LINGLE – In case you haven’t heard, a new business has sprouted up in the Lingle area. JACL Defense. The company, called “jackal” defense, is now offering basic self-defense and concealed carry permit classes to Goshen County residents.

“Jeremy [Jackson] and I got together, and we started a company,” Logan Dailey said, with a grin on his face. “We are now going to host defense training for the Goshen County area. Then we’re also looking at doing more of Wyoming and then also some of western Nebraska as well. We’ll be offering self-defense courses and concealed carry permit classes and things of that nature. We’re pretty excited about it,” Dailey concluded.

Dailey said the duo will not be able to certify residents in order to obtain a concealed handgun permit at this time as the State of Wyoming does not recognize the United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) as an authorized training agency, only the National Rifle Association (NRA). However, he said he has drafted legislation and presented it to Representative Scott Smith and Senator Cheri Steinmetz to get the law amended.

Despite the setback, Dailey expressed the importance of training, especially when it comes to concealed carry, and said he hopes to begin training Wyoming and Nebraska residents on the subject of concealed carry and home defense even though they will not be able to use the course to obtain a concealed handgun permit at this time.

Dailey, who worked in law enforcement in Nebraska for nine years, is currently employed by the Town of Lingle, where he and Jackson both work in the town maintenance department. 

“We were actually on our way to Lusk to a safety meeting,” Jackson said. “And we just started. I don’t even know how we started talking about it. It just like came up out of thin air. And we were just like, ‘Do you want to start a business?’”

“We both have that guardian mentality to where it doesn’t matter if that’s your job, that’s not your job, you’re going to intervene and help where you can help, when you can help. And then it was just like from there, everything stacked up just right,” Jackson remarked. 

Dailey explained there really isn’t a company in the area who teaches basic-self-defense courses and he is looking forward to teaching the classes in his community.

“There’s not a lot of it here is part of the thing. Because there’s a few businesses that operate for martial arts and then also a couple that, or at least one I know, that offers concealed carry classes,” Dailey said. “So, we wanted to kind of bridge that gap and have where we could teach self-defense, but not only the practice of self-defense, but also situational awareness and making people know their surroundings and how to prevent something before it happens. Then, God forbid, something does happen. We want to train them how to be able to respond and deal with the aftermath; whether it’s something as simple as an altercation all the way to a lethal force situation. I mean, there’s some sort of aftermath that’s going to be incurred, whether it’s dealing with law enforcement, dealing with the judicial system, or just dealing with what you had to do in that instance. We want to provide a comprehensive, very holistic approach to showing what they can expect by defending themselves and how to prepare, but also how to deal with it if you have to do it.”

Dailey and Jackson further noted the company also has plans to expand to include security and investigations.

“Another thing that we’re looking at with this business, too, is doing security and investigation services. Having been in law enforcement – I investigated crimes and every other type of circumstance you can imagine for pretty close to 10 years so, we’re hoping to be able to provide that to the public, too,” Dailey explained. “I mean, as far as the investigation side, we are still working out the details.

“But the security service side of it, though, if people want private event security or if they want schools, businesses, things like that, if they want security consultations, if they want actual security at the facility, we’re trying to get to where we can orchestrate that and put that together,” Dailey said. 

Jackson and Dailey attended AVERT (Active Violent Emergency Response Training) yesterday.

“The Health and Safety Institute that puts it on. They do a bunch of different law enforcement, fire, EMS, education stuff. And they came out with this AVERT class,” Dailey explained. “What it’s doing is it’s trying to bridge that gap. Because with active shooters especially, we found through research that the shooting stops if someone intervenes,” Dailey added. “And that doesn’t always mean a cop.”

The duo hopes the training will provide situational awareness through education. 

“If we can bring that education to our local businesses, our schools, things like that and show them, ‘Hey, there is stuff you can do to stop this,’ then we hope that we can prevent anything. I mean, obviously, we don’t want anything like that to ever happen. But God forbid it does happen; people have a way to respond,” Dailey said. “They have the knowledge that ‘I can do something and I can stop this.’”

“It’s kind of the same concept of concealed carry. Like you can carry hoping, praying to God, you never have to use your firearm. But if you do, you’re there, you’re capable, you’re ready,” Jackson added. “It’s kind of the same thing where just making, like Logan said, making people aware, giving people the training so that when something like that happens, they can maintain composure, calm, cool, collected, and go, ‘Okay, this is what we’re going to do,’” Jackson said. “And just that alone, I mean, how many countless lives could that save? Instead of watching people carry bodies out of a school, a church, a business, instead of, you know, they make it to the front door and it stops right there.”

“That’s our thing is just, like Logan said, he touched really well on it,” Jackson concluded. “Just making people aware is our big thing.”

Unlike Dailey, Jackson doesn’t have any prior law enforcement training but he attributes his protective personality to living in a small town and stepping up to the plate to help others when needed.

“I don’t have near the extensive law enforcement in my background. But since I’ve started a family and growing up, I grew up very rural, just like Lingle. And it’s kind of, that’s just the way you grew up is if there was something that needed to be done, you stopped what you were doing. You went and you helped,” Jackson said. “We, I mean, fire season, all of us were always out there helping fight fires. If, you know, anyone needed help doing anything, you’d stop what you were doing, you’d go help.”

“Then my big thing is I have a young family here and there’s a lot of younger families here. I feel like I would not be fulfilling my potential and doing, basically, following my calling if I did not pursue this and take the action to put myself in a situation where I am able, I am capable, and I’m okay with jumping in wherever I need to,” Jackson said. “That’s the big thing is just basically riding co-pilot (Dailey) with him because he has the knowledge.”

Once more, the duo stressed the importance of situational awareness and the importance of knowing your surroundings, a skill they plan to teach others through their company.

“Every day it seems like we find ourselves in a scenario where it’s like, ‘Okay, stop.’ And it’s almost like a training scenario where, ‘Hey, we can do this here. We can do this here. We can teach people how to do things here.’ And it’s just kind of opened my eyes to every day,” Jackson explained. “Now that I have kids and a young family, I’m the helicopter dad when we go out to eat. I set my back to the wall. I constantly scan the room. Constantly, there’s an exit here, exit there. I can probably trust that guy,” Jackson explained. “I can’t trust that guy, you know, constantly surveilling my scenario, my area. That just made me aware that, holy cow, there’s a, not only is this a potential for a business, but just the awareness that me and Logan share.”

“A lot of people that you see that are walking along the street. No care in the world – just pay attention. There are things going on that you need to look out for. It just hits a nerve with me when you see people that are just like, this could have been avoided,” Jackson said.

One of the aspects the company plans to bring to the community is self-dense taught in the students own environment.

“We don’t have a storefront or a building or anything like that. Yeah, someday, yes, hopefully, but, for right now, we’re planning on utilizing local community centers like here,” Dailey said. “The AVERT class is actually designed to be taught at businesses, at schools so that you can use your own building where you work every day to learn how to respond. So, it takes that training and makes it practical in that you’re in the environment that you’re training in is going to be the environment that you would act in if something were to happen.”

As the business begins to take off, they are offering their first class for free.

“We want to host it for our kids that are graduating from school, that are going to college and stuff like that. And, especially, just so that way they know – we’ll talk about situational awareness and then some of the tools that are out there that are available to them, and that they know they don’t only have to carry a gun to protect themselves,” Dailey said. 

“There are other alternatives, especially if you’re on a campus. I mean, who knows,” Jackson said. 

“But just those different things that if I’m walking out, I need to talk on a cell phone. If I’m confronted by someone, how do I react? We can discuss that and go through some different options and hopefully get that mental programming so that people are thinking through these things and going, okay, well, what if this happens? How am I going to react? And, I mean, not everybody’s a fighter,” Dailey said.

“That’s the other part of it, too. We want everybody to come to these classes because even if you’re not a fighter and you’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to ever have to fight or engage with somebody.’ Well, if something comes to you and you don’t have an opportunity, how are you going to react?” Dailey said. “Do you have skills or do you just have a way to, ‘Okay, here’s how I’m going to get out of this’ and get the heck out to call the cops or whatever. We’re planning on doing that class towards the end of May for all the graduates and we’re going to do that one for free.”

 On Friday, May 23 from 6-8 p.m. JACL Defense will be offering a basic self-defense class. The class is free and open to the public. It will be held at the Lingle Community Center and students will have the opportunity to learn basic self-defense, the liabilities and aftermath of a self-defense incident and tools available to defend yourself and others, the event invitation explained. Registration is required and can be done by contacting JACL Defense on Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp or by calling (308) 530-8604.

To learn more about JACL Defense, visit jacldefense.com.