Over the course of the next week, I’ll be spending my time at Gunsite Academy in Paulden, Arizona learning the ins and outs of the AR-15 and pistol handling. For those of you who don’t know what Gunsite Academy is, let me give you an introduction.

We teach Marksmanship – how to hit what you aim at.  However, Gunsite goes beyond this simple discipline to include the principles of Gun-handling and Mind-set.  This we call the Combat Triad.  We offer multiple levels of instruction in handgun,  carbine,  shotgun,  bolt action rifle and precision rifle.  Each discipline is informed by the Combat Triad.  Each Instructor at Gunsite is someone who has served in Law Enforcement, the military or both.  Each Instructor is fully imbued with the doctrine and tradition of our school.

Here at Gunsite, you will spend a week discovering a level of capability that you did not think possible of yourself.  With the company of like-minded students, supportive Instructors and in a friendly and challenging atmosphere, you will undergo a graduated, comprehensive system of education that will improve you as a practitioner and perhaps as a person.

Gunsite is a gun training range located in Northern Arizona on 2000 acres. The academy is owned by business man Buz Mills, who ran for governor in 2010.

To start off, I’ll be completing Gunsite’s carbine program during which I’ll be using a Smith & Wesson AR-15 outfitted with Magpul furniture. I’ll be using standard issue 30-round magazines. Later in the week, I’ll be switching to their 250 pistol training course which entails range time, lectures, marksmanship, gun handling, live fire simulation and more.

Although I am very familiar with firearms, after all I grew up hunting with my dad, I’m hoping this course will give me a detailed definition of how the AR-15 works and how AR-15s and pistols can be used for self defense. I’m also hoping  to break down the misinformation being spread about these types of firearms by major media outlets and personalities. I don’t know about you, but constantly hearing the word “clip” in reference to a “magazine” is driving me nuts.

Stay tuned for notes from the range.