m NWSAFE Instructors

NWSAFE Instructors

All NWSAFE instructors are volunteer instructors who donate their time and expertise to this non-profit enterprise.

Instructors

Jordan Gackowski, jordan AT nwsafe DOT org

Jordan Gackowski

Jordan is certified to teach Refuse to be A Victim, Home Firearms Safety, FIRST Steps Pistol, and Basic Pistol.

Bill Hendrix

Bill Hendrix

Hunter's Ed. Instructor (State of Oregon) 5 years. (approx. 500 students graduated). Oregon Certified Home Inspector (fifth year, 2000 +/- homes). Married 19 yrs. w/2 daughters 16 & 14. Church goin man, hunter (Oregon Master Hunter Cert.), golf hacker and all around nice guy (Conservative Republican)!

Bill is a NRA Range Safety Officer, and is certified to teach Home Firearms Safety, FIRST Steps Pistol, Basic Pistol, FIRST Steps Shotgun, and Basic Shotgun.

Leigh Maynard, Leigh AT nwsafe DOT org

Leigh Maynard

Leigh is the Chief Instructor for the Portland Rifle and Pistol Club, teaching Pistol and Rifle. He frequently conducts FIRST Steps Pistol classes and assists with the PRPC Juniors program. In his spare time he is also a Real Estate Typhoon.

Leigh is certified to teach Home Firearm Safety, FIRST Steps Pistol, Basic Pistol, FIRST Steps Rifle, Basic Rifle, Personal Protection in the Home, Range Safety Officer, and is a also Training Counselor.

Mike Moon,  mikem AT nwsafe DOT org

Mike Moon

Mike is a consultant (certified professional paper pusher) during the week and passionate about introducing new shooters to the sport on the weekends. Mike decided he needed to get involved with the NRA teaching program after filling in for the Range Master at a Boy Scout summer camp and had more fun teaching than shooting.

Mike is certified to teach FIRST Steps Pistol, Basic Pistol, and Personal Protection in the Home. He plans on adding additional certifications in the coming year.

Roger Moore,  roger AT nwsafe DOT org

Roger Moore

Roger is a long time hunter and shooter. He enjoys shooting competitively in defensive shooting matches, but for him it is more about learning and improving than it is just about competing.

Roger has taken classes at the Firearms Academy of Seattle, the Public Safety Training Center, the Lethal Force Institute, Firearms Training Strategies, Thunder Ranch, and Front Sight.

Roger is an NRA Training Counselor, Chief Range Safety Officer and is certified to teach the Basic Pistol, FIRST Steps Pistol, Personal Protection in the Home, and Home Firearms Safety. Roger is also certified to teach Utah Concealed handgun classes and is certified as a Judicious Use of Deadly Force and StressFire Instructor through the Lethal Force Institute. He also is a coach at the Public Safety Training Center in Clackamas, OR.

Josh Poulson,  josh@nwsafe.org

Josh Poulson

Josh is a long-time shooter, especially pistol shooting, beginning with BB guns in his youth and moving into the defensive shooting sports as he matured. Most recently he has been competing in defensive shooting matches in Oregon and Washington.

Josh focuses on coaching students through finding the best techniques for them to shoot well. He has studied widely, including at The Place to Shoot's Training Technologies Group, Firearms Academy of Seattle, Chapman Academy, and the Lethal Force Institute, holding various certifications and qualifications from those schools, including certification as a Deadly Force Instructor. When he's not having fun shooting, he is a software development manager specializing in high performance database engines.

He is certified to teach Home Firearms Safety, Basic and FIRST Steps Pistol, Rifle and Shotgun, Personal Protection in the Home, Range Safety Officer, and is also a Training Counselor.

Steve Seeger, steve@nwsafe.org

Steve Seeger

Steve is certified to teach Home Firearms Safety, FIRST Steps Pistol, and Basic Pistol, FIRST Steps Shotgun, Basic Shotgun, FIRST Steps Rifle, and Basic Rifle. Steve now teaches in Michigan.

Dan Sweet, dan@nwsafe.org

Dan Sweet

Dan is an NRA Training Counselor and Chief Range Safety Officer, certified to teach Home Firearms Safety, FIRST Steps and Basic Pistol, FIRST Steps and Basic Shotgun, FIRST Steps and Basic Rifle, Personal Protection in the Home, and Refuse to Be a Victim. In addition he is certified by the Lethal Force Institute and Massad Ayoob to teach StressFire Handgun, Rifle, and Shotgun.

Many other dedicated people!

In the last few years NWSAFE has pickup many dedicated hardworking instructors. So many in fact it is hard to list them all. Those with photos above are the founding members. Our little band of trainers has expanded well outside of the Portland Metro area. A HUGE THANK YOU to all of YOU!

Honorary Instructors

Wendell Joost

*

Wendell is a Master Training Counselor for the NRA and conducts some of the largest instructor training events in the world. He helps maintain the informative nratraining.com website.

Most of Wendell's activities are in Western Washington, although he wanders the world (like Kane in Kung Fu) doing training in areas that have few instructors. He has done training in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Michigan, Florida, New York and even Australia.

He has trained almost half of all the active NRA certified instructors in Washington and Oregon. He is one of the Support Staff for the NWSAFE.

Richard Ripley

*

NRA Certified Instructor in Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun, Personal Protection, Home Firearms Safety, Metallic Cartridge Reloading, Shotshell Reloading, Chief Range Officer, Senior Training Counselor, Refuse to be a Victim Instructor, Washington State Hunter Education Instructor, NROI Range Officer, competitive shooter in NRA High Power Rifle, Bullseye Pistol, Action Pistol, and Shotgun (trap).

Started shooting at age 11, got into teaching in 1997, Training Counselor in 1999, STC in 2002

Attended Insights Training General Defensive Handgun, Weapons Retention and Disarming, Defensive Folding Knife, Impact Weapons. Also attended Lethal Force Institute's Judicious Use of Deadly Force, and Front Sight's Sub-machinegun class.

Former Army officer (artillery), and currently a business analyst for an insurance company.

Firearms Education Chairman for Kenmore Range in Bothell, WA.

Instructors In Memoriam

John McEnroe 11/4/1945-6/12/2010

John McEnroe

John enjoyed coaching students on the firing line, where his background as "problem" student makes him acutely aware of shooting difficulties and how to correct them.

John was an NRA Training Counselor, Chief Range Safety Officer, and certified to teach Home Firearm Safety, FIRST Steps Pistol, Basic Pistol, FIRST Steps Shotgun, Basic Shotgun, FIRST Steps Rifle, Basic Rifle, Personal Protection in the Home, Basic Shotshell Reloading, Basic Metallic Cartridge Reloading and is also a Range Safety Officer.

Our dear friend John passed away June 12, 2010. He will be long remembered and well missed by all who ever met him.

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