RECCE ROOM

This is a review of Home Defense Shotgun by Citizen's Safety Academy.  Return to the Gauge: Revisiting Home Defense Shotgun with Citizen’s Safety Academy I recently had the privilege of attending the Home Defense Shotgun course hosted by Citizen's Safety Academy (CSA). Leading the class was my friend and brother-in-arms, Aqil Qadir . For those unfamiliar, Aqil is not just any instructor—he’s Tom Givens’ right-hand man at Rangemaster USA, and a respected NRA Training Counselor. That’s the top of the food chain—the ones who train and certify instructors. Two of my three NRA certs (Pistol and Shotgun) came through him. If you dig into CSA’s media, you’ll catch me in the background of several of their training videos. Long story short, this wasn’t my first rodeo with Aq or this class—but it still hit like a brand new experience. A Lesson in Humility (and 16 Pages of Notes) The first time I was part of this course, I hosted it at Mountain Top Gun & Archery , where many of ...

From the picture, help Shaun and Christine change Tennessee state laws. Shaun and Christine are Patriot Training Alums.  On Tuesday, the Tennessee Senate defeated a bill allowing an open carry permit for all shotguns and rifles . From the article, "two Republicans crossed over to vote with the Democrats." The Committee essentially killed the bill, all but ensuring it will stay in committee until 2026.  To be fair, Tennessee would be better served by removing from our state laws the prohibition of wearing arms for the purpose of "going armed."  Nevertheless, let's talk about why it is important to have open carry.  Caveat Of note, the 1st Amendment does not protect nice and polite speech. There is no need to protect polite and nice speech. The 1st Amendment protects offensive speech.  The Idea "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" The key word h...

Last night, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs basketball team won the NIT tournament 85-84 in Overtime. It was the Mocs first NIT tournament championship.  GoMocs news article .  NCAA news article .  ESPN news article .  Notes: 1. This author is a UTC Alum - class of 1998.  2. If your first response is something along the lines of  "congrats on being the 69th ranked team..." then you are clearly a smooth brain and likely jump affiliations with the changing of the wind. You are without thought and your "opinion" is less than worthless.  3. Clearly, any team that made the NIT final four deserved to be in the field of 68 as an 11 seed or higher. 4. Both UTC and UC Irvine deserve to be ranked in the top 25 at season's end.  5. UC Irvine played well and has nothing to be ashamed of.  6. Too many SEC schools got into the field of 68 and we as fans would have been better served with some of these NIT teams being a part of the field ins...

My friend, Lefty, had a darn good post a couple of days ago. Let's go into why it was such a good post.  Meeting Your Polar Opposite Polar Opposites For starters, people who cannot see past the surface might notice that Lefty is a self-described introvert. This author is a self-described extrovert. That would be "polar opposite."  Climate Change Next up, Lefty made the post, which has many references to the farce that is the claim of manmade climate change. Not only that, but Lefty's post was on March 12. That date marked 32 years since the Blizzard of '93 hit most of Tennessee. In that blizzard, Chattanooga got 18 inches of snow in 12 hours - I know because I was living there at the time. Were such an event to happen today, the Leftists would be screaming bloody-murder about manmade climate change.  Chemtrails Last part that made Lefty's post so good was he took a swing at the folks on the right who believe in chemtrails. For clarity, my conspiracy-theorist ...

On Facebook, there is an ad from the TWRA for their Enhanced Handgun Carry Permit class. The cost of the class is $8. Yes, you read that correctly - $8. Less than ten bucks.  Most commercial schools are offering the class for around $75 or so. This author intentionally markets the class at twice that - $149, as there is a LOT more value.  Sure, there are plenty of uninitiated individuals who will go for the TWRA option as it is cheaper. The faulty assumption is that all the EHCP classes are the same. While the material may be state mandated and the same, the instructor's depth of knowledge and ability to answer questions will be the determining factor. Plus, how many of these instructors can actually shoot well and teach you to do the same??? John Harris, President of the TFA, asks another pertinent question on social media: "Why is TWRA in competition with the privately owned and operated state certified schools that are required to have state inspected classrooms, ranges an...

Tuesday night, President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress. Mindful readers of this blog know that such an address is similar to, but does not specifically meet the criteria of a State of the Union address.  Trump's topics were varied, but they all fell under American exceptionalism.  Some of this author's favorite moments included: Tariffs that MATCH what the rates other countries place on US goods.  DOGE saving American taxpayers over $100 Billion.  Ideas for a trip to Mars.  DJ Daniel being named an honorary Secret Service Agent.  Of course, the Left would not cheer any of these.  Seriously, how demented do you have to be to not cheer on a 13 year old brain cancer survivor!?!?   The only thing the Left clapped for was more WAR between Russia and the Ukraine!  It used to be that the Democrat party was the anti-war party. This is no longer the case.  Here is a more complete list of things the Left refused to stand ...

If you are into reconnaissance, then you will notice a trend with the SJWs. Not only do they follow the 3 laws of SJW, they also avoid responsibility in any shape or form. One of the definitions of responsibility is personal responsibility: "taking ownership and being accountable for one's behavior and its consequences." That's the key word - accountable.  Reminds me of this meme: Perhaps this should be the 4th Law of SJW -  4. SJWs avoid responsibility.  What say you?