On Saturday February 4, 2017, I had the pleasure of taking the Louisiana Concealed Handgun Permit…read more(CHP) class with my dad. The course was taught by NOLATAC instructor Kenneth "Kenny" Fernandez inside of the St. Bernard Indoor Shooting Center. This nearly 10 hour class (including the shooting course) fulfills the mandatory requirement of 9 hours of classroom instruction necessary for a lawful citizen to apply for a CHP.
This is a long day and I recommend that students bring their lunch, as we only had 30 minutes to eat lunch, as well as 2 separate 5 minute restroom breaks. This may sound extreme to some, but it was the goal of NOLATAC to provide a course that could be completed in a single day, rather than having a 2-day course. The classroom is set up with tables and has room for approximately 20 students. Thankfully, the chairs are extremely comfortable and there is a lot of legroom between rows. The classroom also features a Keurig coffee machine with at least a dozen varieties of coffees, as well as snacks, water and sodas.
Kenny Fernandez is an excellent instructor. By law, he is required to cover a lot of topics. Louisiana Revised Statute was covered in depth through a series of lectures and videos, with emphasis on "Use of force or violence in defense", "Justifiable homicide", "Illegal Carrying of weapons" and "Statewide permits for concealed handguns; application procedures". Discussing law can often be mundane, but Kenny's approach includes a lot of relevant videos, slideshows and scenarios. To get his students thinking, a lot of "what would you do if" scenarios were presented and discussed.
From the onset of his presentation and throughout the day, the importance of safety being paramount was drilled into our heads. Our particular class had a good representation of demographics to include both sexes, multiple ethnicities and ages ranging from mid-20s to mid-70s. Kudos to Kenny for being able to keep all of us engaged and keep us all moving forward through the class until it was actually time to shoot.
Topics were covered in a way that even if a student had never touched a firearm, he or she would have a solid foundation by the end of the day. Some of the basics taught were firearm nomenclature, the 4 components of a pistol cartridge and the 3 causes of ammunition malfunctions. The essential 6 fundamentals of shooting (listed below) were explained in great detail, with significant emphasis on sight alignment and follow through.
1. Grip
2. Position (stance)
3. Breath control
4. Sight alignment/sight picture
5. Trigger press
6. Follow through
We were taught that as CHP holders, "lethal force should be our last resort and we should exercise confrontational avoidance whenever possible; and our ultimate goal is to avoid a confrontation by not presenting ourselves as a target". Kenny was realistic in that he advised us that sometimes, good people are placed in situations where they may have to use lethal force to protect ourselves or the life of another. But he emphasized that "We do not make the decision to shoot someone. He/she makes the decision to get shot". Furthermore, we were taught that we shoot to stop the threat and we shoot until the threat stops.
We received a lot of handouts at the beginning of the class to include:
1. United Stated Concealed Carry Association
2. Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League
3. The Louisiana Shooting Association
4. National Crime Prevention Council
5. National Rifle Association
6. Armed Citizen Educational Foundation
7. Pocket Constitution (my favorite)
The actual shooting portion of the class took place at the very end of the day after all the academics were complete. The shooting portion, in my opinion as a somewhat experienced shooter, was not challenging. However, it served a valuable purpose for the newer shooter and met the requirements for a CHP. The course was a 36 round course with 12 rounds being fired at a black silhouette target from 6 feet, 10 feet and 15 feet. There was also a mandatory magazine change (for semi-automatic firearms) after each 6 rounds. Kenny was able to get us through the range portion of the class quickly and safely by utilizing some of the St. Bernard Indoor Shooting Center firearms instructors.
I thoroughly enjoyed this class and I highly recommend using NOLATAC if you ever consider taking a CHP class. And if you do, I'd find out when Kenny Fernandez is teaching and try to get in his class.