I'll be off to the mainland soon to attend the NRA Training Counselor course in Fairfax, VA and also Shot Show in Las Vegas, NV.  The NRA Training Counselor is a 3 day class to teach Training Counselor candidates how to teach NRA instructors to teach NRA courses and can only be taken at NRA HQ.  To attend the class you must have been an NRA instructor for at least 2 years, taught 5 classes and 25 students, have other certifications and experience, and made contributions to the firearm community.  I took my Pistol instructor class a few years back from thou who shall not be named and did a lot of volunteer work teaching classes, receiving my Sig Sauer instructor certifications, volunteered as a coach, attending competitions, and helping the firearms community.

You also need 3 references and a qualification target...16 out of 20 hits at 15 yards with a pistol.  I'm a cheap guy so I just did it at Koko Head 25 yards today, not a good shooting day for me but I still made it.

Primary goals for this trip:
1.  Pass the Training Counselor Course PASSED 1-15-2017

Secondary Goals:
1.  Meet with the NRA Youth Hunter Education Coordinator about starting a program in Hawaii. DONE 1-13-2017
2.  Talk to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action or Civil Defense Fund about gun rights in Hawaii.  DONE 1-19-2017

Tertiary Goals
1.  Play in the snow.  Bolo, no snow in DC or Vegas
2.  Pay my respects to the US Constitution. DONE 1-16-2017
3.  Get a special tour of Battlefield Vegas range. Bolo, no call back.
4.  Meetup with the gang from AR15.com at Shot Show.  Bolo, got sick.

Battlefield is good. Took my ccw course there from Frank the Tank. Full auto MG42 is fun.

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Battlefield is good. Took my ccw course there from Frank the Tank. Full auto MG42 is fun.

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If I ever become a millionaire ill go fire a thousand rounds out of the minigun.

If I ever become a millionaire ill go fire a thousand rounds out of the minigun.

Tracers out of that thing looks like laser

BF had free pick up and drop off. Just tip driver

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UPDATE Jan 12 & 13, 2017
I took the redeye flight to Baltimore Airport (BWI) yesterday, 11 hours in the air with only 1 hour of sleep, I'm still dragging today.  BWI is about 60 miles away from Fairfax, VA but there were no cheap flights to the other airports DCA and IAD.  I caught the shuttle to the Amtrak station and took a $14 train ride to Union Station, DC.  I then hopped on the $2 Metro rail nearby to Fairfax (GMU) greyline then a $17 taxi to my hotel.  I’m staying at the Comfort Inn University Center which is a nice hotel for $71 a night.  My classmates are staying the NRA recommended Springhill Suites which is $91, but supposed to be a lot nicer.  NRA HQ is about a 15 minute walk away and there are restaurants and grocery stores nearby.

Today was the first day of class for us 15 training counselor candidates.  I received all of the NRA instructor guides (pistol, rifle, reloading, personal protection, etc) and the Training Counselors guide which filled 3 3” binders.  Going to suck traveling with those.  We covered legal issues such as working with non-citizens and protected classes (race, disabled, etc) and do’s and don’ts of NRA trademarks and copyrights which get a lot of instructors in trouble.  Then we covered how to teach instructors who teach students.  Stuff like introductions, lectures vs demonstrations, evaluations, etc.

I met some contacts while touring the building.  I met the Range Services department who could help me with the Koko Head range improvements.  The Outdoor Recreation can assist with an NRA Day events that provide supplies and T-shirts for an organized shooting day.  The Women’s Training Program can help get more women involved in the shooting sports. The Youth Hunting Education Challenge is like a hunters education program for youths with shooting and other activities to promote hunting.  Good resources to help Hawaii.  We passed by Wayne Lapierre’s office but didn’t get to see him.

Lastly, we practiced at their 50 yard indoor range which has about 20 lanes.  Nice range like the one at X-Ring.   I have to borrow my classmates 1911 since I didn’t bring my gun (Maryland and DC are very anti-gun).  Going to be challenging for me since I don’t normally shoot 1911’s.

Course seems challenging so far but I'm optimistic.  It's a good review on how to teach a class and reminding me of what I'm missing in my methods and how I can teach my classes better.

BTW it was a balmy 70 degrees yesterday and 40 today.  Tomorrow calls for snow and sleet so it’ll be interesting.

Thanks for the updates. Keep em coming.

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The monthly protesters braving the cold and rain at NRA HQ.  Dedication.  Or they're getting paid.

The NRA is closed and there's hardly anyone passing by so not sure why they're out there.

UPDATE Jan 14, 2017
The class topics consisted of various teaching techniques, such as creating practical exercises, Socratic Method, and facilitation and each of us led presentations for the lesson plans.  Total Participant Involvement was really stressed to the point where the Student (Instructor Candidate) does most of the work going through the lessons instead of the Instructor (Training Counselor) who guides or facilitates the class discussions.

It was a rough day for me as I’m the most junior instructor in the class.  Most of the other instructors have many more years of experience and instruct full-time as firearm instructors for gun ranges and law enforcement teaching a variety of disciplines and teach large classes with training teams.  I’ve been teaching part time for the past 4 years and trained about 60 students in mainly basic pistol so far by myself which puts me at a big disadvantage.  I’m also not used to leading presentations on the fly with no preparation on new topics which this course focuses on.  I’ve have greatly improved on time management by being efficient with wording, avoiding repetition, and keeping the class on track along with getting students fully involved in the lesson.

I qualified on the shooting target today, the minimum of which is 16 out of 20 hits in a 6 inch group at 15 yards.  I borrowed a pistol from the range who also provided the ammo.

In other news it was a rainy and chilly 33 to 40 degrees today and should be the same for the rest of my trip.  So no snow yet again.

Keep it up, everyone has a starting point.

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UPDATE Jan 15, 2017
This was the final day of the 3 day class.  We continued to refine our presentations doing both powerpoint presentations and just reading from the lesson plans, and also refining evaluations.  We also went more into the legalities of being an instructor such as how teaching a firearms class to a non-US citizen may be illegal according to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).  How an instructor had to accommodate a deaf person in his class by hiring a $6,000 translator to meet American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. How violating the rights of someone due to a protected class can result in losing a lawsuit.  Also why instructors need an attorney to consult with these types of issues or having one on retainer and the expense it creates.  These are things I heard about before, but never took seriously and I’m sure many other instructors are the same.  Guess I’ll have to look at hiring an attorney when I get back.

We finished up by taking a short exam and getting our end of course evaluations.  I PASSED which made me feel very relieved as I thought I needed more work on my presentations and evaluations.  The staff said that I had improved greatly from the first day and I just need to work on it more and get help from veteran training counselors.  There were 4 other students that had to refire the shooting qualification and 3 out of 4 passed on the second try.  Unfortunately one person had trouble, probably bad technique despite years of experience, and didn’t pass the shooting qual.  He was a fabulous instructor and presenter, and most importantly had a great attitude, so he was invited to come back again next month to retry the shooting qualification.

We had our celebration dinner at the local sportsbar down the street.  I’ll be seeing many of my classmates at Shot Show in a couple of days as many of them own their own gun ranges and stores.

Awesome Todd!!! Thanks for sharing.


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My cost to attend the NRA Training Counselors Course:
$600   NRA Training Counselor course
$800   Airfare
$290   Hotel
$80   Transportation
$40   Binders and other supplies

My suggestions on how to prepare for this class:
Courses to take:
NRA Basic Pistol
NRA Basic Pistol Instructor(and/or NRA Basic Rifle or Shotgun Instructor)
NRA RSO
Several firearm courses from a professional training academy such as Sig Sauer Academy, Gunsight, Magpul, Front Sight, police academy, military firearms training (IE PACDIV), etc.
Other firearm or other non-firearm instructor level classes.

Training Opportunities:
Teach and coach students and learn techniques from other instructors.
Teach classes on your own and as part of a training team.
Teach classes both ways: powerpoint presentations and reading from the book.
When teaching, don’t just lecture, make it interactive by asking students questions, create practical exercises, go into more detail than what’s in the lesson plans, lead discussions.
Seek a NRA Training Counselor and/or NRA instructor as a mentor.

How to practice:
Practice shooting pistol for maximum precision and accuracy  Consistently shoot a 6” group with 16 out of 20 shots out of a centerfire handgun at 15 yards.
Practice shooting the NRA instructor qualification for centerfire rifle and shotgun. (this may be required in the future)
Safely manipulate the firearms according to the NRA checklist.
Learn to shoot and operate many different types of firearms.
Shoot different disciplines (bullseye, IPSC, Skeet/Trap, highpower, etc) to have a broad experience.

Things to bring to class:
Bring whatever is required on the NRA course email.
I brought a SIRT laser pistol and snap caps as training aids, but it wasn’t used and I didn’t need it.
Most people brought their own firearms, but I borrowed from the NRA.

Other:
Learn how to lead organizations, projects, and teams.
Volunteer with firearm organizations and learn as much as possible about the firearm community.
Know the NRA 3 gun safety rules verbatim.
Know people that can write letters of recommendations based on your firearms instructor status.
I suggest getting to Fairfax 2 nights prior to get over jet lag before class starts.
A rental car isn't necessary.
Enter your NRA students into www.nrainstructors.org to be credited toward the pre-course requirements.

Did the deaf person have to wear ear protection?

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Did the deaf person have to wear ear protection?

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I didn't ask but I assume so.  There's probably other damage loud noise can still do.  If not, then it could unnecessarily alarm the range staff and other shooters that someone's not wearing ear pro

Doesn't that make you a Death Eater?

I'll be off to the mainland soon to attend the NRA Training Counselor course in Fairfax, VA and also Shot Show in Las Vegas, NV.  The NRA Training Counselor is a 3 day class to teach Training Counselor candidates how to teach NRA instructors to teach NRA courses and can only be taken at NRA HQ.  To attend the class you must have been an NRA instructor for at least 2 years, taught 5 classes and 25 students, have other certifications and experience, and made contributions to the firearm community.  I took my Pistol instructor class a few years back from thou who shall not be named and did a lot of volunteer work teaching classes, receiving my Sig Sauer instructor certifications, volunteered as a coach, attending competitions, and helping the firearms community.

You also need 3 references and a qualification target...16 out of 20 hits at 15 yards with a pistol.  I'm a cheap guy so I just did it at Koko Head 25 yards today, not a good shooting day for me but I still made it.

Primary goals for this trip:
1.  Pass the Training Counselor Course PASSED 1-15-2017

Secondary Goals:
1.  Meet with the NRA Youth Hunter Education Coordinator about starting a program in Hawaii. DONE 1-13-2017
2.  Talk to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action or Civil Defense Fund about gun rights in Hawaii.

Tertiary Goals
1.  Play in the snow
2.  Pay my respects to the US Constitution.
3.  Get a special tour of Battlefield Vegas range
4.  Meetup with the gang from AR15.com at Shot Show

Made it to Shot Show in Las Vegas.

NRA TC CONCLUSION

The NRA Training Counselors (TC) course was a 3 day class on teaching techniques and there was no firearms instruction.  It's assumed that you have already mastered the technical aspects of operating a firearm, shooting fundamentals, and coaching as an expert NRA instructor teaching classes before you take this class.  Training Counselors stress Total Participant Involvement when teaching NRA Instructor candidates who then pass that along in their classes to NRA basic students.  I felt I was underprepared for the class by not working with other instructors and teaching in a variety of training environments.  My Sig Sauer Academy instructor classes taught 35% how to teach and 65% technical.  The TC class was 100% how to teach.

The legal aspects are highly stressed.  The business side of instructing requires you to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, not discriminate against protected classes, and be careful of teaching non-citizens to avoid ITAR violations.  There's also the liability of accidents or criminal acts by your students.  It's very important to seek legal advice from an attorney and obtain instructor's insurance.

I enjoyed taking the class even though I struggled through it.  My experience in teaching has greatly increased not only through the classroom instruction, but also learning different teaching styles from other students in the class.  I recommend taking this class after you have the experience, preparation, and seek advice from a NRA TC.

I'm happy to assist and mentor other NRA instructors, just message me.

On Monday I saved a day to tour around the area.  First I visited the NRA Firearms Museum where they have thousands of historical rifles starting from America's first rifles brought over by the Mayflower, repeating muskets, gatling guns, cannons, guns from war heroes, and movie props.  You can see all of their historical guns online at http://www.nramuseum.org/.

Then I took the subway to DC.  The area was being preppared for the presidential inauguration and the White House and Capitol buildings were dressed up for the occasion.  I went to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence  and the Constitution.  The Archives is a good visit as it has other historical documents such as the Magna Carta and explains how government works and how civil rights were won.  https://www.archives.gov/museum/.  It's a recommended visit.

Shot Show Day 1

Yesterday I attended the State of the Industry dinner.  The sold out event cost $125 and there were about 1,500 attendees from across the industry.  We celebrated the new political era with the Trump Presidency and there were a bunch of awards given out.  S&W was the largest senator at$500,000 and the Owner of Mossberg received a lifetime achievement award.  Also in attendance was the US shooting Olympics team.  The guest speaker of the night was Mike Rowe from the show Dirty Jobs.  He was very funny without trying to be funny going through his experiences on the show in a PG13 sorta way.   He tied his experience with the firearm industry in that most people don't know what blue collar workers/gun owners are like.  Hard working, responsible, and law abiding.  Also both are under attack by politics and those that don't know the whole story. 

The night was well worth the price of admission.  Dinner and wine was nice too.