Introduction to Handguns for Self Defense course a success

Posted by Leon S. on Monday, May 9, 2011

On May7th, 2011 Superior Security Concepts conducted their Introduction to Handguns for Self Defense course at Sandy Springs Gun Club. The class was comprised of a wide variety of students from different backgrounds and age brackets; from a young teenager who was shooting for the very first time to a local senior citizen who admitted that the last time he had fired a pistol was sometime back in the late 1960's!

The class focused on specific topics vitally important to the civilian gun owner wanting to defend their families and their homes from home invasions and the increase in crime and to Professional Security Practitioners looking to improve their skills to make sure they go home safely at the end of their shift. The course started with an explanation of Georgia Laws on Self Defense, Justified Use of Deadly Force and Firearms Ownership. Several sections of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.) pertaining to how Georgia interprets self defense was cited to include:


        16-3-21 - Use of Force in Defense of Self or Others
        16-3-23 - Use of Force in Defense of Habitation
        16-3-24 - Use of Force in Defense of Property other than Habitation
        16-11-101.1 - Furnishing a pistol or revolver to a person under the age of 18
        16-11-113 - Transfer of firearm other than to the actual buyer
        and much, much more.

Students were presented with a variety of scenarios in which those laws were applicable and asked to decide which scenarios did not legally present the option of using deadly force. Many of the students were surprised to learn that a lot of what they previously thought was applicable because of what they had heard or even saw on TV would actually land them in a heap of legal trouble. All the participants were well satisfied though, to realize the importance of understanding their legal limits for self defense applications. The instructors also covered the 4 A.C.T.S. of firearms safety with the class to ensure everyone knew it and could recite it on demand. An explanation of the basics of firearms operations was covered for several handgun types so that everyone was familiar with how to safely operate the different firearms being used in this class. Our instructors also covered the basic fundamentals of marksmanship and explained how each played an important role in accurate shooting. Then it was off to the firing line!

On the firing line, students were reminded of the safety protocols we covered in the classroom and we again went over briefly the operations of the different types of handguns being used in the live fire portion of the class. Finally, a rehash of the basic fundamentals of marksmanship was reiterated and shooters were shown how these fundamentals affected their ability to accurately place their shots on the target.

Students were shown various techniques to improve shot placement and quickly adapted those techniques to use.

As we began our final stage of the live fire exercise, students were put into a scenario where all of the information covered in the course would be applied. The students were required to perform under time to accurately place shots on a full color replica target of an attacker. The time presented replicated close to actual time to first shot of an actual encounter. The students were required to make those shots repetitively to ensure consistency in shot placement under real time stress. All of the students performed well and shot groups were much improved compared to the initial stages of the course.