Abstract: The research subject is the process of teaching law enforcement officers athletic skills necessary for appropriate weapon handling during the execution of tactical and military tasks in counterterrorist operations. The author describes the norms developed in course of a research and the peculiarities that had been taken into account in the process of their development, and the procedure of teaching how to reach these norms thus significantly increasing the effectiveness of teaching athletic skills and facilitating the transition of these skills up to the level of qualification. The author uses the following research methods: analysis of scientific and methodical sources; analysis of the practice of using riot control weapons and firearms by law enforcement officers involved in counterterrorist operations; substantiation of norms - up-to-date, the simplest in their structure and giving reliable results; expert assessment of the topicality and the content of these norms; the method of mathematical statistics used for the substantiation of estimated figures of these norms; pedagogical observation. The author concludes that the application of these norms will help increase the safety of law enforcement officers during counterterrorist operations and in other emergency situations.