L.A. Progressive Shooters

✅️ WEEKLY: Pistol 101, Women, Femmes & Thems, and Pistol 102 THU-SUN by our women, majority q***r team led by VAL

Request a weekend date:
bit.ly/lapswaitlist

All classes available privately with VAL starting $600 for returning clients, $800 for new clients

✅️ MONTHLY: Beginner classes MON-WED & Advanced classes (Pistol 201, 202, 301 & CCW) all week by TOM. Available privately too.

🫂 RETURNING CLIENTS enjoy 10% Off using code LAPS10

📦 PACKAGES NOW AVAILABLE! When you book any 2 classes together, you save money. Great for one person to make progress with 2 classes or 2 people of different experience levels who each want to take a different class.

▶️ BOOK NOW (Click profile link):
https://laprogressiveshooters.com/group-lessons

🎯 PISTOL 101 - $250
OR
🎯 PISTOL 101+ - $175

For couples and groups with different experience levels, these 2 classes are taught together so you can all learn together.

🫣Totally new to guns and nervous about them?
✅️Take Pistol 101: you DO NOT NEED TO OWN a gun yet -- we prefer it that way and guns/ammo are already included, along with Friendly Intro to Fi****ms video you watch at home to build confidence before coming to class and start shooting with gentler .22 ammo to warm up to 9mm.

🤓Already own a gun but want to get more confident and fix bad habits?
✅️Take Pistol 101+. Gun/9mm ammo not included but can be rented for additional $50.

♀️🏳️‍⚧️ Women, Femmes & Thems Pistol 101
Safe space for women, femme, trans & non-binary folks.

🔫 PISTOL 102 Try Before You Buy
Practice fundamentals learned in Pistol 101 with 12 different brands, models, actions and sizes of handguns.

🎯 PISTOL 201 Speed & Performance
Learn realistic skills to shoot fast & be accurate, advanced skills not allowed at public ranges.

⭕️ Pistol 202 Red Dot: Unlock Its Power
Unlock the full potential of shooting fast & dynamically with optics.

🏃‍♂️Pistol 301 Run & Gun
Dynamically shooting on the move & intro to pistol competition.

🎯 CARRY CONCEALED WEAPON (CCW) -
Weekend group classes monthly by LAPS and weekly by partners Asset Training Group
Also private CCW classes MON-FRI. Family/friends can join to learn the same advanced skills for $250.

What a fun Wed Night Steel Match!🔥

I hadn't shot this match since 2024 and now that it's run by OH SHOOT - PRG it's very organized and so much better attended.

Got to introduce Val to her 1st competition and shoot together as a team with Rima, our newest instructor.

I think it's important as instructors to keep pushing ourselves in our professional development and push each other to be better.

Great to shoot with Cortney Able on our squad and amazing to see Stephanie from Raven Wing Limited 💜

Oh I took a ricochet to the chin too -- it's always a risk when shooting steel targets.

For newbies, minimum distance to shoot steel targets is 15yds for pistols (some say 10yds but I like to err on conservative side) and 90-100yds for rifles.

What happens when decision makers at the top who don't know how to shoot, work behind a cushy desk, and totally ignorant of the latest advances, keep folks carrying guns like it was still the 80s.

I have a friend who works for a security company. I have general disdain for typical armed guards and police officers because they rarely train and aren't that skilled.

However, my friend is the rare professional who got into this work for the right reasons, treats everyone with compassion and respect, and prioritizes de-escalation and conflict avoidance.

He hopes to never use his gun but is more disciplined than the average cop and trains regularly on his own time. His duty gun is his own gun with a red dot optic.

He told me their upper management called in all 7000 of their guards for weapon inspection and told him he's not allowed to have a pistol optic on his gun.

In other words, they want him to handicap himself and not be as accurate and successful in protecting himself and others if lives were at stake.

So now he's had to remove the optic and go back to shooting with irons.🫠

It reminds me of a certain police department in L.A. County that also didn't allow Carry Concealed Weapon (CCW) permit holders to have optics on their guns.🤷‍♂️

The "professionals" and large organizations absolutely don't automatically keep up with the times.

Technology like optics and more efficient techniques often come from the civilian competition world first.

Military and law enforcement are often the last ones to adopt the latest advances, because they are so ego-driven and resistant to change.

But people who base their gun knowledge on movies and pop culture automatically put the professionals on a pedestal because they're portrayed as subject matter experts when they're the worst informed.

✅️ Our women, majority q***r team led by VAL teaches Pistol 101, Women, Femmes & Thems, and Pistol 102 weekly THU-SUN.

TOM teaches beginner & advanced classes (Pistol 201, 202, 301 & CCW) monthly. He will be back from Mexico to teach Sep. 28-Oct. 5.

🫂 RETURNING CLIENTS enjoy 10% Off using code LAPS10

📦 PACKAGES NOW AVAILABLE! When you book any 2 classes together, you save money. Great for one person to make progress with 2 classes or 2 people of different experience levels who each want to take a different class.

▶️ BOOK NOW (Click profile link):
https://laprogressiveshooters.com/group-lessons

🎯 PISTOL 101 - $250
OR
🎯 PISTOL 101+ - $175

For couples and groups with different experience levels, these 2 classes are taught together so you can all learn together.

🫣Totally new to guns and nervous about them?
✅️Take Pistol 101: you DO NOT NEED TO OWN a gun yet -- we prefer it that way and guns/ammo are already included, along with Friendly Intro to Fi****ms video you watch at home to build confidence before coming to class and start shooting with gentler .22 ammo to warm up to 9mm.

🤓Already own a gun but want to get more confident and fix bad habits?
✅️Take Pistol 101+. Gun/9mm ammo not included but can be rented for additional $50.

♀️🏳️‍⚧️ Women, Femmes & Thems Pistol 101
Safe space for women, femme, trans & non-binary folks.

🔫 PISTOL 102 Try Before You Buy
Practice fundamentals learned in Pistol 101 with 12 different brands, models, actions and sizes of handguns.

🎯 PISTOL 201 Speed & Performance
Learn realistic skills to shoot fast & be accurate, advanced skills not allowed at public ranges.

⭕️ Pistol 202 Red Dot: Unlock Its Power
Unlock the full potential of shooting fast & dynamically with optics.

🏃‍♂️Pistol 301 Run & Gun
Dynamically shooting on the move & intro to pistol competition.

🎯 CARRY CONCEALED WEAPON (CCW) -
Weekend group classes monthly by LAPS and weekly by partners Asset Training Group
Also private CCW classes MON-FRI. Family/friends can join to learn the same advanced skills for $250.

I was supposed to return to Mexico after teaching advanced classes Sunday, pero staying for my uncle's funeral this weekend.

So it's a week of catching up on things:

Doctor appointment to go over my annual blood tests: A1C down below prediabetic level but Blood Lead Level (BLL) up.

Shooting a match with my team at Wednesday Night Steel Match at Prado.

Teaching a private lesson for a returning client to renew his Carry Concealed Weapon (CCW) permit.

..and the unglamorous part of teaching fi****ms is the constant maintenance and upkeep of our equipment.

Our canopies go through lots of wear and tear, so I am always using spare parts from the broken ones to repair the remaining ones.

Especially as we head into Fall, our canopies have to be patched up and leakproof in case of rain.

There are a lot of strays/feral cats in my mom's mobile home park in Orange County. Anyone know any trap and release (TNR) orgs here?🤔

Awesome group of folks yesterday for back-to-back Pistol 201 Speed & Performance and Pistol 301 Run & Gun!☀️🙌

Wonderful reunion with Day 1 client from 2021 who used to drive all the way from Oceanside, and flew into L.A. on the way back to Ohio to take our advanced classes!

One of my favorite drills for teaching people new to shooting on the move is Tim Herron Barrel Drill.

There's so much to what looks like a deceptively simple drill:

Moving laterally across 2 barriers, you must shoot 1 shot at each of 3 targets from each of 3 positions.

But that's not all! For peak efficiency in movement, all splits must be within 0.10 seconds of each other.

Which means your transitions crossing the barriers once you've shot the last target in one position to shooting your next target at the next position should be same tempo as the entire course of fire.

Only A zone hits count.🫠

Frustrating but Fun.🙃

The homies Raven Wing Limited host Tim Herron 2 Day Practical Performance every year in L.A.. You shouldn't miss it if you are serious about making huge gains in your pistol skills: Oct. 31-Nov. 1 and I signed up for Nov. 2-3 almost sold out.

☀️ It was a hot 3 days of teaching Pistol 101/101+ in the heat this past weekend!

Safety is paramount, so we canceled afternoon classes to avoid heat related risks.

The morning folks did great with Val & team!

Triple digit temps will be over by this weekend!🙏

We have a few seats left in Pistol 101/101+ this Saturday 815am-1215pm.

Tom flies back from Mexico to teach Pistol 201 Speed & Performance and Pistol 301 Run & Gun on Sunday -- seats also available.🏃‍♂️

Weekend Carry Concealed Weapon (CCW) classes are back!🙌

After taking a break for 1 year and only being available privately, weekend group classes to get initial training or renew your permit are available starting October 2026.

Private CCW training is available Mon-Fri.

Go to our CCW page to book:
laprogressiveshooters.com/ccw

It's been straightforward to apply for a CCW permit since 2022:

1. Apply with your local law enforcement dept. in L.A. County.
2. Attend interview and some L.A. cities require a psych evaluation.
3. After background check, they will approve you for the final step: the mandatory training.

Most CCW schools lecture you in a classroom with very little actual shooting.

We are the opposite: majority training is at the range because we will make you better shooters for the serious responsibility of carrying a gun in public.

We want everyone in your life to take advantage of a rare opportunity to learn advanced, realistic skills that could save lives while not endangering innocent bystanders.

So we're the only CCW school that invites your family/friends to join you, even if they're not applying for a CCW, so you all become more capable, responsible shooters together.

LAPS clients who've taken 2 classes within 1 year get credited 8 hours towards initial 16hr training, and also get 10% off using LAPS10.

If you already have a permit, renew with LAPS and get your heart rate up shooting on the move in our Run & Gun class.

Some agencies now let you add new guns to your permit anytime and not have to wait until your renewal.

Non-CA residents can now apply for a California CCW permit with us.