I'm one of those guys that has always advocated getting: (1) as much training as you can afford; (2) as much training as you can squeeze into your schedule; but would not make training mandatory for firearms ownership or concealed carry licenses. Over the last few years, I've done my CHCL course, been to a couple of matches, and visited the range. In reality, all of that is less training than I should have had, though.
Neither my finances nor my schedule have permitted me to get much honest-to-goodness, bought-and-paid-for training. However, as a district court prosecutor, municipal attorney, and one of the guys who defends our police officers from federal lawsuits, there are some perks that go with the job. One of those perks is access to the police department range and, equally important, access to our SWAT training personnel.
To make a long story short, last week, I am scheduled for a couple of hours on the local police range tomorrow and anticipate working with one of our SWAT trainers for that time. My tentative plan is to 'splain to the trainer just to begin at the beginning, as it were. In addition to shootin', I'm planning on asking him about clearing malfunctions and reloading under stress. In the future, I plan to make more time to take advantage of our trainers' expertise & that range, but can y'all think of any other critical items that I should be asking in a relative beginner's training session?