Holster company offers congressmen free gear, training

A Tennessee-based custom Kydex holster maker is offering free holsters and firearms training to lawmakers on Capitol Hill in the aftermath of an attack on House Republicans.

T.Rex Arms, based in Centerville, posted the offer last week on social media following Wednesday’s shooting in Alexandria, Virginia, that left GOP House Whip Steve Scalise critically wounded alongside a Capitol Police officer, a staffer and a lobbyist. Lawmakers credited the fast response from armed agents assigned to Scalise as limiting the scope of the shooting.

“Most elected representatives do not have the advantage of a personal security detail; in this regard, you are like the majority of Americans,” T.Rex’s Lucas Botkin said in the post. “Your safety is your own responsibility. And as we saw Wednesday, the only way to slow and stop a determined attacker is through the immediate application of accurate rounds on target.”

Besides free holsters from the company, they advised that trainers from Warrior Poet Society and Baer Solutions are offering their services pro bono.

Moving past gun gear and instruction, Botkin implored Congress to act on national concealed carry reciprocity legislation and “reduce or eliminate the deadly gun-free zones that plague the liberty and lives of our citizens.”

In the days since the attack, Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie has introduced a bill to make Washington, D.C. an enclave of national concealed carry permit recognition while U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., is working on a bill to make it legal for members of the House and Senate to carry guns in the nation’s capital.

Brooks, who was at the practice, argues that if they would have been allowed to have guns the incident may have gone down differently.

“We could have gotten to the shooter before he did that much damage if just one of us had had a gun,” Brooks said. “We could’ve used the third base dugout as a shield, he wouldn’t have seen us. We could have snuck up on him, and as he’s shooting in the right field direction, we could have got him from the side.”

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