ACT Personal Defense, LLC

08/10/2024

INSTRUCTOR CLASSES!!
Basic CCW Instructor Training
September 9-11, 2024
Basic Rifle Instructor Training
September 20-22, 2024
Basic Pistol Instructor Training
October 18-20, 2024

06/10/2024

NRA Chief Range Safety Officer Training
July 12-14,2024
3 day training event!
Friday, Saturday and Sunday

05/01/2024

LADIES Look, Listen, Be aware!

Let me share with you a story from one of my lady students, I’ll change her name to Susan. Susan contacted me back in February wanting to begin her journey into the world of safe gun ownership and to conceal carry for personal protection. She and her husband attended a training course called NRA First Steps Pistol.
https://www.nrainstructors.org/SearchResults.aspx?State=n&zip=30538&radius=10.1&id=9&bsa=&youth=&women=

After our first training, Susan came to me with the realization that just owning a firearm wasn’t enough. There’s a saying in training “You don’t know, what you don’t know” which means someone doesn’t have the knowledge or skills to spot their own mistakes or knowledge gaps. Susan thirsted for more knowledge and skill development.

In a training session I always try to thoroughly cover the subject matter at hand, but I also give students breadcrumbs to help lead them to the next level of their training. Now jump ahead a couple of months to the next step in Susan’s training NRA Basic Pistol Shooting.
https://www.nrainstructors.org/SearchResults.aspx?State=n&zip=30538&radius=10.1&id=56&bsa=&youth=&women=
Each course builds knowledge upon knowledge, skill upon skill, I left her with this breadcrumb, a rudimentary understanding of “Situational Awareness”.

We all know that there isn’t any region that is crime free. Susan indicated she wanted to be in control of her own personal protection. Even in some of our safest areas, we’ve seen upticks in personal assaults, robbery, carjackings or drug related crimes.

I think I’ll let Susan tell her short story in her own words;

“So, I’ve been practicing situational awareness since we talked - car in the garage (to form habit), Home Depot (where everyone has big trucks and parks very close) and when I leave the restaurant at night.

Last night, I paused in the doorway and scanned the parking lot. Didn’t see anyone and started to walk towards my car. I sensed or caught movement in my peripheral vision and there was someone off to my right walking in the empty lot.

I was alone and it’s unusual for someone to be there. I just went back inside and waited a few beats, watching until the person cleared and then headed back out.

Anyhoo…no big deal and no real threat, but the focus certainly is increasing my vigilance! Thanks for the coaching.”

Crisis avoided? What if she had continued to walk toward her car unaware of a person walking toward her – assault, r**e, robbery, carjacking – who knows? I know something wonderful; she got home safe and sound. All because of her newfound awareness!

Be safe and train hard

12/08/2022

I SURVIVED! My Defensive Encounter.
Have you ever had a gun pointed straight at your head? I HAVE!

Here's my story. It began about 7 years ago when I met Wayne at ACT Personal Defense. I had shot a gun a couple of times but I wasn't very good. So, I decided to take a "Learn to Shoot” training course from ACT. Now, jump ahead several years, by now I have taking either 5 or 6 classes with Wayne. My latest class was "Defensive Pistol Shooting", I'm so glad I spent the time and effort to learn how to shoot and defend myself. ACT Personal Defense with Wayne's training, I can truly say his classes saved my life!

When you're dealing with a life-threatening situation the last thing you want is an instructor who hasn't been under any real stress or fire. In every class Wayne shares a small part of his SWAT training, extensive defensive knowledge and shooting skills with his students. He has taught me so much over the years, his defensive knowledge and gun skills are second to none and I really believe if I hadn't taken his training, I wouldn't be writing this. Let me explain!

I was on vacation with my wife and we decided to walk a few blocks from our downtown hotel to a very nice restaurant. We were in a 2A friendly state and I was carrying my Sig P-365 with me. As we walked toward the restaurant, I noticed a man walking toward us, clean cut, average dressed. I learned from Wayne to know my surroundings and to look at everyone in and around me when I'm out in public. You could say I was in condition yellow. I kept watching him as we approached each other. When we were about 4 feet apart, I thought he would just walk past us, suddenly he pulled a gun and shoved it straight in my face. I froze for a moment but was able to keep a cool head and did as he asked. He kept yelling at me to give him my money, all of a sudden, I remembered a simple line, one of several, Wayne told us that might help us defuse a situation. I looked down at his shoes and said to him "man, I really like your shoes" at which time he looked down at his shoes, it give me the opportunity to grab his gun, brush it aside and land a couple open palm strikes to his face (I learned that from Wayne), it also gave me an opportunity to start to draw my weapon. I guess I caught him totally by surprise, he had enough of me and didn't want any part of being shot, he started to run. At this point I had cleared my holster and was pointing my weapon at him and watched him disappear. I also learned from Wayne, I couldn't shoot a fleeing criminal; he was no longer a threat to us. I then dialed 911 to report the incident, stayed on the phone with the 911 operator, giving them a good description and the direction of the fleeing criminal just like I was taught in class. After several minutes the police arrived to take our statements.

Thank you, Wayne, for teaching me how to save my wife and my life. It's all because of your classes, attention to details, shared knowledge and training, my wife and I are here today. Let me add one last thing, if anyone really cares about their wife and family you need to take every one of ACT's classes. Learn as I did how to defend yourself. It might just save your life. IT SAVED MINE.

Wow, Thank you Steve for your kind words. God was really looking out for you and Wanda!

Now, I don't recommend you follow Steve's every action but he did do many things right. I'm very grateful that Steve was able to defend himself and no one got hurt. I DON'T TEACH students to grab guns or try to take guns away from attackers. I'm thankful he wasn't injured in this robbery attempt. However, I do teach situational awareness, the palm strike, shoot/don't shoot and many other helpful defensive tactics. If you want to learn how to protect yourself or your love ones ACT Personal Defense is here to help.

Be safe and train hard!

Wayne

11/02/2022

Sometimes when you least expect it, someone reaches out and just makes your day. Today was one of those days! Usually after every training class I send out a thank you email with an encouraging word to the student to continue training and working on the things that they learned in class. I also ask them to consider writing a review on Google, letting other students know what they learned. Some will write a review but many don’t.

Today was a little different. I had talked with a student via email several times before training, as usual after the session I asked for a review, he wrote back.

“Thinking about it. This will be a serious crossing of the stream for me since Google reviews are not anonymous or use a handle. My name is very recognizable in my work field.”

I told him not to worry about it, I understood the situation. If you’re in a high-profile work environment gun related activities sometimes could be a problem with clients, so I thanked him again for taking the time to train with us and didn’t expect a review.

Oh, by the way, I didn’t include his real picture it’s actually another student.

A couple days later I received another email as follows;

“I did post a review on (name withheld.org) as well as a private Facebook group I am in that talks about (concealed) carry and clothing. That group has an interesting cross section of the gun community involved including some recognizable names. This was what I shared in the Facebook group:

“Since I mentioned a few months ago that I was going to be taking my first defensive pistol class, I wanted to share a bit of an after action as well as recommendation for those in Georgia.

Saturday was a very good training day with Wayne Lanier of ACT Personal Defense - https://actpersonaldefense.com/ - (which is near Taccoa and the border with South Carolina).

I did not dress in range attire per se, but instead was wearing ordinary Dockers pants and an untucked Polo button down shirt and comfy shoes (all the things that can be found at ordinary retail no problem). I used a IWB holster at 3:30 with all the draws being from concealment by the untucked shirt. The only thing that was a bit unrealistic was running an additional double mag pouch on my back left just to be able to avoid going back for magazines as much during the class.

I enjoyed the classroom and range portions immensely. I didn't know the testing started when I got there. How I looked around when I got out of my car was discussed when we got to the mental awareness part. I did good by casually looking around and not bee-lining to the door or to get my gear.

The range portion was tough with a lot of movement! Drawing from concealment while moving to cover and engaging the “bad guy” target from behind a barricade both on the right and left, squatting for a reload and transitioning to a kneeling position and engaging. I did my best to listen, visualize, and do what the teacher instructed. The course of fire even included walking backward while shooting and shooting one-handed while running and then having to reload only with my left hand and shoot running with my left hand only. (Simulating an injured dominate gun hand)

I ended up scoring a 340 out of 350 which instructor Wayne said is the highest score of any student he has had to date in this class. I only missed one shot (still on the silhouette but outside scoring area) at 25 yards that cost me the perfect score.

I enjoyed the training. Wayne has a very tactical professional background in law enforcement (SWAT) but he is choosing to teach gateway courses as well as stepping it up a notch with his advanced class. But nothing about this class seemed impractical or adult tacticamp like. I liked it a lot and will take Wayne up on the offer to audit future classes with him to tune up as desired.”

If you are looking for a basic NRA, USCCA, learn to shoot, handling and safety course, we’re here for you. If your needs or more advanced, we make your training as real as possible, all our drills are taken from real world encounters.

For more information about training with ACT Personal Defense, LLC give us a call. (770-853-8340) I’d love to get the chance to talk with you.

See why students drive from Augusta, Marietta, Monroe, Alpharetta, Athens and South Carolina to train at ACT Personal Defense.

Till then, Train hard and be safe.

08/17/2022

If something were to happen to someone you love...
How would you feel?
How will you explain that you just weren't prepared to protect them?

Saying , "I didn't have time for safety training" or "I had other priorities" these excuses won't matter after the fact.

Carrying a gun can save your life, but before even loading it, arm yourself with quality knowledge, skills and
solid defensive tactics.

This may be hard to hear, but the reality is...
Bad things DO happen...
It's on YOU to be ready.

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