RSWC #109 Rob Beckman – Riding Shotgun With Charlie

A few months ago, John Petrolino reached out and connected me with Rob Beckman. Rob was looking for an instructor in Massachusetts for his podcast, Firearm Trainer’s Podcast. I listened to a few episodes and really like Rob’s format for helping instructors on the business side of things. I was on Firearm Trainer’s Podcast back in April, FTP #109. How ironic that he’s episode #109 of RSWC!

EP-109 Being A Firearm Instructor In Massachusetts

Recently in Sioux Fall, SD, Rob and I were both students at the MAG40 course, taught by Massad Ayoob himself! There were several other podcasters in the class. It was hosted by Paul & Susan Lathrop of the Polite Society Podcast. Amanda Suffecool (RSWC #009) of Eye On The Target Radio, the Polite Society Podcast, and the DC Project was a student. So was Robyn Sandoval (RSWC #080), from A Girl & A Gun and DC Project. And Neil Weidner from Active Self Protection was also a student. One of the MAG Staff was Tracy Becker, also with Polite Society Podcast. Many of us were staying at the same hotel, so Rob & I filmed shows while we were carpooling to the class.

Rob started shooting at a young age and got some formal training while earning the Rifle Shooting Merit Badge in Boy Scouts. He’s spent years hunting. He’s been a trainer for a number of years, then decided to work his way to be an NRA Training Counselor, which is who trains the trainers. He also teaches the USCCA courses, too.

He started the Firearm Trainer’s Podcast to help give back to the firearm community and to really help his instructor students help with the business of running an instructing business. Once someone decides to be an instructor they get educated on firearms, safety, and teaching the curriculum. But often they don’t have a lot of business guidance. (I know I didn’t.) FTP is a great resource. I’ve been listening for a while and I really get a lot from the show.

This episode is a bit different from others. Rob and I rode to the MAG40 class and we filmed segments every morning on the way to class. We talk about the drills we did on the range. We also talk about some of the things we learned during the class as well. When you take the MAG40 class, you will learn that there’s so much more to the legal aspect of using a firearm in self defense than just saying “I was in fear of my life”. Or talking to the police and saying ‘I think I’m having a cardiac arrest. I need to go to the hospital”. Or what’s even worse is when you talk to an old family friend who used to be a police officer and they say “Shoot the bad guy and drag his body back into the house and put a knife in his hand.” That will certainly get YOU in jail and up on murder charges.

The shooting drills we worked on were great. We did several stances, tweaked grips, and used some uncommon shooting positions to simulate shooting around objects. We had a new handgun shooter in the class and she ended up being the ‘most improved student’ of the class. She was able to take home Mas’ signed target…which was a perfect score of 300!

Rob had the second highest score of 297. I got 286. I’ll admit, I started throwing shots when we got to 15 yards back. I was thinking about which stance we were supposed to use. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Please check out the link to Massad Ayoob Group for classes. There’s a course in Manchester, New Hampshire in August, 2021. If you’d like to get a sample of the class, check out In The Gravest Extreme, written by Mas back in the 1970’s.

Favorite quotes:

“My formal education in firearms began when I was in Boy Scouts.”

“To help educate the instructors, how they can be the best instructor for their students.”

“I became an instructor because of your podcast.”

“One of the downsides of being an instructor is you don’t get that much trigger time.”

“Most lawyers don’t spend more than a half a day on defense law.”

Firearm Trainer’s Podcast