A few years ago Arizona did away with the concealed weapons permit requirement for carry. I liked this because it allowed those in dire need of an effective method of self defense to carry a firearm as quickly as possible, but I also disliked it because it made a lot of people think that they didn’t need to have any skill or knowledge in order to carry a firearm safely and effectively. I actually found my initial concealed carry class to be an excellent primer on the legal aspects of carrying a deadly weapon. It was a little light on proficiency, although safety was covered in detail. Overall, though, it was a worthwhile investment of time for an individual serious about defending themselves.
From a civil liberties vs. public safety standpoint, there can be an interesting philosophical discussion here.
From a business standpoint, some people have smelled profit.
I have received several emails from a man named Victor Fabre representing “The Carry Academy.” Mr. Fabre said we could “help each other’s missions” if I shared his business on my blog. I was also offered $6 per referral and/or a free T-shirt (I am not sure whether i was being offered both or just one). Initially I ignored the email, as I ignore the vast majority of people wanting me to pimp their business for them or allow them to write about Top One Best Gun Safes America on my blog, but he emailed again, so I looked at his business.
Their business model is to provide “training” through a brief demonstration video on the internet, after which you may take a certificate to the local authorities and apply to a permit. You can even take the course on Facebook! If you have ever thought it would be okay to carry a gun when the entirety of your firearms training consisted of you having a Facebook tab open behind seven Buzzfeed and Cracked.com tabs, please turn in your firearms to Dianne Feinstein for destruction.
The Carry Academy promises to make your life better – fast! Here’s what their website had to say about their course:
You don’t need range time or to spend an entire day in a classroom learning the basics of firearm safety, in addition to this course. Our course is specifically designed for your convenience. Everything required to apply for your concealed carry permit is provided in our 30 minute firearms safety class! All you need is a computer with internet access and a printer.
A concealed carry permit may be all it takes for you to feel safer, both for yourself and for those you care about.
That’s right! You don’t need range time or a day in the classroom to learn firearms safety! Those people who never talk to their kids about gun safety and end up having their five-year-old shoot their two-year-old, they don’t actually exist.
And hey! It doesn’t matter if you ARE safer, it only matters if you FEEL safer. This reminds me of a Prius commercial I once heard in California. The woman was talking about why she liked her Prius and it came down to “My Prius makes me feel like I’m doing something for the environment.” Not “My Prius is actually good for the environment.”
There was an important distinction in that ad, and there is an important distinction here. The people who run The Carry Academy are not making anyone safer. They are selling a paper-thin security blanket – and encouraging dangerous incompetence with firearms.
Where’s my free T shirt?
The biggest flaw in his business strategy was that he openly marketed this concept as a way for unknowledgeable people to skirt around actual instruction and get their permit, while remaining unknowledgeable. If he marketed this as a way for people with prior training and proficiency to quickly obtain the state CCW permit, then I bet it wouldn’t be as controversial
Or if he offered any substantive firearms safety training, or if he said it was a good first step – nope. This course is all you need to feel safe!
Fastidious respond in return of this issue with solid arguments
and describing everything on the topic of that.
What incredibly bad advice. 30 minutes and no range time? Jeez , even in *California* (yes, there are lawful Concealed Carriers out here too) we have to have a state mandated 16 hour basic safety course given by a certified NRA Handgun Instructor, then a six hour course given by the issuing agency (Sheriffs or local PD) on the specific legalities and responsibilities and THEN a range qualification.
Holy hell, and this guy is saying that all you need is basically a Facebook quiz. You know, I took one of those once to find out what “Marvel Superhero” I was.
Turns out I’m “Peter Quill” from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’.
I give *that* result more credence than I’d give a 30 minute online instruction on handgun safety.
The CCW requirements in CA are laughably easy once you get past the initial legal restrictions. There is real value in the classroom time that explains legal ins and outs of carrying a gun and the class I took did a good job of explaining it. However, the weapon proficiency requirements are a joke. They should require more range time.
The guy next to me on the line in one of my classes missed the PAPER AT
oops I wasn’t done.
… PAPER at 15 yards. The paper on the target was 3′ x 4′. He was literally so bad he was good: he passed.
I’m struck by the similarities between this an your earlier post on Security Theater. (Can’t find the link, but Cole’s notes: checkpoints at fairs & concerts are more about presence than effectiveness)
There’s got to be a way to force people to delineate between the sensation of safety and the physical reality of safety.
Is there some wider way to educate people on critical thinking? To get them to expose that “feeling of X” as just a feeling and nothing more? I don’t know, but I’d be interested if there were.
I guess you are not going to get the T-shirt and you won’t even feel bad about it.
Haha. man I am glad the site is back finally.
Oh and I was just reading some of the negative comments on the other posts what’s up with that? This is easily one of the most articulate and objective blogs I’ve come across.
I left the gun store I worked at when the owner wanted to start selling online classes.
Some states have no training requirement, and they don’t seem to have any significant difference in results. Bozos are still going to boze even if they once sat, truculently, in a class (you may have seen the type. “I know all this already but the law says I gotta sit here.”)
But yeah, this guy’s business plan of fleecing the bozos is probably great for his bottom line, and lousy for the general level of clue going around carrying.
I see a lot of people who are new to shooting and are really concerned about learning good safety and handling practices, fortunately.
While I haven’t used this business I have used an online carry permit class to fulfill the requirements for a permit in my home state of Minnesota.
The online portion consisted of narrated PowerPoint presentations with a number of online quizzes a various points. After passing the online portion I had to arrange to meet the instructor for the range qualification. At the range, I had to take a final written exam and pass the necessary shooting requirement.
In my case, it worked out very well in that I was an over the road truck driver at the time and wasn’t home enough to take a standard class.
On the other side of the coin, I’ve been in the Army with a combat arms specialty for somewhere north of 32 years. (so far) So I have some experience in technique.
Keep in mind though that the most important part of the permit class is to instruct on the law regarding proper use of deadly force and the ins and outs of the law in whatever state you happen to reside in.
As for minimum class lengths, I’m not sure that there should be a minimum. If you want to certify knowledge, require a test if need be, both written and shooting and let the market decide.
There are good examples of both. For example, Vermont, with no class required, and no permit either isn’t exactly having problems.
Constitutional Carry didn’t reduce permit requirements, those laws were passed separately.
I’m for constitutional carry as you are, there shouldn’t be a test and fee to exercise a right. But I think the requirements for the OPTIONAL permit should be higher than simply any NRA instructor certifying you without taking an NRA class. We’re risking losing reciprocity with every state that has higher requirements.
I agree. We no longer have reciprocity with Nevada because our permit requirements are laughable.
To be fair, losing reciprocity with Nevada is easy to do. In the case of Utah losing it, some said it’s because the Nevada sheriffs were losing out on revenue because so many Nevada residents were going to Utah instead of locally. Cost difference between the two were in the hundreds of dollars difference.
The classroom time I had was… interesting. First time I went was useful, we talked about laws, “philosophy” of carry, legal repercussions, methods of carry etc. I let my time lapse, so I was required to take it again, it was post 2008, and I was very disappointed in the content of the class. It was a guy thst showed up 20 minutes late, then complained that people gave him poor reviews because he was ranting politics the entire time. He the. Proceeded to rant politics until we went to the range to qualify.
Losing reciprocity with NV is a NV problem. Reciprocity here sucks. The Sheriff’s association dominates the process. Combine cronyism in the rural areas with an anti-self-defense mentality in Vegas and this is what you get. It is not the fee differential though because the fees are relatively low. You pretty much have to have a non-resident license from somewhere (Utah is the most convenient) to get any meaningful reciprocity. Classroom work was pretty useless. Watch a NRA video and then take a test with poorly worded questions. There is a range qualification.
And the irony is that by you linking to his site, you have improved his site’s SEO backlink profile and hence his website will gain more visibility through Google… I might suggest removing the link or adding a no follow tag to the link if you care to not improve his SEO for him and make his website more popular via search engine results.
Thanks for sharing useful information related to carry academy and firearms courses offered by them. Find it very useful.
Keep up the great work
I paid and took the course only to find out it is not accepted in Arkansas!!
I would like to know how to get a refund!!!