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How petty some instructors can be....

12 05 09 - 17:30 I've been following a few discussion threads on a web site owned and operated by a jackass Joel Rosenberg (JR) and his attack along with a few other JR supporters on a friend of mine Joe. I usually stay out of this kind of stuff and do not dignify it with a response, but this time, someone has to stand up to this cyber-bully JR... JR (Joel Rosenberg) promotes a vicious attack on Joe's persona, from everything from his typing skills, to the 10-shot qualification he may do with experienced shooters (very similar to what we do by the way), to his using a .22 for his qualifications but the most criticism he's been receiving is in regard to his apparent lack of web development skills.

Who gives a rat’s ass?

So his web site is not up to the snotty and arrogant standards of the owner Joel Rosenberg(JR) of that online form. Big deal. I've seen JR in person. Rosenberg's own grooming is nothing to write home about. In fact he looks a bit like a troll. You know the kind of unkept half-man child that lives under a bridge.


As far as the shooting qualification, 10 rounds is more than what's required by MN law (MN law requires only that a shooting qualification exercise be part of the training. The course of fire is left to the instructor). Hell, it could be 1 round from a .22 for that matter. In fact North Dakota at one time required ten rounds and the student had a full five minutes to shoot those 10 rounds. So there is nothing wrong with a 10 round qualification exercise.


The forum owner JR has decided to position himself as the gatekeeper of all that is good in Minnesota permit instruction. Yet no one that I know of has died and left him that job. My opinion is that Joel Rosenberg couldn't find his own ass with both hands and an ass map. He's the most divisive and arrogant person you could ever wish NOT to have a conversation with.

And some of the people on his forum appear to have their noses & lips permanently attached to his fat ass.

He's also a hypocrite. He wrote on his web site in 2004 that he did not see much value in the Utah permit for his students. Yet today he offers it.

He criticizes my friend Joe for taking Meta tags from Rosenberg's web site. Yet Joel Rosenberg did the same to us. In fact, he had my name and my company's name in those Meta tags that he took from our web site. It was a pathetic attempt on his part to trade on our name. We threatened legal action over the use of our name (it's trademarked) and he removed it from his site. However, we believe he has recently registered my name (Gary Shade) as a domain name since garyshade.com resolves to the same IP address as his current web sites reside at.

He still has most of our keywords on his site like the Beam Hit trademark which he has nothing to do with, and he has others such as the Burnsville Pistol Range, or Bill's Gun Shop. This guy has lost all perspective and is now leaving me messages in his keyword section ("firearms and watermelons, arent you getting tired of reading this stuff by now, Gary?," - he most likely thinks he's cute. Well he's funny, something to laugh and poke fun at, a diversion at best - but he's anything but cute.)

Yet so few of the Minnesota Instructor's speak up against this cyber bully. Why not? He's really a nothing. What's his claim to fame? Oh... he wrote a book on Minnesota carry.

A much better book is the carry book my friend Michael Martin wrote.

When others have questioned Rosenberg's motives for trashing my friend Joe, the Troll has banned them from the forum under his "Rule Zero".... woooooooo. Rule Zero. I must have run afoul of that as well, as he banned the IP address of our computers here to prevent us from participating on his forum. wooooooo.... "Rule Zero" Perhaps the Troll can publish Rule Zero in his next fantasy book: The Troll Keeper Rule Book.

Rosenberg makes an allegation that a student of Joes' pointed a gun at him while performing a shooting qualification. If JR is so worried about it, he could do what another AACFI instructor has been known to do and WEAR A FLAK JACKET. As JR is fond of saying: "I don't make this stuff up".

I too have had another instructor's student sweep us with his gun. And another time had a laser aiming device shining on the wall next to where my daughter and I were shooting at the Burnsville Range. Was I upset? You bet. And JR deserves to be as well if the event he speaks of actually happened. However, we differ in the fact that I've let it go. I'm confident that the instructor I had the issue with fixed it (he disqualified his student right then and there). It's over, I'm still here. And JR certainly seems to be here. Move on.

Safe gun handling is the number one thing that we, and I am sure Joe, look for in our students. ANY violation of safe gun handling will result in a failed qualification with us. And we have failed people who were unsafe in handling firearms.

In yet another thread JR and other MCPPA instructors banter about the pricing of their carry courses (JR states: "Well, mine's in the high hundred range -- $185 -- and it's going up, shortly." and another forum member writes: "If there are any instructors here who charge more than I do ($250) would you please be so kind as to let me know, so I can up my fee?")

Ummmm... that looks a lot like what the FTC calls price fixing. For God's sake people - did any of you ever take a business course? The last thing you do is talk about pricing of services or goods with your competitors, least someone suspect it's for the purpose of artificially raising prices and screwing the consumer.

The market place works and yet my buddy Joe is chastised and made the butt of a joke in regards to his pricing. He openly calls himself the cheap guy - which does not automatically equate to low quality. That folks is the way the market works: consumers vote with thier dollars. And in this case, my buddy Joe is the clear winner and that must really irk JR.

Despite JR's best efforts to discredit Joe, Joe's classes are usually filled (sometimes as many as 50 students). Yet when we see JR at the range it's typically with 6 students or less. Perhaps he's just plain jealous of Joe's success. Hey - that's a great domain for JR to run out and register: PlainJealous.com

Bottom line, nothing on any of Joe's web sites comes close to the trash talking by JR. He should be ashamed of himself as a bully and as a human being. JR's hatred for anyone who does not suck up to his fat arse is nothing short of amazing.

Take heart Joe. I would not change a thing on your web site. Especially now that we know just how much it irritates the Troll. His rants have not hurt your business and people do see through all the gnats flying about the Troll.

And there are others on your side as well.