I will just say this boldly. There's not a lot of people I don't think that I can't get a gun from. Mhmm. Same thing with you. I mean, I'm certain that you and Matt and some of your guys and any in our guys, I mean, there's This is what we're trained to do. Right? There's just this, misconception, I think even among law enforcement that there's that, you know, that they're I wouldn't say hands off or that there's not men like us walking around in our civilized society that have the capabilities that we have to do these things. And, you know, you and I talked in the past and we we decided to hold that that weapons retention class here a while back. And, huge success. It was very good. It was very, very successful. But I think that even in that class that we held, there were some people that came in there thinking that they're not gonna they're not gonna be able to get my weapon, or I'm gonna be able to retain that weapon. And, I think we proved them wrong. Not not with us being the aggressor, but just the average everyday person being the aggressor. And I think that it opened a lot of people's eyes. And so I'm happy to hear you say that, you know, you don't support teachers carrying weapons unless it's a substantially, you know, rigorous training. I personally don't think that the Marshall's program, which is eighty hours is enough. You know, I know that there can be some add ons and Listen, I'm not I'm not knocking it, because I know in some cases, you know, some school districts that is their first line of defense is a teacher because of response time in some very remote East Texas, West Texas or even North Texas areas. So I'm I'm not saying never. I'm just saying that if you're going to do it, you know, Marksmanship alone is not enough. It it there has to be a certain component of that retention, and it has to be repit repetitive use or training to, retain that weapon, so that you don't, make a mistake and allow someone to, you know, get the jump on you because you weren't paying attention. Right? Or you weren't properly positioning your body or your weapon. Hell, I I, you know, I can recall You know, I'm sure you in the in the Marine Corps, you probably have some stories too, of No. Well, I mean, you could tell here, but professionals that were negligent with their weapons. I can I can recall a time where, You know, partner and I were a tactical element to, it was then Senator Mitt Romney? And this made national news, so it's not anything that I'm sharing. But, Mitt Romney, was on his campaign, and it was getting closer to the election. So they started to sign in presidential counter assault team operators as a supplement to his his campaign nominee, section division or, detail And so we were supplementing his detail. And, you know, they they come off the plane, and press is usually corralled by what we call a press agent. And they they kinda know to stay in line, right, where to be, you know, so that they're not interfering with the operations, and, myself and this individual sat and watched, on this arrival, press come off the plane, and they were, like, they were, like, cats everywhere, you know. And him and I looked at each other, like, man, where is the press agent? While the press agent had went to the restroom on the plane, left the web left their duty weapon in the restroom And, you know, of course, the press, being the press, someone goes in there, they see it, they take photos, they go out and tell their friends, the next one, network goes in, takes photos, you know. So they all get their photos, and then they disclose, hey, one of your agents left the weapon on the plane in the bathroom. This is a professional, a secret service agent, a professional. It happens to the best of people. I remember going through training and them saying our instructors telling us There's two types of people. There's those that have had negligent discharges, and there's those that will. And I thought, oh, bullshit. That's not me. Sorry about my language, but, that's not me, that's not gonna happen. Well, guess what? It eventually happened to me also. And so You know, I just think that the political climate in the state of Texas and in some more conservative areas is that it's easy to throw it out that, hey, we need to arm teachers. But there's not a whole lot of thought into, you know, the training the mental state of that individual that that goes into these conversations before they make these decisions or or legislate this stuff. So care to elaborate? Well, yeah. I mean, that you're you're going down the path that that that I see, right? The problems. Right? I'm identifying them. As you're talking, you know, I'm sitting here identifying all the problems with them. And this training that we talk about, like you said, it needs to be more than eighty hours. Okay. And not only does it need to be more than eighty hours, but it needs to be renewed every year. Okay? It has got to be something that, like you said, is repetitive. Right? And it needs to have an element of stress incorporated into it. It does. You know, if you've never if you've never been out of that kind of stress before, things change. Right? There's a physiological change that's going on in your body under stress. Yeah. You served in Iraq and Afghanistan. No. I served in Iraq. I did two tours in Iraq. Two tours in Iraq. So you you understand that level of stress. Yes. Can you explain to the audience, what happens to your body, when you're under that tremendous amount of stress. Yeah. You're gonna have, there's gonna be some side effects to it. You're gonna have some auditory exclusion that's gonna take place. Know, you're you're not gonna hear as well. Fine motor skills are gonna start to diminish. So in other words, putting a key in a keyhole, things like that become difficult. Peripheral vision tends to narrow. You start to get tunnel vision. So those are the kind of things that are gonna happen, and for a teacher to be in a classroom full of kids. Right, with a firearm. And if something were to happen, that's those are the side effects that that teacher is gonna that they're gonna experience. And I think it's very, very dangerous to have someone untrained carrying a weapon under those type of conditions. Yeah. I don't wanna beat a dead horse. I think everybody kinda knows where we are on this, is that we were not saying never. We're just saying it has to be done right. It has to be done right. Yeah. Designated people who are physically capable of doing it too. Physical fitness matters. Yeah. Physical fitness matters how you handle stress. Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree with that a hundred percent. You know, simple techniques, box breathing, you know, try to get you re relaxed. Those are things that they're not teaching of that eighty hour course. No. You know, I was staying earlier. My wife and I always we kinda play this game. You know, it doesn't matter if it's a concealed carrier person or a person who, openly carries, which I think is just completely egregious that to me is the ultimate sign of someone who probably should not be carrying a gun. They're carrying it for the wrong reasons. If you've got to let everybody know that you're carrying a gun, you probably should reconsider what you're doing. It's almost like you're out there looking for trouble. Yeah. And so that's another conversation, but, you know, concealed because a lot of the times people carry concealed. I can pick it up from a mile away, mostly. I'm sure you could too, but even law enforcement, I think they get complacent. There's been several times where, you know, I've been in a restaurant and I've watched law enforcement officers come in. And the way that they've positioned their weapon is terrible. I mean, it's right there for anybody to take you know, you're sitting on a high bar stool, your your weapon is, you know, exposed to the public side, your, you know, you know, two hands into your your hamburger or your your tea or whatnot, I I promise I could get that gun off. Of that individual. And so those are things that, you know, I think even law enforcement needs to be consciously aware of, and the majority are The majority are very conscious of that, but there are some that slip, and I've I'm very observant and I pay attention.
