The NRA Education & Training Department offers a variety of programs to develop safe and responsible shooters. Many of the programs are oriented toward personal protection. There is an offering for everyone interested in the subject, even those who do not own firearms.
The department’s flagship program for personal protection training is the NRA Basic Personal Protection series. It is based on a building-block concept offering a series of three courses that progress from basic to advanced. Each of the courses is approximately one day long. The one-day format allows students to take the series on a flexible timeline that fits their personal schedule and needs.
The first course in this series is the NRA Basics of Pistol Shooting Course (BOPS), which develops in students the basic skills of handling, shooting and cleaning a firearm. The ground rules and practice of firearm safety are fundamental aspects of BOPS. New gunowners, as well as experienced shooters, are well served by the knowledge this course teaches. Participants will shoot a course of Fire with three levels of difficulty and achieve a rating.
The second course in the series is the NRA Basics of Personal Protection In The Home (PPITH) course. It builds on BOPS and places that knowledge in the context of home defense. In PPITH, participants learn to use defensive techniques such as the “flash sight picture.”
The third course is the NRA Basics of Personal Protection Outside The Home (PPOTH) course. This course teaches the skills necessary to safely carry a firearm outside the home and use it in context of self-defense or defense of others. Students are taught the pros and cons of various carry methods. Live fire exercises give students hands-on experience of defensive shooting and how to draw from a holster.
Protect What's Personal To You
For those who are interested in strategies of personal protection that do not necessarily involve firearms, the Refuse To Be A Victim course is a pertinent offering. It is not a firearm or self-defense class, rather it is a classroom seminar that helps participants develop a personal safety strategy. As the course’s literature declares, “One of the most important steps toward ensuring your own safety is having a personal safety strategy in place before you need it.”
The latest NRA program about self-defense is the Basic CCW Course. It teaches the basic knowledge, skills and attitude necessary to carry a concealed pistol for personal defense. This course is offered in a modular format that allows NRA CCW Certified Instructors to tailor the content to the needs of state requirements for CCW training and the students’ needs. A variety of topics can be included, such a mandatory module on firearm safety, pistol nomenclature and selecting a pistol for self-defense, basic defensive pistol skills, drawing from concealment and numerous others
The Education and Training Department’s best kept secret is the Marksmanship Qualification Program (MQP). It contains 23 different courses-of-fire for handguns, rifles, shotguns and airguns. This is a self-paced program that participants shoot on their own on the honor system. The courses-of-fire are undertaken at the shooter’s convenience. Shooters earn awards as they progress through each segment, up to the Distinguished Expert rating.
There are two courses of fire in the MQP specifically designed for Personal Protection practice. The MQP Program guidebook states, “Defensive Pistol I qualification is designed to complement Personal Protection in the Home Courses, while Defensive Pistol II is designed to complement Personal Protection Outside the Home. These two qualification courses help participants become familiar with their pistol or revolver and enhance their ability to react in any defensive situation that might arise.”
Both Defensive Pistol I and Defensive Pistol II courses of fire are good benchmarks for shooters to gauge their own performance. Having benchmarks of personal skill provides an incentive to practice and increases the enjoyment and fulfillment of shooting.
Other offerings for personal protection are the NRA Defensive Pistol Course and NRA Pistol Marksmanship Simulator Training. The Defensive Pistol Course is excellent for experienced and capable shooters who want to learn more about using their skills in the context of self-defense and its legal aspects. Simulator Training uses laser simulator pistols to introduce shooters to fundamental concepts of gun handling and marksmanship.
To learn more about NRA courses and where NRA Certified Instructors are offering them, visit nrainstructors.org.
