I sat through the first half of my concealed carry class Wednesday, and found it informational—but somewhat repetitive. The instructor I’m learning from has taught qualification courses for forty years to cops, FBI agents and other security professionals, and knows his stuff. He knows I’m not interested in carrying for stupid reasons, and focuses on the responsibility that goes along with it. I’ll be clear: I don’t intend on wearing a handgun wherever I go. This is primarily to get ahead of the weird Maryland law loophole that says you can own a gun but can’t technically transport it to a range with just a regular HQL. Knowing the way this country is trending right now, I want to be as legally above board as I possibly can. And I intend on doing a lot of range practice with the Glock to become proficient.

On Friday I went back for the second half, which included the remainder of the class time and then an hour of range practice. He set me up with a SIG chambered in .22 and fitted with a silencer, which was a hoot to fire (not silent, but MUCH quieter than I thought it would be). Then I used my Glock 48 to shoot two-handed, then right, then left at 30 feet. He was very happy with my groups, remarking that they would pass the State Police qualification test. I did feel better shooting the Glock this time—the refresher on grip and stance was extremely helpful, and because I focused on using my right eye instead of switching from my left, I was much more successful.

He gave me some basic instruction, a training plan for proficiency at 30 feet, and a paper certification. So now I have to go back and get fingerprinted again, fill out the online form, and send everything in to the Staties.

Meanwhile, because I was up in the area, I stopped in to the mighty Andy Nelson’s for lunch on both days. God, I miss that place. The barbecue is as good as ever, and almost nothing has changed—although I was sad to read that Andy just recently left us a week ago. Godspeed, sir.

I found a new (well, published in 2017) game to play through the Xbox Game Pass—Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands. It’s an open-world FPS where you can run around to complete missions, command a squad of three team members, and drive various vehicles. It’s got some of the same mechanics that The Division does in that you can modify weapons and earn points to upgrade gear, but it’s not as convoluted to figure out as that title. There are, of course, plenty of missions to complete, which unlock new missions at greater difficulty. It’s been fun so far, but getting used to squad-based combat is a challenge when I’ve been playing solo for so long.