Firearms Training School Concept?

​The current method of providing block-style firearms training (8 hours straight) is absolutely unique in that it is the only martial skill that is taught in block training and then left to the end user to figure out the rest. Any other sport or art is taught for at least an hour a day for several days a week. Shooting is definitely, if not more, physically demanding as any other martial art or sport. Whether in self-defense or competition, the shooter must perform several fine motor skills to achieve a desired result within the shortest time possible. The pressure of meeting a time standard in competition is still going to cause a release of adrenaline, though the stakes are in winning a prize vs preserving life. I believe that firearms training can be done in a scalable and adaptive manner, much like Krav Maga.

BLOCK TRAINING SCENARIO

​Imagine if you will that you go to a shooting class once a month and pay $250 each time, plus the cost of a few hundred rounds of ammo. This class is eight hours long and covers a wide range of topics from safety rules, drawing, shooting fast, malfunctions, etc. By the end of the day, you may have some improvement in your performance, but you will not be able to replicate that performance after 24 hours. After the class, you go to the range every weekend and do five minutes of dry practice daily.

Class Duration/Frequency: 8 hours/month
Cost: $250 + ammunition, travel
Skills Covered: safety rules, safe loading, safe unloading, stance, positions (standing, kneeling, prone, supine), grip, sights, trigger control, follow through, cadence/shooting fast, presentation from the ready (low, high, and compressed), presentation from the holster (IWB/OWB), tactical reload, emergency reload, type 1, 2, 3 malfunctions, moving and shooting, distance shooting.

​In this scenario, it would be wrong to say that you LEARNED (By definition: To memorize, to gain) anything in the eight hours of class due to your failure to replicate the performance you achieved by the end of that class. I can guarantee you that your brain is going to be overloaded long before the first hour. It would be more accurate to say you LEARNED OF or were “exposed to” certain skills in the class. Even if you took notes and video through the entire class, you are still left to practice alone after you leave. No guidance, nor any coaching until you spend at least $250 to do it all over again next month.

MARTIAL ARTS SCENARIO

Now imagine that you attend a class that meets for one hour a day, three times per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) at the cost of $100 each month. The class provides everything you need (blue guns, airsoft guns, laser training, and nonfunctional firearms) until range verification day, which occurs once every two weeks. At the beginning of every class, each student stretches their hands and wrists while reciting the four safety rules verbatim. Each student will then conduct a warmup consisting of different isometric holds with weights or demonstrate safe loading and unloading procedures several times in a row. During the hour of training, you will have professional guidance and be able to work on your techniques in a safe and supportive environment. In level 1 you will cover stance, positions, grip, sights, trigger control, and follow through.

​When doing a bi-monthly range verification, you will be scored and timed on your course of fire. In order to advance to the next level of training, the student must meet a specific time and accuracy window two times. During the verification day, you will fire less than 100 rounds on the course of fire, but the total rounds fired may exceed 150 or 200. Half of the range time is just for exposure through isolation drills and the other half is for your verification course of fire. Even if you are not quite ready for testing for your level, it can be done to at least record where you stand in your technical proficiency and see where you need work in follow on classes.

Class Duration/Frequency: 1 hour/day, 3 hours/week, 12 hours/month
Cost: $100 + range fee, ammunition, travel
Skills Covered: Safety rules, unloading & loading, stance, positions (standing, kneeling, prone, supine), grip, sights, trigger control, follow through 

​In this scenario, the cost is slightly less than block training, but the skills covered is also less. The big difference is that you have 1.5x more professional instruction time and in a more concentrated skill. The teaching/learning is spread out through the week and you may still practice at home. Yes, you are concentrating on a narrow section of shooting (aiming and firing from stationary positions), but it is being done in a manner that works for the brain and allows constant growth with little chance of burnout. The daily safety rule recital and demonstrating unloading/loading are by design to constantly demonstrate knowledge of safe gun handling. In my opinion, this is the most efficient method to learn how to shoot properly.

​Block training has its place and will never go away. It is a way to make fast cash for sure, but in my opinion, it is the least efficient way of distributing knowledge. It is very much like listening to an audiobook that is sped up to 20x the normal speed and trying to hang on to every word. It just isn’t going to happen. I just wanted to share my little day dream about how I would go about teaching people how to shoot. But that is if I had a million bucks for overhead and was willing to take on that kind of liability. But maybe one day…