Back when you were buying your first handgun, would you have seen any value in getting a lesson and consult from a one on one instructor before making your purchase? Or perhaps a detailed range session tailored to you and your gun right after purchase?

I'm a USMC Reserve Combat Marksmanship Trainer with extensive pistol experience including 8 years of daily ccw. I've often thought about doing instruction on the civilian side.Recently my very green neighbor asked me to go with him to buy his very first handgun for home defense and possible ccw. We went to our local gun store/range and I acted like a personal shopper, helping him from his side of the counter while the sales guy did his part.We ended up going over to the rental guns and put a few boxes of ammo through several of the guns he was interested in. I took him through everything from safety to grip, stance, trigger control etc in that short session, and it went really well. He ended up liking the Shield and bought one on the spot.He told me after that having me do all that made him tremendously comfortable with a process he first found intimidating, and he was very excited about getting his new gun, free from any doubt or second guessing. Now that he has the gun, we are planning to go break it in together in another range session.I started thinking that this service I provided him might be something I do professionally for others. Imagine your first time buying a gun, and imagine you live in California where there isn't a busy gun club in every town and you don't have a bunch of friends and family into guns.Would you pay a friendly, knowledgeable stranger to assist you in buying and training with your first gun?Also, what civilian certification would you want your primary instructor to have?I'm just spit balling here. I won't be putting an ad on Craigslist anytime soon. I figure if I do it I'll go to some courses myself first then try to build a word of mouth clientele. via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/2dfvP7B