From The Danny Ferrantino Show on WTAG, Worcester, MA

12.12.2025

I got to be on two segments!

Check it out!

Riding Shotgun With Charlie

#243

Tonya Franklin

Back in 2020, Tonya reached out to me. She was very involved with her local politics and wanted to talk about how the news on the "pandemic" was nonsense. She's been in the medical field and may have been helping folks get a medical exemption to the vaccine. She's also a gun instructor who offers NRA and USCCA courses as well as medical courses, which is her background. Growing up in Illinois, I was taking several trips to visit family and friends. On a recent trip, I was able to make plans with Tonya and catch up with her.

Firearms weren't really her thing for some time. Her family moved from Florida to Illinois for her husband's career as a pilot. Learning about the FOID (Firearm Owners Identification Card), she thought it was ridiculous.But since there were firearms in the home and it was required by the state, she got it. When you make her do something, she says she's going to do it all the way. So, her new thing was the Second Amendment. She took several courses as a newbie, and noticed she was surrounded by males.

Over the years, Tonya took a number of courses to learn all the fundamentals. The first female instructor she had was none other than Jan Morgan. Morgan owns a range in Little Rock, AR. That's when Tonya decided that she was going to be an instructor.

In the fall of 2020, Tonya got heavily involved in A Girl & A Gun, the nation's top female firearm group. Her chapter has over 100 women in it. AGAG hosts a conference every year and has chapters all around the United States. Tonya started one in McHenry County, Illinois. The first meeting was at her house and it was packed to the rafters! They also host courses and events at some local ranges and at her home classroom.

When concealed carry became a thing in Illinois in 2013, she jumped all in with both feet. She became an instructor through both the NRA and USCCA, as well as a Training Counselor so she could teach the instructors. The permitting course requirements in Land of Lincoln is a whopping 16 hours of class time! Her business, Act Fast Academy, offers several firearms courses, but also medical courses, which is also important for gun folks to take. With a career teaching in the medical field, getting into firearm instruction was a no brainer.

During 2020, things were tough in the training business. With the state mandated live fire as part of the training, Tonya started going into her own stash of ammunition to keep the instructing business going. She has noticed a pattern that every four years, there's gun and ammo issues, which just happens to coincide with the presidential election years. Buying ammo can be tricking in states like Massachusetts where they keep track of what you're buying. On the flip side, they're also going to require that people do live fire to get permits.

All the training she's taken for herself and her students, getting certified with NRA and USCCA, and going out to competitions has earned her respect. Through her AGAG connections, she's been going to Outdoor Texas Camps to work with young females aged 9-17. She gets to instruct young women in all types of firearms and shooting. The camp has pistol, rifle, shotgun, fishing, archery, mock blood trails, fly fishing, and a whole host of events. With her experience and expertise, she keeps getting invited back.

Tonya is very energetic! She's offering courses all the time. Courses from firearms to medical and just about everything in between. She's active with AGAG, NRA, and USCCA. If you're in northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, or eastern Iowa, you ought to look her up and take a course.

Favorite quotes:

"If you make me do something, I'm going to do it all the way."

"They make you a criminal just over night, with the stroke of a pen."

"The firearms world can handle me. I'm going to become an instructor, too."

"Women want to shoot. They want other women to shoot with. They want to have fun doing it."

Act Fast Academy website

https://actfastacademy.org/

Act Fast Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/ACTFastMedicalTrainingIL/

Act Fast USCCA page

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/firearms-training/instructors/illinois-instructors/act-fast-first-aid-firearms-academy-1326862/

A Girl & A Gun McHenry County Chapter

https://www.agirlandagun.org/chapter/il-mchenry-county/

Second Amendment Foundation

https://secure.anedot.com/saf/donate?sc=RidingShotgun

Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

https://www.ccrkba.org/

Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters.

US Law Shield

Legal Defense for Self Defense. Use "RSWC" as the discount code and get 2 months for free!

https://www.uslawshield.com

Patriot Mobile

Use this link and get one month for free!

https://patriotmobile.com/partners/rswc

Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/riding-shotgun-with-charlie/id1275691565

Danny Ferrantion Show/WTAG

December 5, 2025

Danny & I talk about the man in the UK who was arrested for a social media photo of him shooting a shotgun in Florida.

Tennessee is starting to teach gun safety in public schools starting this year. Everything is age appropriate.

Mass shooting are down. Is it because of Constitutional Carry/Permitless Carry?

Riding Shotgun With Charlie

#242

Tom Knighton

Bearing Arms, Writer

The first time I met Tom Knighton in person was at a Florida Carry event in 2021. But we've done a number of episodes of the Polite Society Podcast, where I was a co-host and he was a guest. Then there were a number of times when we did The Daily Bullet as co-hosts. Tom is a great guy and writes at Bearing Arms. We had a chance to film a show at the NRA Annual Meetings in Atlanta this year.

Tom grew up in Georgia and has been around firearms his whole life. Growing up in a city, he's still pretty country. His dad was a police officer who hunted with his own dad. It seems crazy, but he said his first press of the trigger was at four years old with a .38 Special. His dad had his hands over Tom's and all he needed to do was press the trigger. Eventually, his dad bought him a Ruger 10/22 and an Enfield Jungle Carbine in .303 British. Unfortunately, later on it had to be sold.

As a young child growing up with his parents and their smart aleck attitudes, it's no wonder where Tom got his snarkiness, which has served him well while writing at Bearing Arms. Then as a Navy corpsman, it didn't really help with his sense of humor, either. Being an anti-authorian, he only lasted four years in the Navy. He was in after the Gulf War but before September 11. He could have gone back in, but he had a 2 month old child and a wife to tend to.

During high school, Tom found out he wasn't too bad at writing. His writing impressed both his teacher and classmates. While writing for a "table top role playing" blog, he went to a meet up with local liberty minded folks. He talked with someone and started writing about small local politics. Then a local newspaper got a hold of some articles and ran them there, too. Talking with the editor, he was able to pay Tom for some original content. So he considered writing for a living. The editor ended up moving and selling the paper to Tom. Then he ended up losing the newspaper.

After some life tribulations, he started writing for a start up publication. Then another. Both went under. He was able to leverage those gigs into writing for PJ Media. Another friend worked at Red State and he asked if they needed anything. After some conversations, she asked how he was on the Second Amendment. For the first two years, he was writing solo.

They talked about hiring an editor and he was a little miffed. But the editor ended up being Cam Edwards. Tom thought that was also a good idea! Like many of us, one of our goals was to be on NRA TV's Cam & Co. but Tom ended up working with Cam instead. A nice consultation prize.

For Bearing Arms Tom is cranking out about seven articles a day. Then he's got two for Town Hall. Then his own Substack of general politics gets two articles. And he's doing some videos for his YouTube channel, too. Sometimes people send him tips, leads, and stories. Sometimes it's slow and there's a little rehashing of previous content or reaching out to find stories to write. But the "challenges in the 2A community don't change" or end.

Like many others, Tom has a lot going on. Writing for Bearing Arms, for Town Hall Media, and doing his own articles, keeps his schedule full. There are also times when he's running the BA website, too. Plus he's keeping up with family life.

Just for funsies, we take a call from Mike Piwowarski from Arms Room Radio. I was supposed to meet some folks, but I was running late. The background is that when I did a show with Mike in Florida a few years ago, he forgot all the great stories he has. So I had to bring up that Tom has stories. And he remembers them.

Favorite quotes:

"The first time I ever pulled the trigger was on a .38 Special when I was four years old."

"God forbid we ever in a situation like that, I'm equipped."

"We may not have the same level of training, but you never have enough."

"You need to get your basic marksmanship better than the guns."

"People like when their commentators pop off at the other side."

Bearing Arms https://bearingarms.com/

Bearing Arms Articles https://bearingarms.com/author/tomknighton

X https://x.com/TheTomKnighton

The Fourth Rail YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthrail

Second Amendment Foundation https://secure.anedot.com/saf/donate?sc=RidingShotgun

Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms https://www.ccrkba.org/

Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters.

US Law Shield

Legal Defense for Self Defense. Use "RSWC" as the discount code and get 2 months for free! https://www.uslawshield.com

Patriot Mobile

Use this link and get one month for free! https://patriotmobile.com/partners/rswc

Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/riding-shotgun-with-charlie/id1275691565

I've been doing a segment on Danny Ferrantino's show on WTAG.

Here's the Freedom Friday at 4 segment from 11.14.2025

Riding Shotgun With Charlie

#241

Jeff Boren

Boren Training Solutions

It was by chance that I was able to connect with Jeff Boren. I wanted to do a show in Arkansas and reached out to Ed Monk (RSWC #222). Since I've already had him on the show in Boston, I was looking for someone else. Ed suggested Jeff. I reached out to a complete stranger, asked if he'd be on the show, and he said yes. Although Jeff is in Mississippi I'm glad it worked out. As the saying goes, "I'd rather be lucky than good."

Jeff took an interest in firearms at a young age. As a child of the 80's, he loved Die Hard and wanted a Beretta 92 for Christmas. Santa did not bring it. He fired a GLOCK 17 Gen 1 when he was just a teenager. Then he got a job so that he was able to buy some guns for himself. A few years and a couple courses later, he realized that this may be worth pursuing.

While his career was a football and baseball coach, he was working towards administration. There were several friends and family that asked him to take them to the range. He figured that if he became a firearm instructor, he would still be able to coach people and help them get into shooting. He found Citizen's Safety Academy in Murfreesboro, TN, and became an NRA certified instructor. Currently, he holds many more certifications, including UCSSA, Tom Givens' Rangemaster "Master" certified instructor, and Armed Response to Active Shooter Events.

Jeff has been in the administration side of education after moving out of coaching sports. Spending years as a coach, then being a principal, he's now a district administrator. His job is to be responsible for safety and operations. They do have an armed staff program. He's responsible for teaching the teachers how to handle firearms, shooting, and active shooter situations. "There's more of them (armed schools) out there than people realize, but there's not a lot", Jeff said. Having his hand in administration and firearms training, he's able to instruct those who are willing to step up to be able to protect schools.

With programs like FASTER Saves Lives and Ed Monk's Active Shooter Training, there's no reason that some teachers shouldn't be armed. Not every teacher needs to be armed, not every teacher wants to be armed, but they can be educated. Including trauma first aid, which can save the lives of students. In Jeff's program for carrying in schools, there's 64 hours of training. He says it is more about accountability than it is responsibility. Teachers have to be accountable for what happens if they need to use a firearm. It's much more about the mindset than anything else.

The Borens are all into shooting. His wife is an instructor, his children enjoy shooting. One drawback is that his wife will know which guns he has and which he's trying to sneak into the safe. However, it is a wonderful thing that everyone enjoys it. Jeff also instructs at Citizen's Safety Academy in Tennessee and Patriots Training Center in Eastabogo, AL, where he is the Director of Training.

In Mississippi, it is a "Constitutional Carry" or permitless carry state. However, having the state issued permit has benefits. One is reciprocity. Jeff lives in the north east corner of the state, 20 minutes from Alabama and 5 minutes from Tennessee. It also lets you forgo the background check as the carry permit shows the holder has passed one. Moving to permitless carry has changed what instructors offer their clients. It's no longer the state's mandated curriculum, it's geared towards what citizens really need for training. Along with the permit, someone can carry inside of a school.

We had a great conversation. I'm happy to meet more pro-gun people around the country and have them on the show. Jeff teaches in three states. He attends things like TacCon. He's got a full resume and offers lots of training. And he passes it on to everyone who takes courses with him.

Favorite quotes:

"It (instructing) filled a void, but it's something I'm deeply passionate about."

"I got into it for that reason alone because it was fun to shoot."

"If it weren't for that, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now."

"You're not just responsible, you're accountable for what happens."

Boren Training Solutions

https://borentrainingsolutions.com/

Boren Training Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/JeffBorenTrainingSolutions/

Patriot Training Center

https://patriottrainingcenter.com/

Second Amendment Foundation

https://secure.anedot.com/saf/donate?sc=RidingShotgun

Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

https://www.ccrkba.org/

Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters.

US Law Shield

Legal Defense for Self Defense. Use "RSWC" as the discount code and get 2 months for free!

https://www.uslawshield.com

Patriot Mobile

Use this link and get one month for free!

https://patriotmobile.com/partners/rswc

Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/riding-shotgun-with-charlie/id1275691565

I've been doing a segment on WTAG in Worcester, MA with Danny Ferrantino.

NewsRadio 580/94.9. We call it Freedom Fridays at 4!

Here's the segment from November 7, 2025.

I've been doing a segment on WTAG in Worcester, MA with Danny Ferrantino.

NewsRadio 580/94.9. We call it Freedom Fridays at 4!

Here's the segment from October 31, 2025.

I've been doing a segment on WTAG in Worcester, MA with Danny Ferrantino.

NewsRadio 580/94.9. We call it Freedom Fridays at 4!

Here's the segment from October 24, 2025.

I've been doing a segment on WTAG in Worcester, MA with Danny Ferrantino.

NewsRadio 580/94.9. We call it Freedom Fridays at 4!

Here's the segment from October 17, 2025.

Riding Shotgun With Charlie

#240

Buz Mills

Gunsite Academy, Owner

NRA BOD

I met Buz Mills in passing NRA AM a few years ago. I felt a little in awe knowing he owns Gunsite Academy, the world's premier civilian training school started by the late, great Jeff Cooper. This year at NRA AM, I found myself at a dinner and was introduced to him again. I'm honored that he was able to take time during the very busy weekend to give me an hour. I've been a fan of Cooper and his books since I became a gun owner so I was excited to take with someone else that has a connection to him. The ultimate question was "when am I coming to Gunsite?"

Before we kicked off the show, we spent about 15 minutes just talking in the car. He's got amazing stories to tell and I was able to get some of them on video. Buz grew up in the era where everyone shot, hunted and took their .22 rifles to school. After school, if he didn't shoot any small game, dinner was going to be vegetable soup. He learned to shoot in the Boy Scouts and participated in the postal matches through the NRA. As a kid, he was able to cash in empty soda bottles for .22 ammunition. There wasn't ammo for misses.

Back in the 1970's, Buz was in sales and worked with electronics and cell phones. He said he's not a fortune teller, but just an observer, telling people that one day, we'd have one number attached to us (our cell phone). He got out of that business in 1999 when he purchased Gunsite. Buz met Cooper in 1980 and was a "frequent flyer" at Gunsite.

Next year is Gunsite's 50th anniversary. They have lots of classes to offer. Besides pistol, carbine, rifle, and shotgun, there are tactical courses, knife courses, responding to active shooter courses, and just about anything you can think you'd need. Probably more than you can think of. This year, they've been building a fifth new building in five years. Since he bought the business back in 1999, it's grown from 165 acres to over 3,200 acres!

You can tell that Buz breathes the Second Amendment and the NRA. We talked a lot about the goings on at NRA when we filmed at NRA AM in April 2025. The NRA was formed to teach the North how to shoot after the Civil War. With the passing of the Gun Control Act of 1968, the NRA got more involved in politics.

Having been on the NRA BOD for a few terms, Buz saw that what they were doing was a textbook version of how to "chase your members" away. Particularly, at the members meeting, if someone spoke out, the Board would shut that person down. This tactic chased off about 40% of the membership, according to him.

Mills and a handful of others have been working hard to get the "Reformers" on the board. Last year, about 75% of those elected were Reformers. This year, there's more of them on the ballot. The BOD does need a variety of members with a wide swath of skills, including people who run successful businesses who can handle the business of the NRA. The NRA is working to get back to some of the things that made it what it was, which is training and education. They also want to increase membership. The Association has been around for over 150 years and needs to be around for another 150 years. It is going to take some time to right the ship as it took time for it to go in the wrong direction.

There's a lot of NRA talk in the show. About Doug Hamlin becoming the EVP and his history with the NRA. About getting rid of some of the law firms that were hired for cases. About finding out how the NRA looks for replacements and knows that someone has a 12 month contract to make changes, knowing that it will take more time to make the changes.

Buz shared a lot of wisdom he's acquired over the years being in the firearms community and running a successful business. Between Gunsite and NRA, he's a very busy and well respected man. And he keeps asking me "when am I coming to Gunsite?"

Favorite quotes:

"Gunsite is the oldest and largest privately owned tactical firearms training facility in the world."

"I'm not a fortune teller; I'm just an observer."

"America wouldn't be what it is today without the NRA."

"All that's behind us. That's all behind us. No more lawyers, No more lawsuits.

"I have never been to a class that I didn't learn something positive that I can put in my toolbox."

Gunsite Academy

https://www.gunsite.com/

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/GunsiteAcademy/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/gunsiteacademy/?hl=en

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/1Gunsite

X

https://x.com/gunsiteacademy

Second Amendment Foundation

https://secure.anedot.com/saf/donate?sc=RidingShotgun

Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

https://www.ccrkba.org/

Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters.

US Law Shield

Legal Defense for Self Defense. Use "RSWC" as the discount code and get 2 months for free!

https://www.uslawshield.com/

Patriot Mobile

Use this link and get one month for free!

https://patriotmobile.com/partners/rswc