Ask Gordon about favorite pets, and it will be a tossup between horses, dogs, and yes, raccoons. Rocky stayed around their rural home for a couple of years before finally wandering off on his own. He would come in the house to play with Gordon on the couch until tiring and watching TV with him.
Biography
Gordon Hutchinson brings a wealth of personal experience to his teaching of self-defense and concealed carry courses at the Baker Range.
A 1969 graduate of LSU, he enlisted in the United States Army, and graduated from Officers Candidate School in June, 1970. Shortly after that he completed airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was then assigned as an Airborne Infantry Lieutenant with the famed 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He made numerous parachute jumps during this time both with his Weapons Platoon, and later as an Information Officer for the Division. Upon leaving the service, Gordon embarked upon a career in newspaper advertising, finally returning to settle in his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, employed with the daily newspaper.
Gordon was commissioned a Reserve Sheriff’s Deputy with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office in August, 1980, and began a long career of part-time public service with that office, serving as a squad leader much of the time with uniform patrol squads at Kleinpeter Substation, and the old Brownsfield Substation. He later commanded the Reserve Detective Squad, and served for a time as an Assistant Reserve Commander. He also served in the Reserve Warrants Squad. Gordon was involved in every facet of criminal investigations in both uniform patrol and criminal investigations, and participated in numerous high-profile cases during these years.
But throughout his career, beginning in 1991, and ending with his retirement from law enforcement in 2005, Gordon was always heavily involved as a firearms instructor for the office, and in addition to criminal patrol duties, spent many weekends each year training reserve and regular EBRSO personnel in the safe and proficient use of firearms. A member of the informally organized pistol team in the eighties, he competed across the state in team and individual police competitions.
Gordon teaches an entertaining and informative course on self-defense and concealed carry that meets all the requirements of the State of Louisiana—most people that attend his courses leave them surprised and pleased at the information and enjoyment they have received, in addition to being certified to apply to the state for a concealed carry permit.
Gordon is the senior instructor certified by the Louisiana State Police to teach the Concealed Carry Permit Course, having continuously taught the class since there was an approved training regimen, beginning in 1996. Gordon estimates he has instructed well over 6000 people in self-defense and firearms safety and proficiency since he began instructing in 1992.
Gordon started his business, Gunsafe Firearms Instruction, in 1992 and has operated it continuously since then. He has been chief instructor for Baker Range since 1999.
A shooter and self-professed “gun nut” all his life, Gordon traces his interest in firearms back to his uncle, Leonard M. “Buzz” Williams, a Chemical Engineer for EXXON, and an accomplished machinist and gunsmith who always had time to answer the questions of a kid fascinated with guns.
Gordon teaches concealed carry courses at least once monthly at Baker Range. He also contributes a monthly column on shooting and firearms politics entitled “The Shootist” for Louisiana Sportsman Magazine. The column has run for twelve years, and Gordon has been writing professionally for the magazine on outdoor subjects for twenty years.
Gordon is also the author of a successful novel, “The Quest and the Quarry,” (www.thequestandthequarry.com) which was published in Fall, 2005 by Louisiana Publishing Company, Inc. The book depicts the lives of a line of trophy bucks, and the descending generations of farm kids that hunt them, schooled in the ethics of life and the hunt by their elders. It was chosen as one of the top three outdoor books of 2006 by the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (SEOPA)—a professional organization of outdoor writers and communicators from fourteen southeastern states.
The book is available online, through AMAZON, at Barnes & Noble, and at the Baker Range.
Gordon’s most recent book, an expose’ of the gun confiscation scandal that occurred in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, has been instrumental in bringing the abuses of the 2nd Amendment, and gun-owning law abiding citizens by the authorities into the public eye. The book has been reviewed favorably in numerous national magazines, including the May, 2008 issue of the American Rifleman, the official magazine of the National Rifle Association. The editor of that magazine in his review, called it “one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read.” The publisher’s website is www.neworleansgungrab.com.
It also can be ordered online, through AMAZON, at Barnes & Noble, and at the Baker Range.
Gordon can be reached concerning classes at his cell (225) 335-1571, or through e-mail: ghhutchinson@gmail.com.
Here’s Gordon and Velvet, his Tennessee Walking mare.
Show and Trail trained, Velvet is also a hunting horse and will stand solid while a gun is fired from the saddle—shotguns, that is.
“Velvet is thinking “Ohmigod—I hope he doesn’t intend to shoot that Ruger .454 Casull off my back.”
© 2010 Gordon Hutchinson
Webmaster: tim1artist@gmail.com.com
This is Jessica Hutchinson, Gordon’s daughter, sighting in her rifle on their home range.
Jessica loves her Model 7 Remington in 7MM-08, mounted with a Leupold 3.5-10X40 scope with which she has taken several deer.
Jessica is an all-around young person—both studious and lady-like, she is about to graduate with a BSN (Bachelor of Science, Nursing).
She loves horses and riding, deer hunting and shooting, boating and fishing, and has her own personal handgun and her Louisiana concealed carry permit. She also assists Gordon on occasion in the classroom and coaching on the range during class shooting sessions.
