In this episode of ‘Shooting the Breeze’, Karen Murray, the lead instructor at Franktown Firearms, shares insights into the ongoing remodel at the Franktown store and its enhanced facilities, including the state-of-the-art Sim House for practical training. Dive into the reasons why constant practice is key for both new and experienced gun owners, as well as the importance of commitment to developing skills beyond the classroom. Learn about the various training aids that can be used at home to improve trigger control and other essential firearm handling skills.
Announcer (Host) :
Welcome to Shooting the Breeze, brought to you by the team at Franktown Firearms, a family-owned, family-friendly shooting range in Franktown, Colorado. Franktown Firearms offers practical, defensive training, as well as an impressive selection of firearms at the lowest tax rate, so you can develop confidence with your firearm. The team at Franktown Firearms believes the only difference between a beginner and an expert is practice. so they equip you to keep yourself and your family safe in a welcoming atmosphere. And now, here are your hosts of Shooting the Breeze.
Karen Murray (Host) :
Hello, hello, hello. Happy Monday, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in to Shooting the Breeze today, brought to you by Franktown Firearms.
Karen Murray (Host) :
My name is Karen Murray, and I am the lead instructor at Franktown Firearms. We are located just east of the intersection of Highway 83 and Highway 86 in Franktown. stop in and say hello and check out the progress being made in the store’s remodel. Yes, you heard that correctly. I’m going to elaborate a little bit more and I’m going to start today by talking about Franktown Firearms and what we’ve got to offer and some firearms training. So first of all, if you’ve been to Franktown Firearms in the past, but maybe it’s been a hot minute and since the last time you came in, you’re not going to recognize the place when you come in the next time. The store has remained open during this extensive remodel, and so many new things are coming your way in terms of, well, everything. The newly built Sim House, where classes are just firing up, the Sim House, you guys, this is going to provide everyone with a unique training opportunity that you just won’t find anywhere in the state, anywhere that’s open to the public anyway. Yes, there’s law enforcement training facilities and all that stuff, but you can’t go in them and train in them. This facility at Franktown is offering just for lack of a better term, it’s mind blowing. Okay. You just have to come in and see for yourself. And on top of that, We’ve got like the whole facade, you know, the whole aesthetic remodel. New floors are being laid. We’ve got new products coming in. The whole like rearranging of everything. It’s just, it’s amazing. The whole place is getting a facelift. And the inventory that you’re going to find when this is all said and done, you’re, I just, you have to come in. You have to come in and check it out. So if you’re interested in signing up for a class, you can go to Franktownfirearms.com and you can click on the calendar tab at the top and then you’ll be directed and you can sign up through Sign Up Genius or whatever. You can call 720-770-7777 and someone can sign up for you. If private training is what you prefer, you can actually email me directly at Karen.Murray, M-U-R-R-A-Y, at FranktownFirearms.com, and we can set up a date and time that’s going to work for you. If you’re new to shooting, a private hour to maybe an hour and a half is the perfect way to get you started. Now, I’m going to continue on the subject of training for a minute. Okay. As you may know, I teach the concealed carry classes most every Saturday at Franktown Firearms. And it has been my experience throughout the time I’ve been an NRA instructor. People will come and learn. Okay, they come, they take the class, they learn, they get their certificate. They do great on the range. I teach them all the fundamentals. It’s fantastic, and they’re very happy with themselves, and they’re empowered, and they love it. They buy a gun if they didn’t have one before. They seem like they’re hyped up, and they’re ready to practice, and they’ll go get their permits and all that stuff. And I never see them at the range again. Now granted, obviously I’m not at Franktown Firearms all day, every day. So if you’re one of the people who took my class and continue to practice on a regular basis, which I encourage everyone to hit the range at least once a month, then kudos to you. That’s what we want. That’s what we want to see. But for those other people that have learned the basics and Maybe they’ve made their firearm purchase, they have their gun and their bedside safe, and they think, you know, when the bad guy breaks into my house, I’m ready for him. I’m totally ready to confront any evil that could, you know, come my way. They picked the wrong house, dude, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay? Well, I’m here to tell you that you’re not ready to confront anything. Okay? Okay? In my classes, I use the words home practice a lot. And I also inform everyone who crosses my path in the classroom that this is a commitment. And just look up the word commitment. There’s a reason that law enforcement officers who are highly trained and post-certified only land about 33% to 35% of their shots when they’re under duress. And if you aren’t familiar with the term POST, it stands for Peace Officer Standards and Training. And it’s difficult to place your hits where you want them, even with training and practice, and especially when you’re trying to do it fast, you know, you’re nervous or whatever. So you can imagine how hard it is when you bought a gun, you stick it in your safe, and you never take it out to practice with it. I mean, you’re trying to place a projectile 9 millimeters or 0.380 or 0.45 inches wide onto a possibly moving target that’s, you know, anywhere from right on top of you to 25, 30, 40 feet away from you. Or if you’re trying to save yourself and be the winner of a fight with an attacker that’s in your house in the dark or one that’s already on top of you, always remember that the bad guy has the element of surprise on his side. You need time to process and react. I always say, and this is so important, that you will not rise to the task. You’re not going to grab that gun that you never have taken out of your bedside safe. And, you know, and since the last time you took a class or you bought the gun and you took one, you know, half hour, an hour long training session and you stuck it in your safe and that’s it. And you think you’re totally ready. You will not rise to the task. You will fall to the level of your training. Meaning if you haven’t trained and practiced and trained some more and you’re confronted with a violent attacker, either in your home or out in the real world, you might as well be carrying a big stick or a rock. In fact, a big stick or a rock might be better and a safer way to go for you. Your gun is going to present a problem when adrenaline hits and your brain goes haywire. And in that moment, you’ve forgotten everything you once learned from me or from someone else. I’ve had people who took my class, especially back in the day, back in the first couple of years that I was teaching, who returned to me years later and they take a class again because they have forgotten everything, literally everything that they’ve learned. So I’ve been teaching at Franktown Firearms for just over five years. And I have had several repeat students who took a class when I first started there and didn’t practice. And they know they didn’t practice. And yes, they come to me kind of with the tail between the legs, like, I’m so sorry. I know I should have practiced, but I didn’t. And just, you know, you got to treat me as if I know nothing. Just treat me as a beginner. And that’s what can happen. I always tell people, This is a perishable skill. And when I talk about training consistently and more so when I talk about practicing at home, I obviously don’t mean using live ammunition unless you’re fortunate enough to live on land and are able to do that kind of training on your own property, which I envy you if you’re one of those people. But what I mean is using training tools that don’t require a trip to the range. Excuse me. Snap caps or dummy rounds is what they’re called. They’re just that. They’re dummy rounds. They have no projectile. There’s no powder. There’s no nothing. They are just physical little tools that look like ammunition cartridges, but they don’t do anything. They’re just there to help you with your mechanical skills, that you need to load and unload your firearm. Using a laser training cartridge can improve your trigger control. You can set up scenarios in your house, in your mind, you know, with a what would I do if kind of mindset. And then take the next class. Take it. Take that next step. In my concealed carry class, for the sake of time, I don’t teach holster draw, okay? That’s going to change. Probably right before July 1st, 2025, because as you know, we’ve got a lot of gun laws that went into effect. And the criteria to obtain a concealed carry permit is going to change a little bit and going to get a little more stringent. So, you know, there’s that. And that’s all going to be different. But for now, that means take the class. get the certificate, go down to the sheriff’s office in the county of your residence and apply for your permit and then go take that next step. Take that more advanced training. Okay. You have to, when you learn this stuff, like I was talking about, it’s a commitment. You have to learn proper holster draw and you have to practice that draw. And I’m going to elaborate even more so. Okay. Put on your rig and, And when I say rig, that means like your belt, your holster, your spare mags, your mag pouches. Acquire the equipment you need for effective practice, whether it’s at home or at the range. And practice. Make certain your gun is clear of ammunition. Okay, you guys, that’s like step number one. There’s no live ammo in your vicinity at all. Obviously, there’s no live ammo in your gun. Sit down with your snap caps. or your dummy rounds, whatever you want to call them. Close your eyes. Close your eyes and load your magazine. And then keep your eyes closed and load your gun. Know your gun inside and out. Know where the magazine release is, where your thumb should hit it, where the slide lock is. Know how to retrieve your firearm in the dark and practice it. Practice clearing malfunctions. Use a TRT, which is a tap rack training aid that can be used with your laser trainer. It kind of keeps the follower of your magazine from engaging your slide lock when the magazine is in place. If you don’t know these terms, some of this stuff is probably foreign to you, that’s a problem. It shouldn’t be foreign to you. These TRTs, you can get them in packs of three. So you can put one in each of several magazines and you can practice combat reloads and tactical reloads and improve your aim and trigger control with your laser trainer because you can use it all in conjunction with your laser trainer. The sky is the limit, literally, when it comes to practicing at home. And like I always tell my students, the only thing that you can’t practice at home is recovery from actual recoil. because you’re not feeling that. You’re having to kind of, you know, rack the slide in between trigger presses to, you know, reset your trigger and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, you come down to Franktown Firearms when we fire up these in-home protection classes in the sim house and you’re going to train using plastic replicas or airsoft guns. Look, I’m 59 years old, and I have been shooting for a really long time. I’m an NRA certified pistol instructor. I’ve passed the post-certification last November. I can shoot. I practice all the time. I’ve put thousands and thousands of rounds downrange. I bring my laser trainer home with me after classes. When I do my classes, they never stay in the classroom. I bring it home with me so I can practice at home. I have laser trainers for every caliber of firearm that we have, and I practice with them often. rifles, handguns. I practice switching hands and shooting with my left hand. I will sling my rifle, you know, and practice with my laser trainer and my rifle, and then I’ll switch my sling to the other side and use my left hand to shoot it. When I put my gun in my holster for carrying concealed, I practice my draw a couple times before heading out. You have to do that kind of stuff. And with all that said, and all my shooting experience and the fact that I’m an instructor myself, I still train. I might be maybe 10% more prepared than any of you listening right now because adrenaline, that’s a tricky thing. And nobody knows how they will respond to that adrenaline dump when that fight or flight or freeze moment hits until it happens. I do all these things as often as I can, and I still think I need to practice more. I feel bad if a day goes by and I haven’t done something. I haven’t pulled my laser trainer out and just fired a couple rounds at the vase that’s across the room from me or whatever. I always say that I’m sometimes a teacher, but I’m always a student. All the things you do relating to your firearm must, and I repeat, must be second nature to you. They have to be wired into your DNA. If there’s any apprehension or, you know, I just, I don’t like this or that, or I get uncomfortable or I just don’t, you have to come and take a class, take an hour with me, And you need to practice at home. The functionality and the mechanical features of your firearm have to become part of your muscle memory if you want a ghost of a chance of defending yourself or the people you care about. Period. End of story. It’s kind of funny. I will get couples in my classes. And I just had a couple just this last weekend where the husband or the boyfriend always wants to step in and load their wife’s magazine for them or help them lock open their slide because they can’t. They say they can’t or I’m not strong enough or whatever. I’ll tell you what, the words I can’t are not allowed in my classroom. Whether it’s loading your magazine by hand or Or, you know, or without the use of a load assist or whatever. And if you don’t know what a load assist is, you learn all that stuff too. Or it’s acquiring sight picture with both eyes. That’s where I always get the most resistance. That’s where I get the, I can’t, I can’t do this. Okay. Loading your gun and acquiring sight picture with both eyes is mandatory in my classroom. So ladies, I’m talking to you right now. If you have a firearm that you intend to use for self-defense, you need to be able to handle these things yourself. If your husband’s gone, if you’re home by yourself, you have to be able to handle it yourself. No questions, no worry, no apprehension, no anything. You have to be able to retrieve that firearm and stand your ground and use that firearm effectively without even thinking about it. And if you’re not there, if you’re not at that point right now, then you need to work on that. Okay? You learn by repetition and just getting in there and doing it. I know it hurts. I know it hurts your fingers to get that seventh or eighth or 15th round into your magazine. I get it. I know that you pinch your hand if you’re not gripping the slide correctly when you rack it. I know it’s hard to lock that slide open because the recoil spring is so stiff and this is a new gun and whatever. I know you pinch your hand if you insert your magazine too aggressively and you have a short grip on your gun. I’ve done it. I’ve done it. I’ve done all of it. I’ve experienced all of these things. And that’s why you practice. It doesn’t cost you a dime other than your initial investment of your training tools. It does not cost you a dime to sit down at your kitchen table when the kids are at school, your husband’s at work, or when you both come home from work or whatever and practice all of the above over and over and over. So get out there and do it. If you have a gun, get some training aids, go to mantisx.com and look for some laser training cartridges and some of the TRTs and practice with it. Go to the range, put some lead down at least once a month, take an advanced class or more advanced class. If you don’t have a gun, but you want to buy one, go buy one. Sign up for a class. And once you’ve learned the basics, commit. You have to commit to practicing and being that responsible gun owner. The Second Amendment means more to some people than it does to others. I, for one, am of the mindset that the Second Amendment comes with responsibility to yourself and to others. When we’re talking about the Second Amendment and there are people out there who believe in guns for everyone, Guns for everyone. Doesn’t matter if you have any training or any ability or whatever. Just get a gun and, you know, you’re protected. That’s not the way it works. There are people out there who really don’t care if they learn the right way or even if they learn at all. They just think they have a gun, they’re protected. Here’s the boom switch. I know how that works. And they couldn’t be more wrong. Just remember, you guys, every bullet that leaves that gun has your name on it and also has a whole team of lawyers attached to it, okay? Remember that. So that is my training rant for the day. If you guys want to talk about anything that I’m discussing today, you can give the station a call at 303-477-5600. I’m going to move on to a little bit of the I don’t know what’s going on in Washington right now. You know, I don’t have a lot of time for deep dives, but we’re going to gloss over it anyway. OK, and I’ll give you my opinions on some of the things that are happening right now. So I guess we’re going to talk about Trump’s cabinet picks so far and his plans for his next term as president of the United States. Some of his cabinet picks I love, some not so much. But I think Trump is strategic in his picks, and he has his reasons for all of them. I think that this particular place in time, he doesn’t have a lot holding him down. He doesn’t really have a lot to lose except his own life, which, you know, we all are kind of worried about that. You should be if you’re not. But I think he’s got it dialed in, and there are reasons behind everything. So for me, RFK Jr., as head of HHS, is probably the best of all of them. I think he’s going to be laser-focused on making America healthy again, and I think he’s going to go after the food and drug companies who are literally poisoning us with toxic chemicals and additives. particularly those companies who target children. For example, the cereal companies and the fast food chains and all that. A side note here on how the media is reporting on RFK Jr. To me, it’s maddening and it really ticked me off. I heard it on ABC News the other day saying that he’s basically, he’s a noted vaccine skeptic. And he’s being put in charge of the agencies that are designed to keep our food and medicine safe. I have to chuckle. I’m sorry. It’s complete hogwash. The FDA falls under HHS, obviously, and they allow these toxic chemicals like, for example, Red 40 into cereal that kids eat for breakfast nearly every day. The FDA is allowing chemicals into our food that are banned in most other first world nations or even some second world and third world nations. Chemicals like atrazine, which is a known hormone disruptor, or glyphosate, which is a neurotoxin, sodium nitrate and nitrite, which are carcinogens. But yeah, the FDA is aiming to keep all of us safe and healthy, right? It’s laughable. Trump says he’s going to let RFK Jr. go wild in that position, and I couldn’t be happier about it. This is kind of funny. My daughter, she’s a nurse, and her husband is a firefighter, and they both are very healthy people. They try to eat cleaner, live cleaner, clothing, cotton, organic, even down to their sheets. That’s just how they choose to to go forward because they know that their environment and the stuff that they buy and the stuff that the grocery store and the restaurant sell, it’s all toxic. It’s all just laden with who knows what. And my daughter was telling me about a substance that pregnant women sometimes have to drink before having a glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. I myself also had to drink this stuff, and it’s very sweet. You know, they try to spike your blood sugar and see how your body handles it and all that stuff. It’s very, very sweet. And it’s colored, though, with red dye 40, which is linked to hyperactivity in children as well as migraines in adults. And there are so many alternatives, natural alternatives to the artificial food coloring that I just can’t imagine why we aren’t using those instead, right? you’ve got your beetroot powder and your pomegranate and all kinds of stuff. You know there has to be byproduct. Like if you get a bottle of pomegranate juice, for example. So it’s just juice, right? The whole pomegranate seed and everything else in the pulp and the skin of the seed and the whole thing, that goes somewhere. Where does that go? Use that for extracting the color. Use something else. Why do you have to use some kind of a petroleum-based, coloring that’s fake and that causes health issues. And what’s worse is that all the health websites that you go to, like Healthline or WebMD or whatever, they just simply quote what the FDA feeds them in terms of what’s safe and what’s not. And so we’re in this cycle of sickness and disease medical industrial complex and back to sickness, and then it’s another sickness. And, you know, so RFK Jr. is not a vaccine skeptic when it comes to every vaccine. He’s selective in his opinions, starting with the COVID-19 vaccine. He’s skeptical of that one, obviously, as everyone should be. It’s an experiment still that they’re still trying to tout as safe and effective and They’re still running ads on TV and radio promoting the combination vaccine with COVID-19 and the flu vaccine and all that. So, and, you know, even if the FDA does approve the COVID jab for regular use, and it looks like they may be adding this to the childhood schedule to go to school, does that make anyone feel better about its safety? and or efficacy, considering that the FDA’s track record of approving things that give us cancer and poison our brains and disrupt our hormones, you know, they don’t have a great track record for this. So I’m looking forward to seeing what JFK or RFK, sorry, JFK, conspiracy, got the tinfoil hat on here, but what RFK Jr. does in the HHS. Hopefully he steamrolls it and starts over. And I would really love to see him banning these chemicals that the food companies are using in their food. And I would love to see the label contains bioengineered food ingredients scrubbed from every food label out there. And not scrubbed because they want to scrub it just to take it off, but scrubbed because this bioengineered stuff is totally bad for us, totally toxic, and it needs to be out of there. So on to the next pick that I was going to talk about. I like Pete Hexeth as defense secretary. I like Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence. Now, I didn’t say I love them. It’s funny to me because she’s on the terror watch list, and now she’ll be in charge of that list. So that’s funny to me. But Pete and Tulsi are both very pro-war people. And I’m not sure how well that’s going to sit with the new Trump administration, unless he’s adopted a new pro-war stance while he’s been away from the Oval Office. I’m not sure. Mike Waltz, as National Security Advisor, is questionable, considering he was all in for Ukraine and he voted to send them billions of our tax dollars. There are a lot of pro-war, pro-Ukraine people being placed in different positions in Trump’s incoming administration. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I don’t care for Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. Maybe he’ll be great. Maybe he won’t. But I’m just not thrilled with that pick. I think he’s kind of a rhino. And I think he’s kind of a snake. So we’ll kind of see what happens there. We’re going to take a short break real quick, and I’ll be back with some more of my opinions on these Trump picks for his new administration. We’ll be right back.
Karen Murray (Host) :
Shooting outside in winter isn’t great, but at Franktown Firearms’ 10-lane, 30-yard indoor range, conditions are always ideal. Franktown’s range is ready for handguns, shotguns, rifles up to .50 caliber, and even black powder. Plus, safety gear is always free to use. Since the range connects to their full-service gun store, You can rent a variety of firearms and try before you buy, making sure it’s the right fit for you. And with the Franktown membership, you even get after-hours access to the range. Ventilation is top-notch with fresh air constantly circulated, so you can breathe easy while you shoot. Family owned and operated, Franktown Firearms treats clients with respect. aiming to build your confidence and make this your home on the range. Bring your own gun or try something new today. And KLZ listeners, for a limited time, will receive a free gun rental with any range lane purchase. Visit klzradio.com slash franktown to find out why Franktown Firearms is where friends are made.
Karen Murray (Host) :
And we are back. I was just talking about the picks that Trump has so far for his cabinet picks. But I do want to address something that was just introduced with that little piece for Franktown Firearms. When they talk about every customer is met with respect, I’m going to go back and tell you about something else that I’ve experienced in my time as a firearms instructor. Nobody has dealt with more disrespect than me, okay? I’ve gone to several… I’m not going to even name their names, but I’ve gone to several locations with students or just to make a purchase or whatever, and I’m treated like a chick, okay, like a woman. Somebody approaches me, and they’re very much – I can already tell. As soon as they make eye contact with me, I can tell that they have no respect for me whatsoever. They don’t know what I know. They don’t know anything about me. They just see me as a woman, and they say, okay. Yeah, let’s approach this woman with kit gloves, and we’ll put her into a revolver because they’re so easy to use or whatever. So Franktown Firearms will not give you treatment like that, ladies. They won’t. Everybody in there is treated with respect, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve never held a gun before or if you’ve shot for a while or whatever. They’re going to treat you the same way, okay? So I just wanted to elaborate on that real quick. But back to the picks, and this has nothing to do with picks, but I think that the Senate, when they met and voted behind closed doors for the majority leader, John Thune, I think that’s terrible. That’s a terrible, terrible, terrible pick. He is a Trump-hating rhino who defied Trump every step of the way during Trump’s first term. So he has a lot to prove here. Otherwise, if he’s going to have my respect, that’s all I have to say. That whole thing is pretty sketchy to me. I’m hearing this great rumor, though, this fantastic rumor that Dan Bongino might be slated to be the head of Secret Service. And there’s another guy’s name in the running as well, but I’m praying, I’m hoping that it’s Dan Bongino. I don’t know if he even wants it, but I can’t think of anyone better in that role, like for real. And I can’t think of anyone better than Tom Homan as borders are. He’s probably the best pick of all. If you’ve ever seen any of Tom Homan’s press conferences or his appearance on appearances on Fox news, you gotta know why I love him. He is a take no prisoners kind of guy, and he’s not going to take any crap from anyone. And I think he’s a straight shooter and, He just wants to keep Americans safe. I love him. Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, very fitting. I’m not even going to touch this subject, okay? Not going to touch it. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as directors of government efficiency, a new department that’s being created. I love this to a point. Elon Musk, to me, is still enigmatic. to me. I’m not sure what his true motives are. I want to think that he’s America first and he’s right beside Trump. And you know me, I’m skeptical of everything. OK, I’m just talking right now about whatever is on the face of what we’re seeing, what we’re allowed to see as the cheap in the public. OK, which obviously is not everything. But Elon Musk is I don’t know. I’ve watched his interviews, and I’ve seen and watched on TikTok, actually, interviews from people from his childhood, even his babysitter. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that video, but it is fascinating to watch. And he was definitely a different kind of kid. And this whole… brain implants, Starlink stuff, and all the AI robots. And no, there’s something about him that bothers me. I don’t know. We’ll see what happens, but something about him bothers me. And with this whole government efficiency department, which I think is sorely needed because our government is like the polar opposite of efficient and When they’re spending tax dollars on ridiculous things like, I don’t know, if shrimp want to mate more often when they’re under the influence of cocaine, which is kind of a thing, there’s a problem there, okay? There’s a big problem in all of that and the way that our money is spent. So this new department is sorely needed. I really like John Ratcliffe. As CIA director, I hope he guts the entire agency and starts over, inserting people who actually want to keep America private and safe and sovereign and not spy on us as if we’re the enemy. I think there should be a new agency. Like we have this new Department of Government Efficiency. I think there should be a new agency that keeps media – I don’t know what you’d call it, but set something up to hold media outlets like ABC accountable for reporting what they report, which oftentimes is outright lies, not just misinformation, but lies. The censorship has only been for us by simply telling the truth on social media, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, wherever it is. Starting with the COVID vaccine and saying that Hunter’s laptop was real and the 2020 election was stolen, et cetera. We have gone down this path of all this stuff that we’ve determined and now we know as fact that things have been the way that we thought they were. Like the 2020 election was stolen. It was stolen. The COVID vaccine is dangerous. Hunter’s laptop was real. And I think Hunter left that laptop at that computer repair shop deliberately, but that’s a whole other subject. But so I would love to see some accountability for CNN and The View and MSNBC and The New York Times and The Washington Post and The Huffington Post and et al. So, yeah, I think that should be something that gets addressed in this new administration. Um, former Trump policy advisor and speech writer, Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff, I think is a great choice. He’s kind of an insider. He, he knows how Washington works. He should do a great job. He seemed like, um, every time I see him speak, he seems like he knows what he’s talking about. He’s definitely America first pro-Trump, you know, all that stuff. So hopefully he does, he does a really great, um, some really great stuff in that position. Lee Zeldin as EPA director, I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m not sure how much environmental experience he has, so I can’t speak to this one. But hopefully he can do something about all the regulation with EVs and, you know, the government wanting us all to be driving an EV before we’re even ready for that. Our infrastructure is not ready for that. Right now, EVs run on electricity that’s mostly derived from plugging into your garage, which your house is supplied with energy from a coal-fired power plant. So it’s kind of counterintuitive. You know what I mean? So I think that we need some work done there, okay? AOC and her radical Green New Deal and all the stuff is a bit ahead of itself, okay? We’re not ready yet. for all that stuff yet. And so I’m hoping that he can step in and kind of talk some sense into the whole entire situation with the EPA. Matt Gaetz, as Attorney General, is probably my favorite pick so far. He was one of the first picks, and I think I actually spoke about this briefly last week on the show. I think he’s going to kick butt and take names. I love him. He’s been a victim of all this lawfare that goes on with our government. And do something with Merrick Garland, for the love of God. I can’t stand that guy. So hopefully Matt Gaetz, he’s a firebrand. I think he’s going to do great. So we’ll see. But… We’ll continue on what requires confirmation and what doesn’t. UN Ambassador Elise Stefanik is terrible, in my opinion. I think she’s terrible. She’s deeply involved with the World Economic Forum. She’s a total deep state shill, in my opinion, so I’m not a fan of Elise Stefanik. The Director of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, Although SpongeBob SquarePants could probably do a better job than Alejandro Mayorkas in that position, I don’t think Kristi Noem is a great fit. I think she would be better served in the Department of the Interior, which Doug Burgum is going to hold, or maybe heading up the Department of Native American Affairs. I know that’s not an official department, but it is an offspring of Interior, I think so. I just am not a fan of her being the director of Homeland Security. I just don’t think it’s a good fit. Just my opinion. And I was really hoping that Alina Haba would be named as press secretary. It’s just an opinion based on how she’s handled the media and press conferences and stuff and interviews during the Trump indictments and all of his hearings and all that stuff. You know, she was the first at the camera. She’s very well spoken. She’s articulate. And I think she would do a fantastic job as press secretary. But we’ll see. Unlike. Kareem Jean-Pierre, who sits there and lies and misleads and evades and avoids questions for a solid hour. It’s just she drives me crazy. So anybody’s better than her. But we’ll see how Caroline Leavitt does in this position. Some of these picks require Senate confirmation and some don’t. Of the picks requiring Senate confirmation, I’d say that Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth will probably be the hardest ones. They’re going to have the most uphill battle. And because he’s been so vocal about dismantling what he’s going to do at HHS, I think that RFK Jr. is going to meet with some opposition as well. But these are just my opinions. If you have anything to add to this, you can give me a call, 303-477-5600, and let’s talk about it. So on this last note here, I want to talk about education, okay? Trump has said he wants to dismantle the Department of Education and let the individual states make decisions about how to educate its children. And the left is losing their collective minds. If you go on to any place like TikTok, you see, I can’t believe he went, what are we going to do without the Department of Education, right? as if to make us think the Department of Education is all about educating. But it’s not. It’s about controlling and directing the minds of young people. And, yes, you can strap on your tinfoil hat, but I don’t think it’s necessary. I want you to listen to this piece really quick. I heard this this morning, and I think it’s very important to understand how the public school system works and why it’s not really about education. Check this out.
Karen Murray (Host) :
What if I told you the education system isn’t designed to make you smarter? It’s designed to put your mind into a cage, a matrix that may take years to escape and some never get out. They tell you education is the key to success. But is it? Modern education doesn’t expand your mind. It narrows your perception, teaching you what to think, not how to think. Schools spend more energy on behavioral conditioning, rewards, punishments, and endless rules than on actual teaching. The goal? to make you powerless and dependent on the system. Imagine this. You’re four years old. They take you away from your family five days a week and hold your mind hostage until you’re 18. You spend more time with them than your own parents. This isn’t education. It’s indoctrination. They’re molding obedient workers, not independent thinkers. Think about it. If you were an evil oligarch, deceiving and oppressing the people, would you spend money teaching the public to think critically and challenge you? Of course not. You know, you’d bury their minds under layers of brainwashing so that by the time they realize what the world is really about, it’s too late. And they say, go to college to get ahead. But they’re setting you up for massive debt that shackles you for life. They want you in debt before you even start. normalizing loans, and living beyond your means. Debt is control. They don’t want you free. They want you working for them forever. Education feeds you fragmented facts, stuffing them into your left brain. It rewards those who regurgitate the right answers and punishes those who ask real questions. By the end, you’re trained to follow orders, not challenge them. Textbooks are written not to teach, but to steer. Committees with political agendas ensure you see a version of the world that suits them, not the truth. All the famous scientists and historic figures you learn about, they’re characters in a play. If someone doesn’t serve their agenda, you’ll never read about them. They don’t want you connecting dots or thinking outside the box. They want conformity. The education system isn’t failing. It’s working exactly as intended to make you dependent, to push agendas, and to stop you from questioning the very system you serve. Wake up. The education you’re being fed isn’t about enlightenment. It’s about control.
Karen Murray (Host) :
And so I think that pretty much says it all. This is how the corrupt, power-hungry deep state has won over the minds of the people. And for right now, I’ll just say the minds of the brainwashed, progressive, liberal lunatics. And it starts in preschool. If I had a school-age child now in this day and age, there is no way I would be sending them to public school. No way. First of all, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Schools should be teaching the basics. And I think I’ve talked about this before. Reading, writing, math, history, civics. The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers. I don’t know. Maybe how to drive. I think driver’s education has gone by the wayside now. Some schools still offer it. Most don’t. But these are all fundamentals or basic fundamentals of life, of living in this country, right? I mean, at least they should be. By the time the DEI-installed teachers are finished preaching to their classes about the acceptance of transgenderism and telling white kids that they’re the problem because they’re white or telling black kids that it’s the fault of the white kids that they’re held down, and giving guidance on the correct use of preferred pronouns, after all that, you know, there’s not a lot of time left to teach things like how to solve simple math in your head or how to turn a screw or whatever. Where most schools fail is teaching basic life skills. And they’re called life skills for a reason. Pronoun usage is not a life skill. It shouldn’t be. CRT is not a life skill. Participation trophies don’t teach anything other than how to be entitled to something that you didn’t earn and being a victim of society if you go home empty handed. I remember when I was in school, I took a class called business machines and to any of you Canyon City High School peeps out there. Hurrah for you. This was back in the early 80s. We had business machines, and it was electric typewriters and 10-key adding machines for the most part, that kind of stuff. But that’s where I learned to type. I’m not a hunt and pecker, okay? I type with my fingers on the home keys, and I type without looking at the keyboard, not on a flat touchscreen, but actual keys, like on a computer. Do kids even learn how to type anymore? No. My daughter didn’t. She kind of taught herself, but she doesn’t know the home keys and the finger movements and all that stuff. I’ve seen her type, and she was a hunt and pecker at first, and now she kind of types, but she doesn’t type how you should, you know, how we learned as kids. But what about basic banking skills? Or basic car maintenance, like checking fluids or changing oil or changing a flat tire? What about cooking or basic nutrition or basic woodworking or how to use basic and hand and power tools? How to write a resume? Maybe self-defense classes, you know, for kids because we kind of live in a messed up world right now. Self-defense. basic stuff, you know, claw their eyes out, kick and scream, all that stuff. Is that stuff taught in school anymore? Maybe how to sew or knit, quilt or crochet, how to build a fire, how to identify your water gas main in your house and how to shut it off if you have to shut it off, how to do basic yard work or gardening, how to get a stain out of your shirt and use a washing machine. You guys get my point. I know there are schools out there that still teach auto mechanics, woodworking, computers, all the good stuff. You know, I think escape rooms would be really cool in class. Think about that. Have an escape room as a class. to where everybody has to work together and find that key or find that code or whatever is required to take that next step to get yourself out of this environment that you’re in. The motivation being to escape is to you’re able to leave when the bell rings kind of thing, you know, and not be tardy for your next class. I think it’d be fantastic. But teaching these things would make kids wise and useful and self-sufficient and independent. It would give them critical thinking skills. But that’s something that the government just can’t have, right? The government can’t have that stuff. So hopefully, I don’t know, by the time Trump is finished with the Department of Education and and has a hand in the complete destruction of the teachers’ unions, this can become a reality. I always think about, you know, like I took home ec. If any of you guys ever took home ec in high school or junior high or whatever, you’re kind of going to feel me, what I’m talking about here. So I learned in home ec how to make and, you know, Obviously, it’s mostly cooking and that kind of stuff. But you learn like the equivalence of measurements and that kind of thing, the conversions from tablespoons to cups to, you know, whatever. You learn that kind of stuff. That’s basic life stuff. You learn how to make a basic bread dough. You learn how to make a basic bichamel, like a white sauce or bread. just a basic sauce and what a saute is and what it means to braise or any of that stuff. So, yeah, it’s a lot of cooking. But I learned how to sew. I learned how to use a sewing machine. I learned how to balance a checkbook. I learned a lot of stuff in home ec. And I don’t even know if – just imagine if your kid came home from school one day, your 17-year-old high school boy – came home from school and said, I want to prepare you guys a meal tonight from scratch because this is what I learned in school. Just why can’t we teach kids this kind of stuff right now? It’s amazing to me how it’s all about electronics and it’s all about computer programming and it’s all about apps and gaming and you know, yes, kids play sports and all that kind of stuff, but what are we teaching our kids? What are the schools teaching our kids? And mind you, I’m going to go back just a little bit and talk about the math and the reading and the writing and cursive. I don’t think kids learn cursive anymore. The basics, the history, the civics, all that stuff. But then on top of that, Who cares about – maybe you can throw some arts in there like music and artistry, photography, that kind of stuff. Who cares about CRT? Who cares about pronouns and making sure that you address your purple-haired teacher the correct way? That is irrelevant. That is not life. To be able – and I’ll go back to my training segment before this. When you get into your car, remember when cars used to have keys, and you would get into your car and you would take your key, your keys in your hand, and you didn’t even have to look where you insert that key. You just insert that key and away you go, right? You fire up the motor and away you go. We need to teach that kind of stuff to kids who need to live, right? And I know a lot of this stuff needs to be done in the home. I get that. But with two parents working in the home, oftentimes there, I was fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom. And a lot of times for these working parents that are working, you know, eight to five 30 or eight to six or whatever, there’s not a lot of time to sit down and teach your child how to cook, how to saute some onions in a pan with some butter and make a sauce out of it or whatever. There’s not time for that. So maybe instead of teaching all this extracurricular BS that these kids are learning in school, maybe teach them some good stuff. Kids need to learn some good stuff at school and come home and show their parents how, you know, they’ve learned to use a power drill or they learned to, you know, saw a piece of wood or whatever the case may be. They learned how to change that flat tire. This is stuff that matters. And I really, really hope that with the onset of all this, you know, this new Department of Education stuff that we can change some things. Can somebody please explain to me why all this woke agenda in schools matters at all? Because once you get out of school, like my video, the audio that you just heard says you’re trained to go into college. And then once you’re in college, you know, get the biggest degree that you can get and then come out with all this debt. And the debt has this ridiculous interest rate on it. And then you spend half your life paying that off. It’s just, you know, why can’t we teach some, I don’t know, electronics or carpentry or how to hang drywall or paint or something practical and useful and make our kids self-sufficient and independent and strong. It just doesn’t seem like this stuff is even important to people anymore. And that’s why we have a society of weak, feckless, soy boy kind of humans out there who are Do you know how many people that I know that are like, oh, my husband can’t do any of that. Your husband’s so handy. My husband can’t even, like we have to hire everything out. Unacceptable. Something to strive for, people. Go back to go forward. That’s how we have to do it. Thanks for joining me today on Shooting the Breeze, spending the last 58 minutes with me. I greatly appreciate you guys. listening and being fans of the show. Stop by Franktown Firearms. Say hello. Have a look around. Mama Glock is out for now, you guys. Take care. God bless.
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