2019 Annual Conference

22nd Annual TCHA Conference Announcement

For the conference schedule, please click here.
For a list of class descriptions and instructor bios, please click here.

The Texas Concealed Handgun Association (TCHA) Board of Directors is proud to announce plans for the 22nd annual conference, March 29-31, 2019 at the YO Ranch Hotel and Conference Center, Kerrville, Texas.

Our keynote speaker for the upcoming conference will be John Correia, founder and owner of Active Self Protection. If you know John, it’s probably from his teaching of defensive principles through the Active Self Protection YouTube channel. The channel currently has over 1.2 million subscribers and garners 20-30 million views a month, making it regularly the most viewed firearms or self-defense related channel in the world. Mr. Correia will also be teaching a class, Lessons Learned From Watching 15,000 Gunfights, on Saturday morning.

The range day activities are being handled by range instructors Aaron Marshall and Jamie LaBarbera of Guncraft Training Academy. They will also be teaching a class on Evaluating, Choosing, and Mastering Defensive Shooting Techniques. Other training offered will be Low Light Defensive Tactics, VR Training: Beyond the Target, Stop the Bleed: Save a Life, Pros & Cons of the Various Defense Guns, and Understanding the Threat. In addition to the training and range day activities, there will be other activities, such as a president’s reception, free-play bingo for prizes, and the Saturday luncheon & banquet. Below is detailed information regarding the conference registration process, schedule, hotel accommodations, raffles, training programs, instructor bios, etc.

We look forward to seeing you there!

TCHA Board of Directors and Officers

Conference Schedule

TCHA is continuing its effort to offer excellent education opportunities to LTC licensees, LTC instructors, law enforcement personnel and concerned citizens during the Twenty-Second Annual Conference. These programs are designed to improve the knowledge and skills of all gun owners. The goal is to set a standard of excellence that may become the normal requirement within the LTC community. Several courses will be offered.

The complete 22nd Annual Conference Schedule is available here and the detailed class descriptions and instructor bios can be found by clicking here.

1. Low Light Defensive Tactics, by Austin Davis, Virtual Tactical Academy, and Bob Rich, Delta Red Training Group.
2. VR Training: Beyond the Target, by Larry Bloomquist, Bloomquist and Compton, and Austin Davis, Virtual Tactical Academy.
3. Evaluating, Choosing, and Mastering Defensive Shooting Techniques, by Aaron Marshal & Jamie Labarbera, Guncraft Training Academy
4. Lessons Learned from Watching 15,000 Gunfights, by John Correia, founder and owner of Active Self Protection.
5. Stop the Bleed; Save a Life, by Major Jeffrey Mott, USA (Ret.).
6. Pros & Cons Of The Various Defense Guns, by Sheriff Jim Wilson.
7. Understanding the Threat, by John Guandolo, founder of UnderstandingtheThreat.com and author of Raising a Jihadi Generation.

Each student who completes a course will receive a Certificate of Completion. Students, who hold their handgun license, and complete at least four courses, will receive an Intermediate, Advanced, Master or Sustaining LTC Certificate from TCHA. The certificates will be awarded by mail.

Conference Schedule

Class Descriptions and Instructor Bios

Range Activities

Aaron Marshal & Jamie LaBarbera with Guncraft Training Academy will be holding two afternoon range sessions at the Hill Country Shooting Sports Center: Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30. Each session will start with a discussion of firearms safety and safe range conduct. Students may attend both sessions; however, each session will be $20.00. Participation in each session will be limited to the first 15 paid attendees.

IMPORTANT: All participants are required to attend a safety briefing. If you fail to arrive to the scheduled safety briefing(s) on time, 3:30 pm on Friday and/or Saturday, you will not be able to participate and will forfeit your range fee.

During the three-hour range session, you will focus on developing and improving an essential set of defensive techniques that ensure you can prevail in a self-defense shooting. Through a series of demonstrations, dry practice, and shooting exercises, you will deepen your understanding and abilities on the following topics:

• The two keys of defensive marksmanship that ensure you hit your target every time
• Improving your trigger control
• Balancing speed and accuracy under defensive conditions
• The five steps to a consistent presentation from the holster
• Primary and alternate defensive shot-placement strategies
• Simultaneously bringing the weapon onto target while moving

The session will conclude with two fun and challenging exercises that will test your speed, accuracy, and consistency.

Parts of the road at the range are rough and could pose a problem for low clearance vehicles. Please plan accordingly.

Additionally, on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday afternoon (prior to the going to the range), Aaron & Jamie will be presenting a class on Evaluating, Choosing, and Mastering Defensive Shooting Techniques, which is open to all participants. During this seminar, you’ll learn how to critically evaluate various shooting and weapon handling techniques through the lens of effective self-defense. Using a simple set of criteria and evaluative measures, you’ll be able to quickly determine which methods are worth learning, and which are rubbish. You’ll also gain understanding of how to evaluate your overall skill set, and identify and fix your shortfalls.

Registration

The easiest way to register for the conference is online. You can also register by Mail-in Form. For those who preregistered, you will receive confirmation of your registration by email prior to the event. At the event, please make sure you check in at the registration table to pickup your conference packet and name tag.

• Total Package per person, includes classes, luncheon, and banquet, $129.00 [*See Note Below.]
• Life Members, including all of the above, $99.00 [*See Note Below.]
• Junior rate, including all of the above, $59.00 [*See Note Below.]
• Range Day-Friday afternoon, March 29, not included in the above prices, $20.00
• Range Day-Saturday afternoon, March 30, not included in the above prices, $20.00
• For those individuals who will not be attending the three days of training:
  • Friday classes only, $30.00 [*See Note Below.]
  • Saturday classes only, $30.00 [*See Note Below.]
  • Sunday class only, $15.00
  • Luncheon only, $30.00
  • Banquet only, $59.00
  • Luncheon and Banquet only, $89.00

[*Note: Does not include the range day.]

Preregistration is highly recommended and preferred to allow for proper conference planning. Onsite registration at the conference will be available as well; however, a $10.00 late registration fee will be assessed. The conference registration table, which will be located in the hotel lobby, will be open Friday, March 29, 2019, from 10 am to 5:30 pm and Saturday, March 30, 2019, from 8 am to 12 pm.

Note: Photographs will be taken at all events and may be published.

Gun Raffle

We will raffle off a Bond Arms, Texas Defender, .45/.410, 3″ Barrel, 20 ounces, Rosewood Grips, 2 shot. [Download Tickets.] This raffle will be drawn at the board meeting on Sunday, March 31, 2019. You need not be present to win.

During the conference, the conference attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in additional gun raffles. These raffle drawings will take place at various times during the conference.

Speakers & Special Guest Range Instructors

The Saturday luncheon speakers will be Mike Cox, Texas State Rifle Association’s LTC Director, and P.J. Hermosa, CEO of U.S. Law Shield.

Mike Cox is a strong Republican conservative, intent on restoring and preserving the 2nd Amendment. Mike was appointed by Governor Perry to the Board of Directors of the Texas School Safety Center and recently reappointed to this position by Governor Gregg Abbott. He is a life member of the Texas State Rifle Association and serves as the association’s LTC Director, as well as a member of the Executive and Legislative Committees. Mike is a patron member of the National Rifle Association, an active member of NRA-ILA FrontLine, and certified as an instructor of many of the NRA’s programs. He is a Texas DPS certified License To Carry instructor and teaches CHL classes at www.driftwoodchl.com. Mike is a graduate of the University of Houston, married to Diane, his wife of 47 years, and lives in Driftwood, TX.

P.J. Hermosa brought his innovative and customer-focused thinking to the U.S. & Texas LawShield Program during the early stages of development. His experience in sales management, along with his entrepreneurial spirit, helped propel him from a part-time Sales Representative to where he is today. In his capacity as CEO, P.J. works tirelessly to develop programs that add value to the lives and experiences of the U.S. & Texas LawShield member community. He understands that businesses are run by and for people first and foremost, and he focuses on building a company that fulfills the customers’ expectations. He continuously looks for ways to improve the company and the member experience, and finds great accomplishment in building a community around the people who matter. Born and raised in San Antonio, TX, P.J. resides in Houston, where he is a proud father and avid supporter of the Second Amendment.

The keynote speaker at the banquet will be John Correia, founder and owner of Active Self Protection.

John founded Active Self Protection in 2011 to teach people in all walks of life to develop the attitude, skills, and plan to defend themselves and their families from harm. John started being very interested in self-defense in 2006 when he was working in retail while going to graduate school. He ran a video game store and when the XBOX360 and PS3 came out, managers of stores were getting hurt for consoles. He decided at that time that he wasn’t going to be one of them and got his CCW in Arizona so that he could carry a firearm as well as training in empty-handed skills. As a conscientious citizen, John set out to train to be proficient with both to the very best of his abilities. That has involved group classes and private instruction with some incredible people who are too numerous to name. He has trained in both armed and unarmed self-defense continuously since 2006. He is certified by the NRA, Rangemaster, Shooting-performance.com, and the Sig Sauer Academy, as well as the state of Arizona in several pistol disciplines, and currently holds a 12-year earned black belt in a derivative of Kenpo known as UMAS and teaches martial arts nationally and internationally.

Teaching is the core of John’s competence, which began in his time in the Navy when he trained personnel in all manner of naval operations. He has a master’s degree in a communication field (MDiv in Biblical Communication, Phoenix Seminary, 2006) and has taught at the undergraduate and graduate level for 9 years at accredited institutions as well as teaching multiple times a week as an ordained pastor since 2003. His specialties as a professor included curriculum design, classroom management, assessment of learning outcomes, and maximizing learning modalities. As a full time vocational pastor for over a decade John’s passion was to help others learn the craft of teaching and mentorship. John left full time vocational ministry in 2018 to focus on Active Self Protection full time. John is a perpetual student and seeks to be a learner, rather than the teacher, and is in class a minimum of 200 hours a year between empty-handed and firearms-related classes.

The special guest range instructors are Aaron Marshal and Jamie LaBarbera from Guncraft Training Academy out of the New Braunfels, Texas area.

Aaron Marshall has two combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and is currently a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve. Aaron has trained with multiple weapons systems, from handguns to grenade launchers and heavy machine guns. He has been a firearms instructor, in both military and civilian contexts, for over 12 years. Aaron is the Executive Administrator for Guncraft Training Academy.

Jamie LaBarbera is a former police officer for the Fremont and Oakland police departments. He was also a senior training specialist for the California Motorcycle Training Program, and is a licensed private investigator. He is a POST-certified and NRA Law Enforcement certified firearms instructor. He is the Training Coordinator for Guncraft Training Academy.

Lodging

The conference hotel is the YO Ranch Hotel & Conference Center, 2033 Sidney Baker, Kerrville, Texas 78028. The TCHA special rate is $94.00 per night plus taxes for two queen beds or one king bed. Contact the hotel at (877) 967-3767 or make reservations online. The special conference rate is valid through noon on March 14, 2019. It is up to the hotel staff if they want to extend the special conference hotel rate past the March 14th deadline. Please make sure you tell them you are with TCHA.

**ATTENTION: Those individuals who have made both their hotel reservation and conference registration by noon, March 14, 2019, will be placed in a drawing for a FREE Room Upgrade to a One-Bedroom Suite. The drawing will take place on March 15, 2019 and the winner will be notified.

If the conference hotel is sold out, click here for an alternative list of hotels that are close to the YO Ranch Hotel & Conference Center.

President’s Reception & Bingo (Free Play for Prizes)

The president of TCHA will be hosting a hospitality/welcome gathering Friday from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. This will be a great opportunity to meet other conference attendees and check out the vendors. Following the president’s reception, TCHA will host a night of Bingo. It is free to play and various prizes will be distributed to the winners.

Luncheon & Banquet

The Saturday luncheon, 12:00 to 1:30 pm, is a Mexican Buffet, which includes Beef enchiladas and tacos with pico de gallo, cheddar cheese, sour cream, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and guacamole. The buffet also includes Mexican rice, charro beans, flour tortillas, chips and salsa, and sopapillas with honey. Tea and coffee is also included. The speakers will be Mike Cox, Texas State Rifle Association’s LTC Director and P.J. Hermosa, CEO of U.S. Law Shield.

The keynote speaker for the Saturday evening banquet, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, is John Correia, founder and owner of Active Self Protection. There are two banquet dinner choices:

• Surf & Turf, which is an 8 oz grilled ribeye with garlic butter, along with three jumbo shrimp that are sautéed in lemon butter, garlic, cream and tequila.
• Chicken Madeira, which is a sautéed chicken breast topped with fresh asparagus, melted mozzarella, covered with mushroom Madeira sauce.

[Each entree will include a dinner salad, roasted red potatoes, and vegetable medley. Dessert will be assorted cheesecakes or chocolate cake. Tea and coffee is also included.]

***IMPORTANT***It is vital when you submit your conference registration, either online or by mail, and you have chosen an option that includes the Saturday evening banquet, you must identify for each registrant the meal choice that has been selected: Surf & Turf or Chicken Madeira.

Membership Meeting

The Association’s Regular Annual Meeting and Board of Directors Elections will be held on Saturday, March 30, 2019 from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm at the YO Ranch Hotel & Conference Center, 2033 Sidney Baker, Kerrville, Texas 78028. The meeting is open to all Association members and guests at no charge.

Special guest speaker Tara Reilly Mica, NRA-ILA Texas State Liaison, has been representing the interests of NRA members and gun owners at the state-level since 1997 over a region of southern and western states. During her tenure in Texas, NRA has successfully secured passage of NRA-backed firearms lawsuit preemption legislation, car carry clarification, Castle Doctrine, employee parking lot protection measures, open carry and campus carry bills, the Right to Hunt and Fish Constitutional Amendment, and she is actively working pro-Second Amendment bills in the current legislative session, where an unprecedented number of gun control bills have been filed. She will update us on the prospect for advancing pro-Second Amendment legislation and the threat of anti-gun legislation passing in the current political paradigm.

All members are encouraged to attend.

Event Sponsors & Donors

Event Vendors

Vendor Invitation

If you are interested in being a vendor at the upcoming conference, March 29-30, 2019, please click here for detail information. You can either mail in the participation form, order online or phone 866-516-5117.

FAQs