Episode 40
EXPOSING the PETTINESS of the 2A Community (ft. 180SecondIdeas )
Gun Owners of America's State of the Second sits down in a cabin in East Tennessee, looking out at the Great Smoky Mountains, with firearms YouTuber Johnny B of 180SecondIdeas, the creator behind the Drama Llama and Spicy Friday bits. Hosts Kaylee and John trace his path from a terrible 2016 holster review shot on a laptop camera to a full-time presence in the 2A space, then dig into why the gun community is so quick to fight over the small stuff. Johnny's read: we treat brands, politicians, and creators like rival sports teams, when we agree on far more than we disagree on. He argues there are a handful of things where there's no compromise, the Second Amendment chief among them, and a lot of gray everywhere else where it should be okay to disagree and still grab a beer afterward.
The middle of the episode turns into a frank conversation about attention and how the industry markets itself. Johnny, who works with high school seniors and college students, talks about how rapidly the human brain has changed around dopamine, short video, and instant gratification, and why one of the main firearms companies still pours the majority of its marketing into paper magazines at Walgreens while new-media creators pull bigger numbers than legacy outlets like CNN. The hosts and Johnny call out the divide between companies that get new media and companies that don't, and the snobbery that treats YouTubers as not real media. They tie it back to GOA's challenge: the wheels of justice turn slowly in an era built for the next swipe, so the work is long-term while the audience wants it now.
The back half gets into money and access. With NICS numbers back at 2017 levels and the average sale price of a gun dropping from roughly $700 to under $400, Johnny and Kaylee push hard against looking down on budget firearms and the families saving $25 at a time to defend themselves. The takeaway is relationships over hardware. John and Johnny both describe stepping back from the grail guns at range days so first-timers can have the moment, and Kaylee calls taking a new shooter to the range her favorite thing they get to do. It closes on the upcoming GOALS convention in Knoxville, GOA turning 50, and a pitch for the in-person community that the digital world can't replicate.
Questions this episode answers
How did Johnny B of 180SecondIdeas get his start as a firearms YouTuber, and where did the Drama Llama come from?
Johnny B started in 2016 with a holster review filmed on a laptop camera that he calls terrible, then grew into a full-time presence in the 2A space. The Drama Llama character began as a one-off joke around 2018.
Why is the gun community so quick to fight over brands, creators, and politicians?
Johnny B's read is that gun owners treat brands, politicians, and creators like rival sports teams, even though the community agrees on far more than it disagrees on.
What should and shouldn't gun owners be willing to compromise on?
Johnny B argues there are a handful of things with no compromise, the Second Amendment chief among them, and a lot of gray area everywhere else where it should be fine to disagree and still grab a beer afterward.
Why do some firearms brands still spend most of their marketing on paper magazines, and is that a problem?
The episode points out that one major firearms company still pours most of its marketing into paper magazines at Walgreens while new-media creators pull bigger numbers than legacy outlets like CNN. The hosts and Johnny B treat that as a real divide between companies that get new media and companies that don't.
How has the fight for attention and dopamine changed how the 2A community has to reach people?
Johnny B, who works with high school seniors and college students, describes how fast the brain has changed around dopamine, short video, and instant gratification. That clashes with Gun Owners of America's reality, where the work is long-term while the audience wants results now.
What do the latest NICS numbers and falling gun prices say about how the industry is doing?
NICS numbers are back at 2017 levels and the average sale price of a gun has dropped from roughly $700 to under $400, which the hosts tie to a struggling economy and tighter budgets for buyers.
Why does the show push back on looking down on budget firearms?
Johnny B and Kaylee argue against snobbery toward budget guns because many families are saving $25 at a time to defend themselves, and they say the focus should be relationships over hardware.
Why is Gun Owners of America putting on the GOALS convention in Knoxville?
The episode closes on the upcoming Gun Owners Action Leadership Summit (GOALS) in Knoxville as Gun Owners of America turns 50, pitching the in-person community that the digital world can't replicate.
Chapters
- 00:00 — Welcome to East Tennessee
- 00:44 — Johnny's origin story and that first bad video
- 03:48 — The Drama Llama and middle-aged man drama
- 05:45 — Is comedy lost, and the black-and-white mentality
- 09:05 — Losing the art of civil conversation
- 11:02 — No compromise on the Second Amendment
- 15:51 — Inanimate objects, labels, and disarmed societies
- 20:32 — Teaching students and the dopamine brain
- 25:08 — Paper magazines vs the digital age
- 30:58 — You can't divorce yourself from politics
- 39:57 — Why GOA is doing the Knoxville convention
- 45:48 — New media, the chasm, and cross-pollination
- 52:48 — NICS numbers, budget guns, and a struggling economy
- 1:01:50 — Range days, grail guns, and relationships first
- 1:08:55 — The handshake industry and goodbyes
About the guest
Johnny B is a firearms content creator known for the YouTube character the Drama Llama and his Spicy Friday bits, which poke fun at the petty drama in the gun community. He started his first video in 2016 with a holster review filmed on a laptop, and the Drama Llama began as a one-off joke around 2018. He turned 50 a couple of weeks before this recording. Outside of his channel he works with high school seniors and college students. He lives in East Tennessee near the Great Smoky Mountains. One of the primary sponsors of his channel is a boutique firearms brand. [VERIFY whether "180SecondIdeas" in the episode title is his channel name]
Key quotes
"it has been, without a doubt and without exaggeration, the greatest ride of my life." — Johnny B
"It is okay to disagree." — Johnny B
"If you are anti gun, fine, be anti gun. Don't exercise your second amendment right. Just don't come after us for exercising our second amendment right." — Kaylee
"Evil people that are bent on evil will do evil and good people will do good and the rest of us will Kind of just like muddle along and do our thing and be left alone." — Johnny B
"One of the challenges that the GOA faces is that everything that you all do is long term. Everything's a grind." — Johnny B
"Bravo to the families that are prioritizing defending themselves in this economy." — Kaylee
"Every gun if you run it hard enough is going to break. Learn how to fix it, learn how to run it." — Johnny B
"if you're listening to this and you know somebody in your life that has never shot a gun, take them, have that moment and then tell us how amazing it is." — Kaylee
Transcript
Welcome to Gun Owners of America State of the second podcast.
Speaker A:I'm Kayleigh.
Speaker B:And I'm John.
Speaker B:And today we're here with Johnny B.
Speaker B:How are you, brother?
Speaker C:Glad to be here.
Speaker C:Here's what I'm excited about is the last time I hung out with you people is I had to go out of state to hang out with y'.
Speaker C:All.
Speaker C:And look at y' all sitting in East Tennessee.
Speaker C:Goa came to me.
Speaker C:I couldn't be happier.
Speaker A:Well, you are worth, you are worth it.
Speaker A:I personally think we're the best part of the state, Best part of the country.
Speaker C:Yeah, East Tennessee is good.
Speaker C:And you know, I know folks can't see it, but we're looking out at the Great Smoky Mountain National Forest here.
Speaker C:It's a place to be.
Speaker C:I'm glad y' all are on this side of the state.
Speaker C:I know that Goa has a solid presence all over the place, but I really appreciate what y' all do in my state, Tennessee.
Speaker B:Well, let's start off with your origin story.
Speaker B:I know some people may not know who you are, have heard of you.
Speaker B:How, how'd you get started?
Speaker B:Where did everything go?
Speaker C:I think most of us, including a lot of the guys that are hanging out here in the cabin today, a lot of us, we watch YouTube videos, all of us do.
Speaker C:And then at some point you go, yeah, I could do that.
Speaker C:I could probably do that.
Speaker C:And so I did a really, really bad, really bad video with my laptop.
Speaker C:Just open up the laptop.
Speaker C:I used the laptop camera, the laptop audio.
Speaker C:It's horrific and I liked it.
Speaker C:It was fun.
Speaker C:And then you fast forward 36 months and you meet a lot of people.
Speaker C:You go on trips, you meet great folks like y' all and it has been, without a doubt and without exaggeration, the greatest ride of my life.
Speaker C:I wouldn't change a thing.
Speaker C:It's been a blast yout YouTube is a little bit of the devil.
Speaker C:We know that that is a necessary evil.
Speaker C:But it's also the number two search engine in the world and folks are there and we can find our people, freedom loving people that love the Constitution and interact on there on a website that is pretty much dedicated to communism and socialism and all things horrific.
Speaker C:Yet we use it as a tool and I feel really blessed to be sitting here.
Speaker B:When did you start your first video?
Speaker C: Started first video in: Speaker C:Stupid, stupid.
Speaker C:Holster review.
Speaker C:Here's a holster and you put the gun inside and you should buy one.
Speaker C:Come again?
Speaker C:And the audio was bad.
Speaker C:The video is even worse.
Speaker C:And it was bad.
Speaker C:It was really bad.
Speaker C:But you learn and it was so much fun.
Speaker C:And just within a couple months I started meeting folks and started meeting like minded individuals and I graduated from doing a holster review to a gun review.
Speaker C:And it really, it took off from there.
Speaker C:I had another YouTuber about a year later Holler at me, an established YouTuber.
Speaker C:And he said, hey, there's an event, I can't go to it.
Speaker C:Would you like to go as my quote unquote employee?
Speaker C:And so I went and it was a whole, it was a company, a company in Florida and they were releasing a holster.
Speaker C:So I went to.
Speaker C:There's like eight, eight different publications, a couple dot coms, a couple YouTubers, a magazine guy.
Speaker C:And we went down and sat through their press release and went and did a range day and played with their.
Speaker C:And they took us out to eat.
Speaker C:And from there forward, he introduced me a lot of folks and I'm just grateful.
Speaker C:It really is a lot of fun.
Speaker C:YouTube is brothers that I've never had.
Speaker C:I never grew up with a brother.
Speaker C:And I've met friends, there's friends in this building that I hang out with and it's just been really, really cool.
Speaker C:The more important part is that again, we get to interact with people that are of like, mind that believe, still believe in this country.
Speaker C:Because we're hanging on in some places by a thread and other places I think we're doing pretty well.
Speaker C:I think y' all could speak to that better than I can, but it's been a great tool to interact with people that love the Constitution.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B: meeting you was at a show in: Speaker B:And it's been a fun ride seeing you grow and seeing everything go.
Speaker B:What made you start doing, first off, what is the origin of the drama Llama?
Speaker B:And what made you start doing Spicy Friday and things like that?
Speaker C:Years and years ago I was hanging out, minding my own business and I don't like low hanging fruit.
Speaker C:Like, I really am not a fan of low hanging comedy.
Speaker C:Like if you meet somebody named Forrest, don't say it.
Speaker C:Think it, don't say it.
Speaker C:You don't yell, run Forest, run at Forrest.
Speaker C:I mean, if you meet a guy named Jake, don't ask him about his khaki pants.
Speaker C:He sounds hideous.
Speaker C:Like, we all think it, don't do it.
Speaker C:And There is the YouTuber Hickok, 45, Hickok, 45, and his son John.
Speaker C:And they're both 6 foot 10 6, 11, somewhere in there.
Speaker C:And they're monsters.
Speaker C:There's nothing you can say about these monsters that's original or funny.
Speaker C:And There was another YouTuber that called him, wait for it, Sasquatch.
Speaker C:And I saw that, I closed my laptop and I'm like, this is some drama.
Speaker C:We got some drama going on.
Speaker C:And I kind of thought about Joan Rivers on the red carpet with, you know, just being extra dramatic with the.
Speaker C:And I went and found my, some, some giant glasses of my daughters and I put on a sequined hat and I went and just started doing man drama about all the little petty things that we do in the, in the gun community.
Speaker C:Community that usually men, it's middle aged men drama.
Speaker C:And we all just like pick on each other.
Speaker C:The ladies do a better job than we do sometimes.
Speaker C:And I just started, I just saw at a whim, had a llama run across the street, across the screen to.
Speaker C:Y' all gonna make me lose my mind.
Speaker C:Because these guys make me want to lose my mind.
Speaker C:You call a 6 foot 11 guy a sasquatch?
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:Y' all gonna make me lose my mind.
Speaker C:Up in here.
Speaker C:Up in here.
Speaker C: it was a one off joke in like: Speaker C:It's taking a life of its own.
Speaker C:I love it.
Speaker C:Again, I wouldn't change a thing, but it's all about middle aged man drama.
Speaker A:Do you feel like comedy, the art of comedy, is lost in where we're at now, like in our timeline?
Speaker C:I don't think overall in our culture, I think we are in a heyday of comedy.
Speaker C:Like there's some things as far as folks that do stand up, watch, stand up.
Speaker C:There is a.
Speaker C:We're in a renaissance right now.
Speaker C:There is a hub right now, moths to a flame in Austin, Texas, led by Joe Rogan and all of that.
Speaker C:It may not be your bag, it may not be your cup of tea, it might not be your people, but comedy is thriving in America right now.
Speaker C:Comedy is more than, maybe more than ever now as far as our community, we're way too serious.
Speaker C:And I think that's your point.
Speaker C:We feel like we've got to fight.
Speaker C:Everything's black and white.
Speaker C:And it's like I've said this before, that we treat everything like the Pittsburgh Steelers or the New England Patriots.
Speaker C:It's like, this is my team and I'm going to fight you for my team.
Speaker C:And if you say LeBron James and I say Michael Jordan, then we're going to fight for the next.
Speaker C:Like, they're both.
Speaker C:They're both good.
Speaker C:Can we just say they're both hall of Famers and, like, relax that mentality of black, white.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:I'm going to fight you to the end.
Speaker C:Comes over to the gun world and somebody's like, you know, Ruger ain't that great.
Speaker C:Oh, Ruger is.
Speaker C:My granddaddy had a Ruger and it did.
Speaker C:It did 54 rounds and it never had a problem, never had a fail, never had a problem at all.
Speaker C:And guys, like, we have to fight for our own brands.
Speaker C:It's that whole Ford and Chevy.
Speaker C:Which one's better, Ford or Chevy?
Speaker C:And I'm like, I don't really know.
Speaker C:Can we just, like, turn on some music?
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:And that comes over and we.
Speaker C:And we do the same thing in politics.
Speaker C:This is my politician, this is my guy.
Speaker C:This is my girl.
Speaker C:This is my Senate person.
Speaker C:This is my congresswoman.
Speaker C:And you're like, well, you know, like, there was one the other day.
Speaker C:I don't even want to say her name, but it rhymes with Carrie Lake.
Speaker C:And she, as a Republican, has come out pro abortion.
Speaker C:Believe whatever you want, people.
Speaker C:This is, you know, I'm about the Constitution.
Speaker C:Believe whatever you want.
Speaker C:And I said something a friend of mine.
Speaker C:I was like, oh, I just love me some Carrie Lake.
Speaker C:And I went, yeah, except for that part where she wants to murder babies.
Speaker C:And by the way, bring me on your podcast.
Speaker C:I'll talk about abortion.
Speaker C:This is fantastic.
Speaker C:Whichever camera we're at, this is some high level entertainment here.
Speaker C:It was nice knowing y'.
Speaker C:All.
Speaker C:I'll never be back.
Speaker C:But I said, hey.
Speaker C:I was like, listen, there's been some challenges with her beliefs.
Speaker C:And he bowed up.
Speaker C:You can't challenge people's the one box that they believe in.
Speaker C:I love Ruger, Smith and Wesson, Kari Lake and Chevy.
Speaker C:And to your point, have we lost comedy?
Speaker C:We have.
Speaker C:It is okay to disagree.
Speaker C:We were talking about Ronald Reagan at lunch and the conversation y' all had earlier on a different episode.
Speaker C:And it's okay.
Speaker C:Like, I can still like him and be mad at him.
Speaker C:There are multiple politicians that I like that they did some cool stuff, and I still want to, like, like, emotionally punch them in the face.
Speaker C:And it does.
Speaker C:Life doesn't have to be black.
Speaker C:Am I wrong?
Speaker C:Does it have to be black and white or is there room?
Speaker C:Not in some things.
Speaker C:We are not compromising on the Second Amendment.
Speaker C:Okay, true.
Speaker C:But on other things, like people.
Speaker C:Because people are messy.
Speaker C:People get really messy.
Speaker C:There's people that make mistakes.
Speaker C:There are people that have done some horrible things in this world that actually end up redeeming their lives.
Speaker C:So that is a long winded answer to say, is comedy lost?
Speaker C:Yeah, sometimes.
Speaker C:Sometimes I think it is.
Speaker B:Well, I think we've.
Speaker B:You hit on a point.
Speaker B:I think we've lost the art of conversation.
Speaker B:We've lost the art of having a civil conversation where you and I can not see eye to eye on a person or a subject.
Speaker B:But at the end of the day we can shake hands and go, okay, we're still friends.
Speaker B:And we've seen that a lot.
Speaker B:Where and I want to blame the Internet because it's the easy low hanging fruit to blame.
Speaker B:But we've lost the art of being able to sit down and have a civil discussion, sometimes heated, but yet civil and look at each other and go, cool.
Speaker B:You want to grab a beer or you want to get some whiskey or Swiss?
Speaker C:We're still Americans.
Speaker C:We have lost that idea that we're still Americans.
Speaker C:I have a friend and I've said this, sometimes when people get upset, you have a friend that's a leftist.
Speaker C:Dun, dun, dun.
Speaker C:Yeah, he's kind of fun.
Speaker C:He likes pizza and he likes pretty much the same things I do.
Speaker C:And we talk about the Venn diagram of the overlap of our life.
Speaker C:This dude is a pinko communist.
Speaker C:Like he is full on.
Speaker C:He's a theoretical socialist.
Speaker C:I don't think he's exactly, you know, like wearing a Che shirt.
Speaker C:But we talk about the Venn diagrams of what we care about.
Speaker C:Smooth roads, like safe schools for our kids, lower taxes even he wants lower taxes.
Speaker C:And we, it turns out we agree on so much more than we disagree.
Speaker C:Now we're going to fight over that other 3%.
Speaker C:It's a challenge.
Speaker C:And I think we lose that as well.
Speaker C:To your point, which is just having a dialogue and we need to be able to have discourse with people.
Speaker C:There's some things we're not going to compromise on.
Speaker C:GOA is the only non compromise organization that's fighting and I believe that.
Speaker C:I support this.
Speaker C:The reason I'm sitting here.
Speaker C:Okay, so there's some things that are non compromise.
Speaker C:There's a lot.
Speaker C:Like how do we deal with this border situation?
Speaker C:How do we deal with this?
Speaker C:Like this year we can't build a wall.
Speaker C:This year should we build a wall?
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:But the point is like there's things that are so gray and just things that we're not able to put a pin in and say this is how it should be.
Speaker A:Well, I Think the, the reason is because, like, let's just go back to the second Amendment.
Speaker A:The reason that we're not compromising on the second amendment is because everyone has a second amendment right and it's their choice whether they exercise it or not.
Speaker A:And so if we understand that at a baseline everyone has it, then we should protect it because it's something that thankfully, as Americans, it is very clear that it is a constitutionally protected right.
Speaker A:If you are anti gun, fine, be anti gun.
Speaker A:Don't exercise your second amendment right.
Speaker A:Just don't come after us for exercising our second amendment right.
Speaker A:But, but we don't.
Speaker A:That's not what their game is.
Speaker A:They, they don't even want to admit the fact that they have natural rights.
Speaker C:But the TV told me, the TV told me that we need to give up our guns and you people need to give up those assault weapons.
Speaker C:And I think it's, they're so conditioned.
Speaker C:Like, like you say, we talk about this all the time, that sometimes the, the anti gun folks are better at their jobs than we are.
Speaker C:Like, and they're more committed than we'll ever be.
Speaker C:And they, they, they wake up in the morning, well, they wake up about one in the afternoon because they're jobless.
Speaker C:The, the anti gun folks, they, they're committed and it doesn't matter.
Speaker C:You say up, they say no guns, you say down, they say no, no guns.
Speaker C:You say purple, they say no guns.
Speaker C:Like they are, they are rigid.
Speaker C:And we're like, you know, my granddaddy, my granddaddy was a hunter.
Speaker C:So we need hunting rights and we have politicians that are saying, you know, you know, buy a shotgun, totally okay with shotguns.
Speaker C:And we're so waffly and we're so, you know, there are things again, third time.
Speaker C:That, that are black and white and in a gray world, in a world that sometimes is gray.
Speaker C:In a real life, not on TV, TVs all black and white.
Speaker C:But in the real world, things are gray.
Speaker C:It is nice to have things like the Constitution.
Speaker C:You know, one of my best friends is sitting right there.
Speaker C:He's got the Constitution tattooed on his body.
Speaker C:Like, absolutely.
Speaker C:I'm not that committed.
Speaker C:Like, I was thinking about getting the preamble, like maybe the preamble to the Constitution, but not all the way to we the people.
Speaker C:The idea of black and white, I think doesn't go away in my life.
Speaker C:And if anything it's getting more, the contrast is getting bigger.
Speaker C:To your point of that, we're not going to back down on this.
Speaker C:Like we can't And God bless the goa and what y' all are doing.
Speaker C:The trip that we had a couple years together, a couple years ago together, where I got to sit down and see.
Speaker C:See the nuts and bolts.
Speaker C:Like, I got to meet the wizard.
Speaker C:The wizard.
Speaker C:The whole turning and the.
Speaker C:You know, don't look behind the curtain.
Speaker C:I look behind the curtain and I'm like, all right.
Speaker C:They're for real.
Speaker C:Like, this is an organization that is not playing around.
Speaker C:And for me, I appreciate that.
Speaker C:Last thing.
Speaker C:As I get older, it's solidifying for me, like, this idea, like I can talk to anybody about anything.
Speaker C:You want to talk about aliens or Peruvian face peelers or talk about anything?
Speaker C:The conspiracies.
Speaker C:I live in a tinfoil hat.
Speaker C:I can do it.
Speaker C:I can have this conversation.
Speaker C:I'll talk about anything.
Speaker C:Aliens.
Speaker C:I believed in aliens until the White House said they were real.
Speaker C:And now I'm like, are they really?
Speaker C:Are they really?
Speaker C:I'm willing to have that conversation.
Speaker C:And it's funny.
Speaker C:We'll be in these conversations.
Speaker C:And people love people.
Speaker C:I love talking with people.
Speaker C:People enjoy talking to me.
Speaker C:I've got a lot of friends.
Speaker C:I have a huge social group.
Speaker C:We have a blast buddy that I will flip a switch when they start on this.
Speaker C:Well, you know, does anyone really need 10 rounds?
Speaker C:Yeah, I do.
Speaker C:And by the way, it's not your decision what I need or what I don't need.
Speaker C:You don't get to make that decision.
Speaker C:Nor does the government get to make that decision.
Speaker C:Well, you know, really, Is it really, you know, the schools and assault weapons.
Speaker C:I'm like, well, why do you talk like that?
Speaker C:Number one.
Speaker C:Number two, again, you don't get to decide what I get to do.
Speaker C:And I think that in the very heart is what makes an American.
Speaker C:Not to be too dramatic and you know, dun, dun, dun, go Rocky.
Speaker C:But I think, really, as Tom Cruise flies over and we shout USA here, I really think that's what makes it American is this.
Speaker C:I know when I'm not gonna back down.
Speaker C:Throw the tea in the frickin harbor.
Speaker C:It's time.
Speaker C:I'm getting fired up here, John.
Speaker B:Well, you bring up number of rounds in a magazine and they go after that.
Speaker B:What's next?
Speaker B:They're gonna go after how many horsepower I can have in my car.
Speaker B:Oh, wait, now they want electric.
Speaker B:So it's the same thing.
Speaker B:It's my right to have what I want.
Speaker B:And the second amendment is a constitutionally protected right.
Speaker B:And we see this constant attack from not only on the federal level, but on the state Level.
Speaker B:I mean, look at Washington.
Speaker B:We had the mag ban lifted and then 88 minutes later, stay.
Speaker B:We've seen the same thing in Freedom Week in California, and we've seen the same attack in other states that it's just going after these things that they.
Speaker B:Because they want to put labels on it.
Speaker B:And it's not scary until you put a label on it.
Speaker B:You know, there's no such thing as an assault hammer, but all of a sudden now there's an assault weapon.
Speaker C:One blunt force murder takes place a day, every day.
Speaker C:I've looked up the statistics and it's pretty much year by year, it's about one murder per day with a blunt force object.
Speaker C:And most of those are hammers, some baseball bats, which scary, horrific stuff.
Speaker C:And yeah, to your point, it's not an assault hammer, it's people.
Speaker C:But the TV has told us it's the inanimate object.
Speaker C:But for me, it's fascinating.
Speaker C:We're not the only people group that's ever done this.
Speaker C:There's been multiple countries where the people scream in the streets to be disarmed.
Speaker C:They pass those things in, those guns in.
Speaker C:In Australia and bulldoze them.
Speaker C:And they were.
Speaker C:And the consequences of that during the quote unquote pandemic were significant for Australians.
Speaker C:And to see a disarmed society, we are not getting it.
Speaker C:Regardless of what y' all want to do, we are not doing it.
Speaker C:I've already brought up abortion.
Speaker C:We're not doing Middle east politics, so we're not doing it.
Speaker C:Don't chase it.
Speaker C:Don't let me chase it.
Speaker C:But Israel, after that horrific garbage that took place at that music festival a few months ago, they rearmed their populace.
Speaker C:And I said this is my only point, is that when things settle back down temporarily, they will hand them back in, because that is what that people group does.
Speaker C:And you can say whatever you want about the Israelis, whatever.
Speaker C:I don't want to talk about that.
Speaker C:But I will say that they will disarm themselves and they will vote and they will scream in the street to disarm themselves.
Speaker C:And how different are we like moms to man actions?
Speaker C:They're pretty doggone organized.
Speaker C:They're pretty well funded.
Speaker C:Screaming in the streets, screaming out in front of schools to please disarm us.
Speaker C:Please, please let us be at the behest of the will of bad men and bad women of this world, mostly bad men that do bad, bad things physically to us.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker C:And I think it's a challenge.
Speaker C:I think again, it's something we need.
Speaker C:Have to stand up for.
Speaker C:How do we do that?
Speaker C:Well, grassroots stuff.
Speaker C:We're all going to be hanging out in just a few months in Knoxville.
Speaker C:And yeah, some of that's going to be fun, but some of it's going to be recharging the engines and getting information to people and maybe teaching people how to talk to their friends or pass something out and grassroots.
Speaker C:So for me, the older I get, the more it's where I want to fight back in my own way about this disarmament of the people.
Speaker B:Well, I mean, look at Australia.
Speaker B:You brought up Australia.
Speaker B:It's a great case point there.
Speaker B:Disarm most of the populace, as you know, for Australia lives around the edge.
Speaker B:There's not much in the middle.
Speaker B:We just saw what, two weeks ago, a knife attack?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:And now look at Great Britain and the knife turn in boxes.
Speaker B:You can't even have a butter knife.
Speaker C:I was watching a podcast the other day.
Speaker C:They're sitting around just like this, identical to what we're doing.
Speaker C:And one is in Great Britain and one of the guys brought out.
Speaker C:It wasn't even a machete, it was a little, like a little bayonet, like a little bitty bayonet.
Speaker C:And the other host goes, these are like educated, nice, like normal.
Speaker C:Like, like this was not sketchy at all.
Speaker C:Like these were businessmen.
Speaker C:And one goes oh my.
Speaker C:In the other.
Speaker C:And he's like, what?
Speaker C:He goes, that's terrifying.
Speaker C:And I'm like, it's a sharp piece of metal, like.
Speaker C:And that's where we're at.
Speaker C:Like this is happening in the street.
Speaker C:You're seeing, seeing bad people do bad things.
Speaker C:It's what they do.
Speaker C:Am I wrong?
Speaker B:No, you're not wrong.
Speaker B:I mean, there was a few months ago I was watching the same thing in Great Britain where they were talking about how people were buying knives online.
Speaker B:And because they didn't say zombie on them or something, they were, they were perfectly legal and they were freaking out about these large, say machete style, cookery style blades and the panic and fear.
Speaker B:I'm like, it's just an inanimate object.
Speaker B:Why do you have such fear over this object that does not cause harm until it's in somebody who wants to cause harm's hand.
Speaker C:We put a 4,000 pound vehicle that can do 90 miles an hour or faster into every 16 year old's hand.
Speaker C:If they want to do evil things, they can pull off into a pedestrian area and cause havoc.
Speaker C:Evil people that are bent on evil will do evil and good people will do good and the rest of us will Kind of just like muddle along and do our thing and be left alone.
Speaker C:Yeah, I'm not wrong.
Speaker C:I think that is.
Speaker C:Or you're not wrong.
Speaker C:I think that's important to note that evil people do evil things, whether it's a sharp object or a vehicle that can do some bad things.
Speaker A:So much of, of what you do is to have fun, to be culturally relevant in a society that would love nothing more than for gun culture to disappear entirely.
Speaker A:But you've also made a way to keep yourself incredibly relevant with a younger and younger audience.
Speaker A:You're a professor outside of, outside of this.
Speaker A:What has your students done to sharpen your skills in this area?
Speaker C:I turned 50 a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker C:And what's funny is.
Speaker C:Or very much not funny.
Speaker C:I would like to.
Speaker C:Ibuprofen, please.
Speaker C:What's funny is, like, the older I get, they stay the same.
Speaker C:The old joke, the older I get, they all stay the same age.
Speaker C:And holy smokes, they're like, they are young.
Speaker C:Right now I work with high school seniors, college freshmen, college sophomores, and they, you know, the more things change, the more things stay the same.
Speaker C:So on one hand, ain't nothing different.
Speaker C:Everybody wants to be recognized.
Speaker C:Everybody wants to just kind of get through their day.
Speaker C:Like, can we just like get through the day and go have a cup of coffee or something, Something to eat?
Speaker C:But on the other hand, things do change and they change rapidly.
Speaker C:The human mind is no longer working the way it did for my generation.
Speaker C:You even pull up, the young people don't even watch.
Speaker C:There's no TV.
Speaker C:TV's gone.
Speaker C:But you can pull up TV and you have the crawler coming across the bottom, the thing going up the side.
Speaker C:You've got the news anchor up here that's spinning.
Speaker C:So you got all this spinning.
Speaker C:And y' all know this.
Speaker C:Because of that, the human, the human brain is not synapsing or firing the way that it used to.
Speaker C:And our attention, you know, anybody will tell this, well, kids don't have the attention span they used to have.
Speaker C:Yeah, pops.
Speaker C:They also don't play with rocks and sticks.
Speaker C:Things change, but it is a challenge.
Speaker C:And so it's this instant gratification, this instant dopamine hit, this instant serotonin hit this instant trying to get the chemicals in our brain.
Speaker C:I was sitting, watching a.
Speaker C:There's not many spectacles in this world.
Speaker C:I was at a parade, like a parade of lights, a nighttime parade of lights not long ago.
Speaker C:And it was a visual spectacle.
Speaker C:And There was a 17 year old in front of me hunched over staring at her phone, going through TikToks and not even.
Speaker C:TikToks are pretty short.
Speaker C:Not even watching a whole one.
Speaker C:And she's going through.
Speaker C:She's getting about one a second, a one a second.
Speaker C:Dopamine.
Speaker C:Dopamine.
Speaker C:Dopamine, Dopamine, dopamine.
Speaker C:We're all addicted to it.
Speaker C:I made a good meme the other night.
Speaker C:It was funny.
Speaker C:How many times did I pull down on Instagram to get the bling, the likes, the hearts, the thumbs up, the occasional thumbs down.
Speaker C:That makes me even happier.
Speaker C:Somebody I can interact with.
Speaker C:And I'm looking for dopamine too.
Speaker C:Same as y'.
Speaker A:All.
Speaker C:We're all wanting dopamine.
Speaker C:So the question is, how do they keep me sharp?
Speaker C:I don't know that they do, but I do think that it serves as an example that things are, for me, that things are rapidly changing as you all try to reach an audience.
Speaker C:And you ought to reach an audience that are my dad's age, my age, and the young people's age trying to reach an audience.
Speaker C:Things change.
Speaker C:The human mind is physiologically changing.
Speaker C:How we interact is changing.
Speaker C:I'm not just talking like the telegraph is no more.
Speaker C:Now, see, the telegraph has now gone.
Speaker C:It's now the age of radio.
Speaker C:See, it's not just about which in mediated communication, which we're using the medium right here of audio and video.
Speaker C:It's not just which medium, whether it's telegraph or audio.
Speaker C:It's not just that, but the way that we use the mediums, that's what's changed.
Speaker C:Something's still the same.
Speaker C:Comedy works.
Speaker C:You watch old Don Rickles comedy, It works from the 70s.
Speaker C:It's a while back.
Speaker C:So it's not just the medium that's changed.
Speaker C:We're using the Internet now, the World Wide Web, you've got mail.
Speaker C:We're also.
Speaker C:How we use those tools has changed rapidly.
Speaker C:A public address today wouldn't have worked 40 years ago, and 40 years ago, addresses won't work now.
Speaker C:The spoken word has changed.
Speaker C:So I think for me, it's not just how.
Speaker C:How we do things, but it's the way that we use these tools to reach people.
Speaker C:Because that's really the goal, is to reach people and not to be too dramatic, but change hearts.
Speaker C:To change hearts, change minds, change actions.
Speaker B:Well, you brought up dopamine hits, and I find it funny talking to marketing people in this industry, that this industry is like very anti dopamine hits when it comes to marketing and getting stuff out.
Speaker B:There's one company that comes to mind that is really good at it.
Speaker B:But all the rest, it's like, okay, we got this new product at shot show.
Speaker B:It's the greatest thing ever.
Speaker B:And then six months later, it finally hits the show for or hits the gun store.
Speaker B:So do, do you think as an industry that we need to change the way we're marketing to get more, will we get more out of these dopamine hits as a, as a industry?
Speaker C:I think part of it is reaching people with media.
Speaker C:That is what they expect, I expect.
Speaker C:As I cruise through, I watch a lot of stuff that's outside the gun industry.
Speaker C:I watch a lot of cooking videos, a lot of music stuff, a lot of how to stuff.
Speaker C:There's an old man in Maryland that's building a boat right now, and I watch him just carve stuff and fit things in.
Speaker C:And you got to hit people with things that are similar to what they're used to.
Speaker C:So we're used to quick dopamine hits fast things.
Speaker C:I want fast information.
Speaker C:You pull up, you type anything into YouTube.
Speaker C:If you need to change batteries in your remote.
Speaker C:How to change batteries in my remote control and it pops up, you're gonna choose the shortest video.
Speaker C:You are like, we're all gonna scroll down.
Speaker C:Three, four videos.
Speaker C:This one's 19 minutes, this one's 38 seconds, click, done.
Speaker C:And we gotta hit people with where they're at.
Speaker C:I think it's a challenge in our industry as we try to get better products into people's hands.
Speaker C:We try to get more tools to the young people.
Speaker C:The average age of the average hunter In Tennessee is 54 years old.
Speaker C:54 People are not in the woods anymore.
Speaker C:54 Years old.
Speaker C:They are growing up on video games.
Speaker C:They are not outside.
Speaker C:They don't want to hunt.
Speaker C:Hunting is a wonderful gateway to being able to protect your family.
Speaker C:It's a great starting place, and so is airsoft.
Speaker C:In some ways.
Speaker C:It's a good starting point to saying, hey, I can take the situation into my own hands and grow.
Speaker C:You walk into and what's the challenge?
Speaker C:You walk into and you've done it.
Speaker C:We've all done it.
Speaker C:You walk into a gun show, maybe not a local gun store, but an industry wide show.
Speaker C:And who do they have behind the booths?
Speaker C:The engineers.
Speaker C:Engineers.
Speaker C:We love y'.
Speaker C:All.
Speaker C:We love the engineers.
Speaker C:We love y'.
Speaker C:All.
Speaker C:Y' all make.
Speaker C:Y' all make bridges stay up.
Speaker C:You make roofs stay over our heads.
Speaker C:We love the engineers.
Speaker C:But when you go to a show and you're like, I walk up to a table and they'll just stare at hands in their pockets and stare at me.
Speaker C:And they're like, this is not a spreadsheet.
Speaker C:This is not a spreadsheet.
Speaker C:And I'll say, hey, what do you got?
Speaker C:What is this?
Speaker C:This is really cool.
Speaker C:I love your brain.
Speaker C:What do you got?
Speaker C:Well, this is a nine millimeter and it's made out of carbon steel of 940CVR.
Speaker C:And holy smokes, we do a really bad job of that.
Speaker C:We really do.
Speaker C:To your point of timelines, like, it's a challenge.
Speaker C:Like a lot of companies, man, they say something's coming out, it's coming out.
Speaker C:They say it's going to work, it's going to work.
Speaker C:And there's a challenge in our industry.
Speaker C:My opinion, not all of them, but there are companies.
Speaker C:Let me say it this way.
Speaker C:There is one of the main companies, they still do the majority of their marketing dollars into paper magazines.
Speaker C:Not digital magazines, actual paper magazines.
Speaker C:At Walgreens, that's a problem.
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker B:And I've talked to people and I've said the same thing.
Speaker B:It's like you're, you're not really reaching the right audience.
Speaker B:You got to get more into this digital age.
Speaker B:And I think our industry is very scared of getting into the digital age.
Speaker B:We're very kind of stone age ish.
Speaker B:Depending on the company.
Speaker B:We're like paper.
Speaker B:Well, you know, the 60 plus year olds who've got money, who are retired will read the magazines.
Speaker B:Yes, but you also have to get into the younger audience.
Speaker B:We need to be able to expand.
Speaker B:And the thing that makes me laugh is you brought up engineers.
Speaker B:We were watching a video last night of a guy explaining the chroming process on his bolt carrier group and things like that.
Speaker B:I'm just like, I get it, you're very passionate because you're an engineer.
Speaker B:But if I don't have the feature advantage benefit of that immediately, within the first 60 seconds, I've already tuned out.
Speaker B:I'm like.
Speaker C:And I think, I think in new media we are getting it right there.
Speaker C:We're doing a really good job in new media.
Speaker C:There are guys on YouTube, mostly guys.
Speaker C:There's a few gals, but it's mostly, there's mostly this like window of guys 25 to 45 that are cool.
Speaker C:Like, they're just good, they're good at what they do.
Speaker C:To name names.
Speaker C:I don't know the guy, I've never met him.
Speaker C:Lucas Botkin, T. Rex arm.
Speaker C:He's the one that runs around in his skinny jeans.
Speaker C:And what's funny is my Son, when he was about 14, hollered at me, goes, dad, have you ever heard of Lucas Botkin?
Speaker C:And I'm like, how do you know Lucas Boggies?
Speaker C:Well, from Call of Duty because he is now in the, in the video game and he's just a, my opinion, a nerdy.
Speaker C:A nerdy kid that's really good at shooting and of course, grand thumb.
Speaker C:I can name 13, 15 others.
Speaker C:These guys do a really good job.
Speaker C:We're getting it right in some ways for the young folks.
Speaker C:We are getting it right in that different than it was five years ago.
Speaker C:YouTube has gotten cool.
Speaker C:The YouTube gun shows have gotten great.
Speaker C:Guys are not just holding up a tripod and going, now watch me mag dump.
Speaker C:Pow, pow pow.
Speaker C:And explaining the chrome.
Speaker C:They're actually doing things and showing you applications.
Speaker C:And it's more entertaining.
Speaker C:And that's the truth.
Speaker C:As Rome crumbles around us, we are watching the crumbling of a major empire, same as rome at least 100 years ago.
Speaker C:I'm not sure when it was.
Speaker C:The primary thing that we're chasing is entertainment.
Speaker C:And we can use that entertainment.
Speaker C:I think we are right now, hopefully.
Speaker C:Hopefully.
Speaker C:Are you not entertained?
Speaker C:We can use this as a tool to hopefully get people's attention because we need to change.
Speaker C:We're not doing that great in some ways.
Speaker C:We need to educate the young people, which sounds like a line because I do believe that children are our future.
Speaker C:Teach them well.
Speaker C:We need to educate the young people.
Speaker C:We need to get more people shooting.
Speaker C:We need to get more people protecting, more people thinking about this stuff, more people understanding what, that, you know, what goes on in D.C. actually affects our day to day lives.
Speaker C:And I think if we can use pow, pow really fast, cool gun stuff on YouTube, it's a gateway to use that word.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think that there's a big misconception from a lot of people where they think they can divorce themselves from politics.
Speaker A:Like, I can just live my life and they'll not, they won't get me until it's time for like, you to pay your tax bill, which seems to be everyone's exception to that rule.
Speaker A:It's like, well, you know, they can't get me except for on, you know, April 15th when I have to, you know, mail them a check.
Speaker A:But that's not reality.
Speaker A:And as much as we want that to be, it's important that we get engaged, that we get educated and that we stay engaged because that's how we're going to rebuild.
Speaker A:That's how we're going to be able to pass The Second Amendment down to the next generation.
Speaker A:And it's also how we are able to see where and how to produce the content that reaches people, that makes them think, that provides.
Speaker C:Do you find yourself chasing dopamine?
Speaker A:Of course.
Speaker C:What gets you?
Speaker C:Like, what's getting you right now?
Speaker C:Like, right now, 20, 24.
Speaker C:What's getting for me?
Speaker C:And I still, I know people are off of Instagram.
Speaker C:Like, people are moving away.
Speaker C:I still love a good Instagram reel.
Speaker C:At one in the morning, I'm going through and I'm like, ooh, they're restoring a car.
Speaker C:Ooh, they're making fajitas.
Speaker C:I have pulled up Instagram or Amazon and, and bought more cooking garbage that I don't need.
Speaker C:I bought a tortilla press, I watched a cooking video and I bought a tortilla.
Speaker C:What am I gonna do with a tortilla press?
Speaker C:It's still sitting there under the count.
Speaker C:That's what's getting me.
Speaker C:What's getting you these days?
Speaker A:I think for me, it is where I'm searching for that, that calm, right?
Speaker A:Like, I like to watch, you know, farm videos, reloading videos.
Speaker A:Like, I know that's like a weird lane to watch, but, like, I, I actually enjoy watching those because they're, there's something calm about the monotony, right?
Speaker A:Like that constant repeat dopamine makes you feel good and you, you do, you like it.
Speaker A:And so, but I think that's important because guess what?
Speaker A:If you're watching a video of, of reloading, you're going to make the purchase and you're going to learn how to do it because you like it and it's something calming for your brain.
Speaker A:I already have the farm, so I've already, like, jumped all way down that, that rabbit hole.
Speaker A:But, you know, I, I enjoy those sort of things because I, I, I, I live in the political space.
Speaker A:And so if you constantly are day in and day out, what I'm scrolling at night is, is to be very calm and cool and.
Speaker C:Serotonin.
Speaker C:Serotonin.
Speaker C:What's your dopamine?
Speaker B:Oh, it's, it's funny.
Speaker B:I started watching carpet cleaning videos whilst cleaning through.
Speaker B:Have you seen those giant rug?
Speaker C:Yeah, it's so dirty, so black.
Speaker C:And then it gets clean and your brain goes just like, it's so clean.
Speaker B:It's so satisfying.
Speaker B:Like, why is this so satisfying?
Speaker B:But you're scrolling through, like you said, you scroll through and you'll see it and you're like, I can't stop watching.
Speaker C:I must watch it.
Speaker C:Get clean.
Speaker C:Soap bubbles.
Speaker B:He's got the big, like, scrubber thing.
Speaker B:It's like all the dirt is coming out.
Speaker B:You're like, what the heck?
Speaker B:Why am I.
Speaker A:Where did he get the dirty rug?
Speaker B:It's a company.
Speaker B:It's like a rug cleaning company that they.
Speaker B:They people bring their rugs to to get cleaned.
Speaker C:And it's like, wow, amazing.
Speaker B:Look how pretty this rug is.
Speaker A:Now start sending me rug videos.
Speaker A:I'm very confused.
Speaker B:There's like the other one.
Speaker B:There's a guy who does or works with old woodworking tools.
Speaker B:He's a British guy just talking about how old woodworking works and showing how to make it.
Speaker B:I'm like, I really want to get into woodworking.
Speaker B:That sounds like fun.
Speaker B:And then I go, that's not for me.
Speaker B:I know this is not going to last long.
Speaker B:Then it's the.
Speaker B:The ones that have been getting me in the gun space recently is they're so dumb.
Speaker B:I don't know why I watched them.
Speaker B:Was the guys who throw the ammo down and then they load the mag and then they put it in and they shoot it.
Speaker B:It's just some reason oddly satisfying to watch the whole process go through.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:Those are my three weird things that when I'm just death scrolling is that we do it.
Speaker C:And it's.
Speaker C:For the hundredth time, it's our brains.
Speaker C:Love it.
Speaker C:It's a problem.
Speaker C:The word Facebook right now, I believe is somewhere.
Speaker C:It is typed somewhere in about 40% of divorce paperwork.
Speaker C:The word Facebook, now that's going to ease off as people are getting off of Facebook, but it's bringing marriages.
Speaker C:It's high percentage 80s and it depends on the state.
Speaker C:70, 80S and 90s depends on the state that are getting together with because of social media, because of the apps.
Speaker C:It's also the thing that's tearing families apart.
Speaker C:And this chasing of the dopamine, this chasing of instant gratification, this chasing of.
Speaker C:I ordered some on am.
Speaker C:I know we're not supposed to order on Amazon.
Speaker C:Yes, I know Amazon is the devil, but I ordered something the other day on a Saturday I had at my house on Sunday the next day.
Speaker C:That.
Speaker C:That instant gratification, this inability to have delayed gratification is a problem.
Speaker C:And I think it's a challenge.
Speaker C:One of the challenges that the GOA faces is that everything that you all do is long term.
Speaker C:Everything's a grind.
Speaker C:The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn, but they slow.
Speaker C:Y' all talked on a different podcast earlier this morning about how slow the Supreme Court is.
Speaker C:And so in an age 150 years from now, we're all gone.
Speaker C:And this world and everything in it is held together by people that haven't even been born yet.
Speaker C:Where are they going to be?
Speaker C:Things are changing.
Speaker C:Things are changing rapidly.
Speaker C:So in this era of dopamine, of instant gratification, you all are having to file injunctions and reach out to an audience with information.
Speaker C:How do you handle that?
Speaker B:It can be a challenge.
Speaker B:It really can be.
Speaker B:And I want to applaud Ben.
Speaker B:I mean, who does our Minuteman moment?
Speaker B:I think they do a great job getting that information out as quickly.
Speaker B:But it's got, like you said, that stuff can be boring.
Speaker B:So you got to get it out in an entertaining way.
Speaker B:And I think Ben does a fantastic job of doing it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I also think, you know, Goa, and I know you mentioned this earlier, it's a very wide group of people.
Speaker A:So you have people that really still want that paper newsletter delivered to their door.
Speaker A:And like, that's how they prefer to communicate.
Speaker A:There's other people that want to communicate with us with their email and then there's people who want to communicate on social media platforms.
Speaker A:And so it's investing in the way that our members wish to be communicated to.
Speaker A:And that's what we do in the marketing departments.
Speaker A:What we do in the comms department is we are, we try to communicate how you want to be communicated to.
Speaker A:Are we successful 100 of the time?
Speaker A:No, no one is.
Speaker A:But we do have to have that range between those who are, you know, in their upper 80s, 90s, all the way down to, you know, the, the newborn that was gifted a life membership because, you know, you know, they're, they're going to be thankfully raised in, in the second amendment, but there's, there's going to be all kinds of age range.
Speaker A:And I think that's one of the, the challenges.
Speaker A:Not on, not only on communicating day to day, but planning an event.
Speaker A:So this is our, our first convention is coming up and it's knowing that we have a huge group of people that are, that have young families, which is fantastic.
Speaker A:But you know what a young family is going to need from their convention area for their kids to have.
Speaker A:And so it's like, well, how do we make it where the kids are going to want to be there, the parents are going to want to be there, the grandparents are going to want to be there.
Speaker C:Motorized scooters.
Speaker C:Because there's going to be guys in motorized scooters with cargo pants driving around trying to collect free patches.
Speaker C:They're they're coming, they're coming.
Speaker A:And so it's like, how do you, how do you do all of that?
Speaker A:And how do you serve a membership base that's worthy of being served?
Speaker A:And that, I think, speaks to the, the underlying philosophy of goa.
Speaker A:Our mission is to protect, defend and restore the Second Amendment.
Speaker A:And we do that through grassroots advocacy.
Speaker A:And therefore, everything we do is in service to you, it's in service to our membership.
Speaker A:And if our membership is treated better today than they were yesterday, then that's a win.
Speaker A:And that's exactly like the philosophy that our founder put in.
Speaker A:And we've continued it for 40 plus years, which is why we've made it 40 plus years.
Speaker A:Like we're about to turn 50 years old very soon.
Speaker A:50?
Speaker C:You're turning 50?
Speaker C:That's a good age to be.
Speaker C:Let me ask you this says I totally take over your podcast.
Speaker C:Why are you.
Speaker C:Why, why we.
Speaker C:I'm going.
Speaker C:Why are we going to Knoxville?
Speaker C:Why are you doing this?
Speaker C:This is a lot of work.
Speaker C:This is a lot of work.
Speaker C:I think I know why, why, why you're doing this, but why is the GOA putting this on in Knoxville?
Speaker C:Not the location.
Speaker C:Yeah, the event.
Speaker C:Why?
Speaker A:Well, because our members asked for it.
Speaker A:Is, is the very, very honest and, and, and our members asked for it because they want to be better advocates.
Speaker A:They want to see the companies that support them.
Speaker A:They want to learn from the best, they want to be entertained.
Speaker A:And I think what we all saw happen during COVID was a lack of community.
Speaker A:And as a Second Amendment community, we're craving a celebration of the wars fought.
Speaker A:We are craving that ability to come together and be like we have for the first time ever, you know, 29 constitutional carry states.
Speaker A:We have won on, on pistol braces.
Speaker A:We have one fight after fight after fight, and there's plenty of fighting to go.
Speaker A:But in a.
Speaker A:An election cycle where they're doing everything that they can to tear us apart and segment us, we are saying we're going to celebrate and we're going to put on a party for the Second Amendment community.
Speaker B:It's not just our members.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm new to Goa.
Speaker B:It's been, what, almost 10 months now?
Speaker B:Before I did took the interview with John Vallecco and Eric Pratt, I had talked to some of my friends and some of the marketing guys in the industry, like, hey, I'm going to go take this interview.
Speaker B:What do you guys think?
Speaker B:And the first question I got from them is, when are they doing a convention?
Speaker B:And the industry is striving for another Convention that is very public facing, that's a very retail based clientele, but also somebody who's fought and won for their ability to do products such like the pistol braces and things like that.
Speaker B:So it was a, it was very eye opening.
Speaker B:When I was asking people, asking around and everyone's like, when are they going to do a convention?
Speaker B:That was the number first question was, when are they doing a convention?
Speaker A:Little did you know we'd already been like working behind the scenes for like a year on it, right?
Speaker B:I was just like, hey, when are we doing convention, kids?
Speaker B:Like, we've been working on it.
Speaker C:It's exciting because we were, we were on our, on a podcast that I work with in our very first episode a couple months ago and we were talking about the Knoxville convention.
Speaker C:It was the day that y' all announced that we, I think it was the very same day we filmed our first podcast and on the same day that GOA announced goals.
Speaker C:And I said for me, yeah, all that stuff y' all said is great.
Speaker C:But also get to go and like see actual firearms that I've never seen in person.
Speaker C:I've seen them on their Instagram and to actually get to walk around and do a hands on that gets me going because it really is cool to see things because I'm limited to my local gun store.
Speaker C:I'm limited to Hillbilly USA in the, in East Tennessee, like, and it's a great place to be.
Speaker C:I love it.
Speaker C:But there's going to be some tools and toys and fun stuff there I've never seen before.
Speaker C:And there's nothing wrong with enjoying the second amendment.
Speaker C:There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker C:People ask me all the time, should I buy this, should I buy that?
Speaker C:I'm like, buy the one you're excited about.
Speaker C:Pick a good brand and then buy the one that just makes you excited.
Speaker C:Because if you're excited about it, you'll train.
Speaker C:And I think for me it's, it's one of the slices of the pie of a convention like this, or whatever we're going to call it a gathering is that folks may get a little more excited and if they're excited, they're going to train.
Speaker B:No, I'm.
Speaker B:You're absolutely right.
Speaker B:You know, I'm very excited for the ability to.
Speaker B:There's not a lot of shows on this side of the country.
Speaker B:It's a very underserved area of the country where most of the shows are towards, will say towards more towards the Mississippi River South.
Speaker B:Some are on the east coast, some are way Lower on the east coast, but Tennessee.
Speaker B:And this area is just so underserved, and there's such a strong Second Amendment community here.
Speaker B:And giving the opportunity to people to see not only brands that they know, but also new products that they're going to launch and things like that, I'm very excited for.
Speaker B:And also having the ability to get people involved in learning about, you know, how to become an advocate, how to learn on stuff.
Speaker B:It's, it's.
Speaker B:There's so many cool things about this that I'm just giddy about that I'm like, cool.
Speaker B:So they're going to be able to talk to their favorite YouTube creators, but also at the same time get to go talk to their favorite companies.
Speaker B:And that's combining the two into one, where at past shows, you might go to a booth, meet and greet, and you say hi, and then you get your picture taken and then that's it.
Speaker B:You know, I want to be able to give them the opportunity to go, hey, I got a question for, you know, Johnny about this.
Speaker B:What's your, what are you.
Speaker B:What's your opinion on the new, latest, greatest Wizdag?
Speaker B:Boom.
Speaker C:I hate it already.
Speaker C:I hate it completely.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's a big fail.
Speaker B:But, yeah, that's, that's the thing.
Speaker B:Like, a lot of people who are content creators and people have talked to, you know, they, they have an audience.
Speaker B:They have people who follow them, and they, most of the time, if they don't go to other conventions or other shows, they don't get to interact with them.
Speaker B:And this is a chance for, you know, the people who support you to come and interact and talk and ask questions, which just brings a smile to their face, which brings a smile to your face, which brings a smile to Kaylee's face.
Speaker B:And I'm just sitting there in the corner going, okay, let's go.
Speaker A:One of the things that is exciting to me about goals and about the content creators, about the people who are maybe our friends on the screen, but not your friends in real life, is.
Speaker A:And you can correct me if I'm wrong and you can tell me if this is way off base or not, but it seems like there is a divide between, well, you know, those are guys, they're the, the YouTubers.
Speaker A:They're not, you know, real media or, you know, those guys are fun, but they're, they're clickbaity.
Speaker A:And it's like, you don't have the opportunity to, like, humanize and, like, talk in a, in a convention that doesn't, you know, for lack of a Better terms, put baby in the corner.
Speaker A:You know, we, we really feel like what you all do is, is mission critical.
Speaker A:And we want to be a springboard and a launching pad for, you know, whoever, whoever's next to get behind the camera and, and whoever is currently there to, to be able to interact with people as the speakers and not, you know, well, you can cover it if you want.
Speaker A:Like, I think we're going in with a different kind of philosophy.
Speaker C:Years ago, a friend of mine told me, he said in the, in the gun industry, specifically with firearms and related material or goods, there are companies that get it and companies that don't get it, he said, and the divide is a chasm.
Speaker C:And I thought that was really interesting.
Speaker C:And what he was referring to was new media.
Speaker C:There's companies that know how to work with new media that interact with us.
Speaker C:There was one company I watched, they went from opening, never spent a dollar on marketing materials at zero marketing dollars.
Speaker C:All they did was talk to YouTubers and they were in the Wall Street Journal in three years, an article about their success.
Speaker C:They got it.
Speaker C:There's other companies like we talked about a little bit ago, that still advertise in magazines and that's a challenge.
Speaker C:I like magazines, but it's a challenge when that's 90% or 100% of your marketing budget.
Speaker C:Your idea is, I think, spot on in that there are folks that they look at some YouTubers and they're like, oh, that's not real media.
Speaker C:The hard.
Speaker C:And I'm not here to defend YouTube.
Speaker C:YouTube is a garbage company that we use as a tool with horrific politics, horrific policies.
Speaker C:And they, if they have their, in my opinion, if they have what they want, will be eating bugs and living off.
Speaker C:Living off of their electricity.
Speaker C:And if that's what they want, I'm still using them as a tool.
Speaker C:I think it's fantastic.
Speaker C:I own an iPhone that was put together in a sweatshop.
Speaker C:It's a tool.
Speaker C:I think There are some YouTubers who are doing a really good job.
Speaker C:Some of them are pulling in bigger numbers than cnn.
Speaker C:And yet if you were to go into the board of YouTube or the board of CNN, they would pish posh or poo poo away the idea of new media.
Speaker C:Some guy.
Speaker C:And I'm not here to defend myself.
Speaker C:I do memes on the Internet for fun.
Speaker C:There are guys that are making a difference in the two a world using YouTube.
Speaker C:There are also within that and this is just human nature.
Speaker C:There are some.
Speaker C:To your point.
Speaker C:Well, that's not a real YouTuber because they won't do politics.
Speaker C:It is very difficult to look at another woman or look at another man and say, here's how you should be doing things.
Speaker C:Here's the mission the GOA should have.
Speaker C:Well, y' all didn't go fight in Nebraska on bill number 419.
Speaker C:And y' all like, well, we're actually doing 419 other bills right now.
Speaker C:We're busy.
Speaker C:Like we're trying our best people, human nature.
Speaker C:We look at an organization, we look at an individual, we look at a YouTuber, YouTube company.
Speaker C:Like there's a lot of guys have small companies that do their production and we say, well, you're okay, but you're not doing X, Y or Z.
Speaker C:There's a lot of fire and fury from people that say, well, you're not doing politics.
Speaker C:There's fire and fury.
Speaker C:Johnny, you're not shooting guns as often.
Speaker C:I heard somebody in my comments actually the other day, nice guy, but he said, johnny, I haven't seen you shoot a gun in months.
Speaker C:And I'm like, well, I've kind of been helping the cause in other ways.
Speaker C:Plus memes we get bifurcated too often in that it's us against them.
Speaker C:Back to the Ford and Chevy.
Speaker C:If you're not doing it my way, you're not doing it the right way.
Speaker C:And it's a challenge.
Speaker C:I hope that in Knoxville at goals that there's going to be a lot of cross pollination.
Speaker C:To your point, we get to hang out in the aisle and meet people.
Speaker C:I spend a lot of time when I go to conventions, meeting folks, taking selfies, talking and they'll just pull me aside.
Speaker C:Johnny, I need your opinion.
Speaker C:All right, brother.
Speaker C:My wife needs a new gun.
Speaker C:Should it be this or this?
Speaker C:And I'm like, I don't know, it sounds awesome.
Speaker C:Buy them both.
Speaker C:He's like, okay, so I'm not here to give great wisdom, but I do think it's good to meet people.
Speaker C:Also, what Kaylee said is that it's people we've never met in the real world to get offline and actually sit down, have a conversation, laugh, eat some pizza, giggle in the aisle ways, make fun of each other and have a good time.
Speaker C:And again, I want to use that term, cross pollination because there's things that I think that'll happen in Knoxville that can't happen in the digital world.
Speaker B:I think you brought up a really good point.
Speaker B:I mean, there's a lot of times where you have come, quote unquote, friend that you've met online and You've had hours worth of conversation chats back and forth or comment section chats.
Speaker B:And this is an opportunity to actually meet in person because they may live hundreds of miles away, but.
Speaker B:And I think that's what's really cool about not only goals, but our industry is that we make friends very quickly because we're all like minded and we have these conversations and then we actually meet in person.
Speaker B:And you're like, it's like you've been friends for 10 years.
Speaker C:I'm not alone in this.
Speaker C:It feels like we're alone sometimes.
Speaker C:It feels like you're alone.
Speaker C:We're watching you go downtown to our cities, down to Main Street USA and you just see the change.
Speaker C:You go to the okay, this is not low hanging fruit.
Speaker C:I promise.
Speaker C:I am a single dude.
Speaker C:If y' all know anybody out there, if you got any aunts or really nice sisters, just let me know.
Speaker C:But I am a single.
Speaker C:I am single and ready to mingle as a single guy.
Speaker C:I didn't feel it at the grocery store.
Speaker C:Everybody kept whining, groceries are really high.
Speaker C:I'm like, mine was like $19.
Speaker C:Like holy crap cakes.
Speaker C:In the last six months.
Speaker C:I'm feeling it.
Speaker C:Gas, we all feel at the gas pump.
Speaker C:And that's, you know, that's not low hanging.
Speaker C:That's a really easy example that we see every day.
Speaker C:I'm struggling at the grocery store, just feeling the pain and I think it's really healthy for us to go.
Speaker C:You know what?
Speaker C:I'm watching folks lose in some state.
Speaker C:There's battles that we're losing in some states.
Speaker C:There's garbage that gets passed at the state level over and over.
Speaker C:And it feels, I feel very alone sometimes, that all my friends are digital, that all my friends are folks that I only see once or twice a year.
Speaker C:And I think it's good just to sit down and go, you know what?
Speaker C:I'm not alone.
Speaker C:And there are some people that still bleed red, white and blue in this country.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean you brought up groceries.
Speaker B:It was funny.
Speaker B:There was a study that was posted the other day that people are splurging on groceries.
Speaker B:That that's their splurge.
Speaker B:That's scary.
Speaker C:I'm going to eat as a little, a little treat for myself.
Speaker C:I'm gonna have lunch.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's a challenge.
Speaker C:We're dying out there.
Speaker C:We are dying out there in the street.
Speaker C:We are in East Tennessee right now.
Speaker C:We're in touristy area.
Speaker C:I have been coming to Gatlinburg here or Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, this region for a long time.
Speaker C:I'm 50 now.
Speaker C:I'm 50.
Speaker C:I have never seen the streets as empty as they were today.
Speaker C:And I heard several people in the house today talk about that and people that y' all had heard employees and stuff, people that live here say the same thing.
Speaker C:And somebody went, well, why do you think that is?
Speaker C:And I'm like, it could be the fact that people are trying to eat and not buy saltwater taffy or airbrushed T shirts.
Speaker C:It's a challenge.
Speaker B:Well, it's funny, the industry's feeling the same impact.
Speaker B:I mean, the study, the NICS numbers just dropped for March.
Speaker B:And I know this podcast is going to air later, but these are the most recent numbers.
Speaker B: We're at: Speaker B:So that was 2.6 million for the Knicks.
Speaker B:Now, Knicks does gun background checks and they do.
Speaker B:So the numbers are.
Speaker B:But I've talked to people in the industry and the parts and accessory guys are hurting.
Speaker B:Some of the bigger guys are hurting.
Speaker B:But it's the guys who have the more budget friendly minded firearms that are thriving right now.
Speaker B:And they've really carved their, their niche out.
Speaker B:And that says a lot when the budget guys are thriving and the big name brands are kind of struggling.
Speaker C:One of the primary sponsors of my channel is more of a boutique brand.
Speaker C:They're fantastic, they work really, really well.
Speaker C:I stand behind them with fire and fury, but they are not budget friendly.
Speaker C:And I hear this more and more from my audience, like, Johnny, we're struggling, man.
Speaker C:This is a real challenge.
Speaker C:And you know, hats off to a company like Smith and Wesson that just went through the trouble, toils, pain, sweat and tears of moving to the south and trying to get away from bull crap laws and bull crap taxes.
Speaker C:And hopefully that will pass on to the common person.
Speaker C:I hope that companies will notice what's taking place with folks thriving in the budget area because people are struggling, the average family is struggling.
Speaker C:And I don't think that can be emphasized enough.
Speaker C:I was and you laughed at me earlier last night.
Speaker C:I'm trying to find protein.
Speaker C:I just need some protein in life and I would like some protein in case the zombie apocalypse happens.
Speaker C:And so I was on YouTube last night at midnight, this morning at midnight, watching videos on how to raise quail.
Speaker C:And then after about 1am I'm like, what the heck am I doing watching guys harvest quail eggs.
Speaker C:And what kind of what can we make with a quail is the size of a marble.
Speaker C:How bad are things where 6 foot 5 orangutans are looking at quail eggs.
Speaker C:Is it that bad?
Speaker C:If we come to that point, we're having to harvest quail eggs.
Speaker B:Well, it's crazy.
Speaker B:You said you're talking about the, the boutique things.
Speaker B: average sale price of a gun,: Speaker B:We've dropped down to 400 and then under.
Speaker B:I mean, that's a $300 swing, which is for some people, that might be a drop in the bucket, but for me and for others, it's like, that's a lot of cash.
Speaker B:And there's a lot of people who will buy the budget brands because they can afford to buy ammo, they can afford to get the training.
Speaker A:Bravo to the families that are prioritizing defending themselves in this economy.
Speaker A:Like, let's be real.
Speaker A:If you are struggling to decide, am I going to have a full tank of gas or groceries, but you set $25 aside so that in the next few months you can purchase insert firearm here to, to defend yourself and protect yourself.
Speaker A:Like that is like, bravo for saying, you know, like, I, I am going to take personal responsibility for my family and I am going to make sure that we're able to defend ourselves because the sacrificial dollars is.
Speaker A:What you don't see is, well, how many months did it take people to save up to that price point?
Speaker A:And I don't want to ever come across like we're, we're knocking budget guns at all.
Speaker C:Not at all.
Speaker A:Not at all.
Speaker A:Because it is.
Speaker A:I would rather you have something and you're able to defend yourself than to make you feel a social pressure so that you don't buy something to defend yourself.
Speaker A:Go to the range, you know, test, rent firearms, test them out, find something that you like that's in your budget.
Speaker A:Or if you're like me, when I got my first gun, it was on the clearance track and it was the only thing I could afford.
Speaker A:And my option was one on five, one of one.
Speaker A:At that time, you can start wherever you're at with what you have.
Speaker A:And I don't want anyone to think that we think your sacrifice isn't a sacrifice for you to choose to defend and protect yourself.
Speaker C:I had a guy reach out the other day and he said, johnny, I'm headed to Thunder Ranch, the training facility out in Oregon.
Speaker C:Thunder Ranch.
Speaker C:And I just feel really bad, and I'm having really bad feelings about this.
Speaker C:I said, why, brother?
Speaker C:He said, I'm taking a punishment, a Palmetto State Armory rifle.
Speaker C:Is Clint going to sharpen a Stick and stab me in the neck when I get there because it's not a good brand.
Speaker C:And I was like, listen.
Speaker C:I cracked my, my fingers and I started typing.
Speaker C:I was like, listen, dude, this is on a public forum.
Speaker C:I said, listen, he is going to pat you on the back and he is going to champion you coming all the way out there, blood, sweat, tears, hotel bills and gas to train.
Speaker C:And I said, if it runs and he'll.
Speaker C:He screams this through the microphone.
Speaker C:I've heard him say this, Clint Smith for years at Thunder Ranch, that if it runs and your magazines run, come on, like that's all that matters.
Speaker C:And I love your point, Kaylee, that there are people in this industry that look down on the pores and they make memes about it and they laugh about the poor people.
Speaker C:Holy smokes.
Speaker C:My first pistol was a used Ruger and I still have it.
Speaker C:And if I go down with that thing, it would be an honor.
Speaker C:I mean it was not an expensive gun when it was made.
Speaker C:It wasn't that nice.
Speaker C:But it runs.
Speaker C:So for me, when I talk to folks about this and I told that guy, Dude, I said, dude, get yourself out there, train.
Speaker C:Put your money into ammo.
Speaker C:And he said, thank you so much.
Speaker C:This is what I needed to hear.
Speaker C:I said, they're all going to break.
Speaker C:Every gun if you run it hard enough is going to break.
Speaker C:Learn how to fix it, learn how to run it.
Speaker C:I think for me, I love your point is that we don't look down on these folks.
Speaker C:God bless.
Speaker C:We've all been there.
Speaker C:We may be there tomorrow.
Speaker C:Some days them some days me and it's more about protecting our families.
Speaker C:Jared and I went to Valor Ridge back in December and one of the things that the lead instructor there, Reed Hendricks at Valor Ridge, he said he taught us one bullet drills because it's cheap.
Speaker C:And he was talking about his training and we're all blessed.
Speaker C:We're blessed.
Speaker C:We're overly blessed.
Speaker C:We are spoiled rotten.
Speaker C:The number of rounds the three of us get a shoot in a year.
Speaker C:We're spoiled.
Speaker C:We're spoiled.
Speaker C:He was saying that when he goes out, I don't remember the number.
Speaker C:It was something like, I'll go out and train two hours.
Speaker C:And I'm like, all right, well you shoot like nine boxes.
Speaker C:He's like, no, I shot like 20 rounds and he'll train two hours with 20 rounds.
Speaker C:And I don't know if that's the exact number.
Speaker C:Something like that.
Speaker C:Holy smokes.
Speaker C:My respect for that.
Speaker C:The idea that I'm going to Sit and dry fire and sit and work and prepare for, heaven forbid, the worst day in my family's history to protect these children or to protect this woman, protect myself or maybe, hopefully my wife trains that I don't have.
Speaker C:I'm still single if anybody's looking.
Speaker C:I don't have a wife, but I'm available.
Speaker C:But if maybe my wife or my partner protects me.
Speaker C:And money ain't got nothing to do with it.
Speaker C:It's got nothing to do with it.
Speaker C:Yeah, there's going to be some expense at any price point, but there's a lot of good brands right now that are doggone awesome and they work and they're a lot cheaper than the boutiques.
Speaker B:Well, you brought up a good point.
Speaker C:How about being single?
Speaker C:That part about being single.
Speaker C:Is that a good point?
Speaker B:That's a great point.
Speaker C:Do you have an aunt?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker C:Well, keep me in mind.
Speaker B:Keep me in mind.
Speaker C:Thanks.
Speaker B:You brought up a good point that we, we are spoiled.
Speaker B:And I caught myself the other a couple weeks ago at a range day going, you know, I've been to so many of these.
Speaker B:I'm just walking around.
Speaker B:I've pulled the trigger on so many things.
Speaker B:I've caught myself going, you know, I feel spoiled about this and I enjoy, I enjoy going to ranch days, but I enjoy, like, I walked up to a booth and I was getting some trigger time and there were some people waiting behind me and I enjoyed more watching them smile and enjoy themselves.
Speaker B:And that's what really realized to me, it was like, yes, I'm spoiled because I'm in this industry and I've been, I'm very blessed to be able to do a ton of things and shoot, you know, many people's grail and bucket list guns and things like that.
Speaker B:And I've realized, like, I will go to arrange day and I, I feel like I have offended somebody when they're like, hey, come shoot this grail.
Speaker B:We'll name it by name.
Speaker B:Grail gun of go shoot this MP7.
Speaker B:Well, I've already done that.
Speaker B:Let me shoot something else.
Speaker B:There's some.
Speaker B:There's so many more people in line who have not shot that grail gun.
Speaker B:Don't waste the ammo on me.
Speaker B:Let them enjoy it.
Speaker B:Let me go.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:You got something else?
Speaker B:Like, let me just shoot something else.
Speaker B:Or.
Speaker C:The definition of being blessed is to know that you're blessed.
Speaker C:Like, while it's happening, like, we're all having a great day.
Speaker C:We're drinking water, we're laughing.
Speaker C:Like, things are pretty good today in a crazy World.
Speaker C:And to be able to stop and go, you know what?
Speaker C:I've already fired the MP7.
Speaker C:I'm good.
Speaker C:I went to the IV88 range day.
Speaker C:It's a range day down in Georgia.
Speaker C:Every year they've got stupid stuff, belt feds and full autos and suppressed stuff.
Speaker C:And this past year I shot two magazines, one of which was against my will.
Speaker C:I didn't want to do it, but the guy wanted me to shoot it.
Speaker C:And so I shot two magazines all day long over a two day event.
Speaker C:Two magazines total.
Speaker C:And I was kind of sitting up on a hill and just watching, hanging out with my boys.
Speaker C:And people are like, johnny, why aren't you, why aren't you shooting?
Speaker C:I'm like, this is why I'm here.
Speaker C:I'm here for the relationships, shooting for fun.
Speaker C:And mag dumping's fun.
Speaker C:Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker C:But this is much more important than that.
Speaker B:And I couldn't agree more.
Speaker B:I mean, the relationships at range days, talking around, walking around and talking to people.
Speaker B:The last range day I was at was a gathering.
Speaker B:I got to hang out with big kid.
Speaker B:I got to hang out with gear know how and, and all those guys just to go and build the relationship.
Speaker B:And I'd, you know, we walked by a booth and they're like, steve, come here and do this.
Speaker B:And she's like, you know, let somebody else do it or I'll go up to a booth.
Speaker B:And they're like, hey, come shoot this new thing.
Speaker B:I'm like, no, let them enjoy.
Speaker B:I'm here because you're my friend.
Speaker B:Let's shake hands, let's talk, sit there and have a conversation.
Speaker B:And there's more people out there who haven't had the joy of shooting a belt fed or had the joy of shooting an MP7.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:There are very few things that make me giggle.
Speaker B:Like, I think the last IV88 I went to, there was a bar.
Speaker B:I'm like, yes, that, that makes me giggle.
Speaker C:All bets are off when the bar comes out.
Speaker C:We are, we are not spoiled enough.
Speaker C:Bars were going in.
Speaker B:But it's, it's those things where it's like, now I'm just chasing, you know, bucket list things or things like historical guns or things like that.
Speaker B:And watching somebody who you know has never shot a belt fed get behind it, it just brings so much joy to me.
Speaker B:And I didn't even get to pull the trigger.
Speaker B:I'd rather watch them get off the line with that big smile on their face, go, oh my God, I got to shoot an M60 or oh my God, I got to shoot an MP5 or an MP7.
Speaker B:It just, that brings way more joy and helps expand our community more than me going up there and mag dumping.
Speaker A:Well, I think that we get that also and probably even in a greater amount when we get to take someone to the range for the first time.
Speaker A:There is nothing greater than taking somebody for the first time, hearing all of their reservations of I can't do this or you know, this is scary or you know, man, my heart's racing.
Speaker A:And then they do it and you see the smile and you see the relax and you know that they're hooked for life.
Speaker A:Like very few people leave that situation and go, I'll never shoot again.
Speaker A:It's a, it's one of those life changing moments that because of what we get to do for a living, we get to have more than I think the average person does.
Speaker A:But if you're listening to this and you know somebody in your life that has never shot a gun, take them, have that moment and then tell us how amazing it is.
Speaker A:Because it is my favorite thing that we get to do.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I really hope that like people understand this is it doesn't come off as arrogant, it comes off as like, I'm very blessed and I'd rather see people enjoy themselves than, than me go out and waste somebody's ammo.
Speaker B:I mean ammo is expensive.
Speaker B:Everybody knows.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's, it's part of the industry is that they'll take anybody that's in the industry and they'll line guns up and, and that's just, that's just how this industry works.
Speaker C:I'll have people, you know, viewers sometimes will hit me and they say, Johnny, that was a big waste of ammo.
Speaker C:And I'm like, well that was their marketing budget and they, they want us to try stuff.
Speaker C:That's part of it.
Speaker C:That's not at all as to go, wow, look what we get to do for me or haha, I'm so good, I've done it so much.
Speaker C:I would never shoot an MP5.
Speaker C:I've already done it.
Speaker C:Yeah, again, I think it's a great point.
Speaker C:That's not it at all.
Speaker C:It's that relationship first, because at the end of the day, why do we carry a firearm?
Speaker C:I saw you just before we press record upstairs with your new little toy and it was very impressive.
Speaker C:Very nice, very nice.
Speaker C:But why do we do the fun stuff, the cool stuff, the black and shiny toys?
Speaker C:Well, at the end of the day it's about Protecting these relationships and it's relationship first.
Speaker C:Not to get too sappy, but that's really what it's about.
Speaker C:And it's not that we're, you know, we've arrived and we don't have to shoot.
Speaker C:Bars excluded, we, we don't have to shoot that.
Speaker C:It's that we're stinking blessed and it's been a good ride.
Speaker C:YouTube has been good for me.
Speaker C:I know that you all have had exciting rides and neat rides and cool things but at the end of the day it's about protecting our constitutional rights, defending what we've got and getting back what we've lost and protecting our loved ones.
Speaker C:And that doesn't go away.
Speaker C:Like we've talked a lot about how things have changed, the human mind's change, media has changed.
Speaker C:We moved from this from the telegraph to now.
Speaker C:But at the end of the day the mission, it stays the same.
Speaker B:Funny you bring up the camaraderie and everything.
Speaker B:Unlike a lot of under other industries, I think we're the one of the few last industries that can get away with a handshake and a hey, hey, let's do something.
Speaker B:Yeah, let's go.
Speaker B:Handshake deal.
Speaker B:You know, I feel like that that speaks a lot about our industry and who we are as a group of people because we're very, the, the firearms industry from the outside looking in looks large and it is a big industry, but it's a very small industry at the same time.
Speaker B:We're very close knit group of people where I can go, hey Johnny, I want you to try out my new thing.
Speaker B:Cool.
Speaker B:Shake a hand.
Speaker B:It gets sent off.
Speaker B:It's one of those things where I think that we've lost as a side that handshake mentality of business.
Speaker B:It's really strong still in our industry.
Speaker C:I've never heard anybody put it into those words, but you're 100% right.
Speaker C:I, I've had so many companies say hey, would you like to try out our product?
Speaker C:You don't have to make a video, you don't have to do anything, just try it and thanks.
Speaker C:Hang up the phone, it's in the mail and sent to my FFL three days later.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think we might be the last.
Speaker C:It's refreshing in some ways in an industry that can be dirty, an industry that can be petty, an industry that can have challenges.
Speaker C:It's refreshing that the handshakes are still there.
Speaker A:Well, thank you so much for giving us your time and sitting down and having this conversation.
Speaker A:And I will say this may go down as one of the most entertaining conversations that we have.
Speaker C:Better guess if this is the most entertaining.
Speaker C:Y' all need better guests because this is some low hanging nonsense.
Speaker C:We even had Cupcake here checking his phone a minute ago.
Speaker C:You and I are having this talk.
Speaker C:He's literally checking his phone.
Speaker C:It's that entertaining that we're checking for.
Speaker C:Hey, thank you.
Speaker C:You, thank you to the GOA for all y' all do.
Speaker C:Thank you for having me here.
Speaker C:God bless East Tennessee, God bless the goa.
Speaker C:And I can't wait to see y' all and Yalls faces in Knoxville.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Well, be sure to like share, subscribe and leave a five star review on all podcasting platforms and we will see you next week.
Speaker B:Bye now.
