RANT!! NRA Online Training (not a good idea)

Written by someone who has financial skin in the training game. Objective opinion? Not even close! <yawn>

This thread reminds me of the outcry from college professors when classes started to move online. Now you can get a bachelors or masters degree without ever leaving your house. Technology marches on like it or not. Better to find a way to deal with it than to dig in your heels.
 
This thread reminds me of the outcry from college professors when classes started to move online. Now you can get a bachelors or masters degree without ever leaving your house. Technology marches on like it or not. Better to find a way to deal with it than to dig in your heels.

In a state where gun ownership is legal WITHOUT a permit, this change isn't the big deal it is here. People buy guns and shoot them, then later decide to get a CCW license and maybe take a course.

In MA where you can't touch a gun w/o a permit, sitting thru an online course with zero experience actually handling (loading, unloading, keeping it pointed in a safe direction, etc.) a gun leaves a lot to be desired from a safety aspect. It actually ADDS liability to the instructor for when they sign off on the MSP certificate!
 
In a state where gun ownership is legal WITHOUT a permit, this change isn't the big deal it is here. People buy guns and shoot them, then later decide to get a CCW license and maybe take a course.

In MA where you can't touch a gun w/o a permit, sitting thru an online course with zero experience actually handling (loading, unloading, keeping it pointed in a safe direction, etc.) a gun leaves a lot to be desired from a safety aspect. It actually ADDS liability to the instructor for when they sign off on the MSP certificate!

I get that it is a big deal, I'm just saying that the movement towards all things online isn't going to end anytime soon. Better to try to deal with the new reality than try to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
 
If the NRA courses are decertified to obtain a MSP Cert. it will be a shame.

Also, there are quite a few gun clubs that offer the NRA classes to help fund their clubs. By only being able to charge for half of the course the income will drop dramatically. It may not be worth the while to bother teaching. Who knows if it will be available in MA at all?
 
If the NRA courses are decertified to obtain a MSP Cert. it will be a shame.

Also, there are quite a few gun clubs that offer the NRA classes to help fund their clubs. By only being able to charge for half of the course the income will drop dramatically. It may not be worth the while to bother teaching. Who knows if it will be available in MA at all?

They'll just teach different courses that's all. NRA has 3 out of ~22 courses that are approved. They own the lion's share of training other than the largest school in MA (they don't use the NRA courses), but they aren't the only dog in town.

ETA: Of course getting licensed to teach any of the others could be an expensive challenge for the instructors. Most are proprietary and only a few instructors can teach them.
 
Was busier today then expected. Had to test out the new G19 and SBR... but hopefully tomorrow I can get my class mailed out to the MSP for approval. If Id known (and its my fault for not bothering to look) I would have done this a while ago.

Mike

Sent from my cell phone with a tiny keyboard and large thumbs...
 
ETA: Of course getting licensed to teach any of the others could be an expensive challenge for the instructors. Most are proprietary and only a few instructors can teach them.

Yes, but if the NRA courses become prohibitive due to cost or logistics, I suspect the "NES Handgun Safety Course" will be created by someone; certified by the MSP; and done "open source" (i.e., any MSP certified instructor can teach it).

Just a prediction [grin]

Now you can get a bachelors or masters degree without ever leaving your house.
I know someone who got a doctorate that way - from an accredited university, and indistinguishable from the doctorates awarded for on campus study. Same price too :).

So, what does one do with an on-line doctorate? Well, among other things, teach on-line classes.
 
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Once I get my course Id happily make it open source... though I dont want to step on anyone's toes.

Mike

Sent from my cell phone with a tiny keyboard and large thumbs...
 
The only toes you'd be stepping on are those of people or orgs that think they "own" the MA training business.

There are 2 kinds of trainers: those who just want to make money and those who actually give a shit about teaching people.

The Fudds in my 2 clubs have made it virtually impossible to train folks. The proliferation of new instructors was cutting into their business.

We might as well go to a classroom-only course and be done with it. [thinking]
 
Once I get my course Id happily make it open source... though I dont want to step on anyone's toes.

Mike

Sent from my cell phone with a tiny keyboard and large thumbs...

Definitely make it open source. There is literally nothing worth teaching in a basic safety course that isn't widely known already. It's not like Glidden or the other proprietary curricula make amazing contributions to the field, earned through hard experience and sacrifice, that deserve protection, compensation, and special recognition.
 
What a shit show the NRA has become,once the student has finished thier on line training they can print a preshot target,and cert.
 
Thanks Len. I will not be surprised to see a fee to upgrade the NRA Basic Pistol Instructor Ceritification to include taking the new-to-be online training. They seem to charge for everything and we may need to pay again.

From their web page:
Will there be eLearning portions for instructor training as well?Yes. The next course to be added to the blended learned curriculum is Basic Instructor Training. The content for this online course will only cover the material, focusing on training techniques, how to manage your classroom, budget and training teams.
 
Thanks Len. I will not be surprised to see a fee to upgrade the NRA Basic Pistol Instructor Ceritification to include taking the new-to-be online training. They seem to charge for everything and we may need to pay again.

From their web page:

Yup, NRA does NOTHING without getting money for it!!

BTW, I read the new site vs. what they had pulled down. All the info I mentioned earlier was there, just arranged differently and they added some more info on other topics.
 
They're perfectly happy to continue selling the basic pistol student packets, even though (if I understand correctly) they'll be 100% useless after December 31st.
 
Yup, NRA does NOTHING without getting money for it!!
Not true.

When I was involved in running a major match in NY, we needed "NRA Sanction" in order for competitors to be covered by the NY exemption for non-licensed handgun possession. The NRA granted such sanction totally free of charge, and their competitions division staff was most helpful.
 
If they, the NRA, think I'll put my blessing on some clown that just walked in the door with his online diploma, they gotta be crazy. This is MA. They will lose the whole State if this $hit happens.

The added cost of taking the online class will further deter folks from trying to get licensed. All the extra, good info, that is expelled during a live class will be lost to the students. Just so wrong.


This whole post of yours assumes two things:

1. That all instructors are infallible and do a perfect job
2. It is cheaper for a human to run the course than for a computer to run it (it is rather case specific as to whether that is true or not)
 
Was busier today then expected. Had to test out the new G19 and SBR... but hopefully tomorrow I can get my class mailed out to the MSP for approval. If Id known (and its my fault for not bothering to look) I would have done this a while ago.

Mike

Sent from my cell phone with a tiny keyboard and large thumbs...

Serious question: There are a shitload of courses that satisfy MA LTC requirements, what makes yours different?
 
there are already plenty of non-nra courses listed....

Almost all are "private" and you have to be licensed by the owner of the course to teach it. Most like the S&W and SigArms courses are restricted to those that they have vetted (taken their instructor course), etc.

The number of truly public courses (anyone can teach and obtain the materials for free) is probably only 1 or 2 at most.
 
I was told yesterday that there will be a delay in implementing the blended learning version of NRA Basic Pistol. It in fact may be pushed out several months because the online component is not yet ready for release, and in the beginning you might have a choice of which way to do the course. Don't hold me to it, but I was told late 2015 or even early 2016. Like everyone else, I'm watching for an official clarification in the next Trainers Update.
 
Just got the email that they are rolling this out EOY 2015. Anyone hear anything from the State of MA and how this will affect LTC-002 or LTC-007?
 
Just got the email that they are rolling this out EOY 2015. Anyone hear anything from the State of MA and how this will affect LTC-002 or LTC-007?

MA is reactive not proactive. The guy in charge of that stuff might react but in this case probably not until next year. Once it rolls out you can expect some chiefs refusing certs, that is my crystal ball take on it.

There are other non-NRA courses that people will have to take instead, however most are proprietary meaning most instructors will be shut down.

Time will tell.
 
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