I’m a Firearms Instructor, Can You Donate A free Holster To Me?

Right on schedule this month, another request from an “NRA Instructor” asking for free holsters.

At least twice a month I receive an email that goes like this:

Hi, I’m an NRA (or firearms) instructor giving lessons at [insert range here]. If you
would like to donate some holsters to us, I will promote Your company
to the students and encourage them to purchase from you. Blah, blah, blah.

I give them a couple of free holsters and they tell their students to purchase from our shop. So, this is a win/win right?  Wrong. It’s not.

I naively did this when I first started selling holsters. In a three month period, I sent out 10 free holsters to “NRA Instructors”.  My return on that investment was: $0.00. Not one sale.

A couple of years ago I received an email from an NRA Instructor asking me to donate holsters to him and his two partners. In exchange they would promote my shop to their students and encourage them to buy from us.   So I looked them up. They were, in fact, instructors. They offered Concealed Carry and basic shooting classes for $125 per day. They were scheduled out over six months, for every weekend and several week nights.  Twenty students per class. Their bio on the website said they were just a local small business trying to serve their community by offering firearms education.

I did the math, twenty students, at $125 each, three nights a week.  That’s $30,000 a month….. and they’re asking me for free holsters.

Instead of just ignoring their request, I replied and told them if they are giving free or reduced fee classes to people who can’t afford to pay, or to people at risk that need to learn self-defense, I would be happy to donate holsters to them at no cost. All they had to do was provide me links to show where they offer these free or reduced fee classes.

I never heard from them again.

So, this has been my reply for the last three years, to every request for free holsters.  So far, I have not received a single response.

Do I ever give out free holsters? Yes, absolutely. Friends and Family get that benefit, and I’m happy I can do that. I also give discounts to law enforcement, current and former military, and even people on a fixed income.

So, long story short, this is why I don’t give out free holsters to people claiming to be firearms Instructors.