Fred was an excellent teacher. Made me feel at ease my first time shooting.

John was my instructor for my CCL, and he was wonderful. He had a lot of energy, kept us engaged, and was patient for us newbies. Me and my boyfriend had a great time and he treated everyone equally, making sure we were all on the same page. I would recommend this class to my friends!

Fred, I would personally like to thank you for an excellent job you did in our renewal class and I am pleased to tell you I did learn a few things in class. Thank you again for everything and best of luck to Lightning Defense Academy.  I would highly recommend anybody go there for CCL training or renewal.

Both John and Mili were excellent teachers. Very patient and wealth of information they gave you.

Great class, very knowledgeable and experienced instructor.

The class is conducted by a man who is dedicated and passionate about what is teaching.

Great instructors and great classes! Made shooting for the first time easy and safe. A++

Highly recommend for all skill levels. I took John's conceal and carry class with minimal gun experience. He was professional, knowledgeable and so thorough. Definitely an expert in his field and look forward to taking other classes with Lightning Defense Academy.

Fred is very knowledgeable and confident, just by taking his class I am more confident, I rate him 110%

I took the CCL class at Lightning Defense.   I was very happy with the entire experience.  John Hernandez brings a personal passion to the program.  While some of the material can get boring, he made it enjoyable.

I took my CCL Renewal Class here. My instructors, John and Fred, were awesome. Both are very knowledgeable and taught the class very well, both in the classroom and in the range. I highly recommend LDA!!

John is one of those people that is just meant to be an instructor. Highly knowledgeable and experienced, but relays the information in an interesting and down to earth fashion.

This was a great class and I'm. looking forward to taking part 2. Our instructor [Erin] went above and beyond the class helping us online with the FOID application.

John and Erin from Lightning Defense Academy are great instructors. My son loved the course and got so much valuable information. He especially loved going to the range to shoot for the first time ever. John was very patient and encouraging while teaching and Erin was a perfect fit to work with our children. Overall our experience with the USCCA and Lightning Defense Academy was a great success. We left very satisfied and will definitely return in the future.

Awesome teacher very knowledgeable definitely will recommend him.

John and Ian were absolutely great instructors and loved taking their course! Would recommend these guys to anyone. I know a lot of people that have taken concealed carry courses elsewhere and after talking to them, Lightning Defense’s class was way more informative and covered everything

Came from Indiana to take the USCCA Certified Instructor course with John and deeply impressed with the experience.  The depth of added value John brings to the class is invaluable.
I’ve trained with many different ‘schools’ and this is by far one of the best experiences of them all.

Awesome job, great training, can’t wait to come back.

Just completed my renewal for my CCL with Erin at LDA. Erin is a great instructor and one that works great with women who might not want to take a class in a male dominated environment.  On the range for the live firing qualification, Erin was clear and ready for any issue that might have arisen, which in this case included one of our classmates having a issue with the firearm not working correctly. A top notch educational experience from a top notch facility.  When my wife is looking to get back into shooting, I will be sending her to take one of Erin's classes at LDA.

John was patient, informative, and a great deal of fun as a teacher! The course was interactive, and he had many stories and analogies to bring the information to life.

Very knowledgeable. Won’t steer you wrong. Great class and great selection of stuff in the store.

John was absolutely fantastic. Very knowledgeable. This class should be taken by everyone, CCL or not!!

Me, my wife and brother took a conceal class with John and I’m speechless on how great the class was. Let me start with saying my wife has only shot a gun once in her life. She out shot me and our brother with John’s directions.

Outstanding and VERY informative Concealed Carry and Home Defense Fundamentals course. If you are considering obtaining your Conceal and Carry License, this is definitely the course for you. The value is off the charts!  You will walk away feeling confident and knowledgeable about Illinois Concealed and Carry.

Amazing class.  Wish I took sooner. Every shooter should take this class.  Definitely upped my game.

I got to know a lot of shooters in my 52 years and I have to say that John “the owner and instructor” is bona fide!

John is a very good educator that goes above and beyond to keep the class engaging and informative. I learned so much in the 16 hours and whenever I was unsure of something, John went above and beyond to make sure I understood and was able to utilize the information. The shop side contains ammo, accessories, and clothing that is more than reasonably priced. I will recommend Lightening Academy to anyone I know looking for this line of business.

Not only was this class very informative, but it was literally a blast! Erin is an excellent teacher. I will definitely take more classes with her in the future.

Great place, excellent staff. Everyone is very knowledgeable and ready to help. Concealed carry class is great and awesome that the class times are flexible. Highly recommended! Would give 10 stars if I could.

I highly recommend taking any/all classes here as well as accessorizing any firearms. John is a top tier instructor with more knowledge than most and will have you feeling confident in yourself and your firearm when you leave.