Why Concealed Carry Students Lack Basic Gun Handling Skills
Why So Many Concealed Carry Students Never Learned Basic Gun Handling
Having a concealed handgun permit does not necessarily mean someone was ever properly taught how to operate a handgun.
I’ve been teaching firearms classes in Southern Colorado for many years, and one thing continues to surprise people.
Students sometimes arrive for a concealed handgun permit renewal class after carrying a handgun for years — occasionally through more than one permit cycle — and struggle with basic handgun operation.
They may have difficulty loading or unloading the handgun. Some have trouble locking the slide open. Others aren’t comfortable operating the controls on their own firearm. Grip, muzzle management and trigger-finger discipline may also need work.
That raises an obvious question:
A Concealed Carry Permit Is Not Proof of Handgun Proficiency
For many years, concealed handgun training was not as standardized as it is today. Students came through classes taught in many different ways, with very different amounts of hands-on handgun instruction.
Some classes concentrated heavily on laws and permit requirements. Some included limited firearm handling. Others provided very little opportunity for the student to actually learn how to independently operate a handgun.
And then there is another problem.
A student may have completed a class years ago, purchased a handgun, received a permit and then hardly handled the firearm afterward.
Owning a handgun is not training.
Carrying one is not training.
And having a concealed handgun permit does not automatically make someone competent in basic gun handling.
Colorado’s Training Requirements Have Changed
Colorado significantly changed its concealed handgun training requirements beginning July 1, 2025.
Current Colorado law establishes minimum standards for both initial concealed handgun training and renewal refresher training. Renewal refresher classes must be conducted in person and include instruction concerning changes in firearms law, a written examination and a live-fire exercise.
You can review the current requirements through the Colorado General Assembly’s HB24-1174 page.
Those changes are important, but there is still a distinction that gun owners need to understand:
Meeting the legal requirements for a permit and developing real handgun skills are not the same thing.
What Do I Mean by Basic Handgun Skills?
I’m not talking about advanced defensive shooting, drawing from concealment or complicated tactical drills.
I’m talking about the foundation.
A handgun owner should become comfortable with skills such as:
- Maintaining safe muzzle direction
- Keeping the trigger finger properly indexed until a decision to fire has been made
- Establishing a proper shooting grip
- Loading the handgun
- Unloading the handgun
- Locking the action open
- Visually and physically verifying that the firearm is unloaded
- Operating the firearm’s basic controls
- Understanding the condition of the handgun
- Safely handing a firearm to another person
- Recognizing and addressing basic handgun malfunctions
- Performing routine administrative gun handling safely
These aren’t advanced skills.
They are the skills that should come before the advanced skills.
What I See in Renewal Classes
After training thousands of students, I’ve learned not to assume that someone knows how to operate a handgun simply because they’ve held a concealed handgun permit for years.
Some renewal students are very competent. They regularly practice, know their firearm and arrive prepared.
Others haven’t handled their handgun since their previous qualification.
Some purchased a handgun after their original concealed carry class and were never shown how to properly operate that particular firearm.
Others learned just enough to complete a previous class but never developed confidence performing the basic manipulations themselves.
That doesn’t mean they can’t learn.
It means those skills need to be properly taught and practiced.
A Renewal Class Is Not a Beginner Handgun Class
This is an important distinction.
A Colorado concealed handgun renewal/refresher course has a specific job to do. There is required material to cover, changes in firearms law to discuss, a written examination to complete and a live-fire exercise to conduct.
There simply isn’t enough time in a renewal class to stop and properly teach an entire set of primary handgun skills to someone who never learned them.
If a student has difficulty loading and unloading the handgun, locking the action open, maintaining safe muzzle direction or simply operating the firearm’s controls, those problems deserve more than a five-minute explanation before going to the firing line.
Primary handgun skills need to be taught — not rushed.
Shooting the Qualification Is Only Part of the Picture
A live-fire qualification is important. It requires the student to safely handle and fire a handgun while demonstrating an acceptable level of shooting ability.
But a shooting qualification cannot evaluate every skill a responsible handgun owner should possess.
A person can fire a required course of fire and still be uncomfortable independently loading, unloading, clearing or manipulating the handgun.
That’s why I don’t believe gun owners should look at qualification as the finish line.
Qualification demonstrates something. It doesn’t demonstrate everything.
Sometimes the Handgun Is Part of the Problem
Another problem I see is that people sometimes purchase a handgun primarily because it is small and easy to conceal.
Then they discover that it’s difficult for them to operate.
A small handgun may have a slide that is difficult for the owner to manipulate, controls that are hard to reach, limited gripping surface or recoil that makes the firearm unpleasant to shoot.
The gun may disappear nicely under a shirt, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best handgun for that person to learn with.
We discuss this issue further in our article on small handguns for concealed carry.
Can You Pass This Simple Handgun Self-Check?
Take your own firearm in a safe environment with all ammunition removed from the area.
Ask yourself whether you can confidently:
- Load your handgun correctly
- Unload it correctly
- Lock the action open
- Verify that the firearm is unloaded
- Identify and operate its controls
- Maintain muzzle control while manipulating it
- Keep your trigger finger properly indexed
- Establish a solid shooting grip
- Safely correct a simple malfunction
If you’re uncertain about several of those tasks, that’s useful information.
Don’t try to hide it when you get to your next firearms class.
Fix it.
New at Have Gun Will Train Colorado
Primary Handgun Skills Course
I’ve seen this training gap often enough that we’ve added a Primary Handgun Skills Course specifically for gun owners who want to become more comfortable and competent handling their handgun.
This is not an advanced shooting course. It is about building the foundation first: safe handling, handgun controls, loading and unloading, grip, basic manipulation, and the skills necessary to confidently operate your firearm.
Students taking our Concealed Handgun Permit Renewal/Refresher Course can also receive a discounted rate on the Primary Handgun Skills Course.
There’s Nothing Advanced About Going Back to the Fundamentals
Some gun owners hesitate to take a fundamentals course because they’ve owned firearms for ten, twenty, or thirty years.
Experience matters, but the number of years someone has owned a firearm doesn’t tell me how much deliberate training they’ve had during those years.
There’s no shame in recognizing that a skill needs work.
In fact, experienced shooters routinely return to fundamentals because fundamentals are what everything else is built on.
If loading, unloading, manipulating, or safely handling your handgun requires too much thought, that’s the place to start.
Your Permit Isn’t Your Training
A concealed handgun permit allows you to legally carry a handgun where permitted by law.
It should never be mistaken for proof that you’ve finished learning.
And your renewal class shouldn’t be the first time you learn how to operate the handgun you carry.
Learn to operate the gun first.
Then learn to shoot it.
Then learn when — and when not — to use it.
That’s what real firearms training is supposed to accomplish.
Related HGWTC Training & Resources
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