That does sound strange and nothing like any class I've been associated with. There's nothing random or unsafe about the classes I've seen. And it sounds like you got some bad instructors who didn't follow the program. Do you recall how many hours you spent in class?
First though, no one contracts with the state for this, all HE instructors are volunteers. Sometimes a paid CPW employee like a DWM will sit in and help, but HE is not their job or focus.
Second, all new instructors have background checks and attend a weekend-long new instructor course and go over the basics of the program. Plus, range safety. Then they get assigned to an experienced team and they go through an apprentice period, and have to attend more seminars to keep their status as instructors.
In class we can only spend about 3 1/2 hours on firearms and safe handling. We drill the four basic rules into the students and tell them that the best way to fail the live fire exercise is to point the muzzle in an unsafe direction. We have replica firearms (non-firing) with all the basic action types and the students have to demonstrate safe handling of those before we ever get to the range. I've taught over 1,000 studens and never seen a student point the muzzle in an unsafe direction, they know better by the time we get to the test.
When we do the live fire we are one-on-one with any students who are inexperienced with firearms. We do our shooting in an indoor range at a gun club and they have their own RSO looking over our shoulder, and they are sticklers. In fact, I forgot to put my glasses on before I walked into the range and he stopped me at the door.
Anyone who had poor muzzle control would be shown the door in a hurry.
To be clear, I took the class in OR. It sounds like it's a more formal and MUCH better-run process in CO. Hopefully, what I experienced was the exception.
I think.... maybe 3-4 hours total? It's been a while. The folks doing it (a husband and wife, it appeared) certainly were well-intentioned. But I'm a stickler for sobriety and muzzle control when it comes to being around others with guns; the latter had me skeeved out more than once at the class.
Replica guns would've been AWESOME.
Got my card, and whacked an elk in CO so it was all good.
