South Carolina and Florida Concealed Weapons Permit
(CWP) classes for Columbia, Sumter, and the Midlands

Columbia, SC, Our CWP and Basic Pistol classes meet the training requirements for South Carolina's Concealed Weapons Permit and Florida's CWP and the NRA's Basic Pistol Certificate and firearms safety classes—all at the same time, in just one class, at no extra cost. We're certified pistol instructors and CWP instructors who teach both revolvers and semi-automatic pistols. People who have taken our classes will tell you that we know what we're doing, we do it well, and we're on your side.

We do it because we know that your life might depend on what you learn in this class.  So we explain everything to you, starting from the beginning, and we patiently show you how to do what you need in order to prevail. Of course we pay special attention to safety. We also explain important laws very carefully so you will avoid problems with SLED and other law enforcement agencies. All places in every class are reserved in advance so we can handle your individual needs.

E-mail us now for information and an application. Please include your local telephone number so we can call to answer your questions and determine your needs. You're an individual. We want you to succeed and we want to help you do it.

Our CWP class lets you apply for both South Carolina and Florida
Concealed Weapons Permits immediately

You can apply the minute you complete our class. But we do much more than just help you get  concealed weapons permits. We'll teach you what you need to know as a responsible citizen who has the CWP: how to choose the right handgun for yourself, how to avoid or evade trouble, how to use your handgun to protect your own life and the lives of people you love, and how to stay out of trouble with the law. We know and teach the South Carolina and federal laws that CWP holders must follow.

We'll also help you get a discount NRA membership or renewal that includes insurance for your firearms and ensures your right to a firearm for the shooting sports and self-defense. (Click any of our NRA membership links right now for discounted memberships or renewals. Join the millions of us who are the NRA!)

When you complete our CWP and Basic Pistol class you'll have self-confidence based on reality. You'll know what to do and how to do it—and of course what not to do too.

We enjoy helping military personnel get the SC CWP and FL CWP

You, your spouse, and all qualified family members are welcome to our classes. Our training is within easy reach of Fort Jackson, Shaw AFB, McEntire ANGB, and everywhere else in the greater Columbia and Sumter area. People make the easy drive from Fort Benning, Georgia, and the surrounding area to take our classes. Qualify for a South Carolina CWP from SLED if you're in South Carolina on permanent orders, or own property in the state, or are a resident of South Carolina.

Even if you don't yet meet South Carolina's residency requirements, our class qualifies you for the Basic Pistol certificate and the Florida CWP now and you can use our CWP Training Certificate up to three years later for the South Carolina CWP should your status change. Military personnel—active duty or retired—travel here from Georgia, Florida, and other states as well as from throughout South Carolina to take our classes. We enjoy helping military personnel and their families get past the hurdles. We've taught individuals and entire families including enlisted personnel, officers, civilian employees, and their qualified children. Our training is different from the military's. We focus on protecting yourself in the civilian world according to civilian rules and laws.

Our classes do qualify Florida residents—and residents of other states—for the training to get Florida's concealed weapons permit. And, as you should expect, we do it well.

We teach you gun safety and gun laws to help you and
your family stay out of trouble

Our teaching always starts with gun safety. We're so committed to gun safety that this web site has an entire section with information on gun safety for adults and for children too so you have the information you need online even after our class has ended—and even if you take a CWP class from other instructors. In our basic pistol class we explain the fundamentals of guns and ammunition and how they work. Then we build on those basics so you understand what you're doing when you conceal carry a handgun and why you're doing it. We focus on your needs as a Concealed Weapons Permit holder—whether you're a newcomer to firearms and are apprehensive about them or an experienced gun owner whose skills need sharpening. When you've completed our class you control the gun. Remember that the gun is only a machine: it has no mind of its own and no power to control you.

If you're a parent, grandparent, friend, neighbor, or teacher of young children please take a few minutes to explore The Parents Guide to Gun Safety and Learn Gun Safety With Eddie Eagle. They can help you save your children's lives—and that's our concern too. Eddie Eagle, the animated cartoon hero with the catchy jingle, lets you get started here with your kids right now. Give it a try.

We know how to teach. We have several decades of fulltime professional experience helping people learn, we're proud of what we do, and we enjoy doing it. We're not newcomers to teaching adults. You'll find that what our students say is true: we really are on your side and we really can help you.

We teach ordinary people who accept responsibility for their own lives and their family's. Civilians need a different perspective from law enforcement and the military. We teach that civilian perspective. Our aim is to help you be safe and stay out of trouble, but if trouble won't let you get away you must prevail. That's why our students include military people and their families who understand the need to be prepared at home and on the streets.

So if you want a complete basic class that can give you the South Carolina CWP and the Florida CWP and the NRA Basic Pistol certificate and the way to protect your own life and the lives of your family in the real world, you've come to the right place. That's what we teach and you're who we teach. We teach good people, like you.

You get both the South Carolina CWP Training Certificate
and the Basic Pistol Certificate in our class

Our classes are an easy drive on major highways from central Columbia. We offer the South Carolina CWP/Basic Pistol class in the Columbia area at least once a month, usually on weekends, and most often on the first weekend of every month. Click here for the dates of those regularly-scheduled CWP classes.

We also hold many other CWP classes not on that schedule. E-mail us with your local telephone number(s) so we can call you to answer your questions, learn your individual needs, and offer suggestions. When we call we'll let you know the dates of any additional classes that might suit your needs.

Our CWP and Basic Pistol course is approved by SLED to meet the training requirement for a South Carolina CWP. Our class incorporates the NRA's Basic Pistol course, which is accepted by other states to meet their training requirements for a concealed weapons permit. So when you satisfactorily complete our CWP class you receive both the NRA Basic Pistol Certificate and our certificate showing you met the South Carolina CWP training requirement. We give complete courses. People travel from outside South Carolina to take them.

With our Basic Pistol Certificate you can apply immediately for Florida's non-resident CWP, which allows you to carry in more states than the South Carolina CWP, including Georgia. (Georgia doesn't recognize South Carolina's CWP. It does recognize Florida's CWL, which is what Florida calls its concealed weapons permit.) We'll help you make sense of the complexities involved in carrying the means to defend your life, give you Florida's complete application packet, help you fill it out, and explain what to do next.

A bonus of our Basic Pistol Certificate is that it allows you to take advanced NRA-certified defensive courses such as Personal Protection In The Home and Personal Protection Outside The Home.

Get going now by clicking on this link to e-mail us. Please be sure to include your local telephone number(s).

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When a group class isn't what you need or want and an individual lesson will be better for you, arrange for Personal Training with us.

We'll work with you alone or with a family member or friend if you want. We've helped people who didn't feel ready for a classroom setting yet . . . people who didn't know how to use a handgun or were afraid of them . . . people who just acquired a new handgun or shotgun or rifle and wanted to get up to speed with it . . . military personnel preparing for deployment . . .  law enforcement officers getting ready to qualify . . . husbands and wives learning to work together.

Each personal training session is two hours, which we've found to be about right for focused work of this kind. We can schedule a session with you and perhaps a family member for a mutually-convenient date and time in one of the available two-hour time slots. Click here to see the time slots currently available for Personal Training.

During your personal training session the focus is on you . We'll diagnose your problems and help you correct them, guide you towards how to do more effective practice on your own, and show you skills, tips, and techniques you might not already know. We begin every personal training session with a review of the NRA gun safety rules. We issue you a training certificate to document every successful personal training session.

We're on your side. Arrange personal training with us as often as you need or want.  Our students have seen remarkable results from these two-hour individual tutoring sessions. Click here to learn how to arrange a Personal Training session in or around Columbia, SC.

We'll try to help you and your family too

Just e-mail us now to get started. Include your local telephone number so we can call to answer your questions and determine your needs. Right from the start we communicate with the people we teach.

And if you're just confused by what's required for a CWP we can help you if you e-mail us and ask.

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