About Us
About Cornerstone Performance
Things I Believe
There are evil people in this world who use their strength to hurt and oppress the weak.
It is the responsibility of good, strong people to support and protect the weak.
It is an undeniable reality that to help some people you have to sometimes hurt other people.
The proper use of a firearm in the single most effective tool that can be used for the good to protect the weak from the evil.
These beliefs are the Cornerstone of everything we do at Cornerstone Performance.
My name is Eric Wise. I’ve been a police officer in Texas for over 20 years. In 2025 I retired from the Austin Police Department after serving as a full time firearms and tactics instructor there for 10 years. Before retiring I was the lead instructor for the department’s handgun program, MRDS transition program, and firearms instructor school.
An advantage that this experience brings to the table is the sheer volume of shooters I’ve been able to train with. Our workload at APD included in-service rifle and pistol training for well over 1,000 officers, and multiple cadet classes every year. With that number of shooters to interact with I’ve been able to observe a wide variety of experience levels, performance abilities, and individual shooter deficiencies. Building training that is challenging for the high level shooters, but accessible for novice shooters, is something that I’ve taken great pride in.
My competitive shooting career started over a decade ago.
I was a founding member of the Austin Police Department Marksmanship Team and served as the match director for one of the largest LE-Military shooting competitions in the country. I view the success of that match as a reflection of my approach to firearms instruction. Building a match that will challenge the winners, but won’t crush the spirit of the people at the bottom of the rankings, that is well organized and runs smoothly, is no different than how a training course should be built.
I’m a Master Class shooter in USPSA (Limited and Production Divisions) and IDPA (Carry Optics Division). I’m a multiple division Grand Master in Steel Challege.
The dynamic, unpredictable nature of competitive shooting has contributed greatly to my development as a shooter and I work to implement those lessons into every class I teach.
I don’t publish a list of all the training courses I’ve attended or instructors I’ve trained with. After 20+ years of training the list would be too lengthy to post, a portion of it would be outdated or irrelevant, and I’d rather you rely on what my students say about me to make informed decisions with your training time.
If you do have any questions about my credentials, curriculum, or teaching style I’m happy to answer them. Just send me an email and I’m happy to chat.