The Southwest Mississippi Gun Club, Inc. and The Mississippi Firearm Owners Association, is conducting a National Rifle Association Basic Pistol and Mississippi State Enhanced Carry Class.

The goal of the class is to make private citizens more proficient in using firearms for the protection of their homes and their own personal protection.

The club offers these classes as a public service club event and no instructors are paid to conduct these courses. The classes are fully insured and the NRA Instructors have a combined total of 138 years of experience.

The Gun Club has been putting on this class since 1977. With an emphasis in public safety and awareness, the class is geared toward those who have contact with a firearm often and need to learn proper gun-handling fundamentals.

“In Mississippi we have a permit law,” club member Doug Bowser said. “If you take a class like this with a registered instructor, you can get an advanced license, which means you can carry [a sidearm] in a lot more places.”

The class will be held on Feb. 14, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. The club is registered to teach classes approved by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, for the issuance of the enhanced pistol permit. Instructors are registered with the Louisiana State Police to conduct this course and qualify them for the training requirements for the Louisiana Concealed Carry Permit. This training will also suffice for persons seeking training for the Florida CCW.

The classroom and shooting will be held at the Southwest Gun Club range. No student will be allowed to bring any firearms into the classroom. The club is especially focused on safety. Some basic safety precautions are listed as follows:

• No open carried loaded or unloaded handguns in holsters will be allowed by anyone at the range.

• No loaded concealed carry firearms will be allowed by students, at the range property.

• A student that displays a lack of basic safety in the firing phase or is not able to qualify with basic marksmanship skills, will not pass this class.

• All students will be required to sign a waiver that releases the Southwest Gun Club from liability in this class.

According to the NRA and MS DPS participants should use individually owned firearms and ammunition in the class. Louisiana Citizens must use a semi-auto pistol and a revolver to meet Louisiana requirements. If you have the required firearms for the class (RF or CF semi-auto pistol and revolver), 50 rounds of ammo for the semi-auto and 50 rounds of ammunition for the revolver will be needed for the firing phase of the class.

For further information, contact Doug Bowser at 601-341-8797, or at dougbowser@cableone.net.