THERE’S A GUN IN THE HOUSE AND NO PLAN BEHIND IT. THIS IS THE DAY THAT STOPS BEING TRUE.
RANK 2 OF 7
3 hours · one module · 14-day dry-fire log · 50 rounds at 7 yards
“MY HOME IS DEFENDED WHEN I’M ASLEEP.”
Who this is for
The new owner who wants the house safe when nobody’s home. You already passed Rank 1, so you can hold it and shoot it — what you don’t have yet is a place it lives, a way to reach it in the dark, and a house that knows the plan. That gap is what this rank closes.
What changes
You stop being the person who owns a gun for the house and starts being the person whose house is actually covered.
YOUR STORAGE
Your firearm has a fixed home that a child cannot get to and that you can reach in the dark, without fumbling and without turning a light on.
YOUR PLAN
You leave with a written, signed, dated plan for your own house — who is where, what gets done, and in what order. Not a template you filed. Yours.
YOUR HANDS
Fourteen days of logged dry fire at 10 minutes a day, so the movement is already in your hands before you ever have to use it under pressure.
Before & after
Same person. Two weeks apart.
BEFORE
X A gun in a drawer, and a family that doesn’t know its there
X A plan that only exists inside your own head
X You’ve never moved on it in the dark, on purpose, once
X Nobody in the house has ever agreed out loud what happens
AFTER
✓ A signed safe-storage plan that lives with the firearm
✓ 14 days of dry fire logged, 10 minutes at a time
✓ You can load, make safe and find it in the dark
✓ 40 of 50 on paper at 7 yards, from low ready, on the clock
What’s included
✓ Course hours: 3 hours — the Home Defense module (classroom plus an instructor-led walkthrough)
✓ Signed safe-storage plan: written for your own house, instructor-countersigned before you leave
✓ Dry-fire log: 14 days at 10 minutes a day, signed off per day
✓ Round count: 50 rounds on paper at 7 yards — 60 seconds per 5-round string, from low ready
✓ The Step-Up Kit 2: patch, rocker, certificate, coin, medal bar, presentation box
✓ Open-book to nobody. The standard is published in full on this page, with the score you have to beat. You are not being graded on a curve you can’t see.
NOT INCLUDED
– ammunition
– any safe, lockbox or storage hardware — the plan is yours to execute
– Other fees where applicable
The standard – published in full
Every rank is earned against a published standard, scored by an instructor and signed. This is Rank 2’s, in full.
| Assessment | What you must do | Pass threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Home Defense module | 3 hours, classroom and a home-walkthrough drill with an instructor | Attendance is not optional. The walkthrough is signed |
| Signed safe-storage plan | A written plan for your own house, in your own words, covering storage and access | Instructor-countersigned before you leave the class |
| Dry-fire log | 10 minutes a day for 14 days, logged and signed per day | A gap in the log fails the rank — the log must be complete |
| 50 rounds on paper | 50 rounds, 7 yards, 60 seconds per 5-round string, from low ready | 40 of 50 inside the 8-ring. Two or more safety violations fail |
| NRA MQP benchmark | Your second qualification, and it is legible outside this company | Marksman — “Benchmarked to the NRA Marksman standard, Defensive Pistol discipline.” |
Any safety violation fails the rank outright, regardless of score.
The 14-day log is the reason this rank takes two weeks and not one afternoon. The classroom half is three hours. The proof half is a fortnight you do at home, on your own time, with somebody checking.
The award
Awards are presented formally, at a graduation – not handed over in a parking lot. That is what makes them worth earning.
- Embroidered patch – the Rank 2 insignia
- Rocker arc – “Home Ready”
- Medal Bar
- Certificate
- Yellow Rose Tactical Coin
- Presentation Box
Yellow Rose Tactical awards are Yellow Rose Tactical issued. Nothing in this kit is an NRA award, and no part of it implies an official NRA program. NRA Marksmanship Qualification awards are purchased separately by the student from the NRA Program Materials Center.
Prerequisites & bypass
PREREQUISITE
RANK 1 – FIRST STEPS
Home Ready is the second rung. The dry-fire log and the safe-storage plan both assume you can already hold the firearm, load it and put it down safely — that is what Rank 1 certifies.
BYPASS – FOR EXPERIENCED SHOOTERS
Private Skills Check – $149
(90 minutes)
You do not have to start at Rank 1 to enter the Path. The Skills Check places you at the rank you have already earned, so an operator is never sent back to First Steps.
TWO WEEKS FROM NOW,
THE HOUSE IS COVERED
Not ready for this? See First Steps.