Front Sight

Firearms Training for News Reporters

Dr. Ignatius Piazza, the director and founder of Front Sight Firearms Training Institute has an interesting approach to taking interviews. He’s more than happy to give interviews, but he has an initial requirement of all press members and writers who wish to receive an interview: take one of his courses. Typically, Dr. Ignatius Piazza will cover the price of the course, as he does want to have the interviewers make it out to his Las Vegas, Nevada site. He encourages the press members to make the experience part of their interview, to take the experiences they gain from the courses and use those as part of their research.

This makes for some interesting articles! In USA Today, a fellow columnist from Australia is said to retreat from the firing line holding his 9mm Uzi with a fairly nauseated look on his face. The picture which Barrett, the USA Today writer, depicts is a first-time shooter, disgusted at the violence he seems to have imparted on the paper target about 20 yards away. Torn to shreds by twenty bullets and a single pull of the trigger, the paper target stands as evidence of what a gun can do to a human body.

Most firearms training doesn’t end with the student feeling so nauseated, though it is possible for many to feel that way. Guns are things which many Americans, and many humans, seem to fear. To them, gun training is anathema, clearly a disgusting habit propagated by rednecks and neo-NAZIs.

To a sane, rational person, this viewpoint is probably fairly humorous. Which is why Dr. Piazza requires the press to take one of his classes. Guns are dangerous; that’s what Front Sight is trying to teach. Firearms training is not dangerous, and it teaches others what these things, guns, can do. The Australian columnist found out what an Uzi can do, but he also learned that guns should be treated with respect, and if you ever want to be at cause in a situation with firearms involved, you need to receive firearms training in order to be trained and capable with firearms.