Weeding out hype in firearms training
Demand for firearms training is very small. Research reveals that 40% of gun owners spend $0 on training, with most of the remaining 60% making a one-time investment of about $100 in a basic safety class that satisfies legal requirements. It’s a small, dedicated minority of defensive-minded, competitive and recreational shooters who make regular investments in professional instruction, spending on average $200 to $1000+ annually for training, excluding range fees, ammunition and travel expenses.
Instructors are competing for limited training dollars in an oversaturated field with a limited number of potential clients. With basically no barrier to entry, virtually anyone can call themselves a firearms instructor with little or no certification standard or license. Compounded by the dearth of online information, exposure to movies and TV, and advice from every uncle who’s former police or military, people conflate familiarity with guns with expertise and proficiency. This bias can lead them to overestimate their skill and believe they don’t need professional training.
With low participation in professional training, some firearms instructors look for creative ways to differentiate themselves in an effort to capture a share of what little market there is. However, attempts at innovation for the sake of differentiation only confuse people and fail to address the needs of a person struggling to progress.
Unfortunately, potential students have to weed through a lot of hype and ineffective instruction. It can be difficult to find a quality instructor when you don’t know what you’re looking for or what to avoid. This leads some students to select an instructor based on his or her prior background but this background may not be aligned with what the student wants to achieve. Or a student may choose an instructor based on his or her status as an influencer or the flashy videos posted to Instagram. Or a student may select an instructor based on personal shooting skill without validating if the instructor can actually coach.
Let’s expose some of the hype so you can make a better decision when selecting an instructor.
This article was originally published on Primer. “Weeding out hype in firearms training,” by Gino Giliotti, September 2, 2026.