Dr. Ignatius Piazza
Founder of Front Sight
Now that, as of December 2022, Front Sight has been through bankruptcy court and been acquired by PrairieFire, I have no clue how the PrairieFire training will stack up to what Front Sight standardly delivered for the last 20 plus years. Obviously the "new broom" wants to sweep clean, and they are promoting "the new Home for American Shooting." One can only imagine the changes.
Background:
I worked directly with Ignatius Piazza for about 15 years, consulting weekly on his online marketing efforts and the optimization of his websites. During that time I saw first-hand how driven he was at helping people learn to use their firearms safely and properly. That's over 500 weekly marketing meetings, where, with the active participation of Dr. Piazza, I coordinated the marketing efforts of Front Sight through Google Adwords and the optimization of their websites.
I also attended the Front Sight Firearms Training facility (near Pahrump, Nevada) myself on four separate occasions for their training. I'm a Graduate of their 4-day Defensive Firearm course (not everyone who takes the course actually graduates and can move on to their next courses). I went to Front Sight for training the first time because I had never been trained in firearm safety by anyone, and I was always nervous about using my handguns, and couldn't seem to hit anything at the range. I went the second, third and fourth times because the training was FUN and I realized I wanted the "confidence of skill at arms" that Front Sight delivered.
One of the best things about the training at Front Sight was the standard way the material was taught, every time. It didn't matter who taught the courses at Front Sight, Dr. Piazza had set it up so that you always received exactly the same training, every time. Their training never "drifted" due to changing personnel over the years who wanted to put their own stamp on things, their personal favorite shooting stance, or the reason they did things their own way. Nope. It was exactly the same training every time I went there. They taught accuracy, and speed of drawing a weapon from concealment, and hitting your target. They did it Dr. Piazza's way every time, or they didn't do it at all.
And Dr. Piazza's facility truly did help the average gun-owner learn to shoot at levels that far exceed most law enforcement and military capabilities. I've seen the testimonials from SWAT cops and Marines who took his training courses near the facility in Pahrump, Nevada, and they routinely said that despite their years of training, they had never achieved the level of proficiency from training with their firearm as they had when taking the course from Front Sight.
As well, Ignatius Piazza has consistently been willing to put up his own money to do all this.
One of my best friends took the two-day course of training at his facility and she still raves about it. She was trained at Front Sight with her boyfriend (a former Navy SEAL) as her training partner. The Front Sight instructors never lost patience with her, she said, and helped her achieve a whole new level of accuracy and competence with her handgun. She even did a better job (in the recognition of what's a target and what's not) than her boyfriend. (Go Connie!)
But I digress.
The point of this page is to give a shout-out to Dr. Ignatius Piazza for his many contributions to helping preserve and protect our Second Amendment rights. He doesn't get enough credit for this. He also kept Front Sight open during the craziness of the Covid-19 pandemic, despite what Nye County had in mind.
As my friend Connie said, "When looking at who to vote for in an election, I look first at their stand on the 2nd Amendment." If Ignatius Piazza were running for office, we'd both vote for him.
In my most recent correspondence with Ignatius Piazza, he said he was "retired." I know he has no affiliation with PrairieFire, and I believe they will come to regret that. What people seem to forget is that, all marketing hype aside, Ignatius Piazza made Front Sight what it was when PrairieFire acquired it -- it was already the best firearms training facility in the world. I will be very interested in what they do with it.
I would love to hear from anyone who goes to PrairieFire, who is willing to compare the old Front Sight experience to the new PrairieFire. Contact me here.
from 5 yards out. They call it the "one ragged hole" drill.
Article updated December 2022.
