We Are The Range Report Whether you've been carrying for thirty years, have just picked up your first pistol last week, or are contemplating buying - you've probably noticed the same thing about firearms information online: there's a flood of it, and a fair amount is wrong, dated, or trying to sell you something you don't need. The Range Report is different. Think of it as the kind of conversation you'd have leaning on the counter at your neighborhood gun shop or sitting next

The content of this website and specifically in the The Range Report is provided solely for general informational and educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice, an attorney-client or instructor-student relationship, or a substitute for hands-on instruction from a qualified firearms instructor. Firearms laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently — always verify current federal, state, and local law at your jurisdiction with a licensed attorney before makin

Treat ALL GUNS as if they are ALWAYS loaded. There is no such thing as an "unloaded gun". NEVER point the barrel at anything you don't want destroyed (muzzle discipline). KEEP your finger outside of the trigger until ready to shoot. ALWAYS know your target and what's BEYOND it.

The Second-Best Time Is Today. Category: Training Philosophy Read time: ~8 minutes We hear it across the counter almost every week. Some version of: "I've been meaning to take a class." "I should probably learn this stuff at some point." "Once things settle down, I'll get around to it." The instinct is right. The timeline is wrong. The person saying it already understands, somewhere in the back of their mind, that being able to protect themselves and the people they love is n

The Real Roadmap in NJ and the Tri-State Estimated read time: ~7 minutes Deciding to keep and bear arms for self-defense isn’t a purchase. It’s a commitment — to the law, to a unique skill set, and to a standard of judgment you’ll carry for the rest of your life. In New Jersey specifically and the broader Tri-state, that commitment also runs through one of the most demanding legal frameworks in the country. We get asked some version of the same question almost every week: ”Wh

Where NOT to get your training There’s a lot of free firearms advice out there. Some of it is excellent. Most of it is wrong, dated, but wrapped in enough confidence that you can’t tell the difference until you’re trying to unlearn it ten years later. Bad training doesn’t only hurt your scores. It programs your body with wrong muscle memory that in the best case scenario only costs you fractions of a second on the draw, and in the worst case scenario may put your life at risk

Why professional training — not hardware — is your real tactical advantage Category: Training Best Practices Read time: ~8 minutes Published: The Range Report There’s a comforting story that gets repeated in gun shops, internet forums, and even some CCW classrooms: criminals, while may be armed, are sloppy, untrained, and easily overcome by any law-abiding citizen with a pistol and good intentions. It’s a nice story. It’s also wrong often enough to get people killed. If you c

Category: Gear & Buying Guides | Estimated read: 6 minutes When you walk into a big-box sporting goods store and head to the firearms counter, you'll find rows of pistols under glass, racks of long guns lining the walls, and a sales associate who may have been selling fishing tackle the day before. Compare that to the family-run shop in your town — smaller showcase, fewer SKUs on hand, and behind the counter a person who's been fitting people to firearms for decades. The big

On May 18, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit struck down a centerpiece of New York's Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA): the so-called "Vampire Rule" that had effectively turned every private business in the state into a no-carry zone by default. The ruling in Christian v. James affirms a 2024 district court decision and is a meaningful win for licensed carriers across the Empire State. What Was the "Vampire Rule"? When the Supreme Court's 2022 Bruen

Most people picture self-defense as a single dramatic moment — the door kicked in, the parking lot confrontation, the figure stepping out of the shadows. What gets lost in that mental movie is everything that happens in the seconds and minutes around it. Who's coming to help. How long it takes. And what you're supposed to do while you wait. I've spent more than four decades teaching people how to defend themselves — with handguns, rifles, shotguns, Byrna launchers, Tasers, pe

Estimated read: 6 minutes After four decades of training thousands of students, I've noticed something: people tend to think about self-defense weapons the way they think about hammers. One tool, one job, end of story. But the truth is more nuanced — and getting it wrong can cost you legally, financially, and morally, even when your initial instinct was sound. A self-defense weapon is a tool. Like any tool, it's designed to solve a specific problem under specific conditions.