Observations on Minnesota (MN) Carry Permit Training and Related Matters
News—updated Oct 16, 2007
A few quick bits of news and short essays, that don't quite fit anywhere else.
HR 218 Training I did a couple HR218 classes recently, and enjoyed them thoroughly. (For those who came in late, HR218 is the law that Congress passed a few years ago that, among other things, allows retired cops to, basically, get a nationwide carry permit; it does, though require them to take a class yearly.)
It's very different from doing a regular carry class; the law is the same, but the issues are different. I spend a bit of time — quite a lot, actually — discussing the paradigm shift (yeah, I know it's a fancy phrase, too often used as psychobabble, but it points to something real) in moving from cop to civilian.
Lots of implications.
For example, when I ask, in the regular TCCarry class, how many people have ever held somebody at gunpoint, it's a very rare day when a hand goes up; when I ask, in an HR218 class, everybody in the room except me raises a hand. Pointing a gun at somebody to control a situation is a pretty ordinary part of street police work, but it's a very different thing for us civilians.
The most fun thing about doing the HR218 class, though, is that for the guys taking it, it's Old Home Week, and being let in on that is both a lot of fun, and an honor.
Since I do get questions on this occasionally — and I'll do a longer essay on the HR218 stuff, if there's enough retired LEOs who are interested; email me — a few quick answers:
Yes, you really do have to do it every year, and it has to include the classroom stuff as well as the shooting qual. I don't doubt for a moment that there are instructors who will just sign off on somebody without doing the classroom work (and probably a few who will just sign off without doing anything), but I don't think of that as an option, final or otherwise.
If you can put together a group of six or more, I'll do a HR218 class for $100/head, not including range and classroom rental costs. (If you can get free use of a PD's classroom and range, that's fine.) If you can get ten or more, I'll be happy to do it for $75. That includes all of my handouts, and a copy of the book.
My HR218 class takes about three hours, not including range time.
Since my HR218 class covers all of the required material under Minn. Stat. 624.714, I can also issue you a MN training certificate, so you can get your MN permit, as well, if you want to. You probably should want to, for reasons we go into in class, but it's your call.
Yup, you can carry without doing any of this. It's illegal, but you'll probably be able to get away with it . . . unless you actually have to take your handgun out for serious, in which case you'd better hope that the prosecutor assigned to your case has no political ambitions whatsoever. Lots of luck, but it's your call.
Carry Permit Renewal Training Has Officially Started
For those of you who got your Minnesota carry permits during the flurry of training in the spring and summer of 2003, you'll be able to apply for your renewal early in 2008 . . . and you can take your training, well, now.I had my first renewals in class last weekend; my friend Greg went through the class again, to get it out of the way so that he can apply in the spring, and another instructor from up north had been wanting to sit through TCCarry.
And we're off . . .
The White Knight and Me
The White Knight got up this morning, and got ready to go out for the day.He took some time threading his belt through the dual magazine carrier that he carries on his left hip — never can have too much ammo, you know, and, besides, if you have to clear a stoppage with a semiauto, you probably will need to do a mag change — and then through the CTAC holster that his Wilson Combat CQB Tactical LE rides in. A quick finger-check to make sure that a round was still chambered — it was — and he was, well, not ready yet.
Still had to clip the Surefire KROMA flashlight to his belt. Great flashlight; $299, and worth every penny.
If you're going to carry a gun, lots of the gunwriters say, you've got to carry pepper spray and a baton — wouldn't want some prosecutor to argue that you didn't even have a lesser-force option available — so he clipped the can of pepper foam behind the gun on his right side, and the ASP 16" baton to his belt on the left side.
Oops. He had almost forgotten the knife — the Masters of Defense Dieter CQD went into his right pocket.
And, suitcoat concealing everything, he was ready to go to work. Hoped he didn't clank too much if he bumped into a doorframe at the office; wouldn't want to scare the other accountants.
Me, I just opened the gun box, took out the snubby still in its pocket holster — checked to make sure it was loaded; best to keep up the good habits — closed and locked the gunbox, grabbed my car keys and headed for the door.