Homeschool Ninja

While at the gun store the other day, I overheard one of the clerks pimping a training school that he and some friends had started recently. And while I encourage training, I discourage bullshit. And I overheard a great deal of bullshit. The very first line I heard was "We can teach you to operate a weapon just like Special Forces!" then "We used to only allow Glock pistols and AK rifles because we didn't want unreliable guns in our classes.".  My bullshit meter spiked and I started to get a little pissed. The dude went on to say that he spent some years in the Army. I wanted to ask if he was SF, since he had claimed to be able to teach SF skills to Joe Couch Commando. But I decided not to further raise my blood pressure by shouting down a Buck Yeager wannabe.

I know I've posted on this topic a dozen times or so, but be very careful when selecting trainers. Some of them, especially new schools, tend to be run by Call of Duty commandos, or military vets who never saw combat, or worse yet those who were deployed, but spent the whole time on a huge FOB where the biggest threat was that the chow hall would be out of Lucky Charms.

Even with my experience, I would never deign to tell someone I could teach them "special forces" anything. The thing that bothers me the most is the false sense of preparedness that these classes can instill in someone who pretty much still doesn't know how to use a gun. Two days on a range, even at a good school, isn't enough to prepare you for a gunfight. I worry about the "Superman syndrome" that classes can give people. Especially when they teach faulty premises like you should clear your house if you think there's been a break-in. Or that a knife fight is ever a good option. Or going hands-on without a retention holster. Or any number of things that are really popular topics these days.

For the love of John M Browning, please apply common sense when seeking a trainer. If it seems stupid, it probably is. If the trainer's claims seem a bit fantastical, they probably are.