Students that work their way through the NRA Pistol Curriculum or those with Security or Law Enforcement experience are eligible to take the NRA Defensive Pistol Course. In Defensive Pistol you start to run the gun and incorporate time, plus movement. A fun drill we include before the qualification is a reaction drill where students push their limits in a friendly competition to see who can draw and get quicker hits on target. This student elected for me to go first on each rep so he had a higher challenge.
My only goal was to make him miss, he didn't!
Special Tasks Group Training
Special Tasks Group Training specializes in firearm, basic medical, and active violence response. Why Private Instruction?
Private instruction provides flexible scheduling, personal pacing, and allows classes to occur, sooner, without a minimum group number or cancellation. Knowledge and competence are what you should have when in a stressful or dangerous situation. Take your learning to the next step with our private/small group firearm instruction, basic medical, or active shooter response training to ensure you are
07/19/2026
Had a beautiful day to welcome 7 new NRA Rifle Instructors into the fold. For many, this was a 2nd or 3rd certification and I was happy to be there to enable and share in their success!
07/02/2026
I think its very important to be doing the job you are teaching. Fortunately, I get to do some fun gigs while I keep my toes dipped in the water of the security world.
During the NRA First Steps Rifle Orientation Course students are introduced to a variety of positions in isolation. If there is ammo left over at the end, student's that have done well with their safety throughout the day can perform a flow drill. The drill is designed for students to move through the positions and experience how small details can be forgotten once movement is introduced. In this clip, the student was self correcting small manipulations with the manual safety, in real time.
06/12/2026
We had the chance to train a dedicated group of church members this past week at . Our classes with community groups always run long because of the amount of engagement students have with the theory of training as well as hands on skill portion. Their fellows are in good hands!
06/06/2026
The Spring weather is finally turning to summer. Whats your fix for sweaty hands? My favorite, anti-perspirant deoderant (on your hands) coupled with some quality .
05/26/2026
I failed a student by a half inch (twice) and people would say I am a stickler so lets talk about standards,
I have worked in a few places where people were not committed to getting better. Worse, they rallied against anyone trying to do better.
Now that I work for myself again, I have to choose every day if I am going to hold a standard or give someone a pass for convenience. I remember the anger, hostility, and poor treatment I have received in my past two positions for simply asking people to show up on time and do their part. I always keep that in mind when I have to choose to make a correction to someone. You never know how someone is going to react despite your intention to help them be better. On top of that, these people are paying me for a service, they are not employees being paid to perform a task. Would they not have stronger reason to be upset with feedback on their skills or resistant to positive coaching? Independent Instructors face the conveniece and keep the customer happy challenge every minute of class when people need to meet any standard past experiential.
I have met a lot of good instructors who do not cut corners. And fortunately, I have never met but only heard of the convenience and keep the customer happy instructors. Why haven't I met them? Because their students leave and come to me or someone else and we hear about it.
I get disappointed when I have a student retaking a class with me, taking a new class and realizing their last instructor failed to prepare them to the minimum standards, or those who were to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. Im disapointed in the instructor, not the student.
A lot of these instructors do not last. Why? Well that brings me back to the customer not employee. Paying vs paid. These people are the embodiment of the NRA saying attitude is extremely important to train someone and these people paying to be there, especially in PA where there is no training requirement. They are paying for that service and they want their moneys worth!
Today, I had to do remediation with one of the students who had failed to qualify. They are not the first I have failed by a half inch. I tell each of them the same: It is not because I do not like them, but its because I also respect the people that passed by a 1/2 inch or showed up and smoked it. I want them to have the excitement like when the student passes by a 1/2 inch and the whole class cheers. I am putting off their goals, inconveniencing them, and potentially more cost to them (I dont re-charge for remediation). How are they supposed to take that?
Well, instead of death threats (yes, really), I am getting thank you notes, gift cards, and dinner. Honestly, spending time with a lot of these people is gift enough because they are positive and invested in their development. I realized thats the difference from my past colleagues, my students attitude to be better makes them receptive and yearning for that feedback and coaching. When they do not get it? They are going to go somewhere that expects them to get better and brings the knowledge and skills to do that.
Got a chance to run our duty handgun course on my birthday. I could not think of a better way to spend my day than on the range with 4 gents who take their training seriously. Duty Handgun is Continuing Law Enforcement Education approved with a goal of increasing operator performance and speed to first hit. Towards the end of the day students start to combine all the skills taught to incorporate shooting from cover, shooting then moving and shooting on the move with an emphasis on staying safe while performing dynamic skills. If you or your agency need certified training, get in touch!
05/23/2026
What is your family doing on a Friday night? This family decided it was a good time to crush some wine and refresh their CPR knowledge.
Yeah, thats right, we do house calls!
04/25/2026
When you book a public class but then get all your friends to fill the seats, its just a private class right? Check out this 15/15 crew that dodged the wind and rain for a successful NRA First Steps Rifle and Pistol Orientations in the same day.
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Pittsburgh, PA
15232