NRA Certified Instructor · Pistol & Rifle · North Metro Atlanta
Prepared. Aware. Act.
Private, unhurried firearm instruction for people who want to be genuinely safe and genuinely capable — not just handed a certificate. First-timers are the majority of who I teach, and nobody gets rushed.
Roswell · Alpharetta · Milton · Johns Creek · Cumming · East Cobb One-on-one, couples, and small private groups Published rates — no “call for pricing”
Training
Everything is private or small-group. Pricing depends on range fees, rental, and ammunition, so I quote it honestly when we talk rather than posting a number that turns out not to be the real one.
The introduction for someone who has never handled a firearm. Safety rules, how the pistol works, loading and unloading, then your first rounds on paper with me beside you. Unhurried, private, and designed so you leave knowing what you're doing instead of just having done it.
For households that already own a firearm, or are about to. Safe handling, safe storage options and what each one actually protects against, child access prevention, and an honest look at where your firearm lives today. Can be done at your home.
Taught under my NRA Certified Instructor ratings in pistol and rifle, using the NRA's own curriculum. Students who complete a course and meet its requirements receive the NRA course completion certificate for it.
The NRA's foundational pistol course — safe handling and storage, pistol types and operation, ammunition, the fundamentals of marksmanship, cleaning, and live fire with a qualification on the range. Available instructor-led start to finish, or blended: you complete the NRA's online phase first and we spend our whole session together on the range work.
Eight hours or more of classroom and range: safe rifle handling, rifle parts and operation, ammunition, the fundamentals of rifle marksmanship, cleaning and maintenance, and firing from the bench, prone, sitting, kneeling and standing positions. A sound first step for a new rifle owner, or for teaching a teenager properly.
FIRST stands for Firearm Instruction, Responsibility and Safety Training. It is the short-format NRA course built for someone who has just bought one specific firearm and wants to learn that firearm — safe handling and operation, ammunition, the fundamentals, cleaning. Three hours minimum, capped at four students. Available for pistol or rifle.
Hourly, built around whatever you actually need: grip and recoil management, trigger control, sight alignment, drawing from a holster, reloads, malfunction clearing, or simply shooting better than you did last month. Booked as single sessions or as a block.
Both of you taught properly, separately coached, same session. It removes the dynamic where one partner teaches the other — which is where most of the bad habits and most of the arguments come from.
What to buy, and whether to buy. We talk through intended use, hand size and grip fit, recoil tolerance, storage, and budget — then, where the range allows it, you try several before you spend money. I don't sell firearms and take no commission.
My own session, not an NRA course, for the owner whose firearm is part of a home security plan. Safe storage versus rapid access, what actually happens to your hands and your vision under stress, movement inside a house, and the decision-making that matters far more than marksmanship. Live fire with a defensive emphasis.
Small private groups — a team outing, a family, a bachelor or bachelorette party, a few neighbours. Everyone gets a real safety brief and real instruction, not just a lane and a box of ammunition. Groups run in rotation so no more than two people are ever on the line at once.
Built for agents who show vacant properties alone and meet strangers on site. Pre-showing protocols, positioning inside a house, exit awareness, and a straight conversation about whether carrying is the right answer for you — from someone who has done this work for thirty years.
Rates
Almost every independent instructor in this area makes you call before they'll tell you what anything costs. Here is the whole card. Range fees, firearm rental, ammunition and targets are included where it says so, and where they aren't I'll tell you the number before you book.
| Session | Format | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| First ShotsPrivate intro for someone who has never handled a firearm. All inclusive — lane, rental pistol, ammunition, eye and ear protection, targets. | 2 hrs, private | $249 |
| Private instructionHourly coaching on whatever you need. Range fees and ammunition billed at cost, or bring your own. | Hourly, 1 shooter | $150/hour |
| Additional shooterUp to three people in a private session; never more than two on the line at once. | Hourly, each | +$50/hour |
| Couples sessionBoth of you taught separately in the same session. All inclusive. | 2 hrs, 2 shooters | $349 |
| NRA Basics of Pistol ShootingThe full NRA course with live fire and course completion certificate. All inclusive. | Private or small group | $325 |
| NRA Basic Rifle Shooting CourseThe full NRA rifle course with live fire and course completion certificate. All inclusive. | Private or small group | $325 |
| NRA FIRST Steps OrientationShort-format NRA course on one specific firearm you already own. Pistol or rifle. Capped at four students. | 3 hrs minimum | $195 |
| Home safety & safe storage consultAt your home. Storage options, child access prevention, and a walkthrough of where your firearm actually lives. No range time. | 90 min, in home | $195 |
| Firearm selection consultWhat to buy and whether to buy. I don't sell firearms and take no commission. | 90 min | $175 |
| Private group eventThree to six people — a team, a family, a few neighbours. Real instruction, not just a lane and a box of ammunition. | Per person | from $125 |
| Brokerage & association safety courseClassroom session for up to 25 agents, delivered at your office. Optional live-fire add-on. | 2–3 hrs, on site | from $750 |
| Gift certificateAny amount, or any session above. A standard closing gift, and a genuinely useful one. | — | Any amount |
Cancellations: reschedule or cancel at no charge with 72 hours' notice. Inside 72 hours, half the session fee. No-shows are billed in full — a booked lane and a blocked afternoon cost the same whether anyone turns up or not.
Who It's For
You don't need to own a firearm, know any terminology, or have any idea what you're doing. That is the normal starting point here, and the session is built around it.
You've been curious, or nervous, or both. We start with the gun on the bench, unloaded, and don't move forward until you're ready. Nobody is going to hand you a loaded pistol and say "go ahead."
You bought a house, you're thinking about security, and a firearm is one of the options you're weighing. We'll talk honestly about whether it's the right one for your household — and about storage before anything else.
One of you is comfortable, one of you isn't. That's the most common pairing I see. Both people get taught properly, at their own pace, and neither one coaches the other.
No audience, no range bravado, no one trying to impress you. Private sessions, questions encouraged, and a frank conversation about fit — grip size, recoil, carry options that actually work.
Whether or not you ever shoot, the safe-storage and child-safety conversation is the one that matters most. We can do that part alone, at your home, with no range time at all.
You show empty houses to strangers you met online. Situational awareness, showing protocols, and whether a firearm belongs in that picture at all — taught by someone who has been doing those showings for three decades.
The Instructor
I teach the way I'd want someone to teach my own family: slowly, without jargon, and without the ego that keeps a lot of people from ever asking their first question.
Range Defense exists because I kept having the same conversation. People would mention they'd bought a firearm for the house, and then admit they'd never been trained on it — it was in a nightstand, and that was the whole plan. That's not a safety plan. It's a hazard.
I'm an NRA Certified Instructor in pistol and rifle, based in downtown Alpharetta. Outside of training I've spent more than thirty years as a real estate broker across North Metro Atlanta, which means I've walked through a lot of houses and had a lot of candid conversations with families about what actually makes a home secure. The two fit together more than you'd think.
Flagship — For Real Estate Agents & Brokerages
Nobody in this business talks about it honestly, so here it is. Agent safety training usually gets taught by someone who has never held an open house. I have held a few thousand of them. Thirty years, 1,800-plus closings, and every one of them involved walking into a property alone with someone I had never met.
Figures from the National Association of REALTORS® member safety research. The gap between the first three numbers and the last one is the entire reason this course exists.
Pre-showing protocols that don't feel rude to the client. How to position yourself inside a house and at a lockbox. Reading a situation on arrival and leaving early without apology. Open house setup — where to stand, where the exits are, why the front door should never be behind you. Vacant and new-construction properties with no cell coverage. What to put in your car. What your brokerage should have in writing and probably doesn't.
Whether carrying a firearm belongs in your plan at all. For a lot of agents the answer is no, and I will say so. Georgia law, where you legally cannot carry, what happens to your license and your brokerage relationship if you get this wrong, and the less-lethal options that are a better fit for most people. If the answer is yes, there is a live-fire add-on and you'll be trained properly rather than reassured.
Safety
The NRA's fundamental rules for safe gun handling are the first thing taught in every session and the last thing reviewed. They are not a formality. Follow all three and a negligent discharge cannot injure anyone.
A safe direction is one where a round could not strike anyone or anything you are not willing to destroy. This rule does the heaviest lifting of the three, and it is the one most often broken in a parking lot or a kitchen rather than on a range.
Index finger straight along the frame, outside the trigger guard, from the moment you pick the firearm up. Under stress people grip harder without meaning to. This is the habit that makes that harmless.
Whenever a firearm is not in use it stays unloaded, with the action open and ammunition in a separate place. And every firearm handed to you is treated as loaded until you have personally checked the chamber yourself.
Most households never need their firearm. Every household with one lives with it every day. We spend real time on storage — what a quick-access safe does and does not protect against, where it should live, how to keep a firearm genuinely out of a child's reach rather than merely out of sight, and what changes when teenagers or guests are in the house.
Live fire is one-on-one, with me at your shoulder. Nothing is loaded until the classroom portion is done and you are comfortable. Personal firearms arrive cased and unloaded and stay in the vehicle until I meet you. A trauma kit is on site at every session. If at any point you want to stop, we stop — that is not a failed session, it is good judgement.
What to Expect
No surprises. Here is the shape of it, start to finish.
A short call or email before we book anything. What you want out of it, what you've done before, whether you own a firearm, and whether training is even the right next step for you.
Safety rules, how the firearm works, how to load and unload it, stance, grip, sight picture, trigger control. All of it dry — no ammunition in the room — until you're comfortable.
First live rounds with me at your shoulder. Small targets, close distance, one round at a time. We build from there only when you want to.
What went well, what to work on, and an honest recommendation on what — if anything — to buy. I don't sell firearms, so there's nothing in it for me either way.
Closed-toe shoes, a shirt with a high neckline (hot brass is real), and a hat with a brim if you have one. Hearing and eye protection are provided. If you own a firearm, bring it and its case — unloaded, cased, and left in the vehicle until I meet you. If you don't own one, that's fine; we'll use a rental.
Any prior experience. Any gear. Any idea what a "caliber" is. You also don't need to decide in advance whether you're going to buy a firearm — plenty of people train, learn what they need to know, and conclude it isn't for them. That's a completely legitimate outcome and I'll tell you so.
Gallery
Shot on the range during live sessions. Each card carries one rule, one fundamental, or one piece of range discipline — the same things covered in a class, in the order they matter. Tap any card to read it full size.
These also run on @rangedefense. New cards are added as sessions are photographed.
Questions
It's the most common way people start with me, and it is the easiest kind of student to teach because there are no bad habits to undo. You will not be handed a loaded firearm and told to get on with it. We start at the bench with an unloaded gun, cover how it works and how to make it safe, and you decide when you're ready to move to the line.
No. Georgia is a permitless carry state — since Senate Bill 319 took effect in April 2022, an adult 21 or over who may lawfully possess a firearm can carry it concealed in Georgia with or without a Weapons Carry License. And the statute governing the license, O.C.G.A. § 16-11-129, says in plain terms that no person shall be required to take a gun safety course for purposes of that code section. No course, no certificate, no range qualification is required by law.
That is exactly why training is worth paying for. The law does not require it, and the law also does not lower the standard you will be judged against if you ever fire. Nobody is going to make you do this — which means the only people who are properly trained are the ones who chose to be.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your own eligibility with your county probate court or an attorney.
Two real reasons. A license permits open carry in Georgia, which is otherwise restricted, and it gives you reciprocity in roughly thirty other states when you travel. Licenses are issued by the probate court in your county of residence, run five years, and the application involves fingerprinting and a background check. I'll walk you through the process at no charge as part of any session — it is a confusing, county-by-county thing and nobody explains it well.
No, and I'd rather you didn't buy one before we talk. Rentals are included in the all-inclusive sessions. A large part of what I do is helping people work out what fits their hand, their recoil tolerance and their actual situation — which is impossible to do after you've already spent the money.
That's a perfectly good outcome and it happens regularly. You'll leave knowing how to make a firearm safe in someone else's house, which is worth having on its own. I don't sell firearms and I take no commission on anything, so there is nothing in it for me either way.
Students under 18 are welcome with a parent or guardian who stays for the whole session and participates. For youth sessions the minimum is 12. Georgia sets 21 as the age for a Weapons Carry License, and 18 for qualifying military applicants.
Everything is private or small group by default. No shared class, no strangers watching you, no range bravado. If a public range still feels like too much for a first session, the classroom and safe-storage portions can be done at your home and we go to the range only when you're ready.
Students who complete an NRA course and meet its requirements receive the NRA course completion certificate for that course. Private coaching sessions are instruction, not a certified course, and don't carry a certificate — if a certificate is what you need, book one of the NRA courses and I'll tell you which one fits.
NRA course completion certificates are accepted toward concealed carry permit requirements in a number of states, which matters if you're applying for a non-resident permit somewhere else. Requirements vary and change, so confirm with the issuing authority in the state you're applying to. You do not need one for Georgia.
Reschedule or cancel free with 72 hours' notice. Inside 72 hours it's half the session fee, and no-shows are billed in full. Weather and range closures are on me, never on you.
Booking
Tell me what you're after and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right fit, what it will cost, and when I can get you on the calendar. No obligation, and no sales pitch.