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Front Sight Firearms Training Institute sits on a large piece of desert just outside Pahrump, a town in the southern portion of Nye County, Nevada. Some 35,000 people come to Front Sight each year to receive instruction on carrying and deploying a firearm. Though several students of the Four Day Defensive Handgun course shown here were active-duty military personnel or law enforcement officers, the majority were civilians. The courses were geared towards those who carry a weapon daily -- openly, as is legal in Nevada and 25 other states, or concealed, as 11 states allow one to do without a license.
Students practiced with their weapons in the grueling heat for ten hours a day, first learning to draw their weapon, and eventually graduating to live-fire room-clearing exercises. The classes, which range in skill level from beginner to "combat master," can cost upwards of $2,000, not including the price of ammunition, travel and lodging.
These photographs were made in September 2015, on assignment for The Nation and in concert with author Patrick Blanchfield, whose article can be found here.
John, an active-duty serviceman and a student at Front Sight's Four Day Defensive Handgun course, watches from behind the firing line in September 2015 as instructor Karsten Beutnagel demonstrates a "controlled pair," two shots to the center of a target.
Front Sight instructor Karsten Beutnagel. Beutnagel, a former member of the German military, works at Front Sight part time in addition to teaching golf in Arizona.
Front Sight instructors set up new targets during a break in the Four Day Defensive Handgun course.
The sun sets over Pahrump, Nev. A town of just over 36,000 people, Pahrump is home to Front Sight, the Spring Mountain Motor Sports Ranch, and paranormal talk radio host Art Bell.
Orange plastic training pistols hang from mock doorways in the desert as part of Front Sight's Pahrump, Nev., facility.
Students practice clearing rooms with orange plastic training weapons before graduating to live-fire exercises.
Cayden, 17, prepares to practice clearing malfunctions from his rented weapon. Handling weapons since he was 12, Cayden was one of the most accurate shooters in the class.