How long should/must a CCW class be in hours?

Let's first approach this issue from a statutory requirements perspective. Some states do not require their CCW permit applications to take any firearms training at all. Some states will accept almost any evidence of prior firearms training including a hunter safety card/class which usually does not involve handguns at all.

Other states list the firearms courses that they will accept. These often include the NRA Basic Pistol Course, its watered-down version known as NRA First Steps Pistol Orientation which is NOT a course, NRA Personal Protection Course and sometimes the NRA Home Firearms Safety Course although the latter does not include live-fire.

Finally, some states either mandate a specific curriculum for the firearms training or approve courses on a case-by-case basis based upon the outline submitted by it instructor(s). The approved course may or may not need to conform to a specific number of training hours.

Mix in formal reciprocity (by two-way agreement), unilateral acceptance or some variation thereof, and you have some states accepting out of state permits for which the underlying training requirements may not be the same or even close.

This can become an issue for several reasons especially if a given state accepts an out of state permit when used by visitors to that state but not by its own residents. Some states prohibit, or otherwise discourage, the the use of an out of state CCW permit by their own residents for carry within the state. Other states do not have a position on this practice and many residents of those states do carry in their home state under reciprocity with an out of state permit.

Take for example, the Arizona CCW permit with what has been a 16-hour training requirement which must be taught in Arizona. The training requirement is changing to an 8-hour class and Arizona does not allow its own residents to carry under an out of state permit. Arizona does accept the Florida and Utah permits when carried by non-Arizona residents.

Florida will accept just about any evidence of firearms training although they do state a requirement for live-fire consisting of at least one round. Florida does not certified CCW instructors and many of the courses that Florida will accept have their own time constraints such as the NRA basic firearms safety courses outlined above. Florida has been known to accept a hunter safety card even though these classes do not usually involve a handgun at all much less any information on CCW issues, laws and the use of deadly force for self defense. Those that obtain the Florida permit after completing only a basic firearms safety course, such as NRA Basic Pistol, will also not have any exposure to CCW issues, laws and the use of deadly force since the NRA prohibits these topics from being taught in the NRA Basic Pistol Course.

Utah is very specific about the content of its required training program and it provides instructors with a training outline to which instructors may add material with approval. Utah does not require live-fire in the course although most instructors will not certify a student who does not have prior handgun shooting experience through a classroom session alone. The required Utah training outline is actually very good and it provides the student with some valuable information about CCW issues, laws and the use of deadly force. Although Utah does not require the course to be a certain number of hours in length, most instructors deliver it in 3 to 4 hours.

Let's take a moment to compare the Florida and Utah permits within the context of their use by both a resident of Arizona and a non-resident of Arizona who lives say across the state line in California. We'll call our Arizona resident Arizona Arthur and our California resident ...uh, oh ... let's see ... California Carl.

California Carl lives in a state where it can be almost impossible to get a CCW permit as it is up to the local sheriff who "may" issue at their discretion after California Carl meets all of the state's requirements. Just ask those living in Los Angeles County where, in certain areas, a concealed handgun carried for defensive purposes would make a lot of sense if it were legal as the bad guys carry anyway to protect themselves against crime in addition to any occupational use.

Oh, there it is again - the anti-gunner "logic" that says make it illegal or impossible for law-abiding citizens to carry a handgun for protection and this will somehow reduce crime because there will be fewer handguns on the streets, bad guys who are probably wanted felons already wouldn't want to get in trouble with a weapon's charge .... stop it! Come on Gov. Arnold, it's time for some common sense on the coast and all eyes are on you.

Back to our friend Arizona Arthur who takes the the required training in Arizona and gets his permit which is good in about 21 or so states in addition to Arizona. Actually, only seven of these states have formal reciprocity with Arizona while the others will accept the Arizona permit. Since Arizona doesn't want its residents to carry in Arizona under an out of state permit, Arizona Arthur must get an Arizona permit.

California Carl, however, has three options:

1. Arizona permit (valid in 19 states when carried by non-residents of Arizona)
2. Utah permit (valid in 26 states when carried by non-residents of Utah)
3. Florida (valid in 27 states when carried by non-residents of Florida)

California Carl, who has handgun shooting experience, has relatives in states that accept the Utah and Florida permits but do not accept the Arizona permit. This narrows Carl's choices down to the Utah or Florida permit which fit his needs better than a permit from Arizona.

For the Utah permit, California Carl needs to attend a specific course approved by Utah which covers CCW issues, laws and the use of deadly force (about $99); get photo/fingerprinting/notary (about $31) and pay the Utah permit fee (exactly $59) for a total of about $189. His new Utah permit, which should arrive in about 4 to 6 weeks after California Carl completes the course and submits his application, will allow him to carry in Arizona and 25 other states under current reciprocity and acceptance. If California Carl was a resident of Utah, he would get three additional states: Florida, Michigan and New Hampshire. The Utah permit is good for five years after which California Carl can renew it for additional five-year periods for $10 each.

For the Florida permit, California Carl can attend (or have previously attended) just about any firearms safety class. Just before he registers for a basic pistol class, he remembers that he got a hunter safety card back while in high school. After some digging, California Carl finds his old tattered hunter safety card and sends a copy of it in with his application for a Florida permit along with a permit fee of $117 plus about $31 total for photo, fingerprinting and notary. That's only $148 and while California Carl is waiting up to 90 days for his new Florida permit, he believes that he has been the best choice - Florida.

Washington state does not accept the Florida permit but it does accept the Utah permit while Pennsylvania accepts Florida but not Utah. Michigan and New Hampshire accept both permits but only when presented by a resident of the issuing state. Other than that, the state coverage is almost identical and the numeric difference is only one state when either permit is carried by a non-resident of those states - again, based upon current reciprocity and acceptance.

If California Carl travels to Florida, he has selected the best permit as Florida requires permit holders to be residents of the issuing state in addition to the permit being accepted in Florida. The Florida permit is an excellent permit that now has some serious competition in the form of the Utah permit. The other man difference being that the names of Utah permit holders are confidential under state law but Florida permit holder information is public record.

California Carl, who says he never goes to Florida since he has palm trees at home, then discovers that it will cost him $107 to renew his Florida permit every five years after the initial five-year term. If California Carl keeps his permit for 20 years, and assuming permit fees remain about the same, his total investment in the Florida permit will be about $469 plus the cost of a new set of fingerprints with each renewal application.

Comparatively, the Utah permit would have cost California Carl about $219 for the same 20-year period despite being about $41 higher initially than the Florida route. The Utah permit would have saved California Carl up to almost $300 or more. If he lives longer, stays active and continues to take personal responsibility for his safety he will save even more.

Under current situations, California Carl can carry in Arizona with either the Utah or Florida permit. Why didn't he get an Arizona permit? In his case, both the Utah and Florida permits represented a better value given that they offered coverage in more states. The Arizona permit, at $65 every four years, costs a bit less than the Florida permit but requires a separate class before applying for the permit along with another shorter class prior to each renewal.

What about Arizona Arthur who lives in Arizona with his Arizona permit?
Since his permit is not accepted in as many states as the Utah or Florida permit, he has found that he needs to get a permit from one of those states to have coverage when he travels to visit family and friends outside of Arizona. It's an additional expense but Arthur deems it necessary.

Back to the original question ...
"How long should/must a CCW class be in hours?"

For someone with handgun shooting experience, and existing knowledge of handgun safety for which a review is sufficient, it actually takes about 3 to 4 hours to present the minimum amount of information required for the Utah permit class in a focused, intensive session. We are not talking a "coffee & donuts" class here, not by a long shot.

Is the longer Arizona or similar training better?
That would depend on several factors including the student's experience, quality of the training program outline, instructor knowledge and ability, etc. If the student was brand new to handguns, they would of course benefit from more training. Everyone benefits from more training including those with lots of past experience and we strongly urge our CCW students to take additional courses include defensive pistol tactics so that they will have real skills in the statistically-unlikely event they will need to draw and use their handgun in self defense.

We also strongly support the Second Amendment and the "right vs. privilege" aspects of concealed carry which should not be impeded by excessive training requirements and/or high costs. It would seem that Arizona is moving in the same direction given its impending reduction in required training hours from 16 to 8 as clock hours do not necessarily correlate with value received.

Remember, if the student has no handgun experience, most Utah instructors will not certify them through only a 3 to 4 hour classroom session without live-fire on the range even though it is not required by the state. We not only ask our CCW students their past handgun shooting experience during registration but challenge them to defend it in class. If they have insufficient experience, we refer them back to a basic firearms safety courses such as NRA Basic Pistol delivered in its official 10-hour format and position it as a prerequisite.

So, for a student with prior handgun experience, a good portion of the longer Arizona course may be a review. Reviews are good. However, the 3 to 4 hour intensive Utah course and longer Arizona course may be very close in value to that experienced student. The overwhelming majority of CCW permit holders will never draw and fire their weapon as shown by statistics.

Most states do not require CCW permit applicants to have live-fire and defensive tactics training for the simple statistical reason noted above. The real exposure with respect to the potential for an unintentional discharge on a daily basis is loading, holstering, un-holstering, unloading, etc.

If they took a good class from a good instructor who also taught the best tactic of all - avoidance of dangerous situations through increased awareness, the mindset alone may help protect the permit holder. After attending our 3 to 4 hour Utah course, many of our students have questioned whether they would carry at all given how so many laws, the media and sometimes public perception in general are not in their favor.

Obviously, we are not seeking to discourage our students - quite the opposite as we want to encourage them to take personal responsibility for their safety and the safety of their loved ones. However, this deep level of inward assessment is the foundation upon which the right mindset is then built.

What about those that may perceive Arizona as having higher standards or something along those lines?
Consider for a moment our friend California Carl who obtained his Florida permit using only a old hunter safety card from when he was a teenager. Remember that Arizona accepts that Florida permit as well for which there was zero information presented on handguns.

Which student is better prepared to carry a concealed handgun in Arizona, or elsewhere for that matter, one who has handgun shooting experience then attends a 3 to 4 hour intensive session on CCW issues, laws and the use of deadly force -OR- another who may know nothing about handguns but sends in a copy of an old hunter safety card as their proof of training?

It should obvious that a focused, intensive course covering CCW issues, laws and the use of deadly force that is delivered in 3 to 4 hours does more to prepare the experienced handgun shooter/student for concealed carry compared to a safety review through a basic firearms safety course (with zero CCW/deadly force info) or an old hunter safety class (with zero handgun info).

Courses such as the Arizona CCW training are generally very good programs when delivered by good instructors. We actively support each state's own CCW program as well as the expansion of reciprocity and acceptance whenever possible. As a consumer, the CCW permit applicant should also have access to the facts and know their options so that they can make an informed decision about the comparative value if one or more permits are available to them.

Finally, the use of an out of state permit for carry in one's own state is a somewhat rare configuration that is available only to residents of a few states. In some cases, it comes down to a consumer value issue when comparing the number of states covered, training costs and permit fees, etc. It other situations, it may be an individuals only pathway if they live in a county that refuses to issue and their state allows carry by its residents using an accepted out of state permit.

Detailed information is available on the UTAH permit.

To see a list of scheduled classes, proceed to our REGISTRATION page.

*Important Note!
Reciprocity between states may change as states are added or removed from each state list when individual state carry laws change and/or there are other developments. Therefore, it is critical that you keep yourself informed whether a given state will accept your permit(s) before you enter that state! There are websites that can help you with this task but to be safe, you should contact the state(s) directly. Safearms Academy and Packing.org are not responsible for changes in reciprocity/acceptance and/or for any consequences to you!