• You’ve never shot a handgun in your life.
• It’s been a really long time since you’ve shot one.
• You’re interested in the experience of shooting  a handgun but don’t necessarily want to own one.
• You want to take the TN Handgun Permit class but you’d like a class to prepare you for it and to check if you even want to go through with it.

If any of the above statements apply, our How To Shoot A Handgun class is for you.

How To Shoot A Handgun is a 5 hour class that will turn your fear into fun and your concerns into confidence. Topics include:

• The rules of safe gun handling and how to apply them
• Safe loading, unloading and storage of handguns
• Shooting fundamentals
• How to handle and operate a handgun in a comfortable and robust manner

Course Requirements:

• An open mind
• A positive attitude
• We’ll provide the gun and all safety equipment free of charge, you just pay for the ammo (bring your own gun if you have one but please don’t buy one for the class)

The Tennessee Enhanced Handgun Carry Permit Class is very basic. Its purpose is to teach Tennessee handgun laws and ways to safely load, unload, and store a handgun. It wasn’t created to teach you how to carry a handgun in public or use one to defend yourself from violent attack. Defending yourself with a handgun demands a level of skill. Developing the required skill takes more than one class, it is a process that involves time, instruction, and structured practice.

For those who want to gain confidence and competence with their handgun, we have the “After the Permit” series of courses, Gun Handling & Marksmanship and Drawing From a Holster. If you’ve completed the Enhanced TN Handgun Permit course but still don’t feel confident with your handgun, or you haven’t chosen a handgun yet, this class is for you.

Gun Handling & Marksmanship is a 4-hour course that continues where the TN Handgun Permit class ends. Topics include:

• A review of the rules of safe gun handling and how to apply them
• A review of the shooting fundamentals with an emphasis on defensive application
• Safe loading, unloading and storage of handguns
• How to handle and operate a handgun in a comfortable and robust manner
• How to select the right gear for training and carrying
• An introduction to defensive accuracy standards
• Proper “ready positions”
• How to practice to develop skill and proficiency

Completion of our Gun Handling & Marksmanship will prepare you for success in our Drawing From a Holster class where we teach students how to safely and efficiently access, draw and holster a handgun. Students who complete the coursework will receive a certificate as proof of their training.

Course Requirements:

• Reliable handgun (contact us if you need a recommendation, or to rent one) with at least two magazines
• 100 rounds of quality practice ammo
• Eye and ear protection

The Tennessee Enhanced Handgun Carry Permit Class is very basic. Its purpose is to teach Tennessee handgun laws and ways to safely load, unload, and store a handgun. It wasn’t created to teach you how to carry a handgun in public or use one to defend yourself from violent attack. Defending yourself with a handgun demands a level of skill. Developing the required skill takes more than one class. It is a process that involves time, instruction, and structured practice.

For those who want to gain confidence and competence with their handgun we have the “After the Permit” series of courses, Gun Handling & Marksmanship and Drawing From a Holster.

Drawing From a Holster is a 4-hour course that continues where the Gun Handling & Marksmanship class ends. Topics include:

• A review of the rules of safe gun handling
• A shooting fundamentals check
• The proper placement of a holster on your body
• How to properly access and draw a pistol from a holster
• How to safely holster a pistol
• Effective use of ready positions
• Continued application of defensive accuracy standards
• How to practice to develop skill and proficiency

Drawing From a Holster will prepare you for success in Concealed Carry Clinic, where we revisit all the isolated technical skills from previous classes and introduce real-world contextual applications and environmental factors (adapting to one’s surroundings). Students who complete the coursework will receive a certificate as proof of their training.

Course Requirements:

• Successful completion of Gun Handling & Marksmanship or equivalent course/experience
• Reliable defensive handgun
• Quality holster designed for the model handgun you have
• Belt designed to support a handgun
• 100 rounds of quality practice ammo
• Eye and ear protection

If you need equipment recommendations for this class, please contact us.

So, you’ve got your carry permit, and you’ve taken Gun Handling & Marksmanship and Drawing From a Holster. What’s next? Now you’re ready for Concealed Carry Clinic! The goal of our Concealed Carry Clinic is to teach the basic knowledge, skills, and attitude to carry a handgun daily for personal protection and self-defense. Building on what you’ve learned in the above classes, Concealed Carry will help you gain confidence, and figure out what works best for you in adopting the concealed carry lifestyle.

Topics covered in Concealed Carry include:

• Review of safe firearms handling and how they apply to concealed carry
• Mental awareness and techniques for avoiding life-threatening confrontations
• Developing a defensive mindset for carrying and using a pistol for personal protection
• Selecting a pistol for self-defense
• Concealing a handgun properly and clothing considerations
• Accessing a handgun from concealment and safely concealing it again
• Basic defensive pistol skills
• Using your pistol sights and trigger for effective results up close and at distance
• Loading the pistol and fixing it if it malfunctions during an attack

Concealed Carry Clinic is offered in two formats: one 8-hour day, or two separate 4-hour sessions (Part 1 and Part 2). Students who complete the full eight hours of coursework will receive a certificate as proof of their training. Our Concealed Carry course meets or exceeds the learning objectives of the NRA Basic CCW course.

Ok, you’ve got your permit, and you’ve taken Gun Handling & Marksmanship, Drawing From a Holster, and Concealed Carry Clinic. What’s next? Now you’re ready for Defensive Pistol, where we take all the skills developed in previous classes and put them in context. The goal of Defensive Pistol is to show average, everyday citizens how to apply their handgun carry fundamentals in real world situations.

Topics covered in Defensive Pistol include:

• Review of safe firearms handling and how they apply to self-defense
• Psychological and physiological changes you may experience during an attack and how to deal with them
• Target selection and anatomical factors in shot placement
• Quick and efficient and robust presentation of a pistol during an attack
• Using your pistol sights for fast and effective results at varying distances
• Fixing the pistol if it malfunctions during an attack
• Shooting quickly and accurately while under duress
• Cover and concealment
• Movement and shooting

Defensive Pistol is offered in two formats: one 8-hour day, or two separate 4-hour sessions (Part 1 and Part 2). Students who complete the full eight hours of coursework will receive a certificate as proof of their training. Our Defensive Pistol course meets or exceeds the learning objectives of the NRA Defensive Pistol course.

NRA firearm training is nationally recognized as the gold standard for safe firearms education. Entirely separate from its political wing, the NRA Training Division has developed millions of safe, ethical, responsible shooters and instructors since 1871. Moreover, no curriculum has been as thoroughly vetted and successfully courtroom-tested as the NRA training curriculum has. Whether you’re a new gun owner in search of training or an experienced shooter looking to maintain skills and support others, the NRA has a course for you. Citizens Safety Academy offers the following NRA courses for handgun training:

• Home Firearm Safety
• Basic Pistol
• Basic CCW (Carrying a Concealed Weapon)
• Defensive Pistol
• Personal Protection In The Home
• Personal Protection Outside The Home
• Range Safety Officer
• Chief Range Safety Officer
• Women on Target

For detailed descriptions of each of these courses, please visit the NRA Course Catalog. In addition to pistol courses, CSA also offers the NRA’s award-winning Refuse to Be a Victim seminar, as well as NRA Basic Rifle and Shotgun classes.

Has your passion for learning grown so much that you’d like to become an instructor yourself? We offer not only general courses but also instructor-level courses, training students to be teachers. In keeping with our firm belief in the “each one teach one” model of community empowerment, we take pride in preparing energetic new instructors to refresh and diversify the training world as often as we can.

NRA firearm training is nationally recognized as the gold standard for safe firearms education. Entirely separate from its political wing, the NRA Training Division has developed millions of safe, ethical, responsible shooters and instructors since 1871. Citizens Safety Academy offers lots of NRA courses, but we’re especially proud to now offer the Women on Target Instructional Shooting Clinic, a ladies-only primer designed to demystify firearms in a supportive, comfortable, fun environment.

Whether you’re already an experienced shooter, you’re looking for effective ways to discuss gun safety with your kids, you’re hoping to overcome a fear guns, or you just want a few hours of fun with like-minded ladies, this clinic is for you. We’ll go over the fundamentals with an emphasis on safety rules, and then we’ll relieve a little stress on the range. No judgment, no pressure, no intimidation, no egos, and no politics. We hope you’ll join us for a half-day of empowerment as we strive to keep all Women on Target!

Do you have trouble hitting the target consistently? Would you like to shoot faster or more accurately? The CSA Quick Clinics are specifically designed to develop, ingrain, and habituate students’ marksmanship technique in just a few hours. No matter your current skill level, this course will help make you a more consistent and more precise shooter.

In our Pistol Quick Clinic, we spend four hours on the range giving students one-on-one attention to diagnose any errors in handgun shooting technique. We also work on shooting more quickly while maintaining a steady shooting cadence, to help students carefully balance speed and control. This class isn’t about tactics. Instead, we use a series of narrowly-tailored drills to refine the fundamentals of pure marksmanship. This allows students to establish a solid performance baseline and continue building on it with the practice techniques we provide in the Clinic.

CSA’s Quick Clinics are designed to give our patrons a chance to have a bit more time with our instructors for a cost-effective, relatively short practice session to drill some of the important skills introduced in our longer classes. In the dry-fire clinic, we come together for a few brief hours of highly-focused drills with totally empty handguns. The main goal of dry-fire is to reinforce the fundamentals of marksmanship without the added hassles of purchasing ammo or traveling to a live-fire range. Dry-fire drills can be done in the comfort of our temperature-controlled classroom. By removing the distractions of recoil, muzzle flash, and loud noises, we can really focus on the technical nuances of trigger control and sight alignment. And after a good dry-fire session, you’ll really see a difference in your accuracy and consistency the next time you go to the range for live-fire.

This is an intensive full day course created by CSA’s own Ryan McCann. It covers intermediate skills to successfully defend yourself with a pistol in parking lots and other typical public settings where defensive encounters often arise. The curriculum is designed specifically for the armed citizen who carries a concealed handgun, or for the plain clothes or off-duty police officer. This flagship course led to the founding of Ryan’s training company, Parking Lot Performance.