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North Fork Training Group puts students on target for firearms training

By Don Coble don@opcfla.com
Posted 1/28/21

MIDDLEBURG – The first thing Larry LeClair teaches at his North Fork Training Group firearms training classes is to avoid conflict. He insists it’s always better to walk away from a possible …

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North Fork Training Group puts students on target for firearms training


Posted

MIDDLEBURG – The first thing Larry LeClair teaches at his North Fork Training Group firearms training classes is to avoid conflict. He insists it’s always better to walk away from a possible threat and to maintain a calm demeanor in the most-threatening of circumstances.

But if nothing else works, LeClair makes sure his students know how and when to use a gun.

His students can earn their firearms competency training certificate in his classes. Not only does he teach how to handle, clean and use a firearm, the certificate is the first step toward earning a carry and conceal license.

“The demand for carry and conceal really hasn’t gone away,” LeClair said. “It’s certainly increased with all of the turmoil in the country, the election, COVID. When people feel threatened, they want to fee safe. They believe in their Second Amendment rights that gives us the right to bear arms and protect ourselves in a law-abiding manner.”

LeClair operates two classes a month. He tries to limit his classes to six or seven people, and it starts with a classroom setting in a conference room at Fantastic Floors in Orange Park. From there, classes then move to a gun range.

Gun sales prove Americans clearly are concerned about their personal security. According to the Brookings, gun sales in the past 10 years showed dramatic spikes following the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary, the Island Regional Center terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, the school shooting at Parkland and the COVID-19 pandemic and recent social unrest.

Current monthly firearm sales have reported to be nearly 1.4 million in the United States, including nearly 180,000 purchases days after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency last March for the pandemic. The demand has created shortages in both firearms and bullets, as well as the necessity to learn how to properly handle a gun.

“If you can find ammo, you’re lucky,” LeClair said. “People know the only person you can count on when things are bad is yourself.”

Persons wanting a carry and conceal license also have to pass a Florida Department of Law Enforcement background check and file an application with the Florida Department of Agriculture. The average wait time for the license, if approved, is about 55 days.

Even with a license, gun owners aren’t allowed to carry a firearm in police stations, courthouses, schools, sporting events or municipal buildings. Florida law allows gun owners with licenses to carry inside a restaurant, but they are restricted from being near the bar.

LeClair said many novice shooters can learn by using lasers instead of slugs. But it’s important to know how to shoot live rounds because threatening situations aren’t like a video game.

Clients need a gun and 50 rounds of ammunition to take a North Fork class. And in Florida, rifles, shotguns and handguns aren’t required to be registered.

LeClair also has created four color-coded levels of awareness: white, yellow, orange and red. White is the least-threatening situations, like walking alone on a secluded beach. Red is the most-dangerous, like being in the middle of a riot or a victim of home invasion.

“Most people walk around not paying attention, thinking they’re in the white zone,” LeClair said. “You need to always be in the yellow zone where you’re always aware of your surroundings. That’s how you recognize trouble and avoid it. The best thing is being trained to use a firearm and never having to do it.”

All students are told their gun training certificates – and possible carry and conceal license – create additional responsibilities.

“It not a badge. It there to protect you and your family,” he said. “If you get backed into a corner and have to defend yourself, are you willing? That’s something you won’t know until the time comes. But if it does, you’ll know what to do.”

LeClair said he’s never been forced to shoot someone.

“And I hope I never have to,” he said.