T.REX TALK

The early days of the Global War on Terror, the U.S. Government was heavily dependent on Private Military companies. The Defense Department leaned on them for support, the State Department relied on them for protection, and the Justice Department attacked them for easy virtue signaling. Today we talk to Nick Slatten, a member of the Blackwater Tactical Support Team Raven 23. He moved from the 82nd Airborne unit to contracting work just in time for the 2007 troop surge, and just in time to become the central scapegoat of political prosecution designed to appease international journalists.
It took three trials...

There a number of online firearms resellers out there, but GrabAGun has a unique Board of Directors full of Political and Firearm Industry A-Listers, and a recent IPO that raised them over $120m. We talk to CEO Marc Nemati about his background in software, and his goals for the future now that GrabAGun is a publicly-traded company.

In the past it felt like political ideologies were opposing tides, moving slowly back and forth. Today, it's more like a choppy sea of random swells, creating a chaotic whirlpools dragging us down. Author Jon Harris joins to podcast to talk about his new book "Against the Waves" that categorizes some of the new movements, and we talk about how increasingly unmoored ideologies will drive in such random directions. 

 

https://www.jonharrismedia.com/product/against-the-waves-christian-order-in-a-liberal-age/

For the last century, the ATF and its departmental predecessors have been given increasingly oppressive laws to enforce, and as you have learned in our series on ATF history, they have done so in increasingly heavy-handed ways. However, we should also look at some more recent cases This vide was posted on YouTube, but podcast listeners have asked for this content in a more listener-friendly platform, so here it is. 

We recorded this episode before the news about Palantir building a massive database on Americans, but after some big Google AI Upgrades last week. Noah Botkin, head of our software dev team, joins us to talk about our experiments, what it can actually do, and what might be coming in the future.

As you know, there is a strong possibility that suppressors, silencers, mufflers, and so on will be removed from the NFA, where they have been for over 90 years. What happens next? What other laws affect them, and what can we expect?

John Crump is a Constitutional Activist and journalist who has been writing about firearms for over a decade. His articles can be found here https://www.ammoland.com/author/johncrump/ and his YouTube channel is here https://www.youtube.com/@JohnCrumpNews/

There are lot of different flavors of content on GunTube, ranging from entry-level entertainment to deeply specialized nerd lore. Brass Facts manages to split the difference on a lot of topics, making complex topics accessible. We talk about he manages to pick his practical topics and test concepts in a practical way. Also, of course, his origin story.

Man cannot build a government too small to misbehave or big to be misused, so the question is how to put checks and balances in place to prevent injustices from happening. In a very basic way, Western Civilization is an attempt to solve this fundamental problem, and the American Constitution is the result of centuries of work to create a solution.

Aaron of Administrative Results joins us to talk about YouTube and firearms influencing, but as usual, Isaac can't stay on topic. The discussion quickly turns to law enforcement, sci-fi, the strengths of combat exoskeletons, longbows and yeomanry, the weak points of French knights, the best long-running book series about Napoleonic warfare, and other extremely unsurprising rabbit trails. 

When we talk about building community, and disaster preparedness, there is a mobility problem. How can you get to and from your people? How can you move supplies or gather intel? Joining the conversation is Christian Guzman, who has been experimenting with a lot of different vehicle types for different transportation needs. 

The last few weeks have been a furor of contention about tariffs, but there is a bigger conversation about the value of local manufacturing that needs to happen. 

We are coming up on the 250th Anniversary of Lexington and Concord, the battle that began the War for American Independence. This was the start a new nation, but it didn't happen overnight.

The last twenty years of technological development has given us an internet that is more centrally controlled, devices that gather more information about us, and a system that is generally more monolithic and restrictive. Mark37.com is a company that sells de-Googled phones, pre-Linuxed laptops, and helps you regain some control over your information. Today we talk to Sean Patrick Tario about what you should and shouldn't do in the pursuit of privacy and freedom.

Since so many of our T.REX folks are military veterans and first responders, we're always eager to find out more about groups than can assist these individuals with their very specific struggles. In this episode, Jeremy Stalnecker, Executive Director of the Mighty Oaks Foundation, talks about his transition from Marine Infantry Officer to civilian life, and what his organization does to help others.

https://www.mightyoaksprograms.org/

Paul Brown of the Wasson Watch company used to be a signals intelligence specialist with the NSA. He joins us to talk about large scale SIGINT, OPSEC, COMSEC, and the future of an AI-powered trustless internet. He also makes automatic field watches which you can preorder from Wassonwatch.com

Six years ago, T.REX ARMS managed to get a state ammunition tax repealed. Ever since, we've had a lobbyist working on 2A legislation every year. However, a small group of Tennesseans have taken the lessons learned from that first ammo tax fight and spun up a separate lobbying effort that had a surprising level of success. This is their story. 

https://www.tnfreedominitiative.com/

https://tnfi.substack.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8enTHRDq9r8

Crafting your own weapons is a great American tradition. The learning curve has always been steep, but with modern software and hardware, it has gotten a lot easier. All kinds of new designs and manufacturing technologies are still waiting to be unlocked, even for the humble firearm. In today's conversation, Mr. Snow Makes walks us through some of the different developments in this space.  

With a new President, new Attorney General, new Acting Director of the ATF... what happens next? What is GOA doing to take advantage of opportunities to defend our liberties and reclaim some lost rights? And what are the things that you can be doing to help?

A little-known part of Henry Chan's backstory is that he grew up in colonial Hong Kong, an area almost devoid of privately-owned firearms. How did he go from anti-gun to owning five times more guns that the average Texan? And what is the effect of growing up in a culture where gun ownership is literally unthinkable?

In the midst of all the latest news with Anduril and IVAS, let's check in on other Augmented Reality companies. Today we talk to Gage Galinger of Overmatch, a software/hardware team that has built an amazing training tool that allows for complicated team combat drills in any structure.

Overmatch.com

Last week, the New York Times published a fascinating article "How YouTube is Changing American Gun Culture." Even  more fascinatingly, it ended up on the front page. Today, Isaac talks to the reporter who researched and wrote the story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/gun-youtube-firearm-videos.html

In the first two weeks, the new administration has taken a perfectly normal course of action, such as new appointments, new executive orders, and executed it very quickly. However, they have combined this expected action with an unprecedented level of cost-cutting. Billions of dollars of grants, contracts, programs, and other spending have already been canceled, leaving entrenched bureaucrats scrambling to find an effective response. 

Our long-running series of long explorations into past ATF activities finally makes it to current day! And what may surprise you are the ways that bad laws, bad assumptions, and deep ignorance continue to cause tension and resentment... in and out of the Bureau. We also finally address the question of what happens to good ATF agents trying to do their duty.

After the horror of Ruby Ridge and the brutality of Waco, you might expect the newly elected Clinton Administration to blame their predecessors and walk back some of the abuses of the ATF. Instead, they launched an comprehensive coverup campaign, commended the Waco commanders, and rammed through a new Assault Weapons Ban. How did they get away with it?

Our last video made the case that the ATF, while built to crack down on criminals, was actually set on a collision course with regular Americans. In this video, we document 50 years of its trajectory from Prohibition to the deadly sieges at Ruby Ridge and Waco.

Drones are hot right now, and David Han Jr. joins us to describe his business startup, which designs and builds robust drone platforms for the American citizenry. Our conversation covers not just UAV technology and uses, but also the manufacturing and design mindsets needed to develop for a more resilient Citizen Defense Industry.

https://www.k9defense.tech/

https://x.com/K9DefenseTech

This is a video on the T-Rex lab channel, but due to the number of requests, we're also posting it here for easier listening.

The actions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives don't get as much attention as they should, but most people are generally aware of their recent history. However, to get a better understanding of how they developed as an enforcement agency, we have to go back to their first assignment. This will be a multi-part examination of where the ATF came from, and where they should go.

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Isaac sits down with our COO Bryan to talk about Christmas, and Bryan brings an interesting topic to the table. Merry Christmas from all of us at T.REX to you and your families! 

We've been talking a lot about American manufacturing tools and technologies over on the T.REX LABS channel, but there's a lot more to it than just the hardware. How do you get a new generation of folks involved in making stuff? How do you inspire them to pursue this as a discipline and a career. Today we've got an international guest giving us his perspective on our manufacturing strengths and weaknesses.

Creativity in film, television, and other fictional media seems to be at a pretty low ebb in the 21st century. Isaac and Ryan talk about their experiences in the film industry, and why some of the trends are not mere laziness but hostile ideologies at work. In some ways this is more dramatically visible and consequential in the video game space.

As the year is wrapping up, we have a lot to be grateful for. Whatever your circumstances, whenever your situation, you have things to be grateful for, even if that gratitude is hard work. Here's a short podcast episode about only a few of the things we are thankful for this year.

New Zealand has been in the news last week, as protests against equal rights produced many viral video clips. To discuss this, we called on Will Spencer, who has traveled the world, spending four years on the road and some of the world's most remote cultures and communities, in search of religious truth. Today, we talk talk not only about Maori culture, but other nations, religions, the death of the manosphere, and podcasting itself.

Our favorite tech-centered gun rights organization (and newsletter, thinktank, VC group, etc) has just started a podcast to interview folks who are at the crossover of weapons, technology, and business. Kareem joins us to talk about it, and how the group wants to get deeper into the future of self-defense.

https://opensourcedefense.com/

The 2024 election night upset was a red wave for the presidency, State governors, the Senate, and possibly the House. It wasn't an overwhelming landslide but it was a comprehensive failure of Democratic politicians and the mainstream media as a whole. Let's walk through some of the most interesting points and what they mean.

We are days away from one of the most heated presidential elections in American history. However, there's a lot more on the ballot than just the president. Jody Barrett, our local Tennessee Representative joins us in the studio to talk about why he got in politics (against his will), and why we need to send the right people to represent us, not just vote for who we are offered.

Today's guest is Jake from Gridbase, a company that builds digital library tools, creates educational content for radios, and tries to inspire people to have a greater understanding of their tools and grow in their capabilities.

As we've watched the disaster recovery and response to recent hurricanes, and the mad scramble to get the right stuff in the right places after the chaos arrived, most of us have had disaster preparedness on our minds. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and who better to talk about some of the planning requirements of preparation than intelligence expert S2 Underground.

https://www.youtube.com/@S2Underground

Our friend Ray Simmons comes on the podcast to talk about his past work flying the U2 spy plane for military intelligence purposes, and his present work building church and community infrastructure in small-town Iowa.

Forrest Cooper of the [redacted] podcast joins us to talk about his observations of the gun community in general and veteran cultural specifically, and their recent trend toward Christian foundations. As he has journeyed from Ranger Battalion to contractor to gun industry writer to academia, he has seen all those different groups undergo significant shifts over the last couple of decades.

We talk about everything from philosophical frameworks to moral injury, and why people who have tried everything only have one place to go.

redactedllc.com

You've seen Brandon in a lot of T.REX content talking about everything from shooting to drones to radio plans, but let's get a little deeper into his backstory, how he got to where he is today, and where his journey is taking him.