Time management is a very important subject that is very often overlooked and not comprehended by many firearms instructors. It’s one thing providing private tuition to a shooter who wants to learn how to use firearms properly. It’s another thing running say, firearms familiarization or corporate shooting events where you have to get a specific number of shooters through a course of fire in a limited amount of time.
The first thing you need to work out when planning a course or an event is the end result you want to achieve. For example, do you need to train people who will be carrying a firearm for self-defense or is it a group for a corporate fun shoot? Both groups need to be taught how to use firearms safely but the group for the corporate fun shoot will be looking for more range time and less theory since they want to shoot and have fun in a safe environment. Of course, groups for fun shoots need more supervision than those seriously training for self-defense and this you would allocate and budget for in the event plan.
A while ago I was running a one-day firearms familiarization for a group of novices covering revolver, semi-auto pistol, AR-15, AK-47 and pump action shotguns. Seriously, there is no way you can properly train novices how to safely use these firearms in one day. Our goal with this group was to familiarize them with these firearms in case they ever encountered them in their travels and needed to make them safe or, as a last resort, use them.
I had an ex-military guy join me for a chat while we were running a class. He was overly critical of the students’ shooting stances and techniques, etc. He was trying to show off. Agreed, the students’ shooting stances and techniques were far from those of a trained soldier, but they had had only a few hours of safety and theory, and we needed to get them through shooting an array of firearms safely in a very short period of time.
If we had been over critical of this group’s shooting stances and techniques, we wouldn’t have had the time to get them all through the course of fire. My goals for such one-day events are for the students to learn the basics of firearms safety, to become confident and comfortable with firearms and to have fun. For the live fire section of the class as long as they are using the firearms safely and hitting the backstop, I am happy. They can’t learn to be proficient with firearms in a day and if they want more in-depth training they will have to come back at a later date. Also, if you’re running corporate or fun shoots you want the students to shoot as much as possible, especially if you are selling the ammo. The more rounds down range the more profit there is for you!
I have seen instructors continually holding up courses of fire to over critique students. This usually happens when there is a female shooting and the male instructors and RSO’s are trying to impress her. Yes, students need to be critiqued and instructed but you mustn’t disrupt and delay courses of fire because of one person who is having continual issues. If there is a student who has problems, then they need to be trained separately from the group. If you have ranges booked for specific amounts of time and have specific courses of fire you have to complete, then you need to ensure your instructors understand the time constraints and when not to overly critique the students.
The major difference between running firearms and tactical courses in the civilian world rather than the military world is that in the civilian world time and budget are your main concerns. In the military or police, basic pistol instruction may take one or two weeks. By comparison, the classes for the Florida Concealed Weapons Permit, for people to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense in public usually take a few hours and zero previous experience is required. On the vast majority of Florida Concealed Weapons Permit classes students are lucky if they get to shoot more than 10 rounds. When I did my class for the license, I was required to shoot one unaimed shot from a .38 revolver, that’s it.
I am sure many who are reading this will be in disbelief that all you need are a few hours class time and to fire one shot to be able to carry a handgun in public… Well, that’s the law and from a business perspective, people are making money teaching the classes. When I taught the classes, they were private, and I required the students to shoot at least 50 rounds. I knew for a fact that most of the clients would not return for further training or go to the range and practice regularly so, on the range I put an emphasis on close quarter instinctive shooting as there was not enough time or ammo to waste on ensuring they were proficient at grouping at 10 yards, etc.
Another thing that can hold up a course of fire is the “idiots” who for whatever reason be it continual safety violations or attention-seeking behavior disrupt your class. If it’s due to safety violations, then they need to be removed from the firing line and given individual supervision if there is time and available instructors. If they are just being a pain in the ass then, with experience you will learn how to deal with such people.
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Gun Range Management
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