As it turns out, I really didn't have anything to worry about. That's the standard NRA qualification target; 5 shots at 5 yards and another 5 shots at 10 yards. All I needed was 7 out of 10 within the 7 ring.
Somehow I think I did all right.
The size of the class surprised me. 50 applicants in all; we took all the available space in the training room and despite the large number of lanes at SGC we had to shoot the qualifier in 2 relays.
After we finished the shooting part of the class we immediately dove into the DPS-determined subject matter. Most of the info is a little fuzzy to me as I was suffering from a rather extreme sinus infection at the time (and yes, it hurt my ears to shoot). Actually, to be honest, I ended up suffering from boredom.
You see, I already knew most of this stuff. Chris made sure I knew all of the legal aspects of self defense before I even moved in so that if there was a problem with an intruder or whatnot, I'd be able to deal.
Anyway, as I've already mentioned I was more than a little sick at the time so it's probably a good thing I could take the test in my sleep.
However my fellow applicants had many, many questions.
SGC has 2 self-defense lawyers who teach the class, and they had answers to all of the questions, no matter how obscure. Even if the answer ended up being; "it depends."
In fact, you could sum up the entire class as "it depends". It depends on the police officer, the prosecutor, and most importantly the jury. While AZ laws place the burden of proof on the prosecutor (vs. the old system of the person who defended themselves having to prove that it was indeed proof) staying as far within the law as physically possible HELPS.
Suffice it to say that the applicable portions of AZ law were drummed into our heads repeatedly and forcefully.
Honestly, I thought the class and the instructors did their job extremely well. We were given all pertinent information in an entertaining (or would have been if I hadn't been so sick) manner and the personal responsibility aspect was drummed into us quite effectively.
The best part of all of this though was knowing that my class wasn't alone. SGC has its CCW course every 2 weeks and sells out the class almost every time. That's approximately 1300 new CCW applications each year in a shall-issue state. 1300 new people carrying in public and ready to do what it takes to protect themselves and each other. It doesn't get much better than that.
Mel
