Just some food for thought
@eca7891
Up until WWII the most significant number of justifiable homicides (or not prosecuted) according to FBI statistics was with the .32 cal. That was always considered a "ladies pistol", and it was generally deployed by women with zero firearms training other than functionality and maybe bottles on the fencepost, but most likely not. You can spit "training" propaganda, or look at the facts, and the facts do not point to training being anything other than a fun hobby for adults.
If you've read Mass Ayoob, which I assume you have since you seem believe training is part of your 2ndA "rights" and not just a hobby, he trains the untrained. Taking classes does not make you trained. He teaches what is basically the panicked, clenched-fist, and point shooting at contact distances under the highest duress. Ayoob basically trains his students to panic (or at least he assumes they will panic), and although this will immediately rankle someone who is actually "trained" (someone who does more than take a class), ultimately you begin to see the limitations of "training", and why what he does in his "training" is actually the very best you can do in one class or even a series of classes. While it is less than useless for someone who has put millions of rounds down range and is actually trained to move/fire as a matter of habit, it is actually very valuable for everyone else. What he basically teaches is what any untrained person defending themselves with a handgun would do without any training. He just walks you through it with the hope that being familiar will help when you get there, but of course, you never know till you get there. I used to hate Ayoob till I met him in my early 20s and tried to tell him about all the shortcomings of his course. In about five minutes he had schooled my in why he does it that way, and pretty much burst my bubble about the value of "training". Ayoob is right for 99.9% of handgun carriers out there.
You can take as many "classes" as you want, and my guess is that if you have to defend yourself you will be trying to crush your grip, and your whole finger is through the trigger guard, your heartbeat is going to go through the roof and you will be hyperventilating with your feet planted if you ever have to shoot. You will do the exact thing Ayoob trains for whether you've done his class or not. It's inevitable.
We can talk about real training, which includes hundreds or thousands of hours of practice, with all sorts of additional skills like combat breathing, but if you don't have work guns and this is not your vocation who has the time? Even those who have work guns rarely take the time unless they're professional door kickers and training is their day job. Believing that taking some classes is going to change how you react if you have to defend youself is silly.
Take the Ayoob class, because at least it's real and honest. Unless you're prepared to sleep with your pistol and fire at lease 100 rounds a day on a combat course you are simply not going to build the muscle memory or have the disposition to John Wick your attackers. You will defend yourself like everyone else with a handgun, which is to say untrained...
