Question: Should Formal Training Be Required To Carry A Firearm?

I won’t point any fingers, but I’ve seen negligence first-hand at the range on numerous occasions. Most of the occurrences seem to be from a lack of safety training. So it begs the question; Should people who want to carry a firearm be required to complete some sort of formal firearms training?

A few years ago, Dan over at TTAG posted an article titled *Are You Too Stupid For Concealed Carry? It’s a great read, and offers the following under the title “Competency Implications”:

If you are going to carry a concealed weapon, you need to be rigorous about safe, competent gun handling. Your heater is always loaded – or it better be. That means you must never ever, under any circumstance, draw it while carrying unless you’re truly in a life or death situation.

You do not pull it out to show to your buddies. You never cover anyone with the muzzle. Your finger should be indexed. You simply do not “play around” with your concealed firearm. It goes in the holster and never comes out, unless absolutely necessary.

And you need to be fully trained in the use of your firearm. Find a competent instructor and take a class. Better yet, take several classes. Just as if you want to get to Carnegie hall, you need to practice, practice and practice some more. You owe it to yourself to get in as much range time with your carry gun as you possibly can. If you aren’t willing to master all aspects of handling your concealed carry firearm, don’t strap it on.

We know that training should be a regular thing and should never be overlooked. Not only should we be training on our own at the range, but if we’re carrying a firearm, we should also be going through some sort of formal training that focuses on self-defense with our firearm.

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So again, it brings us to the question while keeping safety and competency in mind: Should formal training be a requirement to carry a firearm? Negligent discharges happen, but would formal training negate some of them from happening at all? We have also seen stories of armed citizens actively going after the bad guy. If they had formal self-defense training, do you think they still would have done what they did?

Comment below and let us know how you feel about this topic.

*If you’re “all around stupid”, then training won’t matter and you probably shouldn’t be carrying a firearm anyway. Let’s face it; some people cannot be saved from themselves.