About
A Short Personal Welcome
Welcome to My Range Buddy.
I'm Bill Harris.
Like many firearm owners, I started with more questions than answers. Over time, training, experience, and a commitment to safety changed the way I approached shooting. Today, my goal is simple: help others gain confidence through safe, patient, one-on-one instruction. Whether you're purchasing your first handgun or refining years of experience, you'll never be rushed or judged—we'll work together at your pace.
An engineer, a business owner, and a patient teacher.
I'm based in Montclair, New Jersey, and I've spent my career as an engineer and business owner solving problems by breaking them into understandable parts. When I became a firearm owner, I found that same approach was exactly what was missing from most instruction.
Today I'm an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor and NRA Certified Range Safety Officer, and I teach responsible citizens — first-time owners, couples, professionals, women, and seniors — how to handle a firearm safely and shoot well. My students aren't training to be operators. They're becoming confident, capable, responsible owners.
Bill teaching at the range
Photo coming soon
Bill talking through a question with a student
Photo coming soon
The My Range Buddy Promise
Every student deserves to be treated with patience, respect, and professionalism.
You'll never be rushed, embarrassed, or pressured. Whether you're purchasing your first firearm or refining years of experience, every lesson is tailored to your goals, your pace, and your comfort level.
My mission is simple: help you become a safer, more confident, and more responsible gun owner.
How I teach
- Safety is a habit, not a checklist — it's built into every drill from the first minute.
- You'll always be told why a technique works, not just what to do.
- Progress is measured against your own goals, never against someone else's.
- Questions are welcome at any point. There are no bad ones.
- Nobody gets rushed. We move on when you're ready, not before.
Where we train
Cherry Ridge Range · ANJRPC
My primary range. As an ANJRPC member I host a group of two maximum per outing as part of a booked, fee-based lesson.
Bullethole · Belleville, NJ
No membership required — just a walk-on range fee. A comfortable indoor option for a short first lesson.
Griffin & Howe
A premium club setting for private groups by arrangement. Dress code: golf attire — no blue jeans or t-shirts.
Your range, or somewhere new
If you belong to a range or want to visit one, let me know and we'll plan it together.
A personal note
Philippians 4:13 — "I can do all this through him who gives me strength."
Psalm 144:1 — "A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight."
Matthew 5:9 — "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."
"The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Off the range
Family, friends, and a couple of very large dogs. The same patience I bring to my own people is what you'll get on the range.
A Brief History of Black Gun Ownership in the US
The right to keep and bear arms has never been evenly distributed in American history. From colonial-era "Black Codes" that barred enslaved and free Black people from owning firearms, through post-Reconstruction laws designed to disarm freedmen, to 20th-century permit schemes that gave local officials wide discretion over who could carry — firearm restrictions have repeatedly been applied unequally.
After the Civil War, Southern states passed laws requiring licenses that were routinely denied to Black applicants. Ida B. Wells wrote in 1892 that "a Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every Black home," recognizing that lawful self-defense was often the only protection available.
In the 1950s and 60s, civil rights leaders — including many who publicly preached nonviolence — kept firearms in their homes. Robert F. Williams organized the Black Armed Guard in Monroe, NC. The Deacons for Defense and Justice protected marchers and voter-registration workers across the South.
California's 1967 Mulford Act and the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 followed a period of legal open carry by Black community groups, and both are studied today as examples of how firearm law and civil rights have been intertwined.
Today, Black Americans are among the fastest-growing groups of new firearm owners in the country. This history is worth knowing — lawful ownership has always come with the responsibility to be trained, safe, and informed.