Demand has LPSO considering adding more firearm courses

The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office may start offering additional firearm training courses for first-time gun owners due to high demand.

The LPSO currently hosts a monthly concealed-carry handgun course and a First Steps Pistol Orientation course for new gun owners every two months. LPSO spokesman Sgt. Brennan Matherne said the sheriff’s office is considering offering First Steps more often because the courses reach capacity quickly.

The sheriff’s office lists the courses on its online calendar a few months in advance. If the classes still have openings, the LPSO alerts the public via email a few weeks prior. The office sent out a release for its mid-March First Steps course on Friday, and by Monday the class was full. According to Matherne, this is indicative of the course’s rising popularity.

“[First Steps] did not have a lot of participants when you look at last fiscal year,” the spokesman said. “It did not have a lot of participants throughout, but we did see attendance steadily increase as people learned what it was about.”

Matherne said the concealed carry course is required for any gun owner wishing to obtain a concealed-carry permit. Sunday’s course is already at capacity. Anyone who plans to keep a gun in their home or car should consider the first-timers’ course, according to Matherne. First Steps’ $50 price is less than half of the concealed carry’s $110 cost.

“You’re going to learn some basic principles in concealed carry course anyway, but the First Steps course is really designed for first-time gun-owners. You’re going to be surrounded by people with the same expertise as you, so it’s less intimidating, I think, for people who have never fired a gun before,” Matherne said.

The course is designed to benefit all gun owners. Matherne said instructors report that first-time owners are generally more accurate and understand safety principles a little more than those who have owned guns their entire lives. Instructors frequently blame bad habits longtime owners display. Matherne agrees not all lifetime gun owners have bad weapon habits, but many who attend First Steps leave with a renewed sense of safety.

“Many are shocked to see and shocked to learn, so to speak, that they’ve been doing it not necessarily wrong, but just not with the utmost safety in mind. It’s an eye-opening course for anyone, whether you’ve owned a firearm or not,” he said. •