Instructors
The person who signs your certificate taught the class
Every DPS course here is taught by a state certified instructor, and every range day is run by the same person. No contractors, no rotating staff.
Teaches
Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, OC, armed renewal, License to Carry and all six NRA courses
Texas DPS certifications
- Texas DPS Certified LTC Instructor
- Texas DPS certified private investigator
- Texas DPS certified Level 3 security officer
- Texas certified Level 4 security officer
- Texas DPS certified Level 2 security instructor
- Texas DPS certified Level 3 security instructor
- Texas DPS certified Level 4 security instructor
NRA certifications
- NRA certified basic pistol instructor
- NRA certified CCW instructor
- NRA certified personal protection inside the home instructor
- NRA certified personal protection outside the home instructor
- NRA certified basic rifle instructor
- NRA certified chief range safety officer
Ryan Karvoski
Owner and lead instructor
LTC
Texas DPS certified instructor
Level 3
Licensed security instructor
Level 4
Licensed security instructor
NRA
Certified instructor
Meet Your Instructor
I grew up in the foster care system. It put a hard dedication to protection and self defense in me young, and that turned into Brazilian jiu-jitsu long before it turned into a paycheck.
Like most impressionable young men, I got into this work after seeing a man in black body armor with a pistol on his hip who looked like he could handle whatever decided to find out that day. I walked up and asked him how I could do what he did. The allure met a harsh reality check fast. I got my first security license in Connecticut in 2020 and cut my teeth running retail and personal security in gang-run East Hartford and New Haven. In the midst of it all I experienced first hand the gravity of my position when I saved a woman from going into anaphylactic shock while working security at a transit center in Milford.
I moved to Texas in July 2022 for the gun laws, the lower taxes and the opportunity, and I worked my way back up from the bottom: maintenance at Cefco in Jefferson, then Bullock Protection in Longview, then a security operations center where I supervised officers, then a year with Whitehawk at Texas State Technical College in Marshall.
TSTC is where it started to click. A campus full of young adults learning a trade that actually leads somewhere. I see the other side of that now, working as a juvenile corrections officer with kids who have never been shown that a structured, rewarding career is something they can reach. Security is one of the few fields where someone can start with no degree and no connections, get licensed, and keep climbing as far as they are willing to go. Most people have no idea that ladder is there.
That is why I built this academy, and why I teach every range day myself. I am not here to process paperwork. I am here to hand someone the first rung.
What a certified instructor actually changes
Your certificate counts
DPS only recognizes training delivered by a licensed school and a certified instructor. A course from anyone else does not count toward your license.
One person, start to finish
The same instructor teaches the online material and runs the range day, so nothing gets lost between the two halves.
Questions get answered
Licensing questions go to someone who holds the licenses, rather than to a support address.
Not near Longview?
Find a partner instructor near you
Our online courses are the same wherever you are. For the in-person portions, our affiliate instructors run range days across Texas.