Programs

Concealed Carry Certification

We provide the required 16-hour training necessary for your Illinois CCL application.

Also available is the 3-hour refresher course to renew your CCL prior to it expiring.

Concealed Carry Certification

This course may be taken as a beginner or experienced gun owner.

Course includes the 270-page, richly illustrated USCCA textbook.

Participants receive certificate of training.

*No live guns or ammunition in the classroom*

All training is accomplished with safe, non-live fire devices.

Here is a summary of the detailed topics covered in class:

Developing a personal and home protection plan
- conflict avoidance
- situational awareness
- cover & concealment
- what having a permit means
Self-Defense Firearm Basics
- universal safety rules
- safely clearing a firearm
- learning about a gun's action
- revolvers, semi-automatics, and modern striker-fired handguns
- magazine and ammunition components
- calibers of ammunition
- care and storage
- common malfunctions
Defensive Shooting Fundamentals
- defensive vs. marksmanship shooting
- proper grip and stance
- sighted, unsighted, and flash sighting alignments
- trigger control
Legal Use of Force
- reasonable force
- deadly force
- use of force continuum
- defense of the home
- defending property
Violent Encounters and Their Aftermath
- physical affects of violent encounters in your body
- physiological reactions
- issuing commands
- when your right to force ends
- phone calls to make
- interacting with police
- preparing for legal defense
Gear and Gadgets
- holster styles
- belts
- lights and lasers
- gun safes and storage
Basic and Advanced Skills
- creating a training program
- non-live fire practice
- fundamental drills
- introducing your next class

Home Defense

This course covers much of the same fundamentals that are taught in the Basic Handgun Class,

but then builds with more specifics regarding firearms and home defense issues.

Additional topics in this course:

Developing a personal and home defense plan.
Home security tools, planning, and practice.
Fundamentals of home defense with handguns, shotguns, and rifles.
Defensive shooting fundamentals.
Legal use of force in the home.
Conflict avoidance.
Violent encounters and their aftermath.
Interacting with police and legal system.

No live guns or ammunition in the classroom.

All training is done with safe, non-live firing devices.

Course includes the full-color, richly illustrated 270-page USCCA textbook.

Women's Self-Defense Handgun Fundamentals Class

This specialized course just for women is a wonderful and encouraging introduction to handguns and their use in self-defense. This course offers the first 2 modules: Basic and Intermediate. Learn from this experienced and supportive instructor in a welcoming and fulfilling atmosphere. We will use sophisticated training tools which involve real, yet non-lethal, firing handguns

Additional topics in this course:

USCCA’s “Women’s Handgun & Self-Defense Fundamentals” is a welcoming and engaging training guide created by a woman for women who are seeking to begin, improve upon, or add to their firearms skills. With three distinct modules (Women's Basic Pistol, Women's Intermediate Pistol, and Women's Defensive Pistol), this course is designed to reach students who are brand new to firearms and those who are ready to learn more about defensive shooting. Basics and fundamentals will be introduced, reviewed, and then built upon, while also exploring situational awareness, common types of handguns, ammunition types, malfunctions, firearms handling skills, defensive pistol fundamentals, and the use of deadly force. Whether you’ve never touched a firearm, you’re looking for the next steps in your training, or you’ve chosen to learn about the skills, tools, and mindset needed to use firearms for self-defense, you can be prepared to carry confidently every day with tips and techniques from experienced women in the world of firearms.

Countering the Mass Shooter Threat

A comprehensive training course for every house of worship, school, business, and family. Designed to give the information needed to identify, reduce, control, and eliminate tragic incidents of violence.
In this class, you’ll review an analysis of data gathered from 48 mass shootings that have occurred since Columbine, to determine what can be learned from these tragedies, including whether a reduction in magazine capacity or the banning of any class of firearm would have changed the outcome. You'll also learn whether “gun-free” zones figure into the planning of these mass murderers; whether victim response at any mass shooting has made a difference; and whether “universal background checks” or other proposals by gun control advocates stand a chance of stemming the current trajectory of these shootings. This course summarizes this data with a comprehensive plan designed to eliminate the scourge of these shooters once and for all.

Basic Handgun

Not comfortable around guns?

New to the world of gun ownership, and

not sure where to start?

Of the three core USCCA classes, this is a great beginning.

But it is much more than simply a beginners training!

The emphasis is on gaining comfort, confidence, and wisdom in safety and responsibility.

You will learn the essential safety rules of gun ownership: how to safely handle, use, and store firearms.

Topics include:

Understanding semi-automatics & revolvers
Clearing a gun to a safe condition
Magazines and how they work
Selecting a handgun
Ammunition components & calibers
Common malfunctions
Other uses of force
Defensive shooting fundamentals
Proper grip
How to sight a gun for firing
Trigger control
Gear & gadgets for guns
Basic & Advanced Skill development
And more!