Fostering School Safety: Klint Macro on National Train a Teacher Day and Protecting Our Youth

Speaker 1: 0:03

Hi, welcome to the Arm Guardian podcast, season two, episode four. I'm your host, brian, and I'll be joined today with David and Crystal as we talk to Clint macro from the trigger pressers union. He'll be discussing the upcoming seventh annual national train of teacher day that'll be held on June 22nd 2024. This event is open to all teachers, anybody that works with children, clergy, sunday school teachers, janitors. So listen as Clint dives in and tells us what all is involved with the program and how you can sign up or find somebody in your area to get involved and get some free training from this event. The sponsors of today's show are right to bear legal protection and blackout coffee. Hi, welcome to the Arm Guardian podcast. I'm your host, brian, here with David and Crystal, our cohost. Today we've got guest Clint macro with us. He's going to talk to us about national train of teacher day that's coming up this June. How are you doing today, clint?

Speaker 2: 1:16

I'm doing quite fine. Thank you for having me on the show. It's an honor to be on your podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:20

Thank you, sir. I've been really blessed since I started this August of last year and I've had some great people, of course your cohort in crime, matt. He's done the saber pepper spray. I took the and start the class with him two years ago and we've been in contact and getting ready to do another class and a UTM class back down here in southeast Georgia. So looking forward to connecting with him again. I wish I could have went out to shot show, but it just didn't work out this year for me.

Speaker 2: 1:55

Yeah, shot shows. Have you been to shot show before?

Speaker 1: 1:58

I haven't, and I've been wanting to.

Speaker 2: 2:01

Well, here's the best advice I can give on shot show Just go into it knowing there's no possible way to see everything, and then you just kind of pick your battles, so to speak, and then just focus on that and try not to be drawn by all the lights and flashy things, because if you do, you'll get distracted and time will kill you. Okay.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Sounds good. Well, got a few questions here for you. Like I said, since we are talking about the National Training Teacher Day, something that once I heard you last year when I signed up for it, something that really piqued my interest, and with the events that have happened in the public, with the schools and education and places, it's something that I've really felt drawn to try to bring awareness and educate the educators to be able to save them, or not save themselves, but to act and to act appropriately in a situation, maybe even help curtail one, so sure. Well, for those that don't know who Clint Macro is, give us a little bit of a bio, if you can, please, sir.

Speaker 2: 3:10

Well, it started on a late Tuesday night when my mother was at an Elvis concert. That's when I was conceived. I'm kidding about that. By the way, I've been actually in the training industry for a number of years now. I started my company, the Trigger Press Union, back in 2013. Prior to that, I was doing classes as just Clint the instructor. My background, as you can see here, is in the recording industry. I've been doing that since I was a kid, but I was out in Los Angeles for a number of years working in that industry. My best friend was an armorer, so he would take actors to the range and show them how to use the guns and he'd blank-adapt them and do the things that he did on sets to run the set properly. Well, he'd say, hey, you want to come to the range? I'm like, okay, cool. So I've always been a shooter. Matter of fact, I grew up in central Pennsylvania, up in the woods. Some people refer to it as pencil-tucky to give you an idea of what the terrain in the population is like, but I don't even remember getting a gun. I've always had one. It's something that I've had as a child, going back to a BB gun in my first 22. So firearms have always been a part of my life. And so went to the range with my best friend and he'd say, hey, help me teach this actor. And he'd bring a girlfriend, help me teach her. And so I started doing that and I had a knack for it. And he says, hey, you should be an instructor. I'm like, well, how do I do that? I'm not military or law enforcement. I always thought you had to be one of those to be an instructor. And he's like, oh, absolutely not. He says here. And he introduced me to the NRA programs and I met an NRA training counselor out there who was also a recording engineer in his day job. So we really hit it off and I got certified in pistol and rifle and, I think, personal protection and helped him on a couple of classes and, like so many instructors, I wore the patch and said that I was an instructor and I'd help people at the range now and then, but I wasn't teaching the classes properly as designed by the NRA. And I came to Pittsburgh after my son was born and we moved back home, my wife and I, and I found a sportsman's club before. I bought the house so I could train and I drew a circle around the club and bought a house in the circle and, long story short, I got involved as a volunteer at the range. We were putting on a lot of NRA basic pistol, like the proper eight hour long form classes, and a few other things we were doing too, and so I got a lot of time working that. I worked with a lot of people that had arthritis and wheelchairs and missing limbs and Parkinson's and all kinds, so it was a great opportunity for me as an educator to learn how to work with people and adapt techniques to suit their individual needs, and I was doing that, teaching my own stuff. I ended up becoming a had the opportunity to become a training counselor through NRA. I started the trigger pressures union, 13. That's the same time I found the USCCA's curriculum. I joined the USCCA, I think in 2013. That's the same year I found Rob Pinkes and I said, hey, this stuff makes a lot of sense to me. And I contacted him and said, hey, I'll host you and bring you out and fill your classes up for you. And so that 13 was really when things took off big, and I kind of always say this when I talk to folks like I believe. I don't know your religious proclivities or whatever, but I believe that God puts doors in front of you and sometimes we just walk right past them. Sometimes we kind of poke our nose and look and go, go pass them. Sometimes we cautiously stick our toe in and other times he goes boom and he pushes you right through the door. And I think this was a situation that pushed me through the door, because my my professional life was always in the audio industry. And now here I am, where my audio business, you know, makes me cigarette money, so to speak. I don't smoke, but, you know, a little extra money here and there and I've dedicated my whole entire life to training my fellow Americans and helping empower them to be their own family first responders. And you know, I'm not going to say it's like George W Bush saying God told me to do it, but I think there's a righteous calling there and I think that's why so many of us do what we do. We want to help people out. So that's the background on me. National Training and Teacher Day came about 2018, after Parkland, and you know, at that time things were looked at very differently. You know, we've come a long way in the seven years since we started National Training and Teacher Day as far as the mindset and the idea of taking proactive measures to protect people in schools and and that, however, there's still a lot of room to go here. But at the time we're watching it unfold on TV. I'm sure you guys remember seeing what was happened down at Parkland and the amount of time it took for people to get in there and then the cop didn't go in, he went back out. You know the sheriff and and all the controversy that surrounded that. I got a call from Grant Gallagher. He's a training counselor from New Jersey. I've worked with Grant down at NRA headquarters a number of times. He's a friend and a colleague and he says we got to do something. And if you know Grant, you know it sounded like Scrooge McDuck because he's got this Scottish accent. But he says we got to do something. Well, what do you mean? He says we need to train teachers. I said, well, don't you already do that? And he says, well, yeah. I said everyone I know does that. He said yeah, but we need to do it as a, as a grassroots movement, as a unified front, to show the world that we are actually doing something about it. I'm like, hey, that's a great idea. And he says we should call it a National Training and Teacher Day and I said I'm on it and by the end of the weekend I had the website up. The first year we had about a two month lead time, so there wasn't a ton of time to get people involved, but we got a couple hundred instructors in most of the states. We were in over half the states that first year and we offered training. And then, of course, each year it's grown and built. And here we are at the seventh year and we're going to observe the seventh National Training Teacher Day on June 22nd of this year. That'll be the the fourth Saturday of the month, june 22nd.

Speaker 1: 8:42

Okay, all right, that sounds great. I'm looking forward to being involved in that this year. So you kind of already touched on the first question, which was what is National Training and Teacher Day and how did it get started. So anything, anything else you wanted to add on that? Yeah, Are you guys are you on 50 states this year?

Speaker 2: 9:04

No, I'm not in all 50. I got to double check. I think Vermont there's Vermont and one other one that I'm not in or I say I'm not. You know the movement isn't. So I will. I'm gonna send out the press kit, actually after I'm done with this interview, and I will list the two states that we don't have it and we'll see if we can maybe get folks to sign up. We've got folks in Hawaii this year, we've got folks in Alaska, so I am just missing two states. I believe Maybe it's one state I'd love to be able to say we're in all 50, and the territories? Why not? Why not? So one thing I think people need to be very clear on instructors and anyone else that's considering getting involved with it or partaking in the training, or just who's sitting by the wayside. Listening to this National train of teacher. Day is not about guns. Guns are just or firearms are really just one potential defensive tool that could be a solution to deal with evil once it has crossed the threshold. But this is. We are absolutely not in favor of an armed teacher program. However, individuals who exercise their rights outside of school shouldn't be barred from exercising their right in school just because of where they work. So looking at eliminating gun free zones, empowering teachers, school staff, administrators, anyone that work with youth in a leadership capacity that work inside that building, if it's legal to do so, to be able to get them to be able to carry a gun if they choose to do so. And I think that's important, like, why would you not allow someone to protect themselves in those that they love just because they work in a particular building? So I think that's something that obviously is a school issue in a lot of schools, but also other places too. If someone can protect themselves and their family at the playground, at the park, on the street, at Walmart, in their home, why shouldn't they continue to be able to do that when they're at school, especially if the school is funded by government money, which makes it a public entity. I totally protect personal property rights. So if I come to your house and you say, hey, clint, take your shoes off, like oh okay, I don't have to come in your house if I don't want to take my shoes off. So public property is a different thing, but our schools are all funded by the government and run by the government, and the Second Amendment shouldn't stop when we go to school. So that's something that I think an armed and educated teacher is a much better advocate for that kind of change than I can be. But that's also part of it too, to expand our rights and liberties, because ultimately it's all about protecting the kids. That's all that matters. And the one thing I'm pushing this year really hard just to try to bring in some people that maybe aren't into the whole firearms thing is look, deterrence is always a better option than meeting that attacker with a physical force. So what can we do to deter that? Get rid of the gun-free zone signs. That's a big deterrence to get rid of that sign, because the sign is not a deterrence, the sign is a welcome mat. If you have resource officers in the school or if you are in a state where the teachers can arm themselves, let people know that. Say, yes, we do have adults in this building that could meet evil with force to stop them. I think that's important because bad guys are less likely to go in somewhere where they think they could get met with some type of deadly force. So those are two very good things locking doors how many times have you been to a school to vote? Or if you guys have kids I was always the dad that would bring cups and cookies and stuff to the Christmas party You'll see doors that are blocked open and it's not locked. It's like guys lock the doors. There's so many things that can be done just from a mindset standpoint that could protect our children.

Speaker 4: 12:57

And I just asked something, the way you just said, about the doors locking. So I used to live five minutes from Parkland, the Marjorie Stone in Douglas, my house was right there. That was the school my son was gonna go to. So I was heavily involved in all this when this was going on. Prior to this, I had told many of the people that I would teach their children free active shooter prevention and preparedness and I was just shunt. They said well, it's never gonna happen here, we're a flu in the area, don't worry about it. So that went that way. Well, the day of the shooting, I was getting so many calls it's too late to plan now, right? So we were doing a suicide awareness class, a training, and Marjorie Stone in Douglas was gonna allow us to do it there, but then they changed their minds so we did it at the middle school next door. Do you know, when I went in there, those doors didn't lock either and I asked how come they have not done anything to secure these doors? And they said it was too expensive. I'm like, after their neighbor just had that incident, and I'm like, really, I was really shocked that that was the answer. It was just too much.

Speaker 2: 13:57

That's the financial aspect is often an answer, and it's even our individual students that we train as defensive instructors. People misallocate their defensive financial resources like all the time. So you'll have a school that will spend a million dollars or more on putting fake AstroTurf on the football field oh yeah. But they won't throw down a couple 10, 20 grand on just putting dead bolts on all the doors, like that's a very misguided way to look at things.

Speaker 4: 14:27

And they do fundraisers for sports all the time right. They do all kinds of fundraisers Like why can't you fundraise for something that's really important?

Speaker 2: 14:34

Yeah, absolutely. And the one thing I will say I do know that the government not that I ever looked to the government for a solution the government has freed up money and things to help with schools, whether that be at the state or federal level. So there is assistance out there for people that are looking for it. But I can say our school district here, where I live, they've really taken great leaps and bounds at protecting the children and hardening the school and having resource officers in the building and putting bulletproof glass at the entryway and there was a lot of things that they did and even incorporated training to where they were teaching the kids on what to do if something like that were to occur, so that folks had at least a plan in mind. It's like even a I'll use the term even a half-assed plan is better than no plan whatsoever. And when we say, oh, it's not gonna happen here, oh, we're too affluent, oh, nevermind, it's too unpleasant to talk about, that's where people really, really get surprised. So I think it's important and prudent to think about the worst case scenario, what is the worst thing that could happen here, and let's come up with an idea to deal with it. And I think we should approach all of our defensive training that way let's train and let's plan for the worst case scenario, for where everything goes sideways, and if we can have a plan that works, or if we can start to develop skills and infrastructure that works in that context, then I think it's prudent to assume that you're gonna be a little bit better off if you have a heads up, or you'll be maybe a little better prepared if you see it coming. And I think that's how we should approach our defensive strategy, no matter what, whether it's in the school or in your home.

Speaker 1: 16:14

Right, okay, since it's grown, or how has it grown since its inception? I know you said that the first year it was a late start. Basically, over the time each year, how has the program grown, and to the number of instructors or classes that are being taught by these instructors?

Speaker 2: 16:39

Yeah, each year I've had significant growth in the volunteer cadre. So I think we added I'm not gonna give you numbers here that I would like say in court, but we had a little over 300 the first year, when we just had a couple months to roll it out we had about 300 people volunteer for that and actually I have to give credit as due A lot of that was because of Carrie Lightfoot. From the well armed woman she sent out some email blasts. She didn't do anything publicly because at the time I think she was on NRA board and wanted to kind of stay away from potential controversy. But she sent emails out to all of her cadre and said look, you need to help Clinton, we need volunteers. And so we got a lot of people through her efforts. The second year I know we added another 150 people and each year I'll just ballpark I know we add about 50 instructors per year that volunteer. And as far as the amount of classes that are being taught, I'll be honest as someone that just kind of started this and threw up a website and was encouraged people to join. Originally we wanted complete anonymity. So at the beginning I didn't, even we didn't want to know people's names and whatever. So if you were working with some teachers in your area, you built a relationship with them, they were taking the class. But I didn't want to know that information because I wanted to give the teachers and the participants complete anonymity. But I missed out on an opportunity there to get data and so you're asking me this question and for the first couple of years, like, I don't really have any data. But last year I started asking for people the instructors to start sending me after action reports, and I'm asking that again this year, and even then it's anonymity. So you're letting me know. Okay, I had three high school teachers a janitor, a preacher, a rabbi and a lunch lady and they took an NRA basic pistol course or a USCCA a mini class or a defensive shooting fundamental course or a pepper spray or a first aid, and that's kind of the information that I'm trying to gather now. But I can say with full confidence that we've affected the lives of thousands of teachers throughout the United States through this effort.

Speaker 1: 19:02

Okay, All right. Well, that's great and you kind of mentioned some of the organizations, but what organizations are participating in this growing event? I know you mentioned the USCCA and the Saber and what other organizations are sponsors of the program?

Speaker 2: 19:26

Official sponsors the United States Conceal Care Association, the USCCA, and Saber Pepper Spray, saber Red. They've been official partners since actually the second time we did it. Second year they came on as sponsors and basically what that means is they've both helped me with a little bit on the national front as far as spreading awareness and some publicity. I know Tim's done a couple email blasts Tim Schmidt from USCCA talking about National Triana Teacher Day, and so we've gotten a little bit of a national push from those companies and organizations. But what they're pledging is that if you are, say, for instance, a USCCA instructor and you would like to supply textbooks to your students on National Triana Teacher Day, then they'll send you textbooks for free. If you're a Saber Pepper Spray instructor, then they'll send you the student kits, the little, the white boxes with the inert units in the textbook. So any instructor that certified the teach a class through those organizations and they have an active certification and they submit a roster beforehand, they can get the materials mailed out to them for no cost. That helps to defer the cost of the training because the training is supposed to be free. So there's been a lot of instructors that heck. The first, second year I did it. I paid out of my pocket for the range and bought my own books that I was giving them, so I had quite a bit of money tied up in it. A lot of instructors do the same. Luckily, a lot of the ranges and a lot of the places that are offering classrooms and things like that they're also donating. So for all of you instructors out there working locally, if your range donates the range or if you have the local restaurant bringing food for everybody, make sure you're promoting them to your participants, because this is a, it's not just instructors that have been volunteering their time, effort and energy. It's been a lot of auxiliary people and support folks that have been giving their time too.

Speaker 4: 21:25

When do you usually start advertising for this?

Speaker 2: 21:27

Well, that's been kind of sporadic, honestly, because it's just me running it. The first couple of years Grant Gallagher and I both ran it together. Grant was the co-founder but because of some various things going on personally, he had to step back from the duty of doing that. So I've been running it myself, I think now for three years, maybe four years, three years. So I'll be honest, it's been a little sporadic. This year, for the seventh annual, I announced the date right after, like the day after we did it last year. So I wanted to make sure everyone had the date. In years past I would kind of wait for that till new years and then I'd give the date. And people are like, why didn't you just tell us that like two months earlier? So I put out the official news release like video. I always do a video introduction. I did that, I think, over Christmas time. That came out. So, yeah, it's when I sent out the promo kit to all you guys. You're gonna see. We've been doing it the last couple of years since the lockdown on the third weekend or the third Saturday of June. That just seemed June seemed to be the sweet deal for everybody. The first year we did it in May, before school was out. One year we did it in August. You know it was deeper into the summertime. Everyone seems that the best time is in that June. Now, of course there's no way to please everybody.

Speaker 4: 22:47

Oh of course.

Speaker 2: 22:48

But that June seemed to be the best. So we were doing the third Saturday. This year we're doing the fourth Saturday, because I had about five instructors reach out to me and say, hey, I think we should really try it for these reasons. So we're gonna try it out and then I'm gonna do a vote with all the volunteers and then, moving forward, we're either gonna be doing the third or the fourth Saturday, the third or the fourth Saturday of June, and that will be like the official date. Whatever date that is, it'd be the third or the fourth Saturday.

Speaker 5: 23:15

Okay, All right. So, glenn yes, sir, you kind of already alluded to this it's not all about the power training. Also SAPR-RED helps out, but what topics are the most covered by instructors?

Speaker 2: 23:31

Bart say that again. What topics are?

Speaker 5: 23:33

What topics are most covered by instructors?

Speaker 2: 23:35

Most covered. You know, I would say probably gun stuff. You know, a lot of the instructors that volunteer are NRA basic pistol instructors. They're USCC instructors that teach concealed carry and things like that. So I would say, probably gun related stuff is what you see most offered. With that said, I think everybody and I'm gonna say this to everybody everybody that teaches a class, whatever it is they, should go over how to use a tourniquet. I think everyone should do that and if you're not comfortable talking about that as an instructor, then I recommend you get certified to teach people how to use a tourniquet. That's definitely something that I think all defensive instructors should talk about. You know it doesn't have to be a full on medical course, but a monkey can be shown how to use a tourniquet and with a couple bits of instruction they can put one on. So I think that's everything that everybody should be teaching that in their National Training Teacher Day classes. The other thing that everyone should be talking about is, even if they're not teaching gun stuff, they should know that when the gun goes locks to the back, like that, the gun can't go bang anymore. And if everybody in a school understands that, when the slidey thing locks back, the gun can't go bang for a moment, that's important for people to know. So even if you're not teaching gun stuff, make sure people understand that. The other thing is, too, folks need to understand that everybody can do something to make their school safer, something you don't have to put a gun on. That may not be allowed by law. Maybe having something else in your room that you could use as an alternative defensive device, like a baseball bat okay, that's smart. Knowing how to break a window out so you can get the kids out of the classroom into the courtyard, that might be something good to know about. Knowing how to lock the door. If there isn't a lock on the door, knowing how to put the kids against the wall so someone can't look in the door and see that the room is full of people. There's so many little things that someone can do that will help make that classroom safer or less attractive to that bad guy. And I think once people do one thing, then it leads to another, and then another, and then another. But, as I said before, we are not condoning or advocating for I guess is a better word for an armed teacher program. That's not what we're looking to do here, and if that were the case, then the government would get involved and, quite frankly, when the government gets involved, that's when things, frankly, don't work nearly as well in my opinion. So we want to empower the individual to be able to exercise their rights and protect themselves and those that they love.

Speaker 1: 26:15

Yeah, I know yeah, it's all about prevention. Yeah, I know one of the big pushes I do is, to me it seems like first aid is the forgotten art when it comes to firearms, and it's something that I've really been advocating for here lately and something that I'm looking to try to do, probably not this year with National Trainers Teacher Day, but probably next year. This year I'm looking at doing the Saver pepper spray and countering how to identify a public threat for my two classes, and David was gonna do situational awareness and violent encounters for his two classes. That are the locations we're gonna do it on this year. But, yeah, first aid for me is the forgotten art. And a lot of people don't think about it until they need it, and then they don't know how to react or how to take care of a situation. So that's what I'm hoping to do is empower some people in that avenue.

Speaker 2: 27:16

Well, I think it's very important to recognize for us as instructors, but also for the people who might be taking part of this program if something horrible like that happens in your school. Police are minutes away when seconds account, fine. But even when police get there, it's still gonna be multiple minutes before someone is available to put a bandage on you or a tourniquet on you. They will step over your body while you're bleeding out to go stop the bad guy. That's what they're there to do. They have to make the scene safe first. So it is absolutely on us the civilians, the teachers, the school staff to be able to throw a bandage on someone, to throw a tourniquet on someone, because that's just the reality of things. If something were to occur, you're going to need to put some type of bandage on someone. That's almost guaranteed if someone actually is there doing violence with some type of offensive weapon, so that's a good reason to do it. But as defensive instructors too, just take it outside of National Training Teacher Day I'll have some instructors who teach concealed carry or using a farm to defend people in the home, those kind of classes and they're sheepish about teaching people how to use a tourniquet and I actually had an instructor one time. I talk about my emergency procedure and how to do it and there's four things that we want to do as instructors in our emergency procedure to acknowledge risk and to dispel myth and to make sure everyone in the room knows what the plan is and make sure we have the equipment in place to deal with it if it were to happen in our class. And he was really like nope, I'm not having my instructors teach people how to use a tourniquet. And I said well, all right, I appreciate that as a choice. As a business owner, you know your SOP like kind of trumps everything. But I said let me throw this piece of meat into the pit. And he kind of looked at me like this. I said you have no problem teaching people to potentially shoot somebody in the chest a bunch of time to stop them from harming somebody, but you don't really feel comfortable showing them how to put a tourniquet on someone's leg or arm to stop blood from coming out. I said I don't know like maybe think about that. And he kind of gave me this puppy dog look and about an hour later he came over and he says you know what I've been thinking about this all wrong. He says I agree with you. So he says can you go over that tourniquet stuff again one more time? But I think any American can show another American how to use a tourniquet, from a liability standpoint. You know, if you want to get certified by an organization to teach, that, the US CCA is emergency first aid fundamentals a fantastic course and then you'll have a patch that says you can teach tourniquet. But otherwise I know the National College of Surgeons has stopped to bleed. There's American Red Cross, there's a lot of other organizations out there that you can get a certification if that's your concern as a business owner. But I highly recommend all defensive instructors teach people how to use a tourniquet, introduce it to them, Use it as kind of like a carrot and say, hey, here's the 10,000 foot view on how to put a tourniquet on. Let me show that to you now. But do you know we do a really comprehensive class. We run scenarios and blah, blah, blah and sell them on another class.

Speaker 4: 30:26

I do that. I have an instructor that teaches me stop the bleed. It's a free class that we offer. So when I come into my training with my students, I always have a sheet that tells them everything they have to do and emergency happens. Number one don't call the cops and tell them there's been a shootout in the rain, because it's gonna be a different situation. But I do have a trauma kit on hand and I go through everything we should do. I know a lot of instructors don't do that. I'm always thinking ahead.

Speaker 2: 30:56

Yeah, and from the standpoint as an instructor in a class too, we have so many Americans taking classes now who, frankly, were afraid of guns and even anti-gun maybe a year ago. So if I was an instructor here we're in instructor development now. If I was an instructor and I had that Mr and Mrs Johnson in my class that are really still not a hundred percent sure, they made the right choice in taking a class with me. And then I just flippantly say, oh, we're all gonna follow the safety rules, we're all gonna be safe Everyone's a rain safety officer. Blah, blah, blah. How a lot of instructors kind of approach their classes. That really either sounds disingenuous and, frankly, maybe a lie to that person, but also it puts a responsibility on someone that isn't ready for that responsibility. So by acknowledging risk and dispelling myth, I can say, in a class setting, gunshot wounds in a class setting is extremely rare and I work with thousands of instructors across the country every year and when I say, hey, how many of you guys had to call 911 in a class for a gunshot wound? Or I've been in a class where one and it's very rare hands go up, it's very rare when that happens. Now I'm not talking hourly clientele, rso duty at the rate. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about classes, right, and that's what we would be doing if we're the teaching one. So I let students know that. But I also will say, as rare as it is, I would be completely remiss if I didn't have a plan in place to deal with one. So now I'm acknowledging that risk. Even though it's less than a class, I still need to acknowledge it. So we've dispelled the myth that the I'll use my phone as the fact. So is the gun as itself is not this evil talisman that does stuff on its own. So we've dispelled that myth. But also we have to recognize we're in a class, there's human beings there, and add another human being to the mix and your danger goes up exponentially, because human beings are dangerous, right. So what was that about? I know that was pretty cool, like that was interesting, so anyhow. So we acknowledge that risk and then we share the plan with everyone and then everyone feels, I think, probably a little more comfortable in your care, in your, under your leadership, but also from a practical standpoint, if we did need to put a plan in place, we've talked about it, we've documented it, I, I recommend instructors take a Sharpie marker and write it out on a piece of cardboard every time, even though you may have a sign over there that says it. Write it out, because then it becomes ours. It becomes ours with the students and we can tailor it for the needs of the day. You know, maybe you have some with an oxygen tank. That's not something that you've concerned with before, so I can write on there what I need to do with that.

Speaker 4: 33:33

So you know. What else I do too, just a little bit further is I try and find out if anybody's on blood thinners, because that makes a big difference, right. So I'm like I'm not trying to pry into your medical history, but this is important in case something were to happen, or if you have a heart condition, so that if you were to just fall out right now, I can let them know. Listen, this person has a heart condition or they're on blood thinners. It speeds up the process, right. But if you don't know when something happens, you're a little bit behind.

Speaker 2: 34:00

Yeah, I had to take a student off the line and drive him to the hospital because he had cut himself on a staple. You know the old ah people sitting and so he sliced himself and he was like all right, we bandaged up. He was an adult. We all looked at all right, it's bandaged up, but he's still on the line. He starts dripping. I'm like, hey, are you on blood thinners or something? He says, oh yeah, all right, ceasefire. And we got him into car and we took him down to the hospital.

Speaker 4: 34:25

Yeah, they get a slide bite or something like that or something pretty minor, but for a person on blood thinners that can be pretty serious.

Speaker 2: 34:31

Yeah, and how many of you guys do you have an AED at your range? Do you carry an AED? Not at our range, Not at our ranges that I'm at currently have one. Yeah, I invested and bought one and it's an expensive investment and luckily, since I bought it I had not had to use it. But I've never had to and, I'll knock on wood, I've never had to call 911 in one of my classes for a gunshot wound. I will admit there have been two occasions that I thought I was gonna maybe have to call, but you know, and that's thousands of classes, but I've had to call a half a dozen times because of other issues and four of those times were because of heart related issues. You ask, like take a poll, like what's the number one killer of Americans? You know, this day and age heart disease, heart problems, heart attacks. So you know, if you just kind of look at the plausibility principle, I have a student. Having a heart attack is much, much more likely to happen than someone getting hurt with a firearm in a class. So I went ahead and purchased one and luckily I haven't had to use it since I carried it around. But if you're interested in getting one, contact your local fire department or ambulance shed and ask them a good source. On rebuilds, refurbs, sometimes there's grants available, depending on your situation, and a lot of times when a city has a grant, like, for instance, the one I got was in a ball field in Allegheny County and the county got a new grant to replace them all. And when they did, all of those other ones were surrendered back to the company that supplied in the first place and he sold it to me really, really inexpensively. So there are those kind of opportunities out there.

Speaker 1: 36:37

Another question, and we kind of touched on this these courses that are open to the people they're free to everyone involved that are educating youth, aren't they have some sort of interaction with youth, isn't it?

Speaker 2: 36:53

Yeah, originally we did National Training Teacher Day for, specifically, teachers, school staff and administrators, but we realized we were missing out on a great opportunity and actually it really hit me hard locally when the Tree of Life massacre happened and I've been working with a lot of clergy and a lot of churches I'm sure all you guys have too. Most of the instructors have been doing that and we thought why shouldn't we open it up to churches and Sunday school and Cub Scouts and anybody that works with youth in a leadership capacity is eligible to take part in this program. So that could be Sunday school people again, clergy, churches how should worship synagogues? What have you? It could be the local youth leader, whatever that might be the JC's or whatever organization is active in your area. Yeah, they, just so long as they work with youth in a leadership capacity bus drivers, janitors, football coach, the guy that coaches Pee Wee League why not?

Speaker 1: 37:54

That's great. That's all the ones that I had. Crystal, you had some. Do you have your questions with you or do I need to read them?

Speaker 4: 38:03

Yeah, you can read them. I came from the session.

Speaker 1: 38:06

Okay, all right, so you want to read Crystal?

Speaker 5: 38:08

Yeah, sure.

Speaker 1: 38:09

Yeah, sure.

Speaker 5: 38:11

But, clint, could you elaborate on a specific aspect of your training program that empowers teachers to handle firearms responsibly and respond effectively in emergency situations?

Speaker 2: 38:24

Well, a specific starting off with mindset to begin with. I mean that's going to lead them to get the training to be able to run the hardware, if that's something that they can legally do in their jurisdiction. I definitely have seen some of the volunteers in Ohio and a few of the other places that actually allow teachers and school staff to carry in the building. I've seen people where they wanted to carry but it wasn't part of their lifestyle yet and they were working up to it. Then finally, after handholding and baby steps, now they're carrying every day. We see this not only in the National Training and Teacher Day program, but as educators. I'm sure we all have those stories of folks that we've worked with that came to us from zero. A lot of times they come to us from zero and the reason they want to do it is because of a negative thing that took place in their life. Maybe they were victimized or someone they loved was. They took on that responsibility. I think as instructors, it's very important that we help to empower our students by helping them realize that they have it within them to do this and they are worth protecting. Their students are absolutely worth protecting, but they themselves are also worth protecting as well. That's something that's going to be a little bit of a different conversation to have with the different individuals. One of the reasons I like teaching a counterambush kind of training when it comes to firearms specifically is because it takes advantage of what the body's natural reactions are likely to be, based upon the limited data we have. When you explain how those work, how the fight or flight actually works and how some of those interior and exterior defensive positives that show up, that we have documentation on how they're designed to help people to survive and it's instinctive, meaning that lowering center of gravity is squaring off to the direction of the stimulus, the hand moving protectively, all that stuff that we see. Nobody's trained to do, that it just happens because it's in our DNA. When you explain that to folks and then they start to look in their own lives of where that actually helped them for whatever reason it may be, then they're like oh yeah, I can do this. I have to be like a force recon, Cav Scout, navy Seal to be able to defend myself and my loved ones or take on this responsibility to use any tool, whatever it is, to protect myself and others. I think approaching people from get go with objective standards and saying, well, this is a level three kind of thing. I think that's dismissive and not really that terribly accurate. Someone has it within them to defend themselves. Being able to spark that fire within them, I think, is the key thing. Then from there, sky's the limit, just as a matter of how much someone is willing to make it part of their lifestyle choice. Did that answer the question? I think it did. Okay, good, good, I tend to talk circularly.

Speaker 5: 41:31

In your experience, what are the most common misconceptions or concerns teachers have when it comes to incorporating firearm training into their professional development, and how do you address them?

Speaker 2: 41:43

First off, I think a lot of people again I've said it a couple of times we are not in favor of an armed teacher program like a government sanctioned or mandatory armed teacher thing. That's not at all what we're about. The gun is not for everybody, that's okay, but education is for everybody. Even if you're not into the gun, why not learn how it works, learn how it operates, learn how to safely make it empty so that it can't go bang? These are things that I think are important for people to understand. That's why, since its inception, I really wanted national trainer teaching data not just be about gun training, although that is a large part of it. The gun is definitely the most efficient tool for self-defense that mankind has available to them. I will say that out loud. But it's not for everybody. That's a misconception that people think national trainer teacher day is only about teaching people how to use guns. Nope, nope. If you choose that you don't want to have a gun near you or carry one, fine, I respect that. I'll help you be an efficient whistleblower or efficient with a baseball bat, or I'll help you to be an advocate for change in your school district so that you can get funds released to put locks on the damn door. We want to make changes. It could start, potentially, changes of me as a teacher or I'm speaking hypothetically, but Mrs Johnson is the teacher in her classroom. What can she do in that environment to harden it or make it less attractive to criminals or empower herself or others to have the means to physically defend themselves? But also what can be done building wise school district, wise community, wise state, wise that can help to facilitate change for the better.

Speaker 4: 43:38

Thank you All right.

Speaker 5: 43:41

So, Clint, how do you ensure that your training program aligns with legal and ethical standards?

Speaker 2: 43:47

That's a good question.

Speaker 5: 43:48

Good question, providing with the knowledge and confidence to navigate the complexities of power or abuse in an education setting.

Speaker 2: 43:57

Well, that is. That's a how long is a piece of string question, because I can't give you the answer that specifically. But I will say specifically that it really depends on the jurisdiction, you know, and because our training is not just about firearms, it's about so many other things, including mindset and, you know, making those changes to allocate resources. Even we can navigate those waters. So back in 2018, actually right before, right before we did National Trainer Teach Day in response to what happened at Parkland, there was a superintendent at a Pennsylvania school district. Well, pennsylvania, you can legally have firearms in schools. Now that's a whole other conversation and I will say if you walk into a school with a firearm, you're likely to get arrested, but there is court precedent in place to where it's legal for you to have it for legal purpose. That's not what this conversation is about. But most school districts don't allow teachers in Pennsylvania to carry guns. But it would be up to the school district specifically to make that decision, because we still have rifle teams and things like that in a lot of schools in Pennsylvania. So you can have guns in schools in Pennsylvania. So it might be a policy issue that prohibits that, but legally it still might be a thing. Now, that may not be the case in every state Obviously every jurisdiction is different but in Pennsylvania at that time that superintendent put buckets of rocks in every single class. He went out to the Crick, got big rocks and filled up five gallon buckets of rocks and put one in every single room in that school and he was ridiculed by a lot of gun people saying oh, you put rocks in there, but because of the politics of where he was and the policies of the school he was at, he was not able to arm everyone in that school, which not everyone should be armed in the school. Again, it's not for everybody, but everybody could pick up a rock and throw it at somebody and I thought that that was a fantastic solution that empowered people, gave them a means to defend themselves physically. I think we all agree, not the best means, but I tell you what you stand there and have someone throw rocks at you and tell me what's going to happen with you. It's going to disrupt what you're doing, even for an instance. Maybe it knocks the guy out, maybe not, but it now opens up other opportunities. So I applauded that guy. I thought that was a fantastic idea and working within the realms of what he had to deal with politically, legally and policy-wise. That was a fantastic proactive step, and if more people did that, I think we'd be looking at a different situation in our country here.

Speaker 1: 46:39

Yeah, I could see where somebody said look little kid would have looked at that principal or that administrator saying rocks. What are you talking about? Just look what David used against Goliath it only took one stone.

Speaker 2: 46:52

Yeah, yeah. It was a well-placed shot with a hard thing, whatever that hard thing is. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 47:02

You were going to say something else there, Clint, before I jumped in.

Speaker 2: 47:06

Oh no, I think I was done with that story. The whole point was, yeah, some states you can't carry guns in school. So what? I would like for people to see if they're in a state where you're not allowed to have a gun in the school whatsoever, but then they learn about firearms and then they learn about how they work and they dispel some of those myths and those falsehoods that surround what the media teaches about that. Then those folks are going to be much better advocates for change when they talk to their local legislators and when they talk to the school board. So, yeah, the misconception is that an extra-teacher day is only about training teachers to use guns, and that's not true. It's about much more than that.

Speaker 1: 47:49

Okay, all right, so we have all the questions. Pre-written questions. We had, crystal. Did you have anything else you wanted to ask or want some information on?

Speaker 4: 48:00

I don't think so, not right now.

Speaker 1: 48:02

Okay, what about you, david? I think I'm good, all right. One final question that I have that we're asking everybody after each episode is what do you do for relaxation or to de-stress from your daily activities? What do you use to unwind, whether it's read a book, go listen to music or whatever? What's your de-stressor?

Speaker 2: 48:26

That's a good question and you know I don't really have a great answer for that. I will say that I can't function without music. So I wouldn't say it's always a de-stressor, come down, kind of thing, although I certainly will do that. I'll sit down and put on a concert or something or just put in my buds and listen. Now and then we're all sitting in front of these near fields and just listen to music. But it's something that I have to have going on or my stress goes way out the roof when I'm doing my normal stuff. So music is definitely. Yeah, music is a de-stressor. I think that's a thing I do enjoy sitting down and spending time with my child, my son. I do a lot of stuff with my boy, but when I can sit down with him and my wife and we can binge watching Seinfeld lately, that's been a good de-stressor. He's old enough now to where it's appropriate Just to sit there and know what's coming up, because I've seen those episodes so many times and to watch the reactions on his face and watch him laugh, that's a pretty big de-stressor, yeah.

Speaker 1: 49:32

Okay, All right. Well, if somebody wanted to get in contact with you or find out some more information on National Train of Teacher Day, where would they go? Clint?

Speaker 2: 49:41

All right. Well, that's an easy one. So if you want to learn more about National Train of Teacher Day, the website is National Train Teacher Day dot com. It's a lot of typing but it's pretty easy to remember. National Train A Teacher Day dot com. On there you can connect with volunteer instructors who are offering to give away free training on June 22nd. You can contact me through the website. So if you can't find an instructor in your area, contact me and I'll do my level best to connect you with somebody. Also on there there's more information. There's a contact form. If there's any instructors on here that want to volunteer, they can do that too. They can reach me through the website. My company is Trigger Pressers Union, so triggerpressersunioncom is my website. There and you can see all of my classes coming up. I got a library page that links to all the different content that I put out throughout the years and through different organizations and different companies, so that's where you can see my training schedule. I'll give you some dates here real quick. I'm going to be doing seminars at the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg on February 9th, 10th and 11th. I've got lots of dates on the Personal Defense Network Training Tour that's coming up this year. So you can find those dates on my website. I'm also hosting the. Well, I'm not solely hosting it, but I'm helping to host the Gunmakers Match in Pittsburgh this year again. So anyone that's interested in building a firearm out of a 3D printer or something like that, they bring the guns there and they have a competition which is man talk about innovation. I saw people make guns out of amazing things, and actually one in particular. Well, I'll take a moment if I can. He'd built a recoil system using a 10-22 bolt, but he made the recoil system out of magnets and it was all 3D printed these tubes, but the magnets actually, you know the positive and negative, you know how they push apart, and that was his recoil system. It was pretty amazing. So the Gunmakers Match is coming up in April. I'll be hosting Rob Pincus for his dates on the PDN Training Tour. He'll be here in Pittsburgh. He's got classes all over the country as well. I'm doing a project Apple Seed. On April 13th and 14th I'll be at the NRA annual meeting doing seminars all three days. So you can find me there at the NRA annual meeting if you guys are coming out. So lots of stuff coming up PDNTrainingTourcom. You can find my dates on there. I believe the website of Rob announced the training tour at Shot Show, so I think the website's being updated as we speak.

Speaker 1: 52:18

Okay.

Speaker 2: 52:19

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about Meet the Pressors though. So if you guys want to find out about Meet the Pressors myself and Matt Mallory, that's, we both host that show Meetthepressorscom, or find us on YouTube or all the other streaming and podcast venues Meet the Pressors.

Speaker 1: 52:39

All right, I know you sent me a picture with your schedule and everything for the year and I will put that on our website and then, whenever I do the video editing, I'll put it on the end of the video for everybody to have access to.

Speaker 2: 52:54

Well, I appreciate that. Thank you, thank you for that.

Speaker 1: 52:56

So all right. So I appreciate your time today, enjoyed the topic and maybe we can come back and have you on next year or even for another topic down the road.

Speaker 2: 53:08

Oh, absolutely, man. I'm honored to be here. Thank you, and anything you need from me. Let me know One last thing before you sign off. Make sure everybody supports their local state-level 2A organizations. Here in Pennsylvania it's firearms owners against crime or Institute for Legal, legislative and Educational Action. You know Ohio Buckeye Firearms, up in Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League. So make sure you get involved with your state-level 2A orgs, donate to them and volunteer and help them, because they're the actual boots on the ground that are making a huge difference locally.

Speaker 1: 53:41

All right. And one other thing I just remembered. If there's instructors that have done the National Training Teacher Day in the past and they changed their curriculum or something, they just need to email you correct, yeah, and if you're sending an email that like, hey, I'm teaching a different class, can you update the website?

Speaker 2: 53:58

That's all you need to do, and then I'll get on there and update it.

Speaker 1: 54:01

Okay, all right, sounds great. Thank you again, clint, and hope everybody has a safe day and enjoy your time. Thank you, all right, thank you.

Speaker 3: 54:12

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