CCW, Need to use the same gun?

[Guest The Itis]

Just a quick question- do you qualify for CCW license per gun? Meaning do you have to take the course with the gun you intend to carry? Asking because I saw a range offer a ccw qualification separate from the course.

[Guest TheDrip]

HCP in tn, not a CCW.

And no, it isnt per gun. You can qualify with a 22 revolver and carry a desert eagle. 50.

[TrickyNicky]

Nope, you can (and many have) use a single action 22. On the test and then carry whatever pistol/revolver strikes your fancy.

[Guest kj4gxu]

First Tennessee does not have a CCW license, we have a HCP, handgun carry permit, you can legally carry open or concealed at your discretion once you have obtained your HCP.

  

Second, no you can use any handgun to qualify and once you are qualified you can carry any handgun.  If a range in TN is offering a CCW qualification separate from the standard HCP safety course it does not in any way affect your right to legally carry a weapon concealed or open, it is just a local/unofficial class.

 

I could see some potential benefit in the class teaching methods of concealment and drawing from concealment, but don't feel as if you legally have to take it.

[Guest The Itis]

Okay, much appreciated.

 

The range's website stated that should a shooting take place and you are using a gun that is different than what you qualified with, a prosecutor will use that against you. Scare tactic?

[robbiev]

Okay, much appreciated.

 

The range's website stated that should a shooting take place and you are using a gun that is different than what you qualified with, a prosecutor will use that against you. Scare tactic?

 

Yep, mostly a scare tactic. Some ranges also tell you that you should re-qualify with any gun that you might possible carry, and highly imply that it's required, which it isn't, and of course, they charge a fee for you to do it.

Edited August 15, 2013 by robbiev

[JAB]

Not only can you qualify with any gun and then carry any gun but you don't even have to own a gun to qualify for an HCP.  There are people who qualify with borrowed guns or even 'loaner' range guns from the place where they take the class.  In fact, at least the last time I read it, TN state law is written that (with an HCP) you can carry any handgun that is legally in your possession.  I take that to mean you could even carry a borrowed gun.  I have even heard of folks who have little to no experience with firearms but who are thinking of getting a gun and who take the class before even looking at guns just as sort of an 'introduction' to firearms and shooting.

 

Some people believe you should qualify with whatever gun you will carry.  Personally, being already a bit annoyed that I was paying (at the time) $50 for a class and then $115 nonrefundable to even apply to exercise a Constitutional right and being that I didn't know what to expect, I used my 5.5 inch barreled S&W 22A.  When we finished and the instructor told us to count up the number of hits in the black to make sure we passed, he walked by me and said not to even bother counting because I had obviously passed.

 

When my mom carries, it is usually her Kel Tec P32 but she passed the qualification with her Hi Point 9mm.  By then, I had taken my test and took her to the range to run her through what we had done to qualify so, since she was more familiar with her Hi Point than any .22, she used it (and, apparently, shot the best of anyone in her class.)

 

My estranged wife also carries a P32 (when she carries) but didn't have it at the time she took the class.  Again, I took her to the range and ran through what she could expect.  I offered to let her use one of my guns but we couldn't find one of them that she was comfortable with so she used a snub-nosed Rossi .357 that belonged to her late father (loaded with .38 Specials) to qualify.

 

So, the two take-aways:

 

1. You can qualify with any handgun and then carry any handgun and

2. unless the individual instructor throws in some curveballs or extra requirements, it ain't all that difficult to qualify if you practice shooting, at all.

Edited August 15, 2013 by JAB

[Guest McE]

Very interesting I was curious if I could use the range loaner guns before I buy, and might as well get the hcp if I'm throwing rounds downrange.

Edited August 15, 2013 by McE

[JAB]

Very interesting I was curious if I could use the range loaner guns before I buy, and might as well get the hcp if I'm throwing rounds downrange.

 

I'd check with the specific range and instructor to see what their practices are but there is no obstacle under TN state law.

Edited August 15, 2013 by JAB

[Cruel Hand Luke]

The "pro" side to using your actual carry gun is that it is an extra layer of protection in a court case. It would show that you were able to qualify with the gun you actually carry which COULD be a good thing later on if anything goes to court.

 

If you use a .22 target pistol to qualify with yet you go about carrying a .44 snubby it MIGHT be argued against you that you were reckless and carried a gun you had not proven you could handle...is it ridiculous...yes...but sometimes courtroom arguments ARE ridiculous....now that argument is most likely to come up if you hit something you did not intend to hit....but honestly...if someone can't pass a qualification as simple as the TN HCP test WITH their carry gun...then they might not need to be carrying THAT particular gun. 

Edited August 15, 2013 by Cruel Hand Luke

[JAB]

The "pro" side to using your actual carry gun is that it is an extra layer of protection in a court case. It would show that you were able to qualify with the gun you actually carry which COULD be a good thing later on if anything goes to court.

 

What you are saying makes sense.  However, I don't even still own the gun I carried most when I first got my HCP (a Kel Tec P11)  nor did I own the gun that I now carry the most (a S&W 642) so I don't know that this point would matter in my situation - and I suspect that many others change carry guns over the years.  I am certainly not saying you are 'wrong' and, like I said, your statement makes sense (especially knowing that you teach handgun classes), just pointing out that even qualifying with what you carry at the time doesn't mean you will be carrying what you qualified with a couple of years down the road.

Edited August 15, 2013 by JAB

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Very interesting I was curious if I could use the range loaner guns before I buy, and might as well get the hcp if I'm throwing rounds downrange.

 

Some years ago when I took the HCP course, the only thing I'd decided is that I wanted to keep a pistol primarily for home defense, but hadn't shot a pistol for many years and didn't want to buy a gun just to shoot myself with it. The only training available in my area at the time, that I knew about, was HCP courses and hunter safety courses. So me & wife took the HCP course just to learn enough not to shoot ourselves before getting a gun. We rented range guns.

 

Wife never bothered to get the HCP, she just wanted the training. I hadn't intended to get an HCP, but after taking the course, decided to go ahead and get the HCP as well. It isn't "comprehensive" training but did cover safe gun handling and legal parameters of use, introductory material on how to hold, aim and fire the pistol. Advice that you ought to clean the gun once in awhile, don't over-lube or under-lube, lube on ammo might cause fizzles, basic operational details and pros'n'cons of revolvers versus semi-autos, etc. All very useful info for a person who comes in the class not knowing sheets from shinola.

 

It would have been difficult for me to figger out what first gun to buy without the introductory info in the class.

[Oh Shoot]

What you are saying makes sense.  However, I don't even still own the gun I carried most when I first got my HCP (a Kel Tec P11)  nor did I own the gun that I now carry the most (a S&W 642) so I don't know that this point would matter in my situation - and I suspect that many others change carry guns over the years.

 

My guess is that very few folks who carry regularly stay with the same heater they started with, and many don't always carry the same one, either. Then there's also all the folks who carry two.

 

- OS

Edited August 15, 2013 by Oh Shoot

[Guest sL1k]

Good luck with them figuring out which gun I used for my course. When I took my course a couple years ago they did not document what firearm I used and I got to keep my target (as far as I know they still do not document which gun was used). I do hear now days the instructors keep the target.

I just cannot see this coming up in a court case in TN.

It follows the same line of reasoning that people say "if you are a dead shot and could have shot to wound and didn't it would be held against you."

[Guest Lester Weevils]

When I took the HCP course 13 or whatever years ago, the state course completion certificate had a line on the form where the model of the qualifying gun had to be written. The instructors explained that you don't have to carry that particular model, but the instructors did have to fill out that info of what gun was used in the course. Maybe nowadays the form has changed?

[RobertNashville]

For the benefit of the OP (and everyone else I guess)....

A prosecutor, if they decide to charge will use EVERYTHING against you, what kind of ammunition you used, what type of firearm, whether you altered your firearm (little skull end plate on your Glock, etc), what you were wearing, your training, your lack of training, how often you practice and how often you don't, and EVERYTHING you've ever posted to an internet forum/social media site. The prosecution will use all those things and more as weapons against your claim that your used of deadly force was justified. If you take training courses multiple times a year they'll say you were just a murderer honing your skill so you could go out and kill someone; if you don't train they'll say you were an accident looking for a place to happen because you didn't train sufficiently to use your weapon or how/when/why to use your weapon.

 

It will be YOU and YOUR ATTORNEY's responsibility, along with very expensive expert witnesses, to educate the jury and to counter everything the prosecution will throw against you and if you or your attorney or your experts screw up you'll go to jail even if the shoot was completely justified.

 

Hopefully, if you ever have to use deadly force you won't be charged but you might be even if you were totally justified in your actions and did everything exactly correct.  So, don't just be prepared to defend yourself, be prepared for the potential aftermath as well.

Edited August 15, 2013 by RobertNashville

[Cruel Hand Luke]

What you are saying makes sense.  However, I don't even still own the gun I carried most when I first got my HCP (a Kel Tec P11)  nor did I own the gun that I now carry the most (a S&W 642) so I don't know that this point would matter in my situation - and I suspect that many others change carry guns over the years.  I am certainly not saying you are 'wrong' and, like I said, your statement makes sense (especially knowing that you teach handgun classes), just pointing out that even qualifying with what you carry at the time doesn't mean you will be carrying what you qualified with a couple of years down the road.

I understand what you are saying. I myself do not carry the same Glock 27 that I used to qualify with 16 years ago.....the point is that no one can argue that I am not "capable" with the Glock 17 I am currently carrying because I "only" qualified with a .22. 

[Cruel Hand Luke]

I just cannot see this coming up in a court case in TN.

 

Some people travel to other states legally armed . Some people get into shootings away from home. It may not be a court IN Tn. Again...I said this MIGHT be an issue.  I didn't say it WILL be an issue. It is just 1 more layer of protection. 

[EastHipster]

A layer of protection against what?

 

If you miss your intended target and something not intended and get sued, it isn't going to matter what gun you qualified with.  You're screwed.

If you hit your intended target in a justified shooting and don't hit anything unintended, it isn't going to matter what gun you qualified with.

[jtmaze]

I took my course with my XD40 and the instructor said good shooting and nothing else and signed off on my certificate. Didn't count or anything.

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Since when do they keep targets? I took mine and I got to take it home..What need would the instructors have to keep your target?

Unless its an individual instructor who is making his own rules.? Dunno but just weird that they would keep your targets...

[Oh Shoot]

Since when do they keep targets? I took mine and I got to take it home..What need would the instructors have to keep your target?

Unless its an individual instructor who is making his own rules.? Dunno but just weird that they would keep your targets...

 

Dunno, they changed some stuff around not long ago, target size/distance, few other things I forget, maybe they're supposed to keep 'em now a documentation they ain't cheating or something.

 

- OS

Edited August 16, 2013 by Oh Shoot

[Fivestring63]

My girlfriend took hers about a month ago and she got to keep her target. 

 

 Remember also you can carry as many guns on you as you can carry also.

[Guest tdoccrossvilletn]

Is it true that with an hcp in TN that you can carry long guns in your vehicle with ammo in the magazines but not one in the chamber? Someone told me that and I don't believe it.

Sent from my mind using ninja telepathy.

[Guest sL1k]

Is it true that with an hcp in TN that you can carry long guns in your vehicle with ammo in the magazines but not one in the chamber? Someone told me that and I don't believe it.

Sent from my mind using ninja telepathy.

It is true that you can.