Dick Fairburn is a career Public Safety professional with more than 40 years in Law Enforcement and Fire Service, in both Illinois and Wyoming. He holds a B.S. degree in Law Enforcement Administration from Western Illinois University and was the Valedictorian of his Basic Peace Officer class at the Illinois State Police Academy.
Dick has been a certified Law Enforcement firearms instructor since 1978, including NRA Police firearms instructor certifications for pistols, shotguns and rifles. As a part of his writing for various police magazines and websites, Dick led the movement to replace shotguns with Patrol Rifles for US police agencies.
Dick is a former competitive shooter in IPSC/USPSA and SASS events and helped found the first IPSC-affiliated club east of the Mississippi in 1979. He is the author of two firearms training books – Building a Better Gunfighter (2010) and Police Rifles (1994) – and hundred of articles in magazines and on websites. He is currently an author for the USCCA’s Concealed Carry magazine, writing primarily on long-gun topics. He also operates the YouTube channel – “Lock & Load with Dick Fairburn“, which creates content on firearms, self-defense and hunting topics.
Dick is an avid big game hunter, US Army veteran and was elected to the National Rifle Association Board of Directors in 2025.
