3 MORE Lessons From Concealed Carry Renewal Classes

This article is a continuation of a previous piece based on patterns I consistently see while teaching concealed carry renewal classes. If you haven’t read it yet, start here: 3 Lessons From Concealed Carry Renewal Classes.

In that first article, I focused on training habits, medical preparedness, and dry fire—areas where many armed citizens unintentionally stagnate once they’ve been carrying for a while.

Since then, I’ve continued teaching renewals, and three additional trends keep showing up. Just like the first set, these observations aren’t about shaming people or gatekeeping concealed carry. They’re about identifying gaps that quietly develop over time—and pointing toward ways to close them.

Here are three more lessons from concealed carry renewal classes.

Lesson 1: Less Than Good Guns

When students show up to renewal classes, the guns they bring often fall into a few predictable categories:

• Old guns
  Firearms that were once perfectly viable carry options, but have been outpaced by modern improvements in ergonomics, shootability, capacity, and reliability.
• Cheap guns
  Guns that were clearly chosen because they were the least expensive option available. The biggest issue with these options is reliability and inconsistency. There are smaller and less concerning issues like poor triggers, poor sights, and poor ergonomics. They also tend to signal limited shooting experience—because the more someone shoots, the more they usually understand why their gun is holding them back and they get a sense for what guns are most in use by other gun owners who go to classes and the range.
• Too-small guns
  Firearms chosen almost exclusively for ease of concealment. They may be easy to carry day to day, but they’re difficult to shoot well. Recoil management suffers, hits become inconsistent, and running the gun effectively becomes a struggle.

None of these choices automatically make someone irresponsible. But taken together, they suggest something important.

They point to a disconnect between the gun owner and current best practices in defensive handgun use.

Gun selection isn’t just about what hides best—it’s about shootability, consistency, and realistically managing the firearm under stress. If this topic resonates, these two articles are worth revisiting:

• The Size of a Concealed Carry Gun
• Where to Begin When Choosing Your Firearm for Concealed Carry

The gun itself isn’t always the “problem.” What it often reveals is a lack of ongoing engagement with modern training and education.

Lesson 2: Inflated Belief in Shooting Skills (Without Knowing Actual Ability)

Renewal students usually arrive with an expectation of themselves. They believe they should perform reasonably well.

Then we fire the first shots of the class which are shot from 5 yards with the following instruction: Take all the time you need and give me your 5 best shots.

When I ask, “How many of you are happy with your results?”
Not a single hand goes up.

Everyone is disappointed.

The target reflects their current ability, but in their minds, they’ve underperformed. That’s where things get interesting.

When I ask basic capability questions, most students can’t answer them:

• Could you hit a 3-inch circle at 15 meters?
• How quickly can you draw and get an effective hit at 7 yards?
• Under what circumstances would you feel confident drawing on an armed attacker?

I’m not asking for a precise draw time down to the hundredth of a second. I’m asking something more basic: to what degree does an armed attacker need to look away or be distracted for you to have enough time to respond before they notice you and return fire?

When I put those questions into real-world context—how distracted an attacker would need to be, or how much time and space you realistically have—most students have no reference point at all.

This creates a paradox.

On the surface, many students slightly overestimate their ability. But the deeper issue isn’t arrogance—it’s lack of calibration. They don’t truly know what their skill level is, because they’ve never measured it against standards or tested assumptions.

If you carry a gun daily, it’s not unreasonable to expect a basic understanding of your capabilities. In fact, it’s part of the responsibility.

These articles dive deeper into that concept:

• Skill Awareness Trumps Skill: Do You Know?
• Defensive Gun Skills: Is “Good Enough” Really Enough?
• Strategies and Standards for Defensive Handgun Training

Confidence without awareness is fragile—and dangerous.

Lesson 3: Intrigued by, But Lacking Pistol Optics

Out of roughly 80 guns that show up to a renewal class, I typically see one pistol-mounted optic.

Maybe another 10 guns are new enough to be optics-ready—but they’re still running iron sights.

That actually makes sense.

While pistol optics have existed for a while, their reliability, durability, and mainstream acceptance have accelerated mostly in the last 3–5 years. Many renewal students simply haven’t been exposed to them.

That’s why I make it a point during class to have every student pick up one of my dot-equipped pistols and build a sight picture. We talk briefly about focal planes, presentation, and what changes—and in about five minutes, the value of the pistol optic becomes clear.

Most students leave:

• Intrigued
• Better informed
• With a basic understanding of what adopting an optic would actually require

This isn’t about convincing everyone to run a dot. It’s about exposure.

The absence of pistol optics in renewal classes isn’t resistance—it’s lack of opportunity to learn. And for many shooters, optics become the tool that finally forces honest self-assessment.

If you want to explore this further:

• Pros and Cons of a Concealed Carry Red Dot Optic
• What You Need to Know About Pistol Optics (Video Series)
• Browse ConcealedCarry.com’s Pistol Optics Category

Optics don’t make you better automatically—but they do make most shooting tasks easier.

A Challenge Before Your Next Renewal

Taken together, these lessons all point to the same question:

Are you staying current—or just staying comfortable?

Before your next renewal class, ask yourself:

• Is my gun chosen for shootability, or just convenience? Am I aware of the newer offerings and what might make them optimal?
• Do I actually know what I can hit, at what distance, and under what conditions?
• Have I avoided pistol optics simply because I’ve never taken the time to understand them?

Renewal classes don’t expose bad people or careless gun owners. They expose stagnation.

Carrying a firearm is a long-term responsibility. Staying engaged—with your equipment, your skills, and evolving best practices—is part of honoring that responsibility.

The good news? Every one of these gaps is fixable—before the next time you step onto the line.