I want to remind everyone that training is only as useful as you make it. Like a gun, your training will only help you achieve your potential if you work it, learn it, apply it, and actually gain from it. There are far too many yahoos, both pretending to train others, and learning to train from professionals, out there who can make the experience worthless.
With the rise of "main streaming" and all the new kids in the "gun culture" comes a slew of people with more money than sense who will throw perfectly good money away on perfectly useless gimmicks, "tactical" equipment that actually reduces the effectiveness of guns, and also sign up for courses from every Tom, Dick, and Harry that claims false credentials, exaggerates credentials, or will tell you how being a traffic cop in a rich small community for 6 months qualifies him as an "operator". There are to many uninformed people, with too much money to feed a frenzy of junk guns, parts, and bad trainers, so its important you investigate potential trainers to make sure they are reputable, and not just some fancy looking goofballs willing to charge you big money for worthless lessons.
Then we have to take issue with those who simply want to be posers. They buy expensive, top end guns and optics on guns they don't learn to shoot, just to look cool. Same thing with training, there is always some rich person willing to blow some bucks to get a training certificate and not take the training seriously. Getting a gold star is important to these people, not learning an important lesson.
Lastly is the false impression people get that training classes automatically qualify you. Remember that a certificate and training lessons are as good as a gun; only as useful as you make them. Just because you took a class doesn't mean you took something valuable out, YOU have to put the work in and want it, and get it. The certificate or the pat on the back or the receipt for the service are of no value to you, unless that certificate is bullet proof. Only the gains you make, and apply count. Don't let the lessons and classes you take let you fall into complacency, they can be how some people treat a weapon in that they magically think it will ward off evil.
A friend of mine was a rich kid, growing up with world class golfers teaching him how to become a pro golfer. Despite all of this, he is a terrible golfer. Lessons learned, it boils down to your natural talent, dedication, aptitude, and training, with training only releasing potential, not really making the person better, and that training can be frittered away if not used correctly. There are men who have shot more rounds, attended more classes, with better guns, who can't beat others who do far less, who can learn, do learn, and apply themselves.
But it can't be reinforced enough that if you are not going to take lessons seriously and learn from them, don't waste your time and money, or the seat in the course. Its your time, money, and education, don't fritter it away.
Training a good thing, perhaps a requirement for CCW is not the worst idea. In many ways it does fulfill the part of regulated militia by requiring people to become better shooters and potentially better militia members. Should it be a requirement for owning a gun? No. But we should be doing more to promote marksmanship and general military capability of the general population, including promotion of high grade training classes, and perhaps expansion of good programs like the CMP.
