Rifles & Shotguns
People who don’t care for handguns often ask, “why would anyone need to carry a pistol?” Even more people — including some who do carry handguns — will question why any civilian would ever need a long gun. Those are strictly military weapons, right? Wrong! Please consider signing up for one of our long gun courses, and we’ll explain what we mean.
We have instructors on staff who are certified to teach the NRA Basic Rifle course, an introduction to standard rifle basics, typically with a focus on the AR-15 platform. Rather than a defensive course, this eight-hour class is more about the fundamentals of rifle nomenclature, operation, maintenance, and marksmanship. The full course description is provided on the NRA Student Training website. This is a fantastic primer for people who are brand new to rifles or those who may need a refresher after a long period of little or no formal training on how to properly operate one.
One step beyond the NRA Basic Rifle class is our Citizens Carbine course, which focuses on the modern AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifle systems for home defense. The classroom portion gives an overview of basic nomenclature, parts, disassembly, reassembly, mechanical operation, care & cleaning, and preventive maintenance. Range activities include zeroing iron sights and electronic sights, marksmanship, cover and concealment, various shooting positions for defensive use, and much more. This is not a class for fancy military drills. Instead, every instructional block is taught from the standpoint of practical, efficient, effective home defense. And as always, the top priority is safety.
We have instructors on staff who are certified to teach the NRA Basic Shotgun course, an introduction to standard sporting shotgun basics. Rather than a defensive course, this eight-hour class is more about the fundamentals of shotgun nomenclature, operation, maintenance, and marksmanship. The primary focus for this course is shotgun applications for trap and skeet (moving targets). The full course description is provided on the NRA Student Training website. This is a fantastic primer for people who are brand new to shotguns or those who may need a refresher after a long period of little or no formal training on how to properly operate one.
The shotgun, or “scattergun” (also affectionately known at CSA as the “shotty”), is one of the simplest and most effective weapon systems available for home defense. But as one of our mentors (Tom Givens) aptly notes, shotguns are also widely misunderstood. Few platforms are as versatile or as efficient as the modern pump action or semi-automatic shotgun. But it’s easy to overlook the differences between bird shot and buckshot, eight and nine pellets, or standard barrels and sawed-offs. These distinctions are amplified and often consequential in defensive situations.
This eight-hour course will help students understand the strengths and weaknesses of the shotgun when used for defense of a private home or business. It includes classroom and range instruction on many topics, including gauge and ammo selection, action types, modifications, pistol transitions, reloading, malfunctions, rapid deployment, maneuvering, and much more. And like our rifle course, Citizens Shotgun is tailored for civilian applications, which can differ greatly from police and military contexts. If you’d like to add the shotgun to your list of defensive options for home or business, this course is perfect for you.
