To download Kathy Jackson’s formal resume, click [here].
My name is Kathy Jackson. I’m a firearms instructor, a homeschool mom, a small business owner, a former magazine editor, and a freelance writer. I guess you could say I wear a lot of hats. My husband and I have been married more than 25 years, and we have five sons.
I got my start as a shooter over a dozen years ago by taking classes at the Firearms Academy of Seattle. FAS Director Marty Hayes and his talented wife, Gila, took me under their wings and helped me become the shooter and teacher I am today. After I had taken nearly every handgun class FAS offered, Marty offered to let me join the FAS instructor program, an apprenticeship-based opportunity to learn and grow. Because I was determined to absorb as much knowledge as I possibly could about this field, I’ve lost track of the number of hours I’ve spent in firearms classes from other excellent instructors. It’s well over 500 hours now, and includes courses from Jim Cirillo, Ken Hackathorn, Tom Givens, Massad Ayoob, and many others. I’ve also taken self-defense classes from Marc MacYoung, Rory Miller, Tony Blauer, and several other personal safety instructors. I hold firearm instructor certificates from Marty Hayes at FAS, from Tom Givens at Rangemaster in Tennessee, and from Massad Ayoob of the Massad Ayoob Group (formerly of Lethal Force Institute). You can download my formal resume in .pdf format by clicking [here].
In March 2008, I became editor of Concealed Carry Magazine, the flagship publication of the USCCA, stepping down from that position in August 2012. Under my leadership there, the magazine’s circulation tripled in three short years, from around 20,000 subscribers in 2008 to around 60,000 in 2011. Because of changes in technology and competition from the online world, nearly all print publications are suffering from decreased circulation and lack of subscribers, so I’m particularly proud of this upswing, which reflects how hard I worked to make this magazine the best in the firearms industry.
As a freelance writer, my work has appeared in several publications, both print and online. I’m a frequent contributor to Women & Guns Magazine, and my work has appeared in SWAT Magazine. But I am most proud of the books I’ve written. In 2009, radio talk show host Mark Walters and I co-authored Lessons from Armed America, a book which presents several real-life accounts of people protecting themselves from criminals and the lessons we can learn from those situations. In December 2010, White Feather Press published The Cornered Cat: A Woman’s Guide to Concealed Carry. Although based on this website, the book provides a lot of material you can’t find on the site, and also provides the convenience of being able to read it in the bathtub or on a sandy beach in full sunlight. Try that with a computer!
In 2012, I began offering firearms instruction for both women and men through Cornered Cat LLC. Along with intermediate to advanced firearms instruction, my classes feature hands-on opportunities to try on holsters and alternate carry methods. In these classes, I provide accurate descriptions in plain language, compassionate instruction, and usable shooting techniques that work well with female body types. Students report that they have a lot of fun in my classes, and I especially love hearing genuine laughter from my students. Although the subject matter is serious and I work hard to help every student walk away with as much information as they can absorb, I work equally hard at helping everyone enjoy our time together because I believe that the things we learn with pleasure, we never forget.
Because I started taking classes very soon after I began shooting, I was privileged to have other women’s shoulders to cry on as I figured out what would work for me and what wouldn’t. Although the group wasn’t there when I first began shooting, what’s maybe contributed most to my growth as a shooter has been the chance to work with a really great group of women at the Firearms Academy of Seattle in their now-defunct Women’s Study Group (which was open only to women who had taken at least one class from FAS). Through that group, I was spoiled by the opportunity to compare notes, help and be helped by other women as we all learned to shoot better, listen to sob stories and triumphs, and just watch as other women worked through a lot of the same questions I’d faced early on. It was a rare privilege to have that kind of a support network in place and I kind of feel sorry for the majority of new shooters who simply don’t have access to something like it. My feeling of indebted gratitude toward that group, and my strong desire to help more women reach their self defense goals, was what drove me to begin teaching defensive firearms classes, to write books and articles about concealed carry for women, and to create this website for you.
