First off, welcome! Kick off your shoes, pour yourself a beverage of your choice (if it’s an adult beverage, make sure the guns are put away first), and look around a bit. Over the last 8 or so years that I’ve been involved with The Liberal Gun Club, we’ve gone through a ton of changes, growth, and more than one pretty contentious election.

We’ve also seen a steady growth in membership as the organization stands up new chapters, gets new trainers certified and ready to go, and field a LOT of questions from folks who are new to the gun community- truly the 2.0 of gun owners.

There’s also been a fair bit of work that has gone into putting resources together for our members and the general public, whether you’re a new gun owner or someone who’s owned guns for the last 60+ years. The purpose of this post is to corral some of that together for you in a digestible format.

Our Executive Director, Ed Gardner, has invested a ton of energy into giving our members an outlet to learn some new things with a whole ton of videos, called our “Social Distance Learning Series” while the country is in the midst of the pandemic. Along with holding down his day job and getting us some really killer alternative training equipment discounts (available in the LGC store and via the membership portal under “Membership Resources“).

If you haven’t bought your first gun yet, we have a treat for new members, Member and Club favorite, Grant Cunningham, wrote an exclusive book available to paid members: “I want to Buy a Gun: A Non-Judgemental Guide to Firearms for the Non-traditional Gun Buyer:  (that probably is you). Its available exclusively to members in our  Member Resources page!

To give you a starting point, one of our instructors in Oregon, Mike Ross did a video version of our “Introduction to Range Safety“, also referred to as how not to shoot yourself in the foot (kidding about that. Kind of). This class is taught in person across the country in a ton of states, and its entire purpose is to give a new shooter a low pressure and comfortable introduction to the basics. You’ll learn about the safety rules, a number of different types of guns, some of the basic mechanics, and get some guidance on what to expect and how to act for your first (or your 10th) trip to the range. You can also schedule an in person class with one of our instructors here.

Got a new gun? Want some tips on cleaning and maintenance? We have you covered: Basic Firearms Maintenance

Once you’ve watched and digested that information, we’d highly recommend that you learn what to do in the event of an emergency. Our online version of “Stop the Bleed” teaches you what to do in the event of a trauma, whether it be a gunshot, a car accident or a slip of the kitchen knife at home. This is an online version of the popular American Red Cross program that we presented at National last year. While we did not did not create this class, our instructor for it, Lonny Weissman, was a medic in Vietnam and has kept his skills honed over the years.

The follow up class with a panel of experts that was done here. Carl Cowan, Alessandro Padovani, and Lonny put on a great class and discussed creating your own practice props along with answering questions.

We’d highly recommend that you take this and other medical classes in person as the opportunity allows, as you can save a life, maybe even your own with these critical skills. More information about the class and in person availability can be found here.

But wait, there’s more!

If you’re ready, after you’ve watched those classes, if you want to get a better understanding of what happens during a critical incident, Alessandro puts on a fantastic class called “Counter Ambush Methodology“. This is a VERY abbreviated version of a much longer class that he teaches, and you’ll learn some of the core mindset, discuss avoidance, body mechanics, flight or fight response, and a number of other things that you may not have considered in the event that you are in a situation where deadly force may be brought against you. It’s an excellent primer and introduction to some of these concepts.

We spend a lot of time at home, especially during a pandemic, and Alessandro continues the learning series with “Fundamentals of Home Defense with a Firearm“. In this video, which is again an abbreviated version of a longer class, you’ll be introduced to the concepts that are critical to consider and prepare for in the event that you ever have to deal with any kind of home invasion, including where to go, placement in a room, and other important things to consider.

One of the more popular topics these days is concealed carry. Some states don’t require licensing to do so, others have very stringent requirements, which an entire spectrum in between. Whether you are just considering concealed carry or have been through a class, Alessandro runs through “The Fundamentals of Concealed Carry” which is an excellent introduction and incorporates the concepts from Counter Ambush Methodology into a very abbreviated version of our “Introduction to Defensive Pistol” course that is taught across the country.

There are some other great classes that we’ve put on, whether you want to learn how to roll your own ammunition in our the Basics of Pistol Reloading and “Introduction to Rifle Reloading” class that Scott Richardson did for us, or his “Buying Milsurp and what to look for“.

All of these classes, along with a number of others can be found on our “Social Distance Learning” page.

We started series this specifically to help our members out during the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak, and bring a little social, to the social isolation. Its not always (ok, not really ever) the highest production value, but they are live classes taught by real instructors with no budget. We had (and are having) fun making them, and folks are learning a lot along the way.

Check it out!