Meet the Instructor
Instructors Name: Kirk Heller
Company: Self Reliance Training, LLC
Location (City): Las Vegas
How Long Have You Been in NV? 25 Years
Where are You from Originally? New York
Current/Prior Military, LE, or Security Experience? Seven (7) Years Security
Q & A
What’s Your Experience with Firearms?
- Ownership - 14 Years
- Working in gun stores - Approximately 11 years
- Armed Security - Approximately 7 years
- CCW - 14 years
- During this time, I have taken multiple training courses for both rifle and pistol. I shot USCCA and two-gun matches between 2011-2014.
How long have you been teaching firearms training?
As a professional instructor, about a year and a half. As a gun store/range employee, about ten years of helping out when needed.
What are your official certifications/licenses?
USCCA Concealed Carry Home Defense Fundamentals - Instructor
First Care Provider Stop the Bleed - Instructor
Where else have you trained?
Roger Phillips (Fight Focused Concepts/Suarez Int'l)
Jordi Riera (Private Lessons)
Some Fun Stuff...
Favorite Gun Models (Handgun, Shotgun, Rifle)?
Handgun: Glock 19 or CZ P10C, hard to choose.
Shotgun: Remington 870
Rifle: Daniel Defense DDM4v5 or Mk18
Favorite Ammo (Practice & Defensive)?
FMJ - Magtech or S&B 124gr.
JHP - Speer Gold Dot 124gr. +p
Favorite Shooting Spot(s)?
Outdoor - Cold Creek
Indoor - Las Vegas Shooting Center
Favorite Drill(s)?
Old habits are hard to break, El Presidente.
A Quick Lesson/Training Tip from the Instructor
You know what’s better than winning the fight? Not getting in one in the first place!
We can easily sit here and talk tactics, draw stroke, gear selection, favorite drills to run and all the fun parts about carrying a gun for the next decade. And you most certainly don’t have to explain to me the importance of all those things as well as being physically, mentally and emotionally ready for the fight. But there are likely two (2) outcomes after you get into a defensive encounter involving firearms:
- You die, and your family gets to mourn you. or
- You win and risk everything you’ve ever worked for in court because your assailant’s family sues you or a prosecutor doesn’t think you did everything you could to avoid the situation.
Years ago, I had a former client of mine shoot and kill a known violent offender during a home invasion.
No charges were filed against him as the shooting was ruled as justifiable and done in self-defense. Yet, it still cost him over $330,000 in legal fees because the home invaders family members kept trying to take him to court for “wrongful death”. Every case was thrown out and my client still had to pay that much. He lost his house, two cars and almost lost his family over the financial stress.
It would be foolish to believe that all conflict is avoidable, and I wouldn’t sit and try to convince you otherwise. But what can you do to avoid conflict?
The first step is to check your ego at the door. If you are carrying a firearm for self-defense, you need to be able to walk away from any situation that could escalate. Someone bumps into you at the store? Say excuse me and walk on regardless of what they say.
Someone is mean mugging you from across the room? Who cares, look the other way. Someone hits on your significant other? Oh well, they’re still going home with you. If you willingly engage in a verbal altercation, can you definitively say that you did everything you can to avoid a fight? Because a prosecutor can probably argue you didn’t.
The second thing you should do to avoid conflict is, be smart about the places you go and don’t be complacent. If you are pulling up to a gas station to pick up that energy drink and candy bar you’ve been thinking about for hours and you see a couple of people just sitting outside looking like they’re sizing people up as they get out of their cars, or a homeless guy carrying a large pointed stick yelling at the sky for being blue, or you see two groups of other people looking like they’re about to start fighting, just leave. The possibility for things to go really wrong, really fast is too high.
If you want to buy a used game system and the person selling it wants to meet you at 9pm in dimly lit parking lot, simply don’t go. I’d love to get my hands on an N64 and a mint copy of GoldenEye as much as the next guy, but it just is not worth the risk associated.
I’m sure these seem like decision’s you wouldn’t make. But being complacent can cause you to make bad decisions.
The third thing you can do to avoid a conflict is, don’t look like a victim. Every day when we run our errands, we see people buried in their phones, not paying attention to anything around them. If you haven’t seen it, you’re probably guilty of it. I know I sure have been. But it is important to be aware of your surroundings and keep your head on a swivel while out in public.
If you make eye contact with people around you, acknowledge them with a head nod or any other polite gesture, you’re letting them know “I see you”. Most predators go after easy prey. People who are unaware of their surroundings are unsuspecting and unsuspecting people are easy prey.
There are countless other things you can do to avoid conflicts and stay out of a fight. And whatever you choose to do, you must still be ready to get into one because sometimes the bad guy makes the decision to fight for us.
Be Safe. Get Trained. Become the person you can rely on.
We Thank Kirk for Joining Us for Our Instructors Corner and Answering Our Questions and Providing a Quick Training Tip/Lesson!
To Learn More About His Company and/or Schedule Training with Him, Check Out His Company in Our Guide Directory Here: Self Reliance Training LLC
Have Another Question, a Comment, or Just Want to Thank Kirk for His Time, Answers, or Lesson/Tip? Comment Below!
