I didn’t exactly know what to expect, but once I got there the good vibes took over.  With their friendly demeanors and having everything prepared for our class, it was a great start! They even pre-thought about what we could’ve forgotten and brought extras of everything. Marshall and Maggie went above and beyond to make the day not only comfortable and fun, but the wealth of knowledge we left with……incredible!

I had shot before with friends who never fully explained much, and now that I know….being on the range with them wasn’t exactly safe.  Add sketchy rigging/modifications and you could figure out why I was always extremely leery of shooting.  However, I had always wanted to learn to be able to protect myself and family should I ever need to. With that in mind, I left wanting to take my husband directly to the gun store (LOL) and get me an AR-15, a Smith and Wesson 9mm, a Glock 48, or one of the Sig Sauer P365 XL’s!   OH, and I will never use the word “CLIP” again.  Thank you for all that you do! We appreciated the day and now our newfound “shootin’ confidence”!

What an amazing day my work colleagues and I had on Saturday for a Defensive Shooting Class with Marshall Luton!  We were a bunch of novices to the process and more than a little intimidated by shooting guns.  By the time we all left there, we felt informed and certainly more equipped to understand dealing with threats.   We not only learned the basics of handling and firing a weapon, but also what to look for in our everyday surroundings to keep us safe.

Even though Marshall works with highly trained and experienced law enforcement groups, he also knows how to speak to newbies on their level and not overwhelm us with information.  He provided great instruction and took away our fears so that we could learn.  His relaxed manner of teaching, sense of humor, incredible patience and willingness to guide us all individually made for a fun and worthwhile day.  We’ve all unanimously agreed we want to schedule another class in the Fall!

I would highly recommend his classes!

I have 15 years of law enforcement experience and throughout all the years, including the academy, there has never been any training provided to deal with suspects in a rural environment. This course is a huge eye opener and exposes everything we’ve been lucky enough to have gotten away with after years chasing people into wooded areas.  We are simply blessed that our lack of knowledge and training in this arena, never cost us anyone’s life.  The training provided in this class is just the tip of iceberg, and in my opinion, is a MUST for all law enforcement personnel whether you work in rural areas or not. The instructor, Mr. Billy Smith, is knowledgeable in any subject, personable, patient, and WALKS THE WALK.

If you are in law enforcement, this course is a must have in your training resume. With conditions being what they are in the world today, if you’re NOT law enforcement, you need to have this knowledge as well.  I would take this course again and will recommend it to others. 10/10.

Defensive Shooting Academy’s Rural Tactics is the best firearms course I have ever taken. Instructor Billy Smith is the absolute epitome of a quality instructor. He has copious real world empiric knowledge and can pass that knowledge onto his students in a concise, understandable, yet urgent manner. The students in this class were highly trained. SWAT guys, prior military, etc. They were way above my skill set, yet I never felt intimidated or out of place.

You may know how to run a rifle, but do you know how to run it when the SHTF in a real-world event? Can you communicate and work with a team to mitigate a threat in a rural environment when your life depends on it? This course, Rural Tactics, will give you many tools, but it is so much more than just a shooting course. These tactics will give you a route to access opportunities that could lead you to the most important element leading up to a CQB… Surprise. With tip of the spear instruction, set in a real-world scenario, this course gave me invaluable instruction with my gun, but more importantly, it expanded the use of the most important weapon in an SHTF moment, the mind. I could take this course over again and again, and envision learning something new and valuable each time.

Any responsible person who carries a pistol and is serious about developing his or her skills definitely must take Advanced Combat Pistol 1 (ACP1). Marshall Luton’s world-class experience combined with skillful effective teaching make this an exceptional training course, perhaps one of the best you can find anywhere. The class alternates between in-depth explanations of a critical fundamental (for example trigger press), followed by carefully planned live-fire drills. Marshall has a eye for subtle errors, which he corrects, always in a positive encouraging manner. His objective is to make us better shooters. For example, when I thought I needed to slow down to reduce misses, he said, “No, that’s not the problem; you need to aim harder.” Our class included police officers, competitive shooters and ordinary armed citizens. It was challenging, but also very satisfying and fun. I took home many valuable pointers that I will continue practicing to take my performance to the next level.

Tom Salmon
Retired optometry professor
NSU continuing education firearms instructor
oakleydefense.com