What's going on gang,
I'm packing up right now, getting ready to drive from VA to TX for 4 days of training. Taking a 3 day Pistol Instructor Development class and a 1 day defensive shotgun course with the Rangemaster, Tom Givens.
Tom is a former Memphis cop that has trained thousands of students. Besides being an incredible instructor, his claim to fame is keeping track of defensive shootings his former students have been involved in, and publishing those results. I believe he's up to 63 former students in gun fights, and all except 1 have won (that dude wasn't carrying a gun and I believe was killed). His main takeaway is HAVE A GUN ON YOU.
I might have mentioned, but I'm the VP of NAAGA in Northern VA. When I joined there was much more interest than I originally thought, and our membership is increasing all the time. With everything going on since last summer, a lot of my people* are buying guns and ammo, and I'm seeing there's a serious lack in training and instructors geared toward us. I'm hoping to one day learn enough to at least make sure the newbies in my gun club have someone that can give them a basic run down in safety and use.
I'd REALLY like to get into teaching the shotgun. It wasn't that long ago last summer when you couldn't find a 12 gauge Remington or Mossberg without paying double what you could normally find them for. There's millions of brand new shotgun owners in this country, with no idea how to use them. Shotgunning is coming back, but there's a lot of institutional knowledge that's lost as police and everyday folks move away from a 12 gauge to lightweight semi-auto or cheap, incredibly accurate bolt action rifles for defense and hunting needs. Thanks to 20 years of foreign wars and thousands of returning troops, technology and training on an AR has matured to a point getting a good rifle for cheap and good training are no more than an hour away. There's probably hundreds of been there, done that dudes that can teach you how to effectively use an AR-15.
The 12 gauge as used defensively was almost exclusively the domain of police officers in the continental US. It was as common 25 years ago to see a police cruiser with a 12 gauge Remington 870 or Mossberg 5xx as it is to see an AR-15 in that same cruiser today. Many of those older cops that came up on a 12 gauge are retired and old. Quality shotgun training, especially advanced shotgun training, The 12 gauge shotgun is probably the most versatile guns one can own; with the proper ammo it can do anything/everything a rifle can within 100 yards. A one gun package, with the correct ammo, is capable of hunting 10 lb birds, or taking down a 800 lb charging grizzly bear, or popping a deer at 75 yards, the shotgun is the most destructive pull of the trigger that regular earth people can effectively use. It's also 50 state legal, ammo (during normal times) can be found anywhere, and dressed up in blued steel with wood furniture it's much less threatening than that red dot sighted 10.5' AR pistol with 40 round pmag.
Got close to a full case of 9mm and 200 rounds of mixed shotgun ammo, 3 handguns, and a pair of gussied up vintage wingmaster 870's loaded up ready to go. The p365x is a late game decision as I just got the chance to shoot it a few weeks ago, and shot some great (for me) 25 yard/75 foot 10 round groups.