve a shot group. All shots should be on the target. Be sure that the students rest between each shot. Repeat the exercise until your student is able to shoot "groups" anywhere on the target. Observe and offer feedback as appropriate. (10 rounds, minimum)
Five Shot Groups at Bullseye: Continue to have the students load and fire five shots from the bench. The students may now fire on a bullseye target, using a six-o-clock hold so that they can see the front sight clearly in the white area of the target. ... Repeat the five shot exercise until your student is able to shoot at least three, five-shot groups within a 9-inch diameter circle in the middle of the target. (15 rounds, minimum)
TWO HANDEach student demonstrates proper position
without holding a pistolEach student then demonstrates the proper position
while holding an unloaded pistolEach student then demonstrates dry firing the pistol. Instructor critiques students' technique.
Single Shot: Have the students load and fire one cartridge at a time. Have the students fire five shots at a bullseye target. Be sure that the students rest between each shot. ... Repeat the exercise, for a total of ten shots. (10 rounds, minimum)
Five Shot Groups: Have students load five cartridges and fire at a blank target, at their own pace, to achieve a shot group. All shots should be on the target. Be sure that the students rest between each shot. Repeat the five shot exercise until your student is able to shoot at least three, five-shot groups within a 9-inch
diameter circle in the middle of the target. (15 rounds, minimum)
* * * * * * * * * * * *
That's 60 rounds, as an absolute minimum, with at least 20 of them being fired
single shot (not "single action," but loading and firing one round at a time, and then loading the next round). This is the
MINIMUM live fire component for an instructor to legitimately call his/her course the NRA "Basic Pistol" course. How long would it take to run even one student through this protocol?
Now, how long should it take to run a class of five or ten students through this? I didn't even include the sections where it calls for "discussing" the exercises at the completion of each segment. I respectfully submit that it requires more than three hours to run even five students through this protocol. If you're NOT following this protocol, you're not teaching the NRA "Basic Pistol" course.
This is not to say that I agree we should have to take a class to get a carry permit, or even that we should have to get a permission slip from the nanny state before we are allowed to exercise a fundamental constitutional right. But that's not the discussion here. The point here is, the state's law requires 8 hours, the NRA requires 8 hours, the guy provided three hours. Three hours isn't enough to get through the "Basic Pistol" course syllabus even if you read fast and don't stop for potty breaks, and it certainly isn't enough time for the prescribed live fire exercise on top of the classroom syllabus.
