Our friends over at the firearm internet forum Illinois Carry announced today that they were setting up an instructor oversight panel to go after unscrupulous and unethical trainers here in Illinois.
We at GunsSaveLife welcome Illinois Carry’s announcement.
It was accompanied by a checklist folks can use when searching for a good instructor.
Kind of like the one we published in GunNews in 2012, and reposted here in our website late last year and then again in September of this year.
Finding the right (quality) firearm training program for you
Of the Illinois Carry announcement, we say better late than never.
We’ve long wondered where Illinois Carry was at when at least one company was advertising on Illinois Carry that they had instructors which were Illinois “approved” or certified when said instructors were not. We’ve wondered where Illinois Carry was at back in September when it was GunsSaveLife.com who was calling out Equip2Conceal’s advertisement of Illinois “certified” concealed carry classes when the Illinois State Police had yet to certify or approve anyone’s classes.
In fact, we still didn’t have any support, either direct or indirect from Illinois Carry when Equip2Conceal’s owner threatened legal action against GSL on the Illinois Carry forum for GSL calling out their faulty advertisement.
In all fairness, we suppose they hadn’t set up their oversight board back in September.
All that is water under the bridge and we welcome not only Illinois Carry’s announcement, but also the Illinois State Rifle Association’s high-profile announcements both last week and this week threatening to go after unscrupulous instructors and training schools.
Once again: Welcome. There’s plenty of work to go around.
From IllinoisCarry.com
IllinoisCarry Launches Panel to Help Oversee Concealed Carry Instructors
IllinoisCarry wants to be sure our members are getting the correct, full measure of training required by law. We have launched the IllinoisCarry Instructor Oversight Panel (IIOP) to help insure instructors follow rules set by the ISP and meet the requirements of the law. It is our concern that having Instructors whose courses do not meet state requirements could lead to the Illinois State Police and the IL General Assembly seeking stricter rules and regulations for everyone.
We have compiled a sample checklist for members to use when searching for a good instructor:
Does the instructor offering a NRA Basic Pistol Class as part of their training issue NRA student materials and official NRA Certificates?
Does the instructor offering a NRA Basic Pistol Class teach the full live-fire course required by the NRA?
Does the instructor fulfill the minimum time requirements for each element required? (line 271)
Does the instructor use the B-27 target required by law with 70% of 30 rounds needing to be in the silhouette area of the target?
Does the instructor present and explain the FOID Act, federal gun laws, and the IL Concealed Carry Act above and beyond a printed handout to take home?
Does the instructor know and inform the class that fingerprints are not mandatory for concealed carry applicants? The ISP will have 90 days to issue a license when fingerprints are submitted and 120 days if prints are not submitted.If you have encountered a problem with an instructor or one you believe to be in violation of the Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry ACT, please contact us at IllinoisCarry.com.
One nice thing about you John – No one ever needs to guess what you think about a given thing… 😉
That’s why he’s El Jefe!
It seems to me that while Illinois Carry is a little late to this effort to identify and deal with problem instructors, they probably have something positive to offer.
They have contacts, surely, who can help run the bad guys out of town, so to speak. That’s a good thing. They can also give us publicity on the bad boys cutting corners. I liked ISRA’s Thursday notes the last two weeks. I think we all would rather see some results than bluster though!
I wonder though, why didn’t Illinois Carry offer any support for GSL when Equip2Conceal was obviously in the wrong? Why is that?
Are we not working together?
Sam
Egads. Illinois Carry’s “oversight panel” should start work at their own forum!
not sure I see the point in a self appointed posse
NRA course not being taught to NRA standards – contact NRA Education and Training
FCCA course not being taught to ISP standards – contact the ISP
I can see Il Carry being concerned with the course they sell being taught improperly but just don’t see a point to it beyond this.
Look I invented a wheel
How can you improperly teach a series of power point slides? Run though them to quickly, perhaps?
I hate power point with a red hot passion – while I think most instructors use them for their NRA class I do not.
Biggest bugaboo with NRA pistol is providing all the handguns and ammo.
Pretty safe bet most of these NRA Basic Pistol for IL CCW aren’t providing the required guns and ammo.
I had a problem with equip2conceal and has send an email saying that I was going to report them if I did not get a refund after they cancelled the class that I had signed up for. They stated that they would move me another class and it didn’t matter to them wether I had to work, that was my problem. I have to say after my email to the owner and having him call me screaming about my email, well after all was said and done I got my refund. I had to call my credit card company up and make a claim against this company.