Guns, Gun Ranges, Standards of Care, Malfunctions

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Professional Biography Aaron Forum SFC USA (Ret.) March 2026 Aaron Forum, SFC USA (Ret.), is a firearms safety, firearms mechanics, shooting-range operations, and negligent security expert with more than two decades of experience spanning U.S. Army Special Operations, high-volume commercial gun range operations, firearms training, and firearms industry consulting. He leads a multidisciplinary group of experts composed of former and current law-enforcement professionals, tenured gunsmiths, and security specialists who support complex litigation involving firearms, security failures, and safety standards of care. Mr. Forum is the founder and former CEO of Shoot Center LLC, a commercial indoor firearms training facility, retail operation, and e-commerce business in Cape Coral, Florida, which he built from inception to approximately $10 million in annual revenue while serving more than 100,000 customers. Over the course of his career, he has personally trained more than 10,000 firearms students in safe firearm handling, operation, and responsible use. Through his own operational experience and the additional technical resources available through Praetorian Partners, Mr. Forum evaluates and explains complex issues involving firearms mechanics, unintentional trigger pulls, firearm and ammunition defects, holster and related firearms product failures, negligent security, gun range and gun store standards of care, and broader firearm safety practices. He is presently leading the development of Hot Brass Orlando, a large-scale machine gun experience and firearms museum attraction planned for Orlando’s International Drive corridor, drawing on more than twenty years of experience in Special Operations, commercial gun range design, firearms safety systems, and high-volume semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms rental operations. Mr. Forum previously served in the United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets) as a Special Forces Engineer Sergeant (18C) and later as a Special Forces Weapons Sergeant Small Arms Instructor (18B) at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. In these roles he trained Special Forces candidates in the safe operation and employment of pistols, rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, and machine guns while enforcing strict live-fire safety protocols in complex training environments. His Special Forces operational experience included service as the Senior Engineer on Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 1223, where he was responsible for operational planning, counter-IED operations, force-protection construction, weapons oversight, and enforcement of weapons safety protocols during high-risk training and operational missions. Mr. Forum is a SOFNAC-qualified armorer (Special Operations Foreign and Non-Standard Armorers Course) and a certified gunsmith through the Colorado School of Trades, with additional armorer certifications from Glock and SIG Sauer on multiple handgun platforms. He is also an NRA Chief Range Safety Officer, NRA Pistol Instructor, and USCCA Range Safety Officer. His expert work focuses on matters involving: -Firearms mechanics and operation -Negligent discharge incidents -Gun range and gun store safety standards of care -Firearms training protocols and standards of care -Firearm and related products design defects and safety systems -Commercial range design and risk management -Negligent security Mr. Forum’s experience uniquely combines Special Operations weapons expertise, large-scale commercial firearms business operations, firearms training instruction, and gunsmith-level mechanical knowledge. This uncommon combination of operational, instructional, and technical experience is rarely found in the legal consulting field and places him in a particularly strong position to analyze and explain matters involving unintentional trigger pulls, firearm design flaws or defects, gun range and gun store standards of care, and overall firearm safety.