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January 1, 2023 • 41 mins
Rick Green of Patriot Academy stopped by again to talk about being a responsible gun owner. We discussed tips about choosing the right firearm, training, and how to carry concealed. It was an enlightening conversation and beginners will learn much from it.
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Episode Transcript

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(00:01):
This is the FCB Podcast Network.This is a fresh perspective with Jeff Charles.

(00:26):
I have with me Patriot from PatriotAcademy and Wall Builders, mister Rick
Green. How you doing, brother, Hey man, I'm gonna be back
absolutely yeah. Yeah. I meanI've been getting more into you know,
the gun debating gun stuff, andbut I haven't done any interviews or any
um or any conversations on being agun owner. And I just became one

(00:47):
last September, so almost a year. But I still consider myself to be
a beginner, and I'm you know, I figured there's a lot of tips
that people can give. I lookeda lot of them up, but um,
you've been, you know, beenin the gun roll for a long
long time. So I'm looking forwardto picking your brain. And I'm hoping
that this will help others in myaudience who are thinking about becoming gun owners
or maybe they just got one andthey kind of just want to learn the

(01:08):
ropes of it. Yeah. Man, you know, I'll just be honest
with you. I was. Iwas that guy that was had had all
the hot rhetoric about how important itwas to defend the Second Amendment and use
it and then I didn't carry,you know, and so I had a
license for years, I think fifteenyears I had. I had a hand
gun license in Texas. This waswhile I was in the house. Dude,

(01:29):
So I'm passing legislation for the nA. Man. I got the
biggest bill in the country stopping AndrewCuomo from suing gun manufacturers. I mean,
I'm on, and then I'm notcarrying a firearm. I was such
a whimp, I mean, butin truth, it was because I knew
I wasn't trained. I knew Iwasn't ready and uh and so you know,
for me, I had this,I had this like two extremes.
Like on one extreme, I waslike, Okay, I really don't know

(01:53):
for sure that I would perform inthe moment. I mean, I shot
on, grew up, shooting onthe ranch, all this stuff. But
then on the other extreme, Iwas like, I don't need training because
you know, I'll step up andhandle it. So I was like this
totally opposite thing that kept me fromactually carrying and being ready to defend.
So now I am a major proponentof training. My first time was twenty
twelve. It rocked my world.It changed my life. Now I carry

(02:16):
everywhere. I do training on aregular basis, and I'm I've trained and
gotten about, you know, tenthousand different people to go through trainings with
us, and and I'm I'm I'mon a mission to get more and more
because I want us to have peoplewith you know, with with good training
so they know what they're doing,but in every store, every restaurant,
everywhere, so that if you know, there's there's wolves out there, man,

(02:37):
and when they show up, weneed good folks ready to defend.
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Andit's funny because I'm kind of like you.
I mean, I would people thoughtpeople would tell me, you know,
after I told people I got agun, They're like, oh,
now you're talking about the second memoa lot. I'm like, no,
I was talking about about it before. I was already writing articles about gun
ownership and stuff like that. ButI didn't. But we were both there

(02:58):
on the principle, right Like weunderstood intellectually why it was important and all
of that, but physically, youknow, I wasn't ready and uh,
and same thing, man, I'mlooking forward to having you after one of
our trainings and giving you the chanceto get that because it changes, you
know. I honestly I went.The first time I went to a training
I had, I convinced myself it'sfor my son. I'm taking him.

(03:20):
He just turned sixteen. You knowhe needs it. I'm telling you,
dude. Three hours in, Imean, like the first morning before lunch.
On the first morning I was Iwas eyes wide open, going wow,
I didn't know what I didn't know. And I was shocked at how
quickly I could become proficient, andand all the little things that helped so

(03:40):
much and put me at ease onthe safety side of things, on the
proficiency side of things. And bythe end of the four day course that
I did, h man, I'mtelling you, I walked different, look
sat differently in places. I mean, it changed a lot. It really
a lot of it was mental.You know. It's not just the physical
training. There's a lot of mustmemory that you that you practice, but

(04:01):
probably the most important thing was wasthe lectures and the mental side of really
thinking through the moral and ethical issuesof am I willing to take take a
life? Am I willing to firethis weapon if I'm going to carry it,
and some guys attacking my daughter orme or my wife or whoever am
I willing to kill him? Andand so really thinking through that biblically,

(04:24):
historically, ethically, all those thingswas really important for me, and I
think for a lot of people togo through our through our courses, that's
probably even more important than the thanthe physical part takes all of it,
but I mean that in that mentalparts huge. So so now that you
mentioned that, let me ask youthis, what was it that made you
that got you over that humped whereyou're like, Okay, I'm gonna start
caring now, Like, well,I'm sure it wasn't any one thing.

(04:45):
But what wasn't that that actually said, Okay, I need to start,
you know, carying on my person. I think when I start when I
first looked at the data on howoften violent crimes happened in America, because
I was, I was almost naive, I was there. There's a there's
a proverb in the Good Book thatsays a simpleton walks blindly. A wise

(05:05):
person foresees danger and takes precaution.A simpleton or a fool walks blindly on
and suffers the consequences. And Iwas the fool for first, you know,
first thirty nine years of my life. I thought, I won't happen
to me or my family, won'thappen in our neighborhood, won't happen in
our grocery store. And then whenI started looking at the data and really
started reading, you know, wherethese things happen. It's not just in

(05:29):
the bad part of town. It'severywhere. I mean violent crimes. It's
about four million times a year acrossthis country, and it's gotten worse in
the last couple of years. ButI mean this was we'll see twenty and
twelve, so that's yeah, tenyears ago for me. And even then
I was realizing, Wow, man, I mean, this happens all the
time, and absolutely could happen tomy family. And how would I feel

(05:49):
if it happened to my family?What would I do if somebody broke in
my home or we're at a grocerystore and and one of those things happens
and my family is harmed? Well, how I feel about not having taken
the precautions and done the prep andbeen ready. And so that totally changed
my mindset. And that was atthat first training, was was a lecture

(06:09):
about that sort of thing. Andthen I started reading you know, studying
the data myself, and you know, fortunately I haven't ever been in a
situation like that. It hasn't happened. I hope it never happens at all.
We're not about like, oh,let's go get training so we can
go after the bed. Not atall. We don't want to avoid the
situation if at all possible, butshould it happen, we want to be
ready. And there was a pivotalmoment for me too when a couple of

(06:30):
church shootings happened, and here inTexas that you know, we're neighborhoods just
like mine. One of them isan hour and a half from my house.
You know, those those examples reallydrove it home even more that in
a church setting and a restaurant setting, it could happen anywhere and you just
don't know where it's going to be. So you know, it's that old
boy scout thing of always being prepared. Um, I was not a boy

(06:51):
scout. I was like the oppositeof a boy scout, but at any
rate, so that that was kindof my pivotal uh switch mentally that hey,
I need to in time and moneyinto this. Yeah, that's kind
of that, that's kind of describesmy journey too, But for me it
was also because we all know aboutyou know, how often crimes happen.
We can easily look that up.But what people don't know is how often

(07:12):
people use guns to defend themselves.And there's been a few, a lot
of different studies on this, andon the high end, I mean,
it happens over two million times peryear. On the more conservative end,
I think the lowest number iselves likeseventy thousand. That though both of those
numbers are more than the amount ofhomicides that happen. So, but these
toys don't get reported because you know, if somebody comes up on you with

(07:34):
a knife and you scare them awaywith your gun, which is how it
usually happens, most of these don'teven involve you firing the gun and then
they run away. You probably didn'tcall the police about that, and even
if you did, it didn't makeit into the news. So we don't
hear about these cases. But whenthey do these studies, it happens a
lot. Now. I think mostpeople, like you said, most it's
most likely you're never going to needto use it. But it's that kind

(07:55):
of thing to where you're like it'sbetter to have it and not need it
than to need it and not haveit. Yes, it's like it's it's
like insurance. You get insurance hopingthat nothing happens, but if it does,
your cover. Yeah. So thatwas kind of it for me,
is and at that point it justdidn't make sense for me not to carry.
Yeah, man, you're you're you'respot on. You're right on with
the numbers as well, You've doneyour homework. I mean, that's that's

(08:16):
exactly, you know, and mostpeople don't know that, just like you
said, because it's not reported.Um and and typically the news is all
the bad gun you know, there'stoo many guns, and it's the guns
vault. And you know, JohnLott's book, More Guns, Less Crime
was a big factor for me twentytwo years ago when I was in the
legislature. I was always quoting fromthat book because it on the principal side
of things, of just the ideathat the Second Amendment's a good thing,

(08:37):
and that statistically every gun you takeoff the streets, you might have stopped
one crime from being committed with thatgun, but you also allowed five more
crimes to be committed by people nothaving that gun and uh and and and
that's because it is. It's aboutfive times as often that guns are used
to stop crimes. And normally it'sexactly what you said. It's it's even

(08:58):
just letting that person know that youhave it. You know, it's saying
stop and even make an emotion towardsthe weapon, or having to actually brand
a shit, but not after evenpoint point in on them, uh,
to stop the crime. And youknow, so rarely, rarely is it
actually does it actually have to beused? And when it is, I
mean, you know, there's somany stories that don't get reported at John
Lott again has has all these onhis on his website at Crime Research.

(09:20):
But um, you know, eveneven right after um, right after you
Valley that was so bad yea,the very next day in Virginia, this
lady had her handgun in her purse. Bad guy comes in gonna shoot up
a crowd of about forty people.Um, as soon as he starts firing,
she's close enough in proximity, shetakes out her handgun and she ends
that guy's life and saves everybody atthat party. So the only person killed

(09:43):
was the bad guy. That's that'syou know, Lord William, that's how
it would happen more often. Butproximity is essential for that to happen.
You got to have a trained andit's not just a good guy with a
gun. It's a trained good guyor gal with a gun. Yes and
uh. And when you have that, you can stop the you know,
the mass murder. Me And thenof course we saw the Indiana mall situation.
Elisha forget his last name, youknow this twenty two year old kid,

(10:05):
same thing man. Within fifteen seconds, he engaged the mass murderer,
took out the mass murder unbelievably.I mean, talk about incredible, eight
out of ten shots from forty yardsin a way I do training constantly,
I don't know if I can't saythat under pressure I would perform that well.
I actually would have tested it ournext training. But I mean,

(10:26):
that's that's a phenomenal, phenomenal response. But only three people died. I
don't mean that lightly. That guycould have killed one hundred people in that
hall. And if it hadn't beenfor the intervention and again the proximity,
maybe you know, SILL Team sixcould descend on that mall and he would
have been able to kill dozens ofpeople before they could get in there and
get to him. But because Elijahwas there in proximity, had the weapon

(10:48):
and immediately engaged, you know,the end of the threat with a minimal
loss of life. And that's that'sthat's the way it should be. Yeah,
I think so too, because Imean, like you said, Sill
Team six could have gotten there andedited, but it would have been after
a lot of people died. Soso for people who are thinking about getting
a firearm to conceal carry, well, like, what advice would you give
them? Number one, As we'vealready said, train, train, train,

(11:11):
get a good course that there's somany options out there now almost every
community has has not just a gunrange, but people that are that are
doing training. It's unfortunately a lotof times the training will end up being
some former Spec Ops guy that wantsto show off more than he wants to
train. That I've found that,unfortunately to be too often the case.
But there's a lot of good peopleout there too that are that are doing

(11:35):
training. So, um, youknow, come to one of ours if
you can't. We're not doing themevery month like we were before. Right
now, it's only a three orfour times a year, but come hopefully
by January we'll be having them muchmore often. Again, we've got one
in September Doctober. But bottom lineis get trained and then train with the
weapon that you're going to carry.If you don't know yet what you're going
to carry, then then go toa training use something simple like a glock

(11:58):
nineteen that that doesn't you know,I'm a nineteen eleven guy myself, but
even just then added safety with anineteen eleven. I recommend to people train
first with a glock and figure outif you like that, then train with
something like a nineteen eleven, oryou can try other things and then figure
out what's really best for you.But number one is training, training,
training, and I don't mean justyou know, most concealed carry um tests

(12:22):
are you know, you go outthere and you have a few hours of
lectures and then you go out tothe range and it's so easy to pass
the test. It's not real trainingat all. So I don't mean even
just a one day training. Ithink absolutely it takes a minimum of two
or three days. Ours is actuallya five day training because we do a
lot of constitution training as well.It's a mixture of constitution training and handgun

(12:43):
training. But um, but definitelyget good training because otherwise you're gonna you're
gonna freeze up in the momentum orthe gun's gonna be taken from you and
used on you or on someone else. The training is essential. So number
one is training. And then youknow, there's a lot of places like
you can go to Cabella's and sometimesin there depending on the on the location,

(13:05):
at their at their range, they'lllet you try out, um,
you know, multiple guns, andso you have an opportunity to you might
want to be you might end upbeing a revolver person. You might prefer
to have a revolver And it's sothere's so many options that can be overwhelming.
You go to a gun store andyou're like, oh my goodness,
there's sony options and you know,your hand side, it depends on your
hand size, it depends on there'sso many different different things. Um,

(13:26):
so I just recommend keep it simple, um for a lot of people.
For my wife and my daughter,they both carry a glock forty three,
which is the smaller version. Um. I really like a sig P nine
thirty eight, which is almost likea miniature in nineteen eleven, about the
same size as as a as aglock forty three, just different mechanisms.
So there's a lot of good optionsout there. But I say, first

(13:46):
and foremost, get training and startfinding people that you can you know,
that you can talk to and learnand get comfortable. The cool thing about
training is, and Jeff, honestly, most people that come through our training
never touched a gun in their life, never fired a gun in their life.
They're scared to death when they getthere. I mean that first morning,
the first time that everybody actually fires, which is actually after a few

(14:07):
hours of safety training and everything else. You know, they're scared to death.
By the end of the four orfive days, man, they're comfortable
with that firearm. It's a it'sa life changing experience. So for people
that are watching, don't don't doublenegative horrible grammar here, but don't not
do this because of fear and becauseyou're just not familiar with it and you've

(14:28):
only seen the bad or you're worriedabout that firem. If you go to
a good training, by the endof the week, you're going to realize
that firearm is just like a car. It's no different than learning to drive
a car, which is also potentiallya deadly weapon. It's all about knowledge
and skill and muscle memory and justreally, you know, getting getting good
training. Yeah, I think youknow. One of the things that I

(14:48):
was really surprised by when I firstdecided, Okay, I'm gonna get a
gun. See, I'm the kindof guy that I mean, if I
didn't make a decision like that,I'm gonna do a lot of all those
research. I'm gonna I probably watchevery U to video on it. I
did a lot of reading. Imean, my audience has a lot of
gun owners. I was asking themand it was amazing to me that a
lot of people will buy a gunwithout even firing at first, and not

(15:09):
even trained with it. I'm like, why would you do that? I
mean, because with me, I'lltell you what I did. I So
I did the research, and there'sa range near where I lived that offered
classes. So I had narrowed itdown to three different pistols that I wanted
to try, the six P threetwenty MNP two point zero Compact and and

(15:31):
Thechnic TP nine, And so Ithis range, this range offered a class
where you can try out three differentguns. That was the first time I
ever fired a gun too, sothat he kind of, you know,
gave I already knew the safety rules, but he kind of went over that
with me. You know what todo, you know, let the trigger
surprise you and all that. AndI tried all three and I ended up

(15:52):
going with the MNP because that fitsmy hands the best. I'm a bigger
guy, but I'm like, Iwouldn't it did had ever even occur to
me to just get a gun withoutknowing whether I could how it felt when
I fired it first, And thenafter that I did an hour and a
half training at the same range withthe private with the private instructor. It's
not it wasn't that expensive. Imean, it wasn't cheat, but it

(16:14):
wasn't it was affordable. And soI went through an hour and a half
to adjust me and him and he'sshowing me the ropes. And then even
after that, I did another trainingup and up in Dallas because I went
into this knowing, you know,if I'm gonna have a gun, I
need to know how to use itand how to use it proficiently. So
for you, why do you thinkthat some people will say, okay,
oh I heard of glocks good,So I'm just gonna get a glock nineteen

(16:37):
and I'm gonna be good to go, and you know, they don't.
Maybe maybe they take one class maybeto get their license, and then that's
it. Why Why why do peopledo that? I think we you know,
we grow up watching the movies andthe and the TV shows, and
we think, you know that thatby seeing other people do it so much,
they were gonna be able to doit, or because we had a
NERF gun as a kid or whatever, and that it's just gonna be,

(16:57):
you know, the same thing.I think that's honestly what it is.
And it may also just be thefear. You know, they're like,
Okay, I've I feel like Ineed this thing, but I'm also afraid
to actually go and do the trainingand test it out. So I think
it's a combination of all those things. I think what you did is exactly
the right way to do it.And I think people will be surprised at

(17:18):
how how easy it is to gettraining to try out a gun like that.
Like even on our trainings, werent, you know, you can
rent a gun, and so youdon't even have to buy a gun before
you go do even a full fiveday training with someone like us. So
yeah, I think I think it'sprobably just I mean, I don't mean
this is an insult, but it'signorance. It's just not knowing. They
just no one's ever taught them ortold them. We used to, man,

(17:41):
we used to do this stuff inschool, right, I mean in
the fifties you had gun classic school, people had rifle classes. Dat.
I mean yeah, it was kindof part of your in most places in
the country, part of how youhow you grew up. And we just
allowed this culture of you know,the gun is bad and so we're afraid
of them and we stay away fromthem when it's just in an inanimate object.
But you did it exactly the rightway. And that's that's what I

(18:03):
recommend other people to do as well. Yeah, me, me too.
I mean, my mom, Idon't know if I mentioned this on the
last time we talked, but mymom is expressed interest and then getting a
gun, which is funny because whenI first got mine, she was terrified,
like she's terrified of guns from somewherefrom southern California, so that's why.
But now she and I It's funny. I didn't even have to persuade
her. I would just talk toher about what I was doing. And

(18:23):
now she wants a yet one.So when when she's ready, I'm going
to have her go through the sameprocess that I did because it's important,
especial for a woman. I mean, yeah, that's an equalizer. It
is man, the great equalizer.I'm that way with my daughter. You
know, she way's probably ninety fivepounds, and um, you know,
I don't care how much jiu jitsu. She knows. If she ends up
with a two hundred and fifty poundthree hundred pound guys, she's done,

(18:45):
you know, And and and sofor a lady of firearms essential it's surprisingly
fifty five percent of the people thatcome through our class or women, so
you know, they're forty five,so they weigh out number the guys.
Most of the time. The guysare coming because their wife is dragging them
there because you know, we thinkwe don't need it, but they're like,
you know, I think I've seenyou handle that gun. You need
Trady. So that's kind of funtoo. I love watching the ladies go

(19:07):
through the class and you know,scared at first, and by the end
of the week. You just seeit in their eyes, the confidence,
the ability to get rid of thatfear because for them, you know,
we've never we've never experienced what it'slike to walk from the grocery store door
to the car, you know,late at night and be and be scared
and worried that I'm gonna, youknow, you're gonna be raped, or
you're gonna you're gonna be kidnapped orwhatever. And for most ladies, they've

(19:30):
experienced that somewhere at some point intheir life and had a you know,
straight a scary looking person, youknow, or whatever that that that put
the you know, major fear inthem. And so we we don't as
guys necessary and you're a bigger guythan I am, and I'm a little
guy. If without a gun,I'm I'm I'm in trouble as it is.
But i mean, for the ladies, they live with that all the
time, and this is a gamechanger for them. It's it's really empowering

(19:53):
for them. It's it's a prettycool thing to watch. Good. Yeah,
I'm really excited to see you gothrough with these days. It seems
like everybody's talking, but no oneis actually listening to the things they're saying.
Critical thinking isn't dead, but it'sdefinitely low on oxygen. Join me
Kia Davis on Just Listen to Yourselfevery week as we reason through issues big

(20:15):
and small, critique our own ideas, and learn to draw our talking points
all the way out to their logicalconclusions. Subscribe to Just Listen to Yourself
with Kia Davis an FCB Radio podcastson Apple, on Spotify, iHeart,
or wherever you get your podcasts.So when people do start caring, so
they've already made the decision, maybethey've gotten some training. What are some

(20:37):
of the biggest mistakes people make whenthey start to conceal carryike in their everyday
lives. I think probably number oneis they don't carry enough because they're they're
worried about where they can go.And and you know that I'm in Texas,
so you know, for Texas youhave this thing called a thirty out
six science it's actually the code threeO dot O six out six because of

(21:00):
it's gun world. But um,but if you see that thirty out six
sign on a business, then you'renot supposed to carry in that in that
business. There you know it's privateproperty, and I'm a private property guy
too, and I think they shouldhave the right to be able to tell
you you can't carry there. Ijust don't give them my business. So
I don't go eat in a placethey won't allow me to carry my gun
because it puts me in a situationwhere I can't defend my family. Um.

(21:22):
And so I think what a lotof people do when they get the
license, they they are afraid tocarry because they're like, Okay, now
what do I do with it?If I do decide to go in somewhere
where I can't carry, now Igotta leave it in the car, And
is that? What do I doabout that? And if somebody breaks in
my car, they're gonna get it, you know. So I always recommend,
look, just just study the law. And most good concealed carry teachers,
so if they're doing your one dayclass with you, they're gonna give

(21:44):
you a pretty good overview of thelaw in your particular state, where you
can carry, where you can't,that sort of thing. So knowing the
law when you carry is very veryimportant. And then being bold, you
know, just just just saying look, I'm gonna this is gonna become a
way of life for me. Iam going to be the wise person that
takes precaution. And I think whatthat means in today's society. To take
precaution today means I don't go almostanywhere without carrying. The only time I

(22:08):
am not carrying is if I getat a speaking request in a state that
I don't have reciprocity and I'm notallowed to carry UM and I carry a
taser actually when I when I canin those states, if it's if it's
legal, so that I have somethingUM. But you know, I think
I think just the first thing,you know, first training, obviously,
make that good decision with the gun, and then and then through the homework

(22:29):
and know the law and and don'tdon't shy away from carrying because you're afraid
of all these places where you can'tcarry. In most like in Texas,
I can carry almost anywhere. Imean I can't. I can't carry in
you know, a school, Ican't carry in, uh, you know,
a Major League Baseball game, thatsort of thing. But for most
places I can, And if they'vegot a thirty out six sign, I
just take my business elsewhere. Thegood thing in Texas is they changed a

(22:52):
couple of years ago. If youdon't see a thirty out six sign and
you go in um and and someonenotices that you're carrying, maybe you print,
meaning like you lean a certain way, and they can tell there's a
gun under there. If the ownercomes over and asks you to leave,
that's when you're you know, you'renot gonna be fine or lose your license
just because you accidentally carried in there. Um. You just have to leave
at that point if they ask youto. And I think that was a

(23:12):
really important change in the law becausepeople were always paranoid about what if I
accidentally carry somewhere I'm not supposed tocarry, and then I'm gonna lose my
license or be prosecuted. Um,So we we had a really good change
in the law there um that Ithink is good. I'll say just real
quick to you didn't ask this,but I'll say this. I'm not an
open carry fan. I mean Ithink it should be legal, absolutely should

(23:33):
be legal. Yeah, And becauseit also allows me if i'm if i'm
if i'm concealed carry and I doprint, or or I get out to
fill up with gas and I don'tcover up up my gun or whatever it
might be. And sometimes strategically Ido that when I'm getting gas, because
I'm actually saying two people, I'mnot the guy you want to come up
and right, and they're far enoughaway to where I don't like. I

(23:56):
don't like open carry for two reasons. Number One, it tells a bad
guy I'm the one to take outif if they you know, if they
are going to do something, andso I don't want them to have that
warning. With concealed carry. Theydon't know in Texas, like you go
into a store, you have noidea how many people and who all who
else carried. UM. But theother reason is um, if it's open
carry, you know, you're constant. You have to be much more cognizant

(24:18):
of even standing in line, Ican that person behind me grab my gun
before I noticed that they're there,or what I mean. I think about
this stuff when I go into thebathroom, you know, in a in
a gas station or a restaurant orwhatever. I picked the stall where being
right handed, my gun is againstthe wall and not going to be next
to somebody that comes, you know, just thinking through that kind of stuff,
and I'm not like paranoid about it. I just naturally. But it's
life changing. I mean, whenwhen you start to conceal carry, you

(24:41):
have to change some things up alittle. How you dress you you change
how you dress like I mean,partly because I got a belly now that
I didn't used to have, butalso because of concealed carry, I'm always
wearing untucked shirts. I like,I always have these, you know,
unless I'm wearing a suit. Andthen I got a coat. You know
that they can cover it. Soit completely changed the way I dress.
Um, you know. I alsopartly because of the belly, but I

(25:03):
had to get a size bigger onbelt and and and pants because I'm using
it inside the belt. You know. So it does. You're right,
it's it's a change. And peopleout there watching, don't let that scare
you. Offer Let I don't wantto make all those changes. It's worth
it. Don't be the fool thatwalks blindly on. Be the prudent person.
Yeah, and it's not that hard. You do have to make some
changes, but once you've made them, it becomes a habit. Yeah,

(25:26):
so it's not that big of adeal. But but now I want to
ask you about the police. Yeah, I bet this question comes a lot.
What happens, I mean, andyou're legally carrying the gun, you
might have it on your person,but you get pulled over, maybe your
your break light was out or somethinglike that. What how how should you
handle that situation? I know it'sdifferent from state to state, depending on
whether you have to inform the officeror not. But what would you recommend?

(25:48):
I recommend informing them, you know. And and course again I'm in
Texas, so it's it's it's adifferent culture right there. Most of most
of the police officers when I showthem when I handle my license, I
handle my handgun license at the sametime, and that's my way of saying,
hey, I'm I'm also a concealedcarry holder. They usually they usually
smile. They're usually like, okay, good, you're one of the good
guys. So it's actually the oppositeof what you would think. It's not
like they're I don't know, thisguy's got a gun. But they will

(26:11):
sometimes say do you have the firearmon you? And where where is it?
And and I say, you know, it's on my hip and yes
I have it, and um andand then you know, everything's everything's cool
from there. Um. Yeah,so I recommend letting them know, just
just because it honestly puts them atease, especially if you have a handgun
license, because they know you've passeda background check, you've done you know,

(26:33):
it doesn't mean you're not a badguy that that managed to do all
that, but the statistics they knoware a lot better. Yeah. I
mean, I haven't had it happenedto me yet, but I am concerned,
So I mean, yeah, yeah, that that's kind of what I've
been at advised too, because itis the opposite of what people think.
I mean, And people will bringup like Philando Castile in other cases,
and I know those happen, Yeah, but I have to go with what

(26:56):
happens normally. Right, people whohave licenses aren't getting shot by the police
left and right, So I figure, I mean, i'd rather tell them
instead of them seeing the gun.And I didn't say anything, and you
know, and then I have aproblem. But that's right. I'll help
just cross that prig when I cometo it. I mean, I'm I'm
in Florida, which is pretty gunfriendly too, so m but I was
in Texas. That's where I youknow, got my gun and all my

(27:18):
training and stuff. So well,and that Jeff. Two, what what
you just described is it's all aboutnot surprising them, right, Like,
the last thing you want to dois surprise a police officer then all of
a sudden there's a gun, rightbecause then their training kicks in and then
they're going to respond when they youknow, they know they only have seconds
to respond if you are actually aboutto use that gun against them. And
so that's the last thing you wantyou want it to be, you know,

(27:40):
with your hands visible there, theythey now know that you have one,
and the fact that you would tellthem you have one, uh,
you know, totally changes the toneand atmosphere of of of of the of
the situation. I will also saywith a little caveat here, you know,
times are changing and um law enforcementis becoming um not the same as

(28:00):
what it used to be in termsof, you know, potentially being a
more and more of a weapon againstthe people. And so I don't mean
that as a conspiracy theorist. Imean it's you know, partly the FBI
thing right now, that's that's goingon. It's just that we're so split
in this country. Now. Myconcern is that when a nation ends up
where we are right now, whoever'sin power starts to use law enforcement against

(28:23):
the other side. And so Ijust you know, we've always had a
little bit of that because that's thenature of man. But man, it's
just becoming more and more prevalent,and so you know that that could change
how to approach that in the future. Now I have to have you back
on just to talk about that,because I've been thinking about too, like
that's the whole topic in and ofitself. Yeah, no doubt, man,
it's it's it's a little scary,honestly. And I know people are

(28:45):
focused on the FBI right now,but local police departments have corruption too,
absolutely and absolutely, you know,not all of them, most most officers,
most FBI agents are probably fine.Yeah, but that doesn't mean that.
I mean, when it comes tothe state, we should be wary,
whether it's at the federal level.I was thinking the exact same things
you were saying, that a healthyskepticism is good. Um, you know,

(29:08):
always holding them accountable. There's alwaysgoing to be some level of corruption
because we're human beings, So there'salways going to be that bad cop or
bad teacher or bad whatever. Uh. And and so we're we shouldn't paint
the broad stroke and say everybody isthat, but we should be aware that
that is there. And therefore thelaws and the whole system have to account
for that and have to allow forthe citizen. I mean, that's the

(29:30):
whole idea right of the American jurispruditysystem and the Bill of Rights and due
process and all of that. Andthe fact that that that we've started hating
each other so much that we're willingto throw that out and not have blind
justice, equal justice and and anddue process. Man, that's such a
dangerous, dangerous road, um,and it's it could take us over the

(29:52):
brink. I mean, I'm I'mreally really concerned about that. Of all
the problems and things in our countryright now, the lack of blind justice
and lack of equal justice is isoh man. You know, we we
we've seen that in our history inugly, ugly ways, and we had
gone come so far away from thatin the last thirty forty years, so
much progress, and then you know, now it's going to be about you

(30:15):
know, political instead of what yourskin color is. It's going to be
which party are you a part of? And oh that's just so bad.
I mean, I hate it.It's not the American way, you know.
Um yeah, yeah, it's tragic. But um so what so what
what are some tips that you wouldhave for a beginner who is training like
just on their own because you takethe classes, but you shouldn't train it
on yours by yourself too, Sowhat what what kind of tips would you

(30:37):
give in that regard? Man,That's a great question because a lot of
times we think it's just firing thegun when it's got AMMO in it.
Dry practice, dry practice, drypractice. We hammer that in whenever we're
doing our class because you actually getbetter physically when you're when you're doing dry
practice meeting. You're you're you're practicingwith your firearm without AMMO in it or
with with dummy rounds in it.Because you can see, for instance,

(31:00):
when you mash a trigger. Sowhen you're firing your your gun, if
you're mashing the trigger because you're expectingthat that big recoil when you mash,
you actually are pressing down on thegun. And that's why when you look
at your target, if you've gota whole lot of all of your rounds
are like down into the left,you're mashing the trigger. Well, I'm
gonna bring that up to in asecond. Yeah, I'm selfish and that's
my biggest weakness. Ah, we'llsee that. If you're only trying to

(31:23):
correct that on the range with umlive rounds in your gun, it's very
hard because you're trying to react toit and all that. When you start
practicing dry practicing without anything in thegun, you can really see the gun
move, You can feel the triggerbetter all the way to that that actual
place of firing and then feel thattrigger reset. Um. So I'm I

(31:45):
mean we really push dry practicing.In fact, more time dry practicing than
actually live firing. Plus is cheaperbecause you're not spending thirty cents or forty
cents every time you every time youfire, and you can do it not
anywhere but almost anywhere. And wehave a lot of safety rules for that
as well, because you still treatthe gun like it's loaded, and you
still find a place in your homethat there's nothing you know on the other
side of that wall and all thatgood stuff. Um, but it it

(32:07):
is, It is vitally important andyou can do it. Um. You
know, you don't have to bewith an instructor. It can be you
know, on your own. Icannot tell you how many hours we spent
in dry practic, especially those firstfew years when we were first really learning
the skills. Um. So that'sthat's huge. And then the other thing
I would recommend is is a planin your home, so in other words,

(32:28):
having a plan with your family shouldsomething happen for where everybody's going to
go, you know, learn Weteach people how to clear rooms, how
to go through the house, allthat kind of stuff, because you know,
Lord willing, it never happens.But but if you have that skill
and you know how to not justwalk around that door and then be you
know, a sitting duck for thatfor that bad guy. UM, all
of those things are really important andyou can practice those at home. So

(32:52):
what would you say are some ofthe biggest parts of learning to shoot that
people struggle the most with. Imean, you mentioned recoil, anticipation,
Well, what are some there areasman, Um, it's really all of
it. It's uh, you know, it's it's it's it's first the mental
you know, and and learning toreally treat that gun with respect all the

(33:14):
safety part, I think everybody prettywell gets down and then um, in
terms of on the range, actuallyhoning in that skill and getting that site
picture quickly and learning that trigger controlso that your finger becomes the muscle memory
becomes so natural you don't have tothink about it in the moment when you're

(33:36):
shooting. And that takes a lotof practice to do that. But there's
so many little things about the presentation. Like by the time you finish our
course for five days, the wholepurpose of the course, everything in the
course is built around the physical practiceand muscle memory and the mental part.
But to be able to present yourweapon from concealed, so that with a
jacket or whatever, from concealed andput two in the thorast cavity in one

(34:00):
point five seconds, now that's veryfast. That's a lot of muscle memory,
and that means you're practicing seating yourhand correctly every time you're you're practicing
coming out and getting that control onthe on the weapon, taking out the
slack as you're presenting the weapon,finding that that site picture. I mean,
all of those things, the triggerreset, um, you know,

(34:21):
all of those little bitty things.That's why it takes five days really because
we spend time on each of thoselittle bitty things and then it all comes
together, you know, as asthe end of that course happens, you've
you've getting to be able to doall of those things all at once.
So it's really hard to say what'sthe one or two things, because I
think it's just so many pieces ofthe puzzle that and always tell people about
two days in or about two anda half days in. I always say,

(34:43):
listen, I know your brain's friedright now, and you've got all
of these things that you're trying tothink about that we're teaching you. But
it will all come together and thenby the end of the you know,
the end of the course, everybody, I love watching them on the range
as they're doing the drills and everything'scoming right. So it's yeah, man,
it's hard to say just one thing. Yeah. So when I went
up to Dallas to do my secondtraining, it was with a former marine

(35:04):
and he was really good. Imean I spent it was an outside range
and I was there for like liketwo three hours and he was just training
me and it was just me andbecause yeah, it was just me and
he brought me through that process,you know, putting your hand on the
gun, clearing the holster, andthen presenting all that stuff. It was
tough. It was tough. Imean I almost felt like I was learning

(35:29):
a martial art because it really islike that. And you know, and
he had me doing it, youknow, moving around, moving forward,
moving backwards, and I'm like,you know, this isn't the normal way
you move when you know, I'mshooting the same target, but then I'm
moving and then shooting it again,moving, shooting it again, and you
know, practicing my draw. Itwas tough. But by the end of

(35:51):
the class I had gotten it prettyI had got it pretty well. So
it can be learned, but it'snot You're not just gonna walk right in
and be able to to be JohnWick like practice. That's right, You're
you're you're spot on, man.I'll tell you if back, there's a
fun if people want to watch thebrad Stein experience. I don't know if
you know Brad or not. He'sa comedian and we do this thing called

(36:13):
comedy and constitution together. But hecame out and went and went through our
course with us, and we dida little mini TV thing on series on.
It's just a two two part series, like twenty minutes each episode,
and he's so funny, but thenit's such a serious thing, right,
So it's this great mix of hishumor going through a very serious class.
But you really get to see whatthe class is like and those those steps

(36:36):
as you're doing it. And hesaid basically what you just said. He
said, you know, this ishard. This is hard work. I
mean, this is you've got towork for this skill to be good at
this and and and confident in um. But it is it's a it's a
lot of muscle memory. It's alot of the muscle memory part. You
want to get down so that you'renot having to think about those things so
that you can be thinking about situationalawareness and and what's happening in the room

(36:57):
and it doesn't happen, and youknow immediately a private lesson like you're talking
about, you can learn a lotfaster, but it's still you know,
it's still a matter of that repetition. I think when you come, when
you come out in the fall withus, you're gonna be amazed at by
spending that you know, basically eighthours a day for four days. When
you mix our whole class together,it's a five day thing, but a
big part of it's just constitution classtoo. But when you spend that much

(37:20):
time on it, the exponential growthbecause if you're doing those things right back
to back is just phenomenal. It'sweird how the body and the brain work,
but um, yeah, it's it'swell worth. It's well worth the
effort. I'm telling you. II cannot tell you how much joy I
got out of watching my boys andmy daughter learn this and to see them,
um, you know, go fromnothing to excelling and getting that time

(37:43):
with them. My wife's same thing. I've had people as old as ninety
one go through the course and wow, it's it's it's incredible. And we
do as young as eleven, soit's eleven years old and then unlimited.
I haven't had one hundred year oldyet, but ninety one that have had
it, and he went through thewhole thing. Man five days. And
then I had an eighty nine yearold eighty actually she let me know.
I interviewed her afterwards. She's like, no, I'm eighty nine and a

(38:05):
half. Eighty nine and a half. And she went through the whole thing.
So it's yeah, man, it'sit's it's hard work, but it's
very doable. Okay, all right, So so last question, because I
want to be in sensitive to timehere, what would you say to somebody
who you know, maybe they've beensinging about what's going on in the country.
We know gun cells have gone up, and they're thinking about maybe getting

(38:28):
a gun, but they have someconcerns about it, you know, maybe
they're not that confident. What wouldwhat would you tell them as to why
they should probably take that step.Yeah, I mean, I don't want
to be a fearmonger, but Ihave to say, um, just just
think about just close your eyes andproject into a situation where one of these
four million violent crimes a year happensto your family, or happens in your

(38:53):
restaurant where you're eating, and thatyou weren't ready trained and able and prepared
to defend your family. Someone inyour family either loses their life or is
injured as a result of that.How would you feel? I mean,
that was my turning point. WhenI thought about that. I thought,
Wow, I do not want tobe that fool that walks blindly on I

(39:14):
want to be the prudent person thattook precautions, um and and to know
hopefully through our conversation today that it'sdoable, that it's not as difficult as
people think. That it's not impossible. That that you know, all the
stuff you see in the movies andTV, most of it's horrible. It's
fake, it's horrible skills. There'svery few that do it right. I
mean, Chris Pratt does a greatjob and terminal list. I think he

(39:35):
did really good training. And uh, and of course you know Keani Rooves
is the master is and John youstart to notice. It's funny because I
start to notice when actors, I'mlike, Okay, that guy doesn't know
it. That's right. I'm tellingyou, after you, after you train,
you cannot watch a movie the sameagain because you're looking, you're looking
for it. Why has he gothis finger on the trigger when it's Yeah,
we became major critics on on allof that, but yeah, I

(39:59):
would just say to people, well, don't don't. You can't. It's
it's the kind of regret you can'tget rid of if you do end them
in that situation. And so don'tbe that guy or gal. You owe
it to your family. You oweit to yourself. Um, and and
you can. And it's so easy, it's it's and it's inexpensive. Now
it's not as expensive as it usedto be. I mean you can train
for with us it's about one hundredbucks a day. Um, you probably

(40:20):
find somebody locally for two hundred twoto three hundred bucks a day if you're
doing a full day class with them. Um, you know. So it's
it's not it's not prohibitive, let'sput it. Let's put it that way.
And it's well worth the investment.Whatever you gotta if you're on a
really tight budget, whatever you gottacut or give up to spend the money
to buy it, to get thetraining, buy a gun, uh,
you know, and continue to dothe training, do it. It is

(40:43):
so worth it. Awesome. Well, I appreciate you joining me out.
Why don't you tell everybody where theycan find you before we sign off?
Sure, Patriot Academy dot com isour main website, and for these courses,
um, look for Constitutional Defense,Constitutional Defense, and there's actually a
video course on our website that youcan tell uh. And actually you get
it for free if you sign upas a constitution coach, it'll be in
your dashboard. But um and that'sfree, but um um, it's it's

(41:07):
it's a seven week constitution class,but it's it's done at one of our
courses and so you get to seea lot of the training kind of happens.
So I think sometimes when you seethis stuff on on video and you
kind of know what you'd be goingthrough in a training, it helps.
It puts you a little bit moreat ease to say, Okay, yeah
I could do that. Awesome.Well, thanks again for joining me and
hopefully we can have you back foragain soon. You bet enjoyed it,

(41:29):
Jeff, good to see you man. This has been a presentation of the
FCB podcast Network, where Real TalkLifts. Visit is online at FCB podcasts
dot com.
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