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Thanh Truong: NOLA gun instructor sees more new faces in classes

First-time gun owners seek training amid decreasing police numbers & rising crime

Dave Newman
Firearms instructor Dave Newman conducts a training course at Concealed Carry NOLA.
Thanh Truong/WWL

Dave Newman is a firearms instructor in the New Orleans metro area and has been busy this year.

Among the many courses he offers at Concealed Carry NOLA is a course to obtain a concealed handgun permit. Despite data from the National Shooting Sports Foundation that shows the number of first-time gun buyers in the U.S. decreased by 10-percent from 2020 to 2021, Newman is seeing quite the opposite trend in his classes.


Newman says not only is there an increase in first-time gun owners in his class but also more elderly people and more women. He believes the shrinking number of police officers in Orleans Parish is a big factor in the number of students in his courses.

I recently visited Newman as he was conducting two of his courses: one in the classroom, the other at a shooting range. While Newman places a lot of time and attention on the mechanics of handling a gun, he dedicates a good portion of his course to understanding the legality of when to go down the path of deadly force and perhaps more importantly, when to avoid it.

Click the link above and listen to why some people feel it’s the right time to keep a gun by their side.

(WARNING: The audio in this story contains sounds of gunfire.)

First-time gun owners seek training amid decreasing police numbers & rising crime