Safety first

by Phil Houseal, Mar 2, 2011 - Kerrville TX Community Journal


No one expects to find themselves in a life-threatening situation. But students who take the Texas Concealed Handgun License (CHL) course will be better prepared if it should ever happen.

Club Ed is offering seven CHL courses this spring in Boerne and Mountain Home, and every one is filled or nearly filled.

The popularity seems to be a national phenomenon - the shooting sports are among the fastest growing sports among all ages, backgrounds, and both sexes. More Americans now spend more on shooting sports than golf.

Larry Arnold teaches the Kerrville course, along with Hunter Education. Arnold has been a firearms enthusiast since he was a boy, introduced to gun safety and instructed by his father, a decorated war veteran. He began teaching the CHL course from the first day the Texas law authorized it in 1995.

“The only thing I love more than shooting is teaching others how to shoot,” he said.

It may come as a surprise to those who have not taken the CHL course how much time is spent learning ways to avoid resorting to using the firearm.

“First we teach safety, and we always teach safety when talking about firearms,” Arnold said. “We learn the laws of self-defense; what you can and cannot do to protect yourself.”

Students in the course also learn nonviolent conflict resolution.

“If you are in a situation you can keep under control, we teach ways to do that,” he said. “Pulling out your gun is the last resort.”

But trained students who find themselves in a “last resort” situation will be prepared. “The whole point of this training is to protect yourself and other innocents.”

Arnold notes that much of the training focuses on helping people overcome their fear of firearms. This is a common thread in lifelong learning where students also come in with fears about using computers, learning to dance, or raising tomatoes. That is why the course includes information on how to choose a gun, discussion of the different types and sizes of guns, gun safety and storage, culminating with time on the range actually learning to shoot at targets.

Arnold knows firsthand the importance of the training he teaches, as he has found himself in several situations when he used it.

“I have been close, but none got that serious,” he said. “In those situations I was glad I was carrying, and it made me more comfortable doing the nonviolent conflict resolution, and knowing I could do something rather than being helpless.”

XXX

Club Ed offers Texas Concealed Handgun Course twice monthly, once at the Buck and Bull Club near Mountain Home, and once at Boerne, with instructor Don White. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Refuse to be a victim

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly Feb 24, 2010

Club Ed offers many classes that can improve your life. Deborah Wardlaw teaches a class that just might save your life.

Wardlaw is a Level II national Rifle Association Training Counselor on shotgun, handgun, rifle, and personal protection. She is passionate about her class “Refuse To Be A Victim.”

The course is a basic introduction to shotgun and handgun. Designed for women, it teaches types of guns and ammunition, how to hit a moving target, and tips for personal safety. It can also help prepare you to take the concealed carry class.

It’s not all about shooting. It is also about common sense.

“There are common sense ways to be sensitive to any environment,” said Wardlaw, who has taught since 1994. “Whether in your home, at your business, or talking on the telephone, we need to be aware of our surroundings.”

The course was originally geared toward women and safety, but Wardlaw says this is also essential for teens, the elderly, male or female. Most requests are from people who travel alone a lot. It is especially critical if someone is at a stressful phase in life, such as going through a divorce or split.

Wardlaw shares some easy tips for staying safe:

1) Before leaving an establishment, look around to see if anybody is there that looks out of place or suspicious. If so, go back in and get security.

2) When you stop to get gas, lock your vehicle. If someone does approach you, get back into the vehicle.

3) At a hotel, don't get in the elevator with someone else. If you get in and someone else gets in after you, get out. You don't have to ride with them.

This class has been literally life saving and life changing for some.

“I’ve had students who were stalked, threatened, or accosted. You can see it in their faces when you are talking to them. You know something happened to that lady.”

One student had had a gang member stick a gun in her face at a traffic light and demand money.

“She found me, and I taught her how to shoot,” Wardlaw said. “She had the mindset that she was not going to be a victim anymore. She said that empowered her more than counseling did.”

The story doesn’t end there. Years later, Wardlaw ran into that student again. Wardlaw tells what happened.

“She casually mentioned to me, ‘Did I tell you I was shot?’” Wardlaw said. “One night, something hit her windshield. She realized someone had fired a shot at her. She got out her handgun and returned fired. The shooters roared off.”

Or course, Wardlaw emphasized that is an extreme example. She stressed that students don’t have to be in an exotic environment to be in danger - many things can happen at a local grocery store.

But in at least that one case, the training paid off.

“I looked at her and said, ‘You just saved your life because you responded.’”

xxx

Refuse To Be A Victim will be offered Monday evening, March 29. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.

Shooting for fun

by Phil Houseal
Oct 14, 2009
As published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly

When it comes to recreation, Americans spend the most money on exercise equipment. Do you know which sport comes in second?

Shooting.

"In 2006 spending on firearms and shooting gear overtook golf for second on the list," said Larry Arnold, one of two instructors teaching the Texas Concealed Handgun License Course in Kerrville and Boerne for Club Ed (details at end of article).

At clubs like the Buck & Bull Club, hunters can practice target shooting, skeet, trap, sporting clays. They have a hunting game where they shoot steel silhouettes of game in a realistic setting.

Larry Arnold started his own infatuation with shooting at age 11.

"I was kind of a nerd, and it was something I could do rather than play football," he recalled. "Besides, it was fun."

It was also a lot safer.

"The shooting sports rank below ping pong in injuries sustained as a sport."

Arnold - who recently won a national award for his course curriculum - has been a National Rifle Association instructor since 1982, and has taught hunter safety education since 1984. Arnold was involved in the long effort to have Texas adopt the concealed carry laws, working with six legislatures over 12 years.

Arnold actually taught his first concealed carry course on the very first day it was legally allowed to be taught in Texas, back in September 1995.

In the years since he has seen a parade of people from all professions who have their own reasons for taking this gun safety course. In the early days of the new law, he trained lots of professionals who traveled in their jobs, such as real estate salespeople. Students have been both young and old, and quite often whole families have taken the class together.

Regardless of background, their reasons are the same.

"A lot of it is just to be able to protect yourself," he said. He also gets students who want help navigating the national background check system. While protection is the reason many take the class, for Arnold, guns are just fun.

"It is a lifetime sport. We have people in their 80s who have won trophies. Shooting is one of the few sports that are completely coed. It's where soccer moms can take their kids and watch."

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Club Ed offers monthly courses in the Texas Concealed Handgun Course in Boerne and Kerrville. Constable Don White is instructor in the Boerne course. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.