For Sgt. Clint Achziger, firearms training isn’t just a job — it’s a lifelong passion. With over three decades in law enforcement, he has served in multiple roles, from gang and homicide investigations to SWAT and firearms training coordination. But one thing has remained constant: His dedication to sharpening the skills of officers on and off the range.
Achziger’s journey began as a police explorer before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. After returning from his deployment to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Achziger set his sights on law enforcement, joining the Los Angeles Police Department and later moving to Sonoma County (Calif.) Sheriff’s Office before settling at the Santa Ana (Calif.) Police Department, where he’s been for 20 years. Achziger has served as a firearms instructor for all three agencies.
Beyond his full-time duties as a sergeant, as well as his auxiliary role as a firearms instructor at Santa Ana PD, Achziger is an adjunct firearms instructor at Gunsite Academy, a premier training facility in Paulden, Arizona, known for developing top-tier shooters. His deep understanding of weapons systems, tactics and legal applications makes him a trusted expert among both officers and civilians seeking advanced training. He also co-founded Sentinel Defense, a training company that provides high-quality instruction for law enforcement agencies and armed citizens.
Below, Achziger shares insights into his career as a firearms instructor, the challenges of training law enforcement in high-liability environments and why he believes every officer should approach training with a mindset of continuous improvement.
What does a typical day in your role as a firearms instructor look like?
In most law enforcement agencies, except for the big ones, being a firearms instructor is not your full-time job. It’s not my full-time job — it’s very much an ancillary duty to my primary job as a police sergeant. For the big police departments, like LAPD or Chicago PD — if you’re full-time range staff — that could be a lot. You’re not always on the range teaching classes. Sometimes you’re inventorying equipment, providing maintenance to equipment — not just guns, but range stuff, range facilities, that kind of thing.
For me, a typical day as a firearms instructor varies depending on department needs and training schedules. Some days, I’m running a qualification course, ensuring officers meet the department’s firearms standards. Other days, I’m working one-on-one with an officer who wants to improve their skills or helping a struggling recruit get through academy training. There are also administrative tasks, like reviewing and updating training curricula, researching legal updates that impact use-of-force policies, and maintaining the range and equipment.
On average, I spend a couple of hours per week running qualifications or extra training at a team or unit level. But being an instructor isn’t just about time on the range — it’s about constantly refining your own skills. To maintain my proficiency, I do weekly dry-fire practice and seek out other training courses from outside instructors to learn new techniques and see how they run their classes. I try to attend a class every couple of months to keep my own skills sharp.
Even if I can’t get to the range, I make time for training. I have a dry-firing regimen that I do at home, and I spend time reading, watching podcasts and studying training material. It goes way beyond just the couple of hours a week I spend on the range — probably closer to an hour a day of training in some form.
It’s very much like being an academic teacher. They teach from 8:00 to 3:30, but then they’re at home planning lessons for the next day. We’re no different. If I have a training event coming up, I’ll spend time at home reviewing our curriculum, refining lesson plans and making adjustments. I believe training curricula should be a living document, not just a rigid script. My goal is always to make each training session better than the last.
Beyond my department work, I also run a private training company, so my day doesn’t necessarily stop when I leave work. Teaching and training are constant parts of my life, and I’m always looking for ways to improve both my own skills and those of the officers I train.
What challenges do you face regularly as a firearms instructor and how do you handle them?
With the job, there comes a certain amount of frustration because, to put on a good program or teach firearms, you’re always balancing time, money and resources. Do I have the budget to put on a good training day or a full training program? Do I have the resources I need? That includes range facilities, weapons and ammunition.
Then there’s the human factor — not everybody wants to train. You have people who come in with an open mind and a willingness to improve. Then you have people who are just told to be there and do the bare minimum. Those officers will test your patience more than someone who isn’t very skilled but genuinely wants to learn. That’s probably the biggest challenge — not everybody is a willing participant.
And then, third, the cultural shift that needs to happen in law enforcement training. We do a lot of qualifying, but we don’t do a lot of actual training — and there’s a difference. Training should be the refinement of our foundational skills, or “hard skills,” to a high level of performance. But within law enforcement culture, not a lot of places think like that. More often, we train to a liability standard.
Administrations typically believe that qualification is training, and it’s simply not. Qualification is just walking onto a range, shooting a course of fire, and if you pass, you’re good. We do nothing in that session to improve an officer’s skills or correct deficiencies. We need that cultural shift — one that emphasizes performance-based training in law enforcement rather than training to a made-up standard. Right now, the standard is: “We’re going to shoot this course of fire and you have to hit 80% of the targets.” But that alone doesn’t prepare officers for real-world encounters.
What unique skills or tools are essential for success in your position?
First and foremost, the ability to communicate. You could have the highest degree of skill in the world, but if you can’t impart knowledge through communication, you’re not going to be very successful at teaching.
Secondly, your skill level — you have to have a high degree of proficiency. You need to be able to perform everything on demand that you’re asking of your students.
The third is that you have to be a subject matter expert — not just on how to line up the sights and press the trigger, but on weapon systems, tactics and defensive protocols.
Beyond that, you also need a deep understanding of the law because you’re teaching officers how to use a tool that delivers deadly force. You’re very much a use-of-force expert, so you need to know both criminal and civil case law, constitutional amendments and all that legal framework. You have to have a solid working knowledge of it. Out here, for example, we follow Ninth Circuit Court rulings and Superior Court rulings — these all come into play. As instructors, legal updates aren’t necessarily spoon-fed to us, so we have to actively seek them out. A lot of instructors don’t stay current and they just don’t know. But to be a good instructor, you have to stay informed.
We always need to know the “why” behind what we do. It’s a double-edged sword — we’re teaching a skill, how to use a weapon system, but at the same time, we have to teach officers how to navigate potential liability and legal outcomes.
In the video below, Sgt. Clint Achziger shares insights into the role of a firearms instructor, discussing the essential skills needed for success, the most rewarding aspects of the job and his advice for those looking to pursue this path.
What are the most rewarding aspects of your job?
Hands down, the most rewarding part of the job is when you get feedback from someone who was involved in a lethal confrontation and they prevailed — they successfully resolved the situation without injury to themselves or any citizens. They overcame a tense and stressful encounter and won. The best kind of feedback is when you hear something like, “Hey, this officer was on the range with you last week and this happened.” That’s when you know the training made a difference.
Another rewarding aspect is the immediate satisfaction of seeing students improve — whether it’s a struggling shooter who finally starts to get it or someone who already shoots OK but takes their skills to the next level. The goal is always to make them better, and if I can help someone surpass my own skill level, then that’s a win.
Sometimes, as instructors, our egos get in the way. We get it in our heads that we always have to be the best. But in reality, it’s an even bigger win if I can train someone to be better than me or push them beyond their own expectations. That’s what makes the job worthwhile.
Can you share a memorable experience that highlights your impact as a firearms instructor?
I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’ve had a lot of those moments where I get feedback — whether it’s from someone who was involved in a lethal confrontation or a struggling recruit who says, “Hey, I’m not sure I’m going to pass the academy.” Then you work with them, they pass and they make it through the program. Looking back, there isn’t one case that stands out more than the others — they’re all meaningful in their own way.
One thing that means a lot to me personally is how many people come to me with questions. Out of all the instructors in my organization, I get a lot of officers who seek my opinion or ask for my help. Even SWAT guys — I’m not in SWAT anymore, but it’s always a great feeling when they reach out and say, “Can you work with me on the range?” They’ll come to me with questions about equipment or bounce ideas off me about tactical procedures.
Those are all rewarding moments for me.
What advice would you give someone interested in pursuing a role as a firearms instructor?
You have to have a passion for making others better, not just an interest in your own skill. And what I mean by that is, we get guys who say, “I want to shoot better, so I want to be an instructor.” That’s not what we’re looking for. We want someone who says, “Hey, I have an interest in making somebody better, and along the way, I’m going to improve too.”
Start your quest for knowledge early and build your subject matter expertise. Someone who wants to be an instructor should already be taking training classes on their own. They shouldn’t be waiting for the department to send them to courses because most departments just don’t have the budget for that. You might get sent to a certification course, but the actual training and skill-building have to come from you. You should have a desire and passion for training all the time.
You also have to be good at your primary job. If you’re a patrol officer, you need to excel in that role because your credibility as an instructor is tied to your reputation as an officer. If you’re known as a substandard officer, you’re going to undermine the credibility of your training program. Credibility is critical to being a good instructor and maintaining the integrity of a good program.
And finally, learn how to be a people person — be able to talk to people. That’s a critical skill. I always go back to a military analogy: We can’t be drill instructors. This isn’t a “do as I say” kind of role. You have to be able to teach people. Think of it as coaching or mentorship. That’s what you’re really doing — coaching someone to success. And to do that, you have to be able to communicate and impart knowledge effectively.
I also like to use this sports analogy: We don’t go to the Super Bowl every day. But on the day you’re called to the Super Bowl, you can’t show up with the practice and training of a high school junior varsity team. You have to train at a professional level, so when that moment comes, you’re ready. That’s the mindset every instructor — and every officer — should have.
