From NRAHQ.

These schools are for law enforcement personnel ONLY. Only law enforcement duty-type firearms and equipment are acceptable. DO NOT BRING competition guns or equipment. If you are in any doubt about your eligibility and/or what equipment is acceptable, contact the Law Enforcement Activities Division at (703) 267-1640 or e-mail us at LEAD @ nrahq.org.

There are other methods to gain admission into various schools. Glocks pistol instructor course is open to all sorts of folks if I remember correctly.

The NRA credentials for civilians may seem to be the minimally accepted standard but I would nowhere near call them gold. I allowed my credentials to lapse because I honestly didn't want to be lumped into the same category as most of the guys in the classes with me. It was that bad.

It is, however, the widest accepted standard for civilian instruction and you don't need to be an LEO to attend those instructor development courses.

The LE Training Division also accepts Private Security / Armed Guards.

" PRIVATE law enforcement officer is defined as, but not limited to:
Any person working for a private security company, privatized corrections, nuclear security company or private investigations company AND is authorized to be armed in conjunction with the duties of their job. "

The widest accepted standard for Instructor Credentials, makes the NRA Instr. the Gold standard in the Training Industry. The NRA Instr. Cred' is either an accepted standard for a job requirement, or it is not.

Widest accepted in this case will revolve around what local Sheriffs will accept for substantive training related to concealed carry. Beyond that, the majority of instructors bear little to no certification or have ratings from prior military or law enforcement careers.

The gold standard, as you've termed it, should not be used in conjunction with any training program that trains to the lowest common denominator. The simple litmus test is that I don't know a single individual who has failed an NRA instructor development course. Do you? For me, that is an indication of the value of the credentials.

Check out Sig Academy Instructor Development courses as well as Sure Fire Low Light Instructor courses. Its something to start with, being former LEO will help as well.

The NRA Basic Pistol class, or similar, is the most commonly required class to obtain a CCW in most states.

For Firearm Instr. related jobs, from the ads that I have seen. NRA Instr. is the most commonly mentioned one they look for. That does not make the the best, just the Gold Standard.

Groundpounder, what are you trying to achieve out of pursuing to be an instructor? PM me and I my be able to point you in a good direction.