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Standards for law enforcement firearms instructor certification courses released

The standards aim to reduce the disparity in length and content of law enforcement firearms instructor certification courses nationwide

Firearms Instructor Standards Doc.jpg

There has been a disparity in the length and content of law enforcement firearms instructor certification courses across the nation for many years. A current trend is for training organizations to offer a 3-gun instructor certification (pistol, shotgun and rifle) in just 40 hours.

In May 2019 a national committee was created to establish recommended standards for law enforcement firearms instructor certification courses. This committee consisted of experienced firearms instructors and subject matter experts from across the country, and representatives from five law enforcement organizations that have a vested interest in firearms training and instructor certifications.

Those organizations included:

This committee finished a rough draft of a standards document in late 2019 and sent it out for peer review and comments for two months. After reviewing and discussing the comments that were received, the document was finalized in May 2020.

All committee members and associations involved approved the document in June 2020 (available in full below), which was published on June 24. This recommended standards document aims to help firearms instructor certification courses across the nation become more closely aligned and to prevent training organizations from offering more certifications for less time and money, which ultimately produces substandard instructors.

FI Certification Standards - June 2020 by Ed Praetorian on Scribd

Jason Wuestenberg is the executive director for the National Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association (NLEFIA). Jason retired from the Phoenix (Arizona) Police Department as a sergeant in 2017 after 22 years of service. Jason spent over half of his career as a full-time firearms and tactics instructor and ended his career as a training sergeant/rangemaster in charge of the agency’s patrol rifle program. Jason has conducted firearms training and instructor development at the state, national, and international levels. Contact him at director@nlefia.org.

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