Instructor Qualifications: All AFT instructors have either NRA Instructor certifications in the disciplines they teach in, police or military experience, or have gone through an internal instructor training course defined by our Instructional System Design documents. You can see specifics on our instructor biography page. We are very careful in who we choose to be instructors. The key word is "instructors". We look for a minimum level of competency and expertise but what we value the most in a potential instructor is formal instruction in coaching, mentoring and other instructional disciplines. Experience as instructors, corporate or government trainers is sought. We can train instructors to the knowledge and skill levels we need if they have a good foundation but we can never train an instructor to enjoy coaching and mentoring if they are not so inclined to it. Subsequently a successful history of coaching and mentoring combined with a patient personality defines our instructors.
History: Atlanta Firearms Training was started in 2009 by two airline instructor pilots who were upper level IDPA competitors and is currently owned by Tom Mulheron. We have as of January 2021 trained over 2700 students.
Location: We do not have a brick and mortar location. We decided to organize the business around a consultant model to keep our prices affordable. Our primary training locations are South River Gun Club about 30 miles east of Atlanta and Gunsite Hills about 70 miles east of Atlanta in Lexington GA but we can set up private or group sessions at nearly any range complex near you. Pistol Classes, AR-15, Shotgun, and Level 1 Long Range Rifle Classes are held at South River Gun Club, Level II Long Range Classes are held at Gunsite Hills.
Class Content: By clicking on the links above or to the left you can find detailed course descriptions of each course. Depending on the course, courses have a day of classroom instruction and a day of shooting. Textbooks are provided. Advanced courses or one day courses which concentrate on just shooting skills presume that the student possesses all relevant knowledge and basic precursor skills and do not include a classroom day or textbook.
All of our classes were designed using industry standard Instructional System Design practices. This system ensures that we identify all relevant precursor knowledge and skills needed to perform at the level of standardization we set for the course. This process also provides for the easy creation of standardized lesson plans to ensure consistent levels of training from class to class and from instructor to instructor. For more information on Instructional System Design, see this link here.
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Training Philosophy: Our core values are to convey at least a basic level of proficiency in every class we offer. The original owners, being formally trained airline instructor pilots, bristled at the courses they took coming up in shooting. Many of these courses we took are as much entertainment as they are training - lots of exercises but minimum round count per exercise. Adult learning principles teach us that proficiency requires practice and repetition. Sports kinesiology teaches us that to master a skill between 1000 and 500 repetitions are required.
To that end we have designed sufficient round count into each skill to provide for a minimum level of muscle memory which we hope will follow the student home. Subsequently you may notice we teach fewer skills per class than some other training providers - proficiency is the reason. We also design our basic level courses with a full day of classroom work to provide a comprehensive education of the discipline being taught
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Business Hours: We are a part time business and all instructors have full time jobs in other fields. We offer classes primarily on weekends and occasionally private instruction during the week. Tom Mulheron and Brian Wilson can be best contacted by email. We will respond usually within 24 hours of your query. On our available days we generally answer the phone between 0900 and 1800 as we can. Otherwise phone calls will be returned as we become available. We appreciate your patience in this
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Payment Methods: We accept most of our payments through Paypal. You do not need a Paypal account to pay us through this method - we use Paypal only as a credit card processor. We also accept cash or checks but checks will have to clear before attending the course.
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Are we hiring?: The short answer is "no". We generally are available only on a weekend basis and offer classes about every other weekend. All instructors are contractors - there are no full time employees. We select our instructors primarily for their ability to coach and mentor others - NOT necessarily for their skill level with a given weapon. Subsequently we must have either personal experience in shooting with prospective instructors or have strong recommendations from current instructors. We occasionally will contract withinstructors who were prior students if they have a formal training or teaching background.
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Contacting Us: Owner Tom Mulheron can be best contacted by email. We will respond usually within 24 hours of your query. On our available days we generally answer the phone between 0900 and 1800 as we can. Otherwise phone calls will be returned as we become available. We appreciate your patience in this.
Inquiries: To email Tom: TomMulheron@atlantafirearmstraining.com
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