On July 15, 2022, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for Red Circle Tactical Firearms Academy, a new business located on Pleasant Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. Mayor Coogan welcomed the business, emphasizing its role in promoting public safety and proper firearms training. Jim, the owner, stated his commitment to helping people be "prepared and not scared" and offering services for concealed carry needs across several states. He also highlighted his Fall River roots and the revitalization of an old building for the business. Jim's brother, an instructor with 40 years of experience, detailed the comprehensive four-hour training class offered, which covers paperwork, safety protocols, firearm storage, carrying laws, weapon breakdown and cleaning, and live-fire range experience. He stressed the importance of proper training over informal learning. The business plans to work with a range in Westport and hopes for collaboration with city and state police. The event also touched upon the strong family involvement in the business and recognized the family's deep ties to Fall River, including a connection to former school committee woman Judy Raposa.
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Council
Public Safety
Public / Other
so another business locating on pleasant street uh red circ circle tactical firearms academy to promote public safety and help people do it properly um in honor and recognition of the grand opening we're all out here today and i want to thank jim for investing in the city of fall river thank you sir come forward very important for us i worked with your brother for a long time up at derpy and he did a great job
0:40for us up there also thank you so thanks for coming out and say a few words all right hey guys we're here to promote public safety like the mayor said we want to make sure you're prepared and not scared we're here for all your concealed carry needs we qualify several states we just want you to be prepared anybody else well thank you uh thank you very much representative fiola
1:07for allowing me to say a few words we are here in your district uh but we all work together and it's great to be here with our colleagues in city government uh as well and uh i actually haven't fired a pistol uh since paris island which was about 50 something years ago so i feel as though i'm getting a little rusty and this is just the place that i've always wanted
1:32to learn about so i can update my skills i can't wait to get in here a lot of other people can't wait to get in here and we just wish you a lot of luck we appreciate your confidence in fall river which is on the move and growing thank you sir appreciate it congratulations this is my turn it's another good day in here in fall river on behalf of the four of the city
1:58council we're pleased to see another business come into the flint neighborhood as we continue to move the flint and pleasantry areas forward so congratulations and thank you thank you very much thank you congratulations thank you are you going to be able to go here yes ma'am please tell us the history of your business well it's a new business it's something i always wanted to do my
2:23brother's part of it with me he's going to help me out and we had great teachers great friends helping me along the way my family and it's going to be a good good thing for the city what attracted you to our city i was born born and bred here right down on reuben street so i could but this is where i am this is my home why is that important to make a
2:46difference you've revitalized an old building why is that important to you well the way the world's going i just want to make sure everybody's safe and has the the proper knowledge to defend themselves at all times in any situation can you talk to us about some of those safety tips some of the misconceptions people might have well it it's hard to say but it's better if you know you come to the classes you
3:07get all the knowledge you learn here you're making mistakes here in the classroom that way when it's time you don't make the mistakes out there how closely do you think you'll be working with support from not only city but state police as much as possible i hope hopefully they reach out to help me train shooting range inside no no i wish but no we have a range in westport we're in the plans of working trying to
3:32merge something hopefully it goes through if not there's always different options okay anyone special in your family who did painting somebody did planting my son my brother my wife my daughter my brother-in-law helped everybody helped my nieces are building my websites right now because i'm not very good computers i type of one thumb without them i want to know what to do tell us where to find you and how we can
3:57find you i have instagram page red circle tactical firearms i have a facebook page with the same name and i have a website being built now i don't know their name because they're not telling me but when it comes out i'll make sure i post it on the avenues yeah that's it tell us about your employee base too what kind of rigorous training do they go through well my brother can speak on
4:21his training because i don't have enough time in a day out of breath to tell him but good morning i've been training people for about 40 years in firearms safety i did military people i've done civilians my kid brother my younger baby brother he wanted to start this business and i said i'm with you 110 i'm retired so i can give him all the support he needs but i've been doing it a long time i
4:49appreciate it i love it two of my best friends in the world are behind us work with them diligently for a lot of years i just want this to work out and i we need people from fall river that need to be certified and the surrounding areas please come down it's better to learn the right way the proper way like my brother says before you do something stupid and go with someone
5:10that shoots it's like driving a motorcycle you don't have somebody that's been on a motorcycle three days to teach you how to ride you should go to the safety class learn how to do it properly same thing with a car license that's that's the most important thing describe that training um the hours maybe it's usually a four hour class we start with the basics paperwork so on so forth because there's
5:35a lot of paperwork you have to do for the state and the city we get all that done and then we we explain about oc's pepper spray we explain about safes how to store your firearms where you can carry where you can't carry how to carry it safely in your vehicle that's legal uh then we break down weapons we teach them how to break them down how to clean
5:56them and then we teach them how to load unload dummy rounds all dummy rounds plastic rounds so on and so forth and we teach them how to pull up and draw on a target we show them holsters different types of holsters we only give our advice on certain types of hostess what's good and what isn't because it's not one size fits all it's going to fit the person you don't just go by the first one you
6:17see because some places will sell you something quick and say oh this is perfect for that and it may not fit you properly so stuff like that and then it's it's an intensive four hour class and we enjoy it so please come down he asked about the shooting range is that the plastic bullets inside no plastic no that's just training dummy rounds in other words to teach them how to load and unload when
6:41we take them to the range you're going to fire actually live rounds it's going to be one-on-one with each student that's how we work so one one instructor is with that student and you're you're covering their every move you're fixing the mistakes before they happen and watching for safety and then once they qualify they go to the local pd here in fall river or somerset swansea wherever they're from
7:03they apply for their license are you going to go so we had a sister duo over there now a brother duo there's something going on wait a minute you have a sister duo a brother duo and the mother of the sisters and these guys are brothers and sisters yeah they're related so and their mom if those of us watching from fall river their mom i did not know this until councilor pereira just told me was the
7:30infamous school committee woman judy raposa and those of you who have not been around as long as myself and councillor ferreira and coogan and mayor coogan you wouldn't know this but julian raposa was a beloved beloved beloved public servant in the city of fall river who cared so much about our students uh and to think that you're all related is fall river is a small town isn't it as she gave to the city
7:55you are all giving to the city lessons that's why i said your grandmother will be so proud of you your mom