4 years ago
Marty is a very friendly instructor who tries to m...
Marty is a very friendly instructor who tries to make his classroom very casual which is well and good, but is that the right way to teach people to carry a deadly weapon?
My wife and I attended Marty's class a few months ago. As I said, he was very friendly, gave us some nice safety gear and his wife brought us a very nice lunch. He also had free drinks and snacks available which was nice.
The classroom was in a small warehouse type building that was ill equipped for a classroom. There was no air conditioning and very little ventilation. Also, the classroom looked more like an afterthought in a very cramped building filled with lots of other stuff.
When we signed up for the class, we were sent a confirmation with very clear instructions. Class started promptly at 8 am and it said very clearly to not use GPS as it would take you to the wrong place, along with well written directions on how to get to the classroom. Apparently the 8 am start time is more of a guideline as we waited for an hour and a half for a student who used a GPS instead of the directions.
The instructions also clearly stated what to bring with you to the class, including eye and ear protection for the live fire portion at the shooting range. The late student didn't bring either of those. This same person also fell asleep during the class. Maybe I'm crazy here, but I think if you can't follow simple instructions (or stay awake) you have no business carrying a concealed deadly weapon.
When I said Marty was very friendly, I mean he was VERY friendly. He often would go off on tangents telling stories about his family or past experiences which sometimes would tie into a point about CCDW but often wouldn't. This type of instructing turned a class that should have taken 4-5 hours into an 9+ hour slog, including the hour and a half spent waiting for the late student. He spent so much time off topic that he had to rush through the latter part of the class in an hour. This portion included topics like target selection, weapon cleaning, and how to interact with police while carrying a deadly weapon. That last part should definitely not be rushed at all in today's climate.
At the end of the class we took a "test" on what we had learned. I say "test" because it was open book and could basically ask what the answer was for each question. Marty actually told us before the test that everyone would get a 100% on the exam, regardless of if you actually learned anything. This was the part that really angered both my wife and myself.
Your taking a class to learn how to carry a concealed weapon. I would think that the instructor would want to know if you actually retained any of the information he had taught you. That you had actually learned something from him, if for no other reason so he could get feedback on his teaching ability. His casual attitude towards our "final exam" that he didn't really care and that the class was basically a rubber stamp.
We then drove 15 minutes or so to the "range" which was on a friends farm (don't worry, he has a story about this). We then spent about 15 minutes setting up the range, 30 minutes rushing through the test and another 15 minutes taking the range apart and policing our brass. We didn't have time to try out any of the shooting techniques he had taught us during the class.
When it was all said and done we were in this class for over 10 hours. We wish now that we had gone to Bud's Guns in Lexington or Point Blank in Florence KY. My son will be getting his CCDW next month, he won't be coming here. If you want a basically guaranteed CCDW permit, then take this class. If you want to actually learn the in's and out's of being a responsible CCDW permit holder, do yourself a favor, pay the extra money and go somewhere else.
kentuckystatepolice.org
