Weapons Training Classes

Researching and selecting a highly qualified marksmanship instructor is very difficult these days as there is a veritable plethora of weapons trainers and masters of fluff.

Many have the “credentials” (including Concealed Handgun License (San Antonio CHL)) and sadly to say, lack sufficient instructor experience. Although we applaud these institutions for developing and implementing an instructor certification course, they are usually only a couple of days and “bingo,” you’re a certified instructor. Sure, instructor candidates have demonstrated they can handle a firearm safely and have passed both written and practical examinations. But what is their teaching experience? Having weapons knowledge and being able to pass this along to students in an easy to understand method are two very different skill sets.

This is not meant to dismiss those highly qualified instructors who choose to attend these “certification camps”…and these individuals are out there. We wholeheartedly support the various instructor certification programs, regardless of the length, because they have established a certification criteria, albeit short, that a potential instructor candidate must successfully complete. But please do your homework before selecting an instructor and ask questions about their teaching experience and background.

In addition to 10+ years of Law Enforcement experience and a minimum of 5+ years in the classroom, our certified weapons instructors at TSI have attended and graduated an 8-week DOD weapons instructor school (not a couple of days). To graduate, they must master every facet of multiple weapon systems, as well as pass three practical teaching evaluations from a Master Certified instructor on each weapon system. Furthermore, instructors have minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited university.