Introduction: Maggie is the founder/owner and lead instructor for Homeland Personal Protection Firearms Training. Her training is geared towards defensive shooting and training to defend a potential threat here in our homeland, USA. As a female firearms instructor teaching the certification course for multistate CCW/CFP permits, Maggie is known in the communities of Las Vegas and Henderson Nevada as "CCWMaggie." Maggie is a wife to a very supportive husband of 8 years, a mom of two beautiful children and a woman who understands the importance of self-defense as a fundamental right.
Maggie studied nutritional science at the University of Houston and ran her own business as a physical fitness trainer where her passion for mentoring, teaching and coaching was born. Her business came to a halt one day when Maggie broke her neck while walking into a gym. After months of physical therapy, she ultimately had to undergo surgery. After her recovery time, she discovered she did not have the high level of physical ability that she had prior to the accident and made the decision to retrain herself. In pondering her field of focus, her thoughts kept going to one of her first dates with her then fiance' at the shooting range.
With encouragement from her husband and a few instructor friends, the idea of becoming a firearm instructor was born where she could once again use her skills to teach.
Even though Maggie has had an interest in recreational shooting and hunting for many years, she made the decision to become a defense instructor in 2009 and has been on a steady diet of self-defense training ever since. She is influenced by other instructors such as Massad Ayoob Group, Front Sight Firearms Training Institute, Doug Little of Armed Personal Defense and Rob Pincus of I.C.E. Training as well as being a member of the Association of Defensive Shooting Instructors.
Maggie started by obtaining all of the requirements to become a CCW/CFP instructor which were the NRA instructor ratings. For the first 2 years, she offered the CCW/CFP courses with a few fundamental firearms training classes. With the great response and student base following, Maggie taught and has invested far more than the requirements to become an NRA training counselor and in 2014, she obtained that rating and has been teaching the NRA curriculum necessary for students and instructor candidates to become certified. There is a big difference in learning how to shoot a gun then learning how to use a gun for self-defense. Maggie has always felt she could better serve the community in delivering life-saving skills rather than competing or recreational shooting. Over the past 6 years of being an astute student of defensive education, her training company has offered its services to well over 5000 students.
She offers conceal carry weapon courses and defensive firearm training courses using the "combat focus shooting" as the basis of her defensive training as she is currently seeking to become a certified/active CFS instructor. In delivering the training materials for multistate conceal carry weapons permits, she feels the Firearms Possession Laws and Self-Defense Laws are a critical portion of the courses. Though the topics of Use of Deadly Force, the Force Continuum, Criminal and Civil Liability are at the forefront of the discussion, it is also a greater responsibility to avoid a confrontation if at all possible. There is so much more to know about carrying a firearm in public for self-defense. Maggie takes training seriously. She has stated, "There are times that I may be the one and only exposure for students to learn to defend themselves" and "Students may take only one training course due to limited training resources, and I want to deliver the very best information and training possible." Taking a CCW course is important, yet additional counter ambush and intuitive defensive firearms training are critical to your survival in her opinion. Maggie is committed to students taking away from her courses so much more than a permit to carry a concealed firearm. Her desire is to deliver the training that may potentially save their lives or the life of a loved one.
Not only is self-defense a way of life for Maggie, it is also a passion and as she has found, there is much more to being a defense instructor than taking an NRA class. She lives with the philosophy "To be a great instructor, one must be a great student" and is committed to investing in an ongoing training and personal development so she can pour it all back into her students. Maggie is currently offering several different training courses to civilians, law enforcement and our military. Her most distinguished accomplishment this year was to work with and train our great marines at Camp Pendleton's Edson Range in CA (first female nonmilitary commissioned instructor). It was a life-changing event and will always be remembered. The sign of success of the training was when she was invited to continue to bring her programs back to the base.
When you are faced with the fight for your life, CCW SAFE is there to defend you in the fight for your rights. Maggie is proud to be on the advisory panel for CCW SAFE representing the woman's community. CCW SAFE is a legal service specifically for those who carry concealed firearms. Knowing there is great liability in carrying a firearm in public for self-defense, it's extremely important to have the right legal representation for your legal survival if ever having to depend on the use force during a critical incident. Her family has memberships for their own personal coverage and is confident to endorse this great service to all of her students.
Her journeys have continued to bear fruit. In researching ways to bring firearm-friendly information to women, she looked at some of the woman-only programs out there and had been following "Carrie Lightfoot's The Well Armed Woman" Facebook page well before there were shooting chapters and felt there was great information. Once the shooting chapters were launched and no active chapters in her area, she thought it would be best to start one so she could reach women who were looking for firearms training. With the abundance of training ranges in her area, she decided to start two chapters, one for Las Vegas and one for Henderson, appropriately named "The Battle Born Woman".
Currently, Maggie is the NV State representative for the TWAW and has approximately 50 members and growing. With the knowledge she has gained, she feels compelled to offer opinions on specific topics, services and gear. Maggie is humbled by the praise and adoration from her students as well as her future students who are empowered by her to succeed. The ability to educate, empower and equip someone to get into the gun culture for whatever it may be, sport, hunting or self-defense, Maggie is ready to jump right in and help them succeed. "A true measure of your worth includes all the benefits others have gained from your success." --by Cullen Hightower
Thank you, "CCW Maggie" in Henderson, Nevada.
