Why you Should Take an NRA Beginner’s Course

Brief History of NRA and Beginner Courses

george wood wingate

George Wood Wingate (1840 – 1928)

The National Rifle Association (NRA) was originally formed in 1871 out of a necessity to help train troops on marksmanship. The association was originally founded by Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate.

In one of the earlier meetings, Col. William C. Church coined, the primary goal of the association would be to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis” (NRA History).

william conant church

William Conant Church (1836 – 1917)

Since its inception the NRA has found and filled a need to train all of the following groups:

  • Young hunters
  • Competitive shooters
  • Families with children in the home
  • Personal protection
  • Hunters Education
  • and much more

Within the branch of firearm training, they have several different disciplines. From pistol to rifle to muzzleloader, there are varying levels of training meant to improve the knowledge and skills of students with a wide array of shooting experience.

To introduce new shooters to the sport, the NRA leads a Basics course for each discipline. So far, they helped instruct roughly 1,000,000 new shooters a year through their Basics courses, thanks to over 125,000 NRA instructors. Within those basics courses, about 22% of all the students who have completed one discipline are women (source).

Both as a participant and an aide sitting in on the Basic Pistol class, I’ve heard several motivating reasons for why people wanted to learn:

  • Find a like-minded community
  • Explore the mental and physical challenge of target practice
  • Self-protection when babysitting
  • Recently widowed and want to protect their families
  • Overcome a previous childhood experience with firearms
  • Have firearms in the house and want to feel comfortable
  • …and more

Within the course, material covers everything that a beginner shooter should become familiar. Most importantly, this classroom setting provides many unspoken but extremely beneficial advantages:

  1. Space to ask questions
  2. Chances to hear stories or tips from others
  3. Great resources/references for later
  4. Practice under the guise of an instructor
  5. Chances to try, and try, and then try again
  6. Validation that everyone starts as a beginner

Material Covered in the NRA Basics of Pistol Shooting Course

For the actual material, it will depend on the disciples. For the Basics of Pistol Shooting course, the class covered:

  • Safety Protocols: Including gun handling rules but also safe storage for firearms in and out of the home
  • Ammunition: Basic parts and function. If you’re new to ammo types you can read our ammo tips too
  • Action type: Functions of semi-auto and revolvers
  • Shooting fundamentals
    • Aiming: Understanding the differences between sight picture and sight alignment
      • Sight alignment: Focusing your front and rear sight
      • Sight picture: Focusing your sights to the target
    • Breath Control: Minimizing any voluntary movements and coinciding your breath with your shot
    • Hold Control: Making sure you have a firm, but comfortable group
    • Trigger Control: Getting a feel for where you should place the trigger on your trigger finger and gaining confidence in pressing the trigger for a clean pull (instead of a jumpy one)
    • Follow-through: Keeping the same form before, during, and after your shot
  • Dry practice: Setting up for a successful practice session
  • Live fire practice: Trying out several action types under the careful watch of a certified instructor
  • Cleaning: Both for the takedown (or aka field strip) process, cleaning, reassembling, and proper storage

What you’ll leave the course with:

  • Safety is carried throughout the curriculum so you know what to do at the range or out shooting to make sure it’s a safe environment. At the very least, you’ll be able to recite the three safety rules and begin to have muscle memory for trigger control
  • Level of familiarity with a variety of action types and the parts and features that go with those models
  • Leave the class being able to outsmart some life-long shooters now that you are familiar with all the right terminology, proper form and stance, and how to clean and maintain your firearm safely
  • What to look for when you are out buying a pistol

If you live in the Pacific Northwest area – highly recommend Maureen Rogers with Lady Gets a Gun. She’s been teaching classes for years and knows how to approach students of all levels. If you live elsewhere, you can find all NRA courses based on modality and knowledge level.

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