NRA Certified in Pistol

Well I got it! I am now certified as an NRA instructor for Pistol. It was a weekend of work, a 17 hour course for those interested.

The one I took was broken down into two parts.  The first part was covering how the NRA wants instructors to act, kind of a crash course in teaching.  The second part was about pistols and how to teach the pistol course.

We went over  a LOT of stuff in a very short time then had to take a test on each part.

For me the instructor part was rather dry and did not cover much new stuff for me.  I teach classes at work all the time so much of this was a repeat.

The pistol part was a lot more interesting to me.  We went over the basic laws, then how to teach pistol use to a beginner.  This was a lot of stuff I already knew, but some new stuff to.  It was a good review on how to hold the pistol, good pointers on trigger control and follow through helped too.

Once I passed the two tests I had to wait about two weeks for my cert from the NRA to show up in the mail.  Now I have to fill out the state form and wait for the MA cert to show up.  Once I have that I will be able to teach in MA so folks can get their licence.

Next week I will be assisting in my first class at the club.  I don't know how many folks we will have but it will be a first class for me as an instructor of any kind.  I am nervous but looking forward to it.  I think I will learn a lot working with the more experienced instructors and teaching folks.  You would be amazed how much you learn yourself when you teach someone how to do something . . .

So we are off on our new adventure in teaching now. . .  more later