You don’t have to wait until your current Professional Liability insurance policy expires to start up with FTA. In order to start with FTA right now, you simply notify your current carrier that you want to cancel your policy. You will be refunded a prorated portion of the premium that you paid. You can then sign up with FTA and receive the membership benefits of liability protection both in civil cases, criminal cases, defense costs, fees, expenses and $1 million in liability protection that does not decreased by other expenses in the case being paid such as attorneys fees, costs and other litigation expenses. There is room in the FTA for trainers from all backgrounds and experiences.

Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2019

As a firearms trainer, you have an obligation to ensure a safe training environment from all perspectives, but accidents can happen. In this video, Jeff Gonzales talks about how to create a Pre-Mishap Plan so that you can prepare for, and manage, life threatening and non-life threatening mishaps should they occur.

Posted: Thursday, February 7, 2019

FTA is a big table organization. There are many seats at the table. When forming the FTA, the Founders wanted to do what had not been done before. Create an organization for the purposes of professional development, business support, training support, and the creation of an independent source for Professional Liability Coverage for firearms trainers. Historically, firearms training organizations have attempted to practice exclusivity and have been discriminatory against trainers from certain communities. For instance, instructors who did not have law enforcement or military backgrounds may have been treated by those with such backgrounds differently, or even dismissively. There is room in the FTA for trainers from all backgrounds and experiences.

Posted: Thursday, January 24, 2019

It is important for firearms trainers to possess self awareness. If you come from a military background and you are going to train civilians then it is important that you engage in professional development to better understand the various self defense laws and concealed carry laws in the states and communities where you teach classes.

Posted: Thursday, January 17, 2019

Jeff Gonzales, FTA Founding Member and President of Trident Concepts, talks about how new firearms trainers can develop a successful curriculum by making sure it is observable, measureable, and, most importantly, repeatable.

Posted: Thursday, January 3, 2019

Dave Spaulding demonstrates a distance training drill he learned from Frank Proctor, former US Army Special Forces, that will prepare you for when you may need to act in close quarters. The goal is to get 5 rounds in the A-Zone in 5 seconds at 25 yards.

Posted: Friday, December 7, 2018

In Part One of this series, we looked at how positioning, building customer personas, and defining success are instrumental in laying the foundation of a great marketing plan for any business. Part Two of this series looks at the practical application of technology in our marketing plan as it relates to social media usage for firearms instructors. As many of you already know, there are terms and conditions that significantly limit firearms-related advertising on most social media networks. Because of this limitation, we’ll focus on organic, free marketing that leverages our existing social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram to engage our fans and customers.

Posted: Thursday, November 29, 2018

Being a firearms instructor, you will eventually encounter a student who is more difficult to teach or may even be a danger to the rest of the class. Jeff Gonzales, FTA Founding Member and President of Trident Concepts, talks about how to handle these types of students.

Posted: Thursday, November 15, 2018

Ken Hackathorn discusses the pitfalls of being a traveling firearms trainer, many of which are out of your control. Knowing how to set requirements and expectations for your host range can make a big difference in the success of the class.

Posted: Thursday, November 8, 2018

Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical talks about the 3-6-9 drill, a follow on to the dime drill, designed to improve your accuracy and speed of shooting. This is a great drill that can be modified for your own skill level and can be escalated as you become a better shooter.

Posted: Thursday, October 25, 2018

FTA Founding Member Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical, demonstrates the dime drill. This is a classic drill designed to ingrain in you proper trigger control. This is another great drill that can be done on any level, and should be revisited over and over again, especially as a new shooter.

Posted: Thursday, October 18, 2018

Jeff Gonzales, FTA Founding Member and President of Trident Concepts, goes over things new instructors need to prepare for in order to properly manage a training course. "As a new instructor, there are a lot of things that you need to think about and some of the mistakes I've seen are just not paying attention to some of the detail work that goes into setting up a class."

Posted: Thursday, October 11, 2018

As instructors and business owners, tools such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat offer us unprecedented access to our audience. Along with that access comes an unprecedented amount of daily interaction that is required from the modern entrepreneur. To have a successful small business today, entrepreneurs must personally interact with their customers on a regular basis. We no longer live in the era of marketing when you could print business cards or a tri-fold brochure and consider your marketing plan complete. Marketing today is much more complex and also potentially much more rewarding.

Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2018

Ken Hackathorn, Instructor at Aztec Training Services and FTA Founding Member, talks about common complaints that firearm instructors get in response to a class and things you should be aware of to help prevent negative feedback from occuring.

Posted: Thursday, September 27, 2018

Operational rules are a sound practice and, over the years, I have created some I use in my classes. Recently, a student said, “You should write those down and give them out to students.” As I sat down to create the list I thought, “Maybe others would like to read them.” Well, here they are. As a side note, while I was trying to come up with a “tactical” title, I considered “Spaulding’s Rules of Conflict,” but then realized that they can be applied to many situations—not just combat. I don’t claim to be their originator, but I have used them regularly with great success, as have my family and students.

Posted: Thursday, September 20, 2018

Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical, and Founding Member of the Firearms Trainers Association, breaks down three quality handguns that he considers to be reliable choices for CCW and self-defense.

Posted: Thursday, September 13, 2018

FTA Founding Member Jeff Gonzales shares what things you should look for and keep in mind when selecting an ideal firearm for concealed carry. Things like magazine capacity, caliber, accuracy and more.

Posted: Thursday, September 6, 2018

Ken Hackathorn, Instructor at Aztec Training Services and FTA founding member, talks about the demographic changes in those seeking firearms training. The professional trainer needs to not only be aware, but also prepare for the these changing demographics.

Posted: Thursday, August 2, 2018

Ken Hackathorn, legendary firearms trainer and FTA founding member, talks about FTA Protect and the need to have good liability insurance for firearms instructors. Ken has served as a US Army Special Forces Small Arms Instructor, Gunsite Instructor, and NRA Police Firearms Instructor. He is currently an FBI Certified Firearms Instructor, Certified Deputy Sheriff with Washington County SO, Ohio, and a SRT member and Special Response Team trainer.

Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2018

Director of Training at SIG SAUER Academy and FTA founding member, Scott Reidy, discusses how tasks, conditions, standards (TCS) drills help to measure students to determine their skills and turning it into a performance based drill.

Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2018

Scott Reidy, Director of Training at SIG SAUER Academy and founding member of FTA Protect, talks about why he is apart of the FTA and how you can protect yourself and your business by joining.

Posted: Thursday, July 12, 2018

The decision to leave your day job and pursue your passion as a firearms instructor is an important decision. Turning your avocation into your vocation can be the first step to achieving career satisfaction or the beginning of a nightmare. Here are some important factors to consider before taking the plunge.

Posted: Thursday, July 5, 2018

Being able to identify the mission or goal of your class is an important step in determining what gear to have on hand for your students. FTA Founding member Jeff Gonzales, of Trident Concepts, talks about what supporting equipment you should have when teaching concealed carry.

Posted: Thursday, June 28, 2018

We asked Dave Spaulding, owner and chief instructor of Handgun Combatives and founding member of FTA Protect, to pass on his suggestions and tips for new firearms instructors. In this video, Dave talks about the importance of being engaging and how to deliver information in a way that it is engaging and entertaining to your students.

Posted: Thursday, June 21, 2018

Dave Spaulding, owner and chief instructor for Handgun Combatives, and founding member of the FTA, talks about how the FTA benefits firearms instructors and students.

Posted: Wednesday, June 13, 2018