SEEING CLEAR
Front Sight: A lesser-known treasure
BY BOB BEERS

Lately, I have been taking far too many trips around our state in a Southwest Airlines jet. One such recent journey found me staring out the window, contemplating what I would write for “On The Road,” as we flew over Front Sight.

Front Sight is one of the Nevada outback’s lesser-known treasures, located in the Pahrump Valley. The land fell out of public ownership after some long-gone entrepreneur filed a mining patent. It turned out there was clay on the land that could be sold for more than it cost to dig up and transport to market.

Meanwhile, California chiropractor Ignatius Piazza had started a school for weapons and self-defense training near Bakersfield, Calif., in 1996. Dr. Piazza, a passionate defender of the 2nd Amendment, was equally passionate about developing competence with weapons. He had traveled the nation attending many different “academies” of self-defense training, and eventually developed his own vision of the way it should be done. He called his start-up school in the Bakersfield desert “Front Sight.”

When he learned of the 550-acre parcel south of Pahrump, it was a perfect fit. Nye County welcomed the jobs and customers, without any of the queasiness often found amongst big-city governments. Dr. Piazza started developing his dream training complex in 1997.

Today, Front Sight has dozens of separate gun training ranges, offering distances from 25 yards to 1,000 yards, 360-degree live-fire training ranges. It also offers thousands of square feet of classroom space, and a busy schedule of classes, including edged weapons, empty-hand combat, rappelling and climbing, and a one-day class to qualify for a 30-state concealed weapon permit.

Customers include cops and citizens, Democrats and Republicans, elected officials and reporters. Last year, radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger went into heavy “mom” mode after her young son enlisted in the military. She enrolled him at Front Sight, where he learned the tactical use of several weapons. As well, he got the straight story on what he can expect when he deploys from Front Sight’s retired military instructors and battle-hardened, active military students who had just returned from Iraq.

Most courses are several days long, so students check into hotels in either Pahrump or Las Vegas. Long-term development plans for the 550-acre resort include 177 one-acre, luxury home sites and 350 condominiums behind gates, a complete shopping center, a community center and a private K-12 school.

The Front Sight Firearms Training Institute is pretty impressive from the air, and even more impressive from the ground. You can check them out at www.frontsight.com. LW
>Br> Reach Bob Beers at bobbeers@bobbeers.net.