In pursuit of the ever-elusive legally owned Chicago-bound handgun, I found myself in a western suburb this weekend going through the NRA Basic Pistol course. I cannot recommend this class highly enough to someone with little practical experience in shooting or weapons safety. The class goes into great detail in examining the constituent parts of revolvers and semiautomatic handguns, spends time discussing safety in detail (as well as legal and ethical liability), shooting stance, grip, correcting shooting errors, assessing the difference between calibers and how to recover from common weapons malfunctions. And that’s just the classroom portion. I ended up having to come back the next day for range time since I misjudged my I-Go reservation, but benefited from the undivided attention of our teacher. Within an hour I had dramatically improved my accuracy with the Glock 17 (and while I originally hated this handgun, it turns out that a proper grip corrects the slide bite and loose accuracy that irritated me at first). As my instructor was certified by Illinois as a firearms instructor, he was able to sign the training affadavit for the Chicago Firearms Permit application.
Next step is turning in the paperwork, I already have an Illinois Firearm Owner’s ID Card so I just have the form to fill out, some photocopies / passport photos / money order to assemble, and then need to show up during weekday business hours at the Chicago Police headquarters to get fingerprinted and turn in my application form. And then, after filling out the form (FOID application) that entitles me to a card (FOID) that entitles me to take a class (pistol training) that entitles me to fill out another form (CFP application) that entitles me to get an expensive piece of paper (CFP) that entitles me to fill out another form (federal form 4473) that entitles me to take possession of a pistol, that entitles me to fill out another form (handgun registration), I’ll finally be able to legally possess a handgun within the city limits of Chicago. The process: asinine. The result: good old fashioned American fun.
One Comment
I enjoyed the post, but that process sounds utterly absurd. Good luck with all of that!
One Trackback/Pingback
[...] Junius @ Looking Backward shares with us a glimpse into his first steps in obtaining his Chicago Firearms Permit. In pursuit of the ever-elusive legally owned Chicago-bound handgun, I found myself in a western suburb this weekend going through the NRA Basic Pistol course. I cannot recommend this class highly enough to someone with little practical experience in shooting or weapons safety. The class goes into great detail in examining the constituent parts of revolvers and semiautomatic handguns, spends time discussing safety in detail (as well as legal and ethical liability), shooting stance, grip, correcting shooting errors, assessing the difference between calibers and how to recover from common weapons malfunctions. And that’s just the classroom portion. [...]
Post a Comment