Beginner to Carry Course with Joel Rosenberg and David Dyer-Bennet
Anyone can suddenly have a pressing need to carry. Perhaps you have a stalker, a violently dissatisfied client, an abusive ex, new neighbors with a lot of late-night traffic? Do you work late frequently and find that you have to go to your car, alone, in the dark?
Don't Know Anything About Handguns?
Most people taking carry permit training these days are experienced gun owners. But personal safety—and carry permits—are not just for people who have owned guns all their lives. The Beginner to Carry course is the only carry course in the metro area designed specifically for people who are new to handguns. While it incorporates the Twin Cities Carry Course, the shooting portion of the class focuses on the basics of small revolver handling, shooting, selection, and purchase—with particular attention to the needs of new gun owners.
Why A “Small Revolver”?
Most experts agree that a small revolver is the best choice for personal defense for those new to handguns. (Many feel that it's usually the best choice even for experienced gun owners; that's our opinion, too.) There's lots of reasons for that—a good quality revolver is simple to operate, reliable, and very easy to make safe. Modern revolvers have internal safety devices that prevent them from firing if the trigger isn't being pulled back, but unlike many semiautos, they don't have external "safety" switches that can, under the stress of a life-threatening situation, be put in the wrong position. For beginners, we feel that a small revolver is by far the best choice, and we've designed this course around that.
What This Class Will Do
Like all carry courses from AACFI- or NRA-certified instructors, this class, which incorporates Joel Rosenberg's Twin Cities Carry Course, will prepare you to apply for and receive the Minnesota State Permit to Carry a Handgun from your local sheriff. By design, though, the basic MN Carry Course is intended for people with significant handgun experience. The Beginner to Carry course is intended to bridge that gap—to provide training to people who are not familiar with handguns, and may not want to know more than they need to, so that they can be able to legally and safely carry a handgun. While the class is still about keeping out of trouble—the focus of the Twin Cities Carry Course—it has considerable additional material to bring beginners up to speed on gun handling.
What This Class Will Not Do
The Beginner to Carry class isn't designed to turn novices into expert marksmen in one day. That's simply not possible. Between the time you take the class and receive your carry permit, you'll need to spend time practicing at the range; we go into quite a lot of detail on what kind of practice you need, and how often you should be practicing. This class is intended to prepare you to receive your permit, and give you a clear understanding of what is involved in going about in public as a lawfully armed citizen; it's not intended to turn you into an expert shooter in a single day.
Who This Class Isn't for
This class is not for experienced gun owners; experienced gun owners should choose the Twin Cities Carry Course. It's not intended to be a general firearms training course—it's intended specifically for people with little or no handgun experience who want to qualify for their carry permit. What we don't cover is, perhaps, as important is what we do. We don't cover the operation of rifles and shotguns; nor, for that matter, do we cover the great varieties of semiauto pistols. Most personal safety trainers agree that, at least for beginners, the best choice in a carry weapon is a simple-to-operate double action only (DAO) revolver. And that's what we teach. We teach instinctive point shooting, rather than sighted shooting—most defensive shooting situations take place in low-light or no light, where nobody can use a handgun's sights.
What Does it Cost?
The cost of the full Beginner-to-Carry class (which includes Joel Rosenberg's Twin Cities Carry Course) is $300, which includes all ammunition, targets, range fees, and the use of an appropriate snubnose revolver during the shooting portion of the class. The Beginner portion of the B2C class can, instead, be taken as a standalone course in one evening, with the range portion to be done separately by arrangement. This costs $150, but does not include the Twin Cities Carry Course, targets, ammunition, or range fees, although it does include the use of an appropriate revolver during the shooting portion of the class.
When is the next Beginner to Carry class?
Check over on the courses page. Look for "Beginner To Carry" in the "Type" column. If you don't see one scheduled, call 612.824.3150 to inquire—we do at least one every month, but there are some months in which the course date and location aren't listed on the website.