Note from JWR:

The first piece today is from a SurvivalBlog reader that took the Four Day Defensive Handgun course at Front Sight, outside Pahrump, Nevada. (Just under 40 miles from Las Vegas.) The Memsahib and I have taken the same course there, and we can attest that the trainers are excellent and that already well-experienced shooters will return from the course at a much higher plateau of skill and confidence with a firearm. There is no macho posturing, no shouting, and no belittling of students at Front Sight. Just very courteous instruction from some of the very best in the business. I highly recommend the training at Front Sight. Safety is stressed throughout. Near the end of Day Two of our course when they transitioned to “hot range” conditions, I felt no apprehension at all having all of my classmates with holstered loaded guns behind the firing line, because I knew that they had been drilled in safe gun handling procedures.

Perhaps the thing that I appreciate the most about Front Sight is the fact that they have a “train the trainer” approach. Thus, someone with a limited budget can attend Front Sight and then go home and pass on those skills to their family members and friends. Remember: A true survivalist collects skills, not gadgets. Just having a big defensive firearms battery does not make you well prepared. In fact, by itself an assortment of guns can give you an unrealistic sense of confidence. Get the training.Your life or the life of a loved one may depend on it.

Special thanks go to Dr. Ignatius “Naish” Piazza, the founder and director of Front Sight. He has very graciously provided us with the four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificates (worth up to $1,600 each) that we have been awarding to the first place winners of the the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. This is how “S.F.” earned his way to Front Sight.