Firearms Training in Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Concealed carry permits, the state firearms safety course, and private instruction for Highlands Ranch residents.
Highlands Ranch and Parker are neighbors across Douglas County, so our main teaching location is close to home for most of the community.
Highlands Ranch is unincorporated — the county handles everything
Highlands Ranch has no city government of its own. It is unincorporated Douglas County, which means the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is both your law enforcement agency and the office that issues your concealed handgun permit.
- Applications are online only. Since August 2025 Douglas County requires every application through its electronic portal.
- Your certificate must come from a verified instructor and be dated within one year of applying.
John Rader is Douglas County Verified Firearms Instructor #25037 — verified by the very office that will process your application.
Confirm the current process with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office before you apply.
Classes we teach for Highlands Ranch students
- Basics of Pistol Shooting — Colorado CCW · 8 hours · $150. Satisfies the state training requirement for your permit.
- CCW Renewal Refresher · 2 hours · $94.99. Law updates, live fire and the written exam.
- Colorado Firearms Safety Course (SB25-003) · 4 hours $125, 12 hours $249. Required before you can buy a specified semiautomatic firearm.
- Rifle, shotgun and self-defense · $125 each.
- Private instruction · $450. One-on-one, built around what you actually need.
Why people in Highlands Ranch train with us
We are a training business only — no range to sell you time on, no guns to sell you.
Small classes, unhurried. A lot of our Highlands Ranch students are families and first-time owners, and nobody gets rushed.
Your instructor
John Rader — teaching since 1993, more than 30,000 students.
- Douglas County Verified Firearms Instructor #25037 — Colorado instructors are verified by one county and that verification is good statewide, so this certificate is accepted by every issuing authority in Colorado
- NRA Certified Instructor #167433046
- United States Marine Corps — ten years infantry, honorably discharged as a Sergeant, and a Primary Marksmanship Instructor
- Law Enforcement — twenty-five years, Sergeant
Book a class
Reserve a seat → No charge up front. I set the date once enough people are on the list, then email everyone at once.
Proudly serving the Denver Metro area and all of Colorado
Classes in Parker and Aurora · Monday–Saturday, 9–5
720-464-SHOT (7468) · info@coloradotactics.com
Call and tell us what you need and we will point you to the right class — or tell you that you do not need one.
Also serving Parker, Littleton, Centennial, Lone Tree, Castle Rock, Englewood, Denver and Aurora.