By Heidi Rao
One of the greatest things about being an NRA Certified Firearms Instructors is that you meet the greatest people. This is because individuals who specifically look for NRA instructors know what they want—the “Gold Standard” in firearms training.
As an NRA Training Counselor, I meet people from all walks of life. NRA Training Counselors teach individuals the fundamentals and objectives to become NRA Certified Firearms Instructors in the specific discipline they take: NRA Certified Rifle, Pistol and/or Shotgun Instructors; Concealed Carry Workshop (CCW); Personal Protection Inside the Home (PPITH); and Personal Protection Outside the Home (PPOTH).
With every class I teach, I encounter diverse personalities, distinct needs and unique desires for why each student wants to be trained. Not only do I meet individuals from my community, surrounding areas, and throughout the state of Texas, I am fortunate to also meet people from across the country.
One of the challenges that I face is making sure that I meet the requirements for putting on an NRA Instructor Course, the most basic being a minimum of four instructor candidates in each class. That means that I really need to hustle to get the minimum required number of students, especially since many of my students travel into town and sometimes must pay for airfare, hotel rooms and rental cars. I want to do my best to accommodate all their schedules. If I get cancellations right before class, students that have out-of-town reservations could be on the hook for cancellation fees.
I live in southeast Texas, and as a result, typically draw a lot of students from that region of the United States. I routinely get students from Louisiana to Florida. It is also not uncommon to get students from Oklahoma, New Mexico and even Arizona. I was surprised when I got a student from California who registered for a class. Up until recently, that was a record for the distance a student traveled to attend a class.
So imagine my surprise when I noticed two registrations from Hawaii appear on my class roster. Two women registered for my NRA Basic Shotgun, Basic Instructor Training (BIT), and NRA Shotgun Instructor Classes. They had told me they were realtors, so I assumed they were coming to Houston for work-related purposes and were tacking on an NRA Instructor class while they were in town. I was even more surprised (and honored) when they told me that they were flying in only to take my classes!
Sara and Kim arrived early on the first day of class and were ready to soak it all in. They shared with our class multiple times how excited they were to find this training. They had a standard of what they wanted to find and had been searching for more than two years to meet those criteria. I was humbled when they told me they were specifically looking for a female Training Counselor who was not only a shotgun instructor, but an NRA Certified Shotgun Coach and mentor.
I recently retired from a longtime position as the Texas State BOW Coordinator, so I was also moved to learn about their introduction to the shooting sports and the pathway which led them to Houston, Texas. Sara and Kim attend the annual BOW workshop weekend in Hawaii. Hawaii offered its first BOW workshop in 2019. These ladies were introduced to shotguns during this event and wanted to build their skill set so they could teach others and get more women into the shooting sports.
There are few programs in Hawaii that introduce people to the shooting sport, especially programs specifically for women. The ladies are aware of the High School Rodeo Association, and the only other program is BOW that does a great job reaching and involving women aged 18 and older. After attending as BOW participants, they said one of the biggest reasons they wanted to take the NRA Shotgun classes was so they could one day help teach and assist at BOW, as shotgun education by Certified Instructors is difficult to find in Hawaii. Of the firearm training available on the island, most are directed toward handguns. This prompted Kim and Sara to expand their search efforts off the island and begin looking stateside.
The women said another large obstacle they face is range availability. The nearest public range to them is about two hours away, with limited opportunities for private range time—only when invited by the landowners. Thus, obtaining experience and practice is challenging. Large parcels of land offer controlled opportunities due to strict rules surrounding shooting space requirements.
Too, Hawaii ranks low for states when it comes to its concentration of gun stores. And in the stores that exist, variety within their inventory is limited. In fact, shotgun options are extremely limited, often with only two to five choices. Used or pre-owned guns are an alternative but seem to be advertised primarily through word of mouth. Often, consumers are forced to search online and buy a firearm sight-unseen if they do not find what they are looking for in a store and in-person. But shipping and transfer fees add to the cost, creating additional barriers.
Kim and Sara were pleasantly overwhelmed when they stepped inside the main store of the range where we teach. Established in the early 1960s and now into its third generation, Bailey’s House of Guns is the oldest gun store and shooting range in Houston. Greater Houston boasts more than 500 estimated brick-and-mortar stores and well over 1,000 estimated FFL license-holders, exposing Kim and Sara to the result our Second Amendment freedoms and the ease, accessibility, and endless choices we have on the mainland, especially in Texas.
Sara and Kim acknowledged they have been extremely fortunate to have wonderful instruction on the shotgun range during BOW weekend events, and these experiences have helped them grow. Despite all the hurdles and challenges of not finding many women shooters and not meeting any female instructors on the island, these ladies were undeterred.
Their motivation intensified and they became even more determined to seek another likeminded lady who loves shotgun shooting! I am so glad they found my classes, traveling more than 4,000 miles and 9 hours by air to break some clays with me, and bring this knowledge, skills and excitement back to Hawaii to spread the infectious joy of the shooting sports onto others, especially recruiting more women shotgun shooters.
Welcome to the ranks of NRA Certified Shotgun Instructors, Kim and Sara!
Kim and Sara presented the author with some local Hawaiian sweet treats.
