NRA Instructor Training - Basic Pistol & Home Firearms Safety

[KMaurer]

I finally managed to reserve the Westford Sportsmen's Club to offer another NRA Instructor course.

Dates: Saturday, February 28, and Saturday & Sunday, March 7 & 8, 2009
Location: Westford Sportsmen's Club
Times: 8:00AM - 4:30PM
Cost: $300, including lunches and all training materials, course outlines and lesson plans

Candidates who complete the course successfully will be eligible for certification as NRA instructors in Basic Pistol and Home Firearm Safety and as Massachusetts Basic Firearms Safety Instructors. Both the NRA Basic Pistol class (~10hrs) and Home Firearm Safety class (~4hrs) satisfy the training requirements for and LTC-A.

The first day will be the NRA Basic Instructor Training class, required for all new NRA instructors. This class covers NRA training policies and procedures, working as part of a training team, training aids and teaching methods. The remaining two days will cover the course outlines and lesson plans for the Basic Pistol and Home Firearm Safety classes in detail, including individual and group exercises in preparing and teaching components of the classes.

You don't have to be an expert shooter to become an instructor. You need to be able to work with new shooters and instill in them the knowledge, skills and attitude necessary to keep and use firearms safely and to begin learning and practicing to become competent handgun shooters. If you're interested or just have questions, with PM or E-mail me.

 

[bostonasphalt2]

I want to do this! How do I sign up??

 

[KMaurer]

I don't need any money before the first class, just a commitment that you're going to be there. PM or E-mail me your name/address/phone/e-mail. I need to place my order for the class materials about February 1, so let me know by then. If you decide you're going to bail, please do so before then so that I'm not stuck with extra material.

Ken

 

[KMaurer]

I just finished sending out E-Mail to everybody who I had on my list of people interested in the course. If you're interested and haven't received anything from me in the past couple of days, please E-Mail me ASAP. I need to get confirmation of who's in the class be the end of this week. If you already received the E-Mail from me, make sure you respond if you want to attend.

Ken

 

[MasterShinken]

sent out response, Thanks!

 

[WaldoOneFive]

Ken, do you ever offer NRA Instructor certification training for just the "Home Firearm Safety" discipline for those who already have the NRA Basic Pistol Instructor cert?

Thanks in advance!

 

[M.J.]

Ken, do you ever offer NRA Instructor certification training for just the "Home Firearm Safety" discipline for those who already have the NRA Basic Pistol Instructor cert?

Thanks in advance!

I would be interested in a course like this as well. I am already certified in Basic pistol & I would like to add "Home Firearm Safety" to my certification.

 

[Stef]

I just wanted to take a minute and thank Ken for putting on a great class. It was very informative and even though I was half-dead with the flu, it was definitely worth the time.

 

[MasterShinken]

I agreed, The class was well presented and alot of fun. Thanks to all the fellow students also, had a great time.

 

[usnma]

Agreed, great class and a lot of fun. I look forward to finishing up what I missed Sunday soon.

My wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy Sunday evening which was why I had to bail out early. Both mother and child are doing well.

 

[MasterShinken]

Congrats!

 

[edirtyfour]

Congrats man

 

[edirtyfour]

Has anyone who took this class gotten anything? It's been three months now and I haven't received my cert from the NRA. I tried PMing Ken but he has not responded.

I've got about 25 people waiting for me to get this cert....

 

[scouter-rick]

Students of mine have recently received their credentials after 9-12 weeks. The staff at NRA is swamped. Give it a couple more weeks. NRA usually prints the credentials mid month so I am betting yours will be in the batch done this week and in your hands shortly thereafter.

 

[edirtyfour]

Ok - the class was anticipating a four week turnaround so I was starting to wonder.

 

[Mathetes]

I've been in touch with the NRA and Ken has not sent anything in yet for our class. Ken is not returning my emails or calls either. I do not know what is up.

 

[usnma]

I was begining to wonder as well. I don't think they have cashed my check yet. Hopefully soon.

 

[Stef]

Here's what I know so far.

After not hearing anything from the NRA or Ken, I sent him an PM on 4/10 asking for an update. I never heard from him. I also sent emails to his Gun_Safety 'at' Comcast address and when I didn't hear anything by the 15th, I called the NRA training center and talked to Chris Thacker.

I asked if my class paperwork had arrived yet and NRA had no record of it. Chris said there was a big pile of paperwork to be processed and it might just be awaiting processing. He asked me to check back in a week and when I did, nothing had changed.

On 4/24, I got through to Ken on the phone. He told me he sent in the paperwork to the NRA "weeks ago" but there was an issue with underpayment of the fees and rather than have the forms sent back to all of us individually, they were sent back to him and he was going to cover the discrepancy (about $5 for each class attendee) and send the forms back in on 4/25. I contacted Chris Thacker on 5/7 and NRA still had no record of the forms arriving.

I called Ken again and he said he sent the forms in via priority mail and had a confirmation number and proof of delivery. He said he was going to send out email to us all and let us know what was going on but that doesn't appear to have happened yet.

If anyone has any other news on the situation, please share with the rest of the class.
..

 

[Mathetes]

As of yesterday, The NRA still had nothing. Gloria Banks (in processing) has nothing in her "pile" nor in the drawer waiting to be processed from Ken. She said nothing has been received from Ken since early 2008.

 

[Mass Firearms]

Guys,

I know from several sources that the NRA is swamped. They are currently receiving information for 3,000 students every day (for basic classes). Ken is a good man. If he says he sent the info I would believe Ken over the NRA.

 

[Mathetes]

I don't know Ken that well, but I agree, he seemed like a good guy. All I am asking for is a little communication after repeated tries to contact him.

 

[Mass Firearms]

We currently have staff members waiting on their certification. I don't think the NRA has the infrastructure to deal with the massive volume they are dealing with right now.

You all should call State Police headquarters. You may be able to apply for your State Police certification based on the fact that you completed the NRA Instructor Course.

 

[dreppucci007]

Ken is a great guy and my former NRA Training Counselor. He's also very busy and I'm sure he's not ignoring you...I'm positive he will get back to you.

 

[edirtyfour]

Thanks for the update Stef.

Sounds like we won't be getting our State Police certs until September then. Now I have to figure out what to tell people - I was planning on running 2-3 classes over the summer.

 

[milktree]

We currently have staff members waiting on their certification. I don't think the NRA has the infrastructure to deal with the massive volume they are dealing with right now.

That I understand. It's more than a little irksome to be completely ignored by Ken though. He wasn't too busy to cash my check right away.

A simple, "I sent it in, I know they got it because of tracking data, I'm sorry it's taking so long" or even "I'm sorry, my life got really complicated suddenly and I've not been able to send the documents in yet." would be way better than just bit-bucketing our email.

I sent him mail on Apr. 7, Apr. 10, Apr. 13, and Apr. 15, and haven't gotten a response from any of those emails.

You all should call State Police headquarters. You may be able to apply for your State Police certification based on the fact that you completed the NRA Instructor Course.

I'm having trouble imagining how that might work. Why would the state police do *anything* without the required paperwork from the NRA? Why would they trust me just on my say-so? Is there more to this process, such that the State Police could go through their routine "pending paperwork" such that when the NRA stuff shows up they can just check the box and send out the certificate to us?

 

[Mathetes]

I did call the State Police yesterday. After a wait (as they found the 'right person' to talk to) the simple answer was "no." You must provide proof of a training class before they will do anything.

 

[Mass Firearms]

Not sure if these are still available but when I took my course I was given a temporary slip of paper from my instructor that I think I used to get my Mass certification before the NRA docs came in. I may be wrong...it was a long time ago.

 

[Stef]

Still no word.

 

[JGreen]

Not sure if these are still available but when I took my course I was given a temporary slip of paper from my instructor that I think I used to get my Mass certification before the NRA docs came in. I may be wrong...it was a long time ago.

Sure....The course completion cards. It's basically a receipt showing you did in fact take an instructor course.

 

[MasterShinken]