Finally took my ccw clas yesterday and....

[Jumbo]

To be honest with you, it kinda scares the hell out of me to see who they qualify for ccw. There was a 70 year old guy next to me at the range who looked like he had Parkinson's (not dissing anyone with the disease, just making an observation) who hit the 8x10 piece of paper from 7 yards 4 times out of the appx. 75 rounds we fired (he was shooting a chrome .45, not sure what make). I was paired with an Army Recruiter who had a High Point .40 pistol that he bought from his friend for $50. Gun had never been cleaned or oiled, it actually fired 3 times in the first part of the test. He ended up using my 4" xd 40 for the rest of the qualifying and doing fine, but he had 5 rounds that had dents in the primer cap that never fired from his High Point. The woman on the other side of me hit the 8x10 paper 3 times with her .22 revolver out of the appx. 75 rounds we fired. After the qualifying was over, one of the instructors let her shoot his Kimber .45, and she had a 4" group!! Needless to say, they qualified everyone at the class. In case you're wondering, i had a pretty decent grouping all 3 times (among the best groups from everyone else's target that i saw). Not to toot my own horn or anything, but i was pretty happy since i picked up the xd the day before with a new front sight where the fiber optic tube was appx. 1/4 the size of the one that fell off. Sorry for the novel, just figured yall'd like to know to watch out.

[baa]

Sounds typical for CCW classes in Florida. Scary, but typical.

I can do better on the scary front- In Florida, by the letter of the law, a certified instructor must witness the CCW student use a firearm. There is nothing in the law about what the instructor must witness. At gunshows in Florida, they run lecture size CCW classes (I have seen upwards of 50 people in one of these "classes.") At the conclusion of the class, the instructor has each student fire ONE shot from a .32 revolver. Then the instructor certifes the application and the student, pending backround checks, is a proud holder of a Florida CCW permit (good in 29 states!) Scary, huh?

In all fairness, there are a lot of CCW instructors in Florida who make the students go through a fairly through practical range test before signing the application.

[theanswriz42]

I'm taking my CWP class tonight and after reading this thread, i'm really not worried

[Kingslayer]

Originally Posted by baa

In all fairness, there are a lot of CCW instructors in Florida who make the students go through a fairly through practical range test before signing the application.

The one guy that I know that is an instructor makes everyone shoot 100 rounds per course. At the end they shoot at a target with 5 5" bullseyes and if they can't put 25 out of 25 rounds in the bulls from 7 yards, he will fail you.

Needless to say, not too many people take his course.

[Big Mike]

A friend's brother, who is a pastor down in Florida, went to take his CCL. Upon filling out the paperwork, the instructor asked if he had taken the Hunter Education Class in Texas. His reply was yes, as all hunters born after something like 1970 or 1972 have to have it to be able to hunt. The instructor just handed him all his paperwork and told him he was done, no class or range time, no nothing.

[JJ_Westbrook]

Jumbo, where in AR are you? I also took my class here in AR (2 years ago now). I, too, saw (and have heard even more) disturbing things about the CCW classes here. I took mine with two guys who shared one Jennings .25 that jammed at LEAST every other round and sometimes EVERY round.

We were using man-sized targets at 7 yards. Instructor tells us "You have one second, per round in your gun, to empty the magazine/cylinder into the Center Mass of the target." He gave the command to fire. It took each of these two guys more than 2 minutes to get that thing to fire a total of 6 rounds. NONE of them came near the 10 ring.

Next we were told "Take your time and fire all of the rounds in your gun at the head of the target." Again we all waited for these two to finish. This time, between the two of them...three rounds found their target.

And that was the end of our range session. Honestly, I have no idea which of the others were approved or denied. I only know that I and the bud that I took along passed ours.

[MtnCamper]

I guess I too had an exceptional instructor. We spent probably a half hour in the class room, drinking coffee, and getting to know each other. Small talk of CC laws. Then we went to the range. We didn't use our own weapons, but instead fired his. First hour or so, we shot .22 autos. Ruger, S&W, One with Fiber Optic sights (Hunter) and one revolver. There were 4 of us in the class.

Then we went back to the classroom, had a cup of coffee, talked more about the laws, and what if type things. Back to the range.

This trip we shot Walther (9mm) Sig. (40 cal) Ruger (44mag) and another 9mm, I can't remember the brand of it.

Then we returned to the classroom and he showed everyone the teardown of various models, and brands. Little more on some of the laws, and we were good to go.

The cost of my class was $100, The instructor provided all the weapons, and ammo, and overall it was a very good day! Probably the most fun I've ever had taking any class.

[Jumbo]

jj, i live in atkins (10 miles east of russellville, an hour west of little rock), and i took the class given by the gun club i just joined. I joined for the use of the range (100 yard rifle range, 200 yard rifle range, clay pigeon thrower, pistol range with metal targets that fall over with rope to reset, bullseye is on a hinge and pops out and back in when you hit it, wheel with paddles to hit moving target, plus all the targets, staples, etc. you can handle, anytime you want, awnings over all shooting areas with lights, all for a whopping $30 a year), and the cost of the class was $50. The class part was actually pretty informative, the prosecuting attorney talked to us for almost 2 hours just telling the laws, when it's justifiable to use deadly force, etc, then different types of handguns, ammo, etc. An hour was just filling out the application correctly and getting fingerprinted. The range is in Dardanelle, about 10 minutes south of russellville. Where you at? I travel all over Arkansas for my job, i'm up in your area every once in a while.

We had 3 sectons: Single Action (load 1 round, shoot, drop magazine, repeat, load 2 rounds, shoot, drop magazine, repeat, load 3 rounds, shoot, drop magazine, repeat, load 6 rounds, shoot, drop magazine, repeat, leave slide open pointed down range, step back), Double action (same as above), and shoot to shoulder (same sequence as above but we could'nt use the sights, just had to shoot with instinct).

[SLCDave]

Oh yeah? I didn't have to fire a single round to get mine. At the end, we loaded orange dummy rounds and demonstrated safe handling skills.

IMO, having to apply for a permit to grant me a right already guaranteed by the Bill of Rights is absurd, but I did it to cover my ass. I believe everyone that can legally own a gun should be able to carry it wherever and whenever they want, and by doing so, those that choose to do so assume all the risks involved.

[Kingslayer]

I too, don't agree with having to get a license for rights already available to me. However, I have come to the conclusion that it is for our best interests in most occastions.

Why?

Because people are idiots. We, as a group, can neither police ourselves properly nor conduct ourselves in a civilized or responcible manner on just about everything we chose to do. People scream and cry when the government steps in, but usually it's for the better.

Trains weren't under goverment supervision in the beginning. Train travel became so unsafe that the goverment had to step in. The safety of trains today, because of government intervention, is at a record high. Take a gander back through train history and see how many thousands were killed before the government stepped in.

When cars starting being popular, people couldn't handle them either. They quickly became worse than trains. Big brother stepped in. Cars, and car travel are safer.

Same with planes. People are too stupid to handle things on their own. This is why we have hunting licenses now. Because stupid people started to kill off animals without anyone thinking about the survival of said animals. Case in point, the buffalo.

I can walk through any city or town in the U.S. and pick out dozens if not hundreds of people that I, personally, think shouldn't have firearms, right or not. Heck, after less than a month on this board I can pick out three or four. I'm glad those people at least have to get a license to have them. I'm glad they have to have a little education in order to have a firearm.

People are too stupid to handle half their rights safely and responcibly. That is why we need licenses and classes. And I'm all for it.