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Although the gun control bill most recently proposed by Democratic members of Congress did not pass, the threats levied against the Second Amendment have not ceased. As previously reported by Off The Grid News, Florida is currently considering requiring background checks and an anger management course [1] simply to purchase a box of ammo. A California bill may soon put into place an ammunition tax [2] which will likely double the price of bullets for all types of weapons.
Police departments across the country are rapidly depleting their stockpiles of bullets due to the ongoing ammunition shortage [3]. A law enforcement agency in at least one state has had to resort to borrowing ammunition from residents because leading manufacturers cannot fulfill the department’s order in the coming months.
Off The Grid News recently sat down with firearms expert and self-defense tactical trainer Patrick J.G. Troy [4] to discuss the liberal quest to restrict Second Amendment rights and civil unrest preparedness tips.
OTG: You have been training folks on firearms usage since 1979 and gained your knowledge of weaponry while serving in the US Navy. What prompted you to found the LMS Academy self-defense training center and share your skills with a broader audience?
Patrick: The short answer is – demand fulfillment. During my military time, I was trained to be a firearms instructor on the Colt 1911 45ACP pistol. Seeing my students succeed in mastering the pistol and qualifying on the Navy’s difficult course of fire gave me great satisfaction and is one of the reasons that I still instruct today.
Patrick: Upon transitioning to civilian life, I saw that the majority of law-abiding gun owners had a genuine desire to become competent operators and that there was a need for people like me to fulfill this demand. Although there are many good training programs available to the public, the demand for a comprehensive offering is still high. I began helping people achieve their goals by providing competent instruction in all aspects of firearms safety, handling, operation, marksmanship, and carry.
Most range facilities and instruction are set up in what we call “the square range.” There is a firing line where students stand in and shoot at stationary targets facing them. While this method is satisfactory for developing basic marksmanship and weapon handling skills, it is inadequate for imparting all the skills necessary in a real self-defense encounter. Our courses are designed to increase the level of realism by inducing deep stress, necessitating complex decision-making, developing situational awareness, and producing breakdown.
In life, most everything that can go wrong will and usually at the worst possible time. We train students to rely on their greatest asset—their mind. The mind is the only true weapon; everything else is just tools we use to implement our will. We teach our students how to be warriors first, and then how to use tools in their art of self-defense.
How To Defend Yourself And Your Family Against The New Breed Of Lowlife Criminal Scum [5]
OTG: What type of service and courses are offered at LMS Academy?
Patrick: LMS Academy [6] offers training in all aspects of defensive operations including courses in pistol, rifle, shotgun, close quarters battle (force on force), and tactical treatment of gunshot wounds.
LMS Academy also offers security services to corporations and organizations that include customized training for employees and executives, security and threat assessments, mitigation programs and practices, and custom developed scenario-based exercises and events.
Our training classes and programs all include lifestyle guidelines and best practices designed to help our students and clients reduce their probability of being involved in a violent encounter. These techniques are among the most important things we teach.
OTG: Do participants in the tactical treatment of gunshot wounds course need prior medical knowledge to grasp the concepts of the course.
Patrick: The tactical treatment of gunshot wounds is one of the most important courses that we offer to law-abiding gun owners. Participants do not need any prior medical experience or knowledge to understand the concepts of the course.
OTG: Why do you feel a course is important for non-military or law enforcement or healthcare workers to take?
Patrick: Because we are the intended targets of violent criminal actors (VCAs), we are, by definition, the first responders when the attack happens.
Violent criminal actors (VCAs) never select law enforcement or other uniformed personnel as their intended targets and for obvious reasons—the VCA does not want to be apprehended, hurt, or killed. Instead, VCAs select everyday people for their intended victims. By the time the authorities arrive, the attack is completed, the VCA is in flight, and the victim is dead, dying, wounded, or incapacitated.
Many life threatening wounds are survivable if the wounded person receives (or can self-administer) some basic stabilizing treatment. The tactical treatment of gunshot wounds course gives the operator the tools necessary to get a life-threatening wound under control until EMS personnel arrive and get the victim to a hospital. The course imparts life saving skills that every competent gun owner/carrier should have.
OTG: You are also a certified NRA pistol instructor. Liberal lawmakers often denounce the NRA during the ongoing debates about gun control. What do you think about the NRA’s fight to protect the Second Amendment?
Patrick: I commend the NRA’s efforts and successes in defending our rights under the Constitution of the United States of America. As a former military member, I swore an oath to defend our Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same.
Our national existence is entirely dependent on the preservation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Without the integrity of these governing documents, America will cease to exist.
Liberal lawmakers desire to transform our country from a constitutional republic into a socialist police state. Their biggest obstacle in achieving their goals is the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. One of the most visible organized defenders of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is the NRA. What liberal lawmakers will not acknowledge is that the NRA stands for defending the entire Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill of Rights, not just the Second Amendment.
The true agenda of liberal lawmakers is to confiscate and disarm all US persons except law enforcement and government. Once you understand the objectives of liberal lawmakers, it is easy to see why they choose to vilify and demonize the NRA.
The NRA is not responsible for violence in America and nothing that the NRA represents could possibly be even remotely contorted into promoting a culture of violence and disregard for human life. Americans have been indoctrinated into a culture of violence and desensitized to the destruction of such violence by decades of media programming. Yet, the same liberal lawmakers who cry so loudly denouncing the NRA and the Second Amendment will not speak even a single word about the impact and cost to our society that the media indoctrination, programming, and desensitization has wrought.
OTG: One of the main talking points of those pushing for more gun control in America involves the so-called gun show loopholes. Can you dispel any of the claims or myths about how gun shows operate?
Patrick: The mythical “gun show loophole” is the lie that people buying guns from a licensed dealer at a gun show are not required to have a background check to purchase a gun.
The facts are that every licensed firearms dealer at every gun show in the USA is required by law to document each purchase with the appropriate forms and perform a background check through the NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) to determine the eligibility of the purchaser before any transaction may be completed or any gun may be transferred. In short, there is no “gun show loophole.” It is a myth, a lie.
Incidentally, the BATFE routinely sends undercover agents into all the nations’ gun shows to see if dealers are complying with the laws. A violation would cost the gun dealer their business and livelihood, would result in criminal prosecution, and would likely produce jail time for the offending proprietor. In short, the penalty for violating the law is severe and the demand for guns by law-abiding citizens is so strong that there is absolutely no incentive for any dealer to violate the law and risk the consequences. Firearms dealers have more business than they can serve just by fulfilling the needs of legitimate gun purchasers.
Some states allow private sales of firearms. In those states, the owner of a firearm may sell to a private individual without a background check or completing any forms. Obviously, in states where private sales are illegal, they are also prohibited at all gun shows in that state.
How to hide your guns, and other off grid caches… [7]
VCAs do not obtain their guns from legitimate gun dealers. The system identifies these felons and denies them access to any gun purchases. VCAs always have, and always will, obtain their weapons through illegal means. They are, after all, criminals, and they do what criminals always do—violate the law.
OTG: You are one of the featured speakers at the upcoming Doomsday Expo [8] in Denver. What topics will you address during what is being billed as the largest ever gathering of America preppers?
Patrick: I will be presenting on three topics:
- Better Bartering Though Negotiating
This presentation identifies how to build up a network of trading partners and give best practices for negotiating amongst partners. Since no single organization can maintain a surplus of all needed materials and supplies, survival will largely depend on the ability of networks to cooperate. This seminar will teach you how to accomplish this.
- Maintaining Operations Readiness of Weapon Systems in Exigent Circumstances
How to keep your gun running when there is no gun shop. This seminar will show the attendee how to maintain their equipment in operational readiness when there are no available support systems or supply chains. The attendee will learn about which platforms are most reliable and most easily maintained, the most critical spare parts to have for each weapon system, and how to clean and maintain weapon systems using improvised products.
- Training for Survival – The Spirit of The Warrior
This seminar will provide the attendee with a comprehensive curriculum for training and introduce each participant to the mindset that is necessary to operate in everyday life as well as survival mode. Each participant will come away with an in-depth understanding of the skills and mindset that are critical to their recipe for success, a methodology for evaluating their gaps, and a program for acquiring the skills necessary to fill those gaps.
OTG: Why do you think more Americans are engaging in preparedness efforts on some level?
Patrick: I think that Americans are becoming aware of the potential for infrastructure and/or societal breakdown and are responding to that awareness with preparations for themselves and their families. In essence, preparedness is an expression of love. We love our families and our way of life and want to preserve them. Therefore, in response to the potential for damage to our family or ourselves, we “prepare” to overcome any such potential damage by amassing the skills and materials necessary to sustain our families and our way of life.
History’s greatest “prepper” was an Israelite named Joseph. He was one of 12 brothers born to a man named Jacob (Israel) and lived in a time of history about 4,000 years ago. Joseph interpreted a dream that the Pharaoh of Egypt had and persuaded the Pharaoh to store up massive supplies of food throughout the entire land of Egypt in preparation for an immense famine that would devastate not only Egypt, but also the entire region.
The Pharaoh understood the criticality of the situation and stockpiled food and supplies throughout all of Egypt. When the famine came, Egypt survived and the Israelites were preserved as a people all because of the influence and efforts of one man, Joseph, a “Doomsday Prepper.”
America is experiencing an unprecedented level of anxiety and depression. The number one cause of death in America today is suicide! A recent article revealed this stunning fact and within days, that article became the most read news story in our country. Americans are unsure about their future; they are concerned about a down economy, rampant unemployment, spiraling energy costs, social unrest, global market instability, and government oppression.
Americans are seeing their right to privacy become null, their right to protect themselves negated, their right to educate their own children denigrated, their right to consume the foods of their own choice denied, their right to petition their government ignored, their net worth decimated, their ability to earn a living diminished, their retirement savings becoming a target for government seizure, their healthcare system destroyed, and their quality of life despoiled. It is no surprise that depression and suicide are an epidemic in America today.
America was founded by pioneering spirits, people who viewed hardship as only a temporary effect, and people who used their creative energy to build a sustainable life. The spirit of America is still alive and well today and is materializing in the prepper movement. Preppers are resourceful, thrifty, educated, and independent. They are the spirit of America.
The reason that we see more and more Americans making preparations is because every day it is becoming increasingly apparent that our current model is unsustainable and there is no sign of improvement evident in the near future. The effect of this negative outlook will drive many to depression, medication, and suicide, and others to action and preparation. In summary, people are prepping because they see disaster looming over the horizon.
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