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My wife, sister-in-law, and mother-in-law are looking for a ladies only handgun class. They are not very comfortable handling guns, but would like to learn how to shoot in the event they ever have to defend the home while we are away. Anyone know of any classes out there that cater to the ladies? (And they are all married, so no smart stuff!) I know some of you too well.
 
Pick up The Cornered Cat by Kathy Jackson, and IIRC Gila Hayes from Firearms Academy of Seattle has a book too. (They're in Onalaska, and IIRC they occasionally run a CCW for Ladies class too.)
 
Firearms Acadamy of Seattle, which is based in Chehalis WA, is run by a couple that is very passionate about self defense. Both Maty and Gila Hays teach and they do offer a women only classes for those that are intersted. My wife has taken classes through them and she really liked the courses she took and and even though she did not take a womens only class that they made sure everyone got the instruction they needed. I have also taken classes there and we both noticed that there were quite a few femal instructors.

Their website is The Firearms Academy of Seattle, Inc.
 
Frontsight Nevada is very good at teaching all people without the drill sgt mentality that intimidates many beginners. Plus it gives you a chance to go to Vegas. :s0155: PM me if you have questions about them.
 
I think the reason drill sergeants might try to "emote" is because it might be loud in certain genteel environments once upon a time. And important at the time. And they're perhaps a bit deafened.
I think there's female drill sergeants these days. They just try to get the job done and bring the covey home alive.
 
Frontsight Nevada is very good at teaching all people without the drill sgt mentality that intimidates many beginners. Plus it gives you a chance to go to Vegas. :s0155: PM me if you have questions about them.

Front site is great for an eager beginner without big issues. For someone who starts the course afraid of the gun, it an AWFUL experience. These people tend to not show up in the second day.

Front site (and I speak as a first-families member) is AWFUL at dealing with first-time shooters still afraid of the gun.

We teach courses, as does Seattle Firearms Academy which are far more helpful to the novice than frontsite on their BEST day. And I can provide the testimonials to prove it.

For what it promises, Frontsite is awesome. It's a great session of courses. But if my wife was still timid about guns, frontsite is that LAST place I would send her.
 
Vancouver Rifle and Pistol Club has ladies' nights about once a month. It was a nice intro.
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And while not, "ladies only", I can vouch for the guys at Cascade Firearms Training. They were patient, not pushy and never inappropriate.

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And like Certaindeaf mentioned, have your ladies join the forum to get even more tips and tricks!
 
+1 on the DRRC. They offer a ladies night at the indoor pistol range. I think it's every other week with the next one being the 30th.

You also might consider bringing them to Appleseed. While we teach rifle (vs pistol you are asking about) marksmanship we get many first time shooters and are very family friendly. We even offer Ladyseeds but I don't think there are any on the schedule as of now.
 
Front site is great for an eager beginner without big issues. For someone who starts the course afraid of the gun, it an AWFUL experience. These people tend to not show up in the second day.

Front site (and I speak as a first-families member) is AWFUL at dealing with first-time shooters still afraid of the gun.

We teach courses, as does Seattle Firearms Academy which are far more helpful to the novice than frontsite on their BEST day. And I can provide the testimonials to prove it.

For what it promises, Frontsite is awesome. It's a great session of courses. But if my wife was still timid about guns, frontsite is that LAST place I would send her.

Really wow we had plenty of beginners in the 4 day Frontsight handgun class I went through with my son, who was also a beginner (we are First Family members too). Many of the women in our class had never picked up a gun before. The staff was very professional and patient, I didn't see any kind of drill Sgt mentality, they took their time and gave individual attention to those that needed help. I didn't notice any one quitting the class. They started with very basic building block stuff and worked their way up breaking down the individual skills and then putting them all back together. Anyway nobody in our class seemed to have that kind of experience that I could tell. There are a lot of great instructors out there I guess if someone wanted to take individual classes that might help if they were super intimidated.

If someone is that afraid of the gun I'm not sure it would be fair to blame the school especially if they just gave up and didn't come back the next day to really give the class a chance. That would be like blaming a flight instructor when someone who is afraid to fly complains about learning to fly when they changed their mind at the airport after only one introductory flight. Did you contact Frontsight about your experience?

Also Frontsight just contacted me about some new dry practice classes that are coming out soon that would allow people to get practice with gun handling skills without any live shooting (no ammo allowed.) This would be a good class for people to take before going to the 4 day or 2 day class to get familiar with the basics of gun handling and safety and would be a great head start for the beginner. I just finished training to facilitate these classes.
 
Front Sight deals with new women very well in the 2 classes I have attended. In my second class, I ended up being partnered most of the time with a newbie, older woman who was scared of guns, could hardly rack the slide (lack of strength), eject the mag, etc. This is her... Front Sight Student of the Week - Cathy Parker - YouTube ...

Once they identified the level of 'incompetence' she was at, they took her aside for personal one-on-one instruction. Then, at my suggestion, they got her an XD because the square, sharp-cornered mag release on the G17 they originally assigned her has too much for her soft fingers and lack of grip strength.

She was very happy with their instruction. So was my wife and the other 3 women we took down with us, who were all newbies to some extent too, but not as new as Cathy!
 

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