One of today’s best-known and most respected trainers in the art of gun fighting, retired Sgt./Maj. Kyle E. Lamb, spent more than 21 years with the U.S. Army—more than 15 years of which were in Special Operations. Lamb is one of those who has “been there and done that”—including combat operations such as the infamous “Blackhawk Down” incident in Mogadishu, Somalia, and throughout numerous tours in Iraq and Bosnia. He currently operates Viking Tactics as a military, law enforcement and civilian trainer teaching courses in tactical entry and the use of the carbine, among others.

Lamb is an unassuming individual who has the appearance of an “average Joe,” but when it comes to kitchen-table discussions about the effectiveness of the general-purpose rifle—in today’s guise, the AR carbine—for use in a home-defense scenario, he is anything but. That’s why we decided to sit down with him for a question-and-answer session on exactly that topic. Here’s what he had to say.