Shownotes
Josh from Black Diamond Guns and Gear joins hosts Kaylee and John for a wide-ranging conversation about building a firearms YouTube channel from nothing, how welcoming the gun community is, and why budget guns matter. Josh tells the origin story of Black Diamond, which started around 2017 when he was making holsters under Black Diamond Holsters and the other Josh (Small Josh) suggested they try YouTube. Their first video, shot on a phone, was rough, but Facebook live shows pulled big audiences early on, with as many as 60,000 people watching live, and the channel grew from there. Josh shares that he lost about 90 pounds after gastric sleeve surgery and that he did it for his kid.
A big chunk of the episode is about getting into content creation. Josh and John encourage anyone interested to pick up a phone and start, because the camera in your pocket is good enough now and the first hundred videos are going to be rough anyway. John recalls Mr. Guns and Gear reframing 142 subscribers as 142 people he had touched, and Kaylee makes the case that sharing your story, even with one person, builds an on ramp into the Second Amendment community. They talk about how welcoming the YouTube gun crowd has been, naming friends like Steve (Mr. Big Kid), Patton, Sean Herron, and Opie of the Smokies.
Josh launched fattac.com, a site built for bigger guys, selling Fat Tac low-riding holsters that let larger people carry appendix comfortably, plus apparel, armor, belts, and medical gear. The back half turns to budget firearms and Josh's reaction video to GOA's earlier episode with Jamin from PSA, which became the show's most-viewed podcast at over 190,000 views. They dig into why budget guns get views, why $300 to $400 is real money in this economy, and the idea that you are not locked into one gun for life. Kaylee closes on going on the offensive politically, points to teachers being able to carry in schools as a step in the right direction, and invites listeners to the free Gun Owners Advocacy and Leadership Summit (GOALS) in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Links
Questions this episode answers
How did Black Diamond Guns and Gear get started, and what was their first video like?
Black Diamond began around 2017 when Josh was making holsters under Black Diamond Holsters, and the other Josh (Small Josh) suggested they try YouTube. Their first video was shot on a phone and came out rough, but early Facebook live shows pulled big audiences, with as many as 60,000 watching live.
What is Fat Tac and who is it built for?
Fat Tac is Josh's site, fattac.com, built for bigger guys. It sells Fat Tac low-riding holsters that let larger people carry appendix comfortably, along with apparel, armor, belts, and medical gear.
Why do budget guns get so many views on YouTube?
Budget guns draw views because $300 to $400 is real money in this economy, so most people shopping for a first gun are looking in that range. Josh's reaction video to a budget-gun episode became the show's most-viewed podcast at over 190,000 views.
What made Josh want to make a reaction video to the PSA episode with Jamin?
Josh reacted to Gun Owners of America's earlier episode featuring Jamin from PSA because it centered on budget firearms, a topic that consistently draws views. His reaction became the show's most-viewed podcast at over 190,000 views.
Is $300 to $400 really a lot of money for a first gun?
Yes. The hosts and Josh make the case that $300 to $400 is real money in this economy, which is why budget guns matter, and they stress you are not locked into one gun for life.
Do you need expensive equipment to start a firearms YouTube channel?
No. Josh and John encourage anyone interested to just pick up a phone and start, because the camera in your pocket is good enough now and your first hundred videos are going to be rough anyway.
Why is the firearms community considered welcoming to newcomers?
Josh, John, and Kaylee describe the YouTube gun crowd as welcoming, naming friends like Steve (Mr. Big Kid), Patton, Sean Herron, and Opie of the Smokies. Kaylee argues that sharing your story, even with one person, builds an on ramp into the Second Amendment community.
What did the hosts say about teachers being able to carry in schools?
Kaylee pointed to teachers being able to carry in schools as a step in the right direction and framed it as part of going on the offensive politically rather than staying on defense. Josh agreed, calling it a great step in the right direction.
Chapters
- 00:00 — Welcome and meeting Josh from Black Diamond
- 00:29 — Josh's 90-pound weight loss
- 01:08 — The origin story of Black Diamond
- 04:45 — How John and Josh first met
- 05:47 — From holsters to the Fat Tac website
- 11:51 — Crews, community, and welcoming YouTubers
- 20:41 — Building the on ramp to gun ownership
- 24:25 — 142 people you touched
- 27:55 — Just pick up your phone and start
- 38:48 — Reacting to the PSA episode with Jamin
- 41:08 — Why budget guns matter
- 53:20 — You are not locked into one gun for life
- 54:37 — Teachers carrying in schools and going on offense
- 57:46 — GOALS summit invite and sign-off
About the guest
Josh is one of the two people who run Black Diamond Guns and Gear, a firearms YouTube channel that started around 2017 and picked up in 2019. He began by making holsters under Black Diamond Holsters and does the channel's editing and posting himself. He later founded fattac.com, a site built for bigger guys that sells Fat Tac low-riding holsters, apparel, armor, belts, and medical gear. He played in a band before getting into content. He lost about 90 pounds after gastric sleeve surgery.
Key quotes
"I'm really passionate about telling fat people they can carry guns." — Josh
"The secret weapon of the Second Amendment community is the Second Amendment community." — Kaylee
"It's getting up and having the courage to know that, yeah, it wasn't great, but I'm gonna go do it again." — John
"There can't just be one person that's good at guns." — Kaylee
"That's 142 people you touched." — John
"I agree with it and I think that it's a great step in the right direction because we're always on the defensive about it." — Josh
Transcripts
Welcome to Gun Owners of America State of the second podcast.
Speaker A:I'm Kaylee.
Speaker B:And I'm John.
Speaker B:And today we're here with Josh from Black Diamond Guns and Gear.
Speaker B:Josh, how are you?
Speaker C:I'm great.
Speaker C:How are you?
Speaker C:Like, we haven't been talking the last 30 minutes.
Speaker B:I know we haven't been talking.
Speaker C:Yeah, no, I'm great.
Speaker B:So you are one of the two Joshes that run Black Diamond Guns and Gear?
Speaker C:I am one of the two Josh's.
Speaker C:I have another Josh too, but he's not running the YouTube channel.
Speaker B:Well, I was.
Speaker B:Normally you go by Big Josh?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You lost a lot of weight.
Speaker B:You're looking good.
Speaker C:Yeah, lost about £90.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's.
Speaker C:It's hereditary.
Speaker C:No, it's a. I had.
Speaker C:I had gastric sleep surgery and I lost about £90.
Speaker B:Proud of you.
Speaker C:Good?
Speaker C:Yeah, feels great.
Speaker C:I came off all my medicine, so.
Speaker C:Can't feel any better.
Speaker C:I guess.
Speaker C:Did it for my kid, honestly.
Speaker C:That's what it was.
Speaker C:That's what did it.
Speaker B:Oh, you look good.
Speaker B:I think the last time you saw.
Speaker B:I saw you was at Opie's event and you were skinning up and look at you.
Speaker B:You're looking really real good.
Speaker C:I think my heaviest, I was like 350.
Speaker C:And so I'm.
Speaker C:Now I'm down.
Speaker C:I'm right at 3, 2, 2, 55.
Speaker C:I mean, so it's there, it's getting there.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's fantastic.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So let's.
Speaker B:Let's start with the.
Speaker B:The origin story of Black Diamond Gear.
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker C:So it's a.
Speaker C:It's not really that interesting a story, to be honest with you.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker C:So the other Josh, Small Josh, if anybody's ever watched the channel, you know who I'm talking about.
Speaker C:Um, he.
Speaker C:I met him at a party, believe it or not, and back in the day when we used to party, but I met him at a guy's house and he was introduced to me by a guy that, hey, there's an AK guy.
Speaker C:And, and, and so Josh has always been like, I'm the original AK guy because Brandon at the time wasn't AK guy.
Speaker C:Um, and so he's like, yeah, he's like, Yeah, I like AKs and stuff.
Speaker C:And I was like, okay, cool.
Speaker C:At the time, I made holsters.
Speaker C:I had Black diamond holsters.
Speaker C:That's what I did.
Speaker C:And he was like, I'm carrying this old blade tech holster, which, you know, no shade on blade tech.
Speaker C:But I was like, let me make you a better one.
Speaker C:He was like, all right.
Speaker C:So he went to the house.
Speaker C:I made him a Glock 19 holster, whatever he was carrying.
Speaker C:And he was like, oh, man, this is really good.
Speaker C:He's like, I like it.
Speaker C:And I was like, thanks.
Speaker C:And he was like, you ever think about or.
Speaker C:You ever watch YouTube?
Speaker C:You ever watch YouTube videos?
Speaker C:And I was like, yeah, like, you know, all the, you know, the big ones.
Speaker C:You know, at the time it was like, hickok Eric, you know, I've E88 and all that stuff.
Speaker C:He was like, you ever think about doing videos?
Speaker C:And I was like, no, not really.
Speaker C:But I am not playing in a band anymore.
Speaker C:So I got to put this creative in my head.
Speaker C:I was thinking I got to put this creative stuff somewhere.
Speaker C:So I was like, sure, yeah, we can do that.
Speaker C:So we got together and put something in.
Speaker C:We recorded it with my phone.
Speaker C:It was probably the worst thing I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker C:I mean, it was so bad.
Speaker C:I still have it on my phone now, and it's so bad.
Speaker C:It was like a trial run to see if we could actually talk to each other or.
Speaker C:Or to talk to a camera when there's nobody there.
Speaker C:And we did it.
Speaker C:It was terrible, but we did it and.
Speaker C:And just kind of went from there.
Speaker C:And then I guess being like in a band and in.
Speaker C:In a band, you fake it till you make it like the whole time, right?
Speaker C:So you're.
Speaker C:You're buying banners to go behind you that have your name on it, you know, and you.
Speaker C:You're buying your merch and trying to sell yourself and all sort of stuff.
Speaker C:And that's pretty much what we did.
Speaker C:I mean, we had.
Speaker C:We had a guy that runs a sign shop over in Maryville.
Speaker C:He.
Speaker C:It's called Pro Sign Shop, if anybody wants to know what that is.
Speaker C:And we had him make us a huge banner.
Speaker C:And what I got the idea from was James Jaeger, you know, the banner that he had behind him that said tactical responsibility.
Speaker C:It was like the old.
Speaker C:It looked like, what's that?
Speaker C:Clothing company.
Speaker C:It was like Real MMA Fighter ish.
Speaker C:You know what I'm talking about?
Speaker C:Oh, Affliction.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:It was like real afflictiony looking.
Speaker C:So basically I was like, okay, looks pretty cool.
Speaker C:And this was, you know, seven, eight years ago when that was cool.
Speaker C:And I was like, we should get a banner behind us.
Speaker C:And I had a big garage at the time.
Speaker C:I had like a 30 by 30 garage.
Speaker C:I was like, we can make this huge table and we could have all this room to do all this stuff.
Speaker C:And I have a banner behind us, has our name on it.
Speaker C:And so that's what we did.
Speaker C:And it worked well for a little bit.
Speaker C:And we did Facebook live shows for a while.
Speaker C:We did like one every Wednesday and Sunday and.
Speaker C:And that went well for a while.
Speaker C:And we got like.
Speaker C:I think that's because we were the only ones doing stuff like that on Facebook at the time.
Speaker C:And we got like, you know, would get 60,000 live people watching us at the time and all that stuff.
Speaker C:So we're like, there's something to this.
Speaker C:That's pretty cool.
Speaker C:And we kind of switched over from that to YouTube doing live.
Speaker C:Of course, live on YouTube didn't do well at all.
Speaker C:And then we just started doing videos and rest is history, basically.
Speaker B:Yeah, I met.
Speaker B: ell, you and I met and was it: Speaker B:Yeah, show.
Speaker B:And we've been friends every son ever since.
Speaker B:And it's cool how small this.
Speaker B:We were talking to Johnny about this, how small this industry is and everybody knows everybody, but it's just funny.
Speaker B:Like you and I met and then, you know, we lost touch a little bit and then we got back together again.
Speaker B:So hanging out and talking and you know, then, then you throw, you know, Steve got thrown in the mix and a bunch of other stuff and you, you guys, you guys still have the camera.
Speaker C:Yeah, Brandon, yeah, he hangs out sometimes, but for the most part I'm doing a lot of the stuff now.
Speaker C:And it's because Josh had to take a step back for family stuff and nothing bad or anything, he just is dealing with a lot of family stuff.
Speaker C:So he's like, I gotta kind of deal with this right now.
Speaker C:I was like, no big deal.
Speaker C:So I'm, you know, I'm keeping it going right now so it's easier for me to do it by myself and to, you know, have a camera stationary versus having three people schedules to get together to do stuff.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Lot easier for me that way.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So you started off making holsters and you designed a specific holster for a specific group of people.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:So I have to be really careful in what I say here.
Speaker C:I'm under NDAs, but yeah.
Speaker C:So I created a low riding holster.
Speaker C:We could put it that way.
Speaker C:And when I put the video out at the time I was still making holsters, doing YouTube because I, I have always done all the editing for YouTube, I've always done all the posting for YouTube.
Speaker C:Josh has been there, he's facilitated a lot of knowledge.
Speaker C:I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to firearms, like as far as like how to break them down and show trajectory and also I just know how to shoot him.
Speaker C:I shoot him and that's, that's about all I can do.
Speaker C:But he supplied that side of it and I was kind of like the dummy and he was like the smart guy, right?
Speaker C:And so he supplied that.
Speaker C:Plus he had a lot more guns than I do.
Speaker B:Or he had a.
Speaker C:Has had.
Speaker C:Whatever.
Speaker C:So what was I talking about?
Speaker C:80 A.D. holsters.
Speaker C:Holsters.
Speaker C:Okay, so I was doing holsters and.
Speaker C:Yeah, so I was doing holsters and at the time when I put the video out about the low riding holster that I made, everybody kind of wanted to buy one because I, I said basically, you know, it's for guys that have a gut.
Speaker C:You know, it's, it's, it sits lower in your pants, it's more comfortable to wear.
Speaker C:I'm wearing one right now from fattac.com but anyway, so I made one and everybody wanted them.
Speaker C:And so when it came time for me to do YouTube, make holsters, have family time, edit videos, and it's just like I couldn't do it.
Speaker C:So basically I reached out to a company and, and so they started making them for us.
Speaker C:I have to be really careful what I say because I'm in agreement with them.
Speaker C:Basically that ended and, and so I reached out to another company and was like, hey, I have this idea.
Speaker C:You can profit from it.
Speaker C:I'll market it for you.
Speaker C:We did.
Speaker C:That went really well.
Speaker C:And, and the idea for a.
Speaker C:Which is where fat tac comes into play.
Speaker C:The idea for a website where you have stuff for guys that are of bigger stature.
Speaker C:It has always been my idea.
Speaker C:That's, that's always been something I've wanted to do because I myself am a bigger guy.
Speaker C:And it's hard to find stuff anywhere that fits you, whether it be shirts that fit really good.
Speaker C:Because most of the shirts, if you're a big guy and you get, you know, shirts, they come down past, halfway past your sleeve, you know, if you get a 3 or 4x or whatever.
Speaker C:So finding really good fitting shirts that look cool, you know, it's just hard to find that plate carriers that are good quality and stuff like that.
Speaker C:Like, stuff's hard.
Speaker C:When you do find stuff that fits you, it's like Amazon stuff or something, you know, like something.
Speaker C:They're made in China or whatever.
Speaker C:So the idea of having a website made just for big guys was like something I really always wanted to do.
Speaker C:So I talked about it for a long time and then I got the interest of a.
Speaker C:It's actually my stepbrother, his name is Josh also, which.
Speaker C:So that's why I was saying the other Josh.
Speaker C:I do have another Josh.
Speaker C:He's my stepbrother.
Speaker C:He.
Speaker C:He's former military.
Speaker C:He was.
Speaker C:Been deployed like two or three times.
Speaker B:So he.
Speaker C:He was back home and he was working for a.
Speaker C:He still works for, like, a car company.
Speaker C:And he runs all their market marketing, media marketing.
Speaker C:He runs all their websites and stuff.
Speaker C:And I was telling him the idea of what.
Speaker C:What I've always wanted to do and just never really been able to do it because I don't know how to build websites and stuff, you know, and all that.
Speaker C:And right now, under the.
Speaker C:The agreement I'm under, I can't physically sell anything like that.
Speaker C:So I was just like, you know, it's just.
Speaker C:It's not going to happen for a while.
Speaker C:He was like, I'll do it.
Speaker C:So he made the website, he made the company fattac.com.
Speaker C:And he's.
Speaker C:He's selling what I told him to sell, basically.
Speaker C:So he's selling holsters.
Speaker C:They're fat tack holsters.
Speaker C:He's selling prime armor.
Speaker C:He's selling blue alpha belts around there.
Speaker C:He's got apparel.
Speaker C:He's got medical.
Speaker C:Skinny medic.
Speaker C:You know, his skinny medic is.
Speaker C:His medical stuff's going to be on there.
Speaker C:Just all kinds of stuff, man.
Speaker C:It's going crazy.
Speaker B:No, I mean, watching.
Speaker B:So watching you grow has been fantastic.
Speaker B:I mean, the.
Speaker B:The holsters been a hit.
Speaker B:Yeah, I know you and I have talked about, you know, how much of a hit they've been.
Speaker B:And then now starting Fat Tack and the apparel and stuff like that.
Speaker B:It's really cool stuff.
Speaker B:I may have a couple of your holsters.
Speaker B:I can't confirm or deny that.
Speaker B:But the, you know, I know you.
Speaker C:Have a new one for sure.
Speaker B:I do have a new one for sure, which I greatly appreciate that.
Speaker B:Such a cool holster.
Speaker B:I texted Josh and I was like, hey, man, I'm looking for a holster for this.
Speaker B:Like, I want it as cool as you can make it.
Speaker B:He goes, what do you want on him?
Speaker B:Like, dude, I don't care.
Speaker B:Make it as cool as you can make it.
Speaker B:So he helped me out with that.
Speaker B:It's upstairs.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker B:Yeah, but you're.
Speaker B:You're really expanding.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:You're very.
Speaker B:You've got this entrepreneurial spirit, very good creative mindset.
Speaker B:I mean, the black diamond stuff, you guys, your videos are great.
Speaker B:You're funny, but you tell it how it is, too.
Speaker B:You guys were doing a podcast for a while, so just seeing you grow, I mean, I can't 20, 19, you guys were just.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:A little bit over starting out, if I remember correctly.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think it was 17.
Speaker C:I think 17.
Speaker C:But yeah, it was.
Speaker C:It just didn't really pick up though, until about 19.
Speaker C:And yeah, it just kind of went out of nowhere.
Speaker C:I mean, but the thing is, is that your wheels are always turning, right?
Speaker C:Like, it's.
Speaker C:When it comes to ADD or whatever you want to call it, like, it's just creative mindset, I guess.
Speaker C:And it just, it's.
Speaker C:You're always going.
Speaker C:It's non stop.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And when it comes to.
Speaker C:I was saying this about Opie.
Speaker C:You know, Obi the Smokies is like, you said, he's going to be here later on.
Speaker C:He.
Speaker C:If there was an award for the most hustling YouTuber guy, it'd be Opie, Obi, and the Smokies for sure.
Speaker C:Like, that dude just.
Speaker C:He gets it and he's got the same kind of creative mindset that I.
Speaker C:That I guess that I have.
Speaker C:I think I just.
Speaker C:I have add.
Speaker C:I think that's all it is.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker C:But basically, man, he.
Speaker C:He hustles and.
Speaker C:And I just think it's a.
Speaker C:Once you get the.
Speaker C:Your feet wet in that.
Speaker C:In that way, I guess you just kind of.
Speaker C:You can't stop.
Speaker C:It just kind of keeps going.
Speaker B:Well, it's funny you.
Speaker B:You bring up Opie and.
Speaker B:And how you guys have mindset.
Speaker B:There's.
Speaker B:There's crews for YouTubers, and I'll say that.
Speaker B:So it was me, Mills, Jonathan and Steve.
Speaker B:We were the Arizona crew.
Speaker B:We would get together all the time.
Speaker B:And now that Steve's moved on to over here in Tennessee, you know, there's a Tennessee crew.
Speaker B:It's, you know, there's Jared, you guys, Johnny, Steve's now over here.
Speaker B:Hootie, who's over here.
Speaker B:Opie's over here.
Speaker B:I mean, do you guys get together?
Speaker B:Seems like a lot.
Speaker B:I know you guys talk all the time.
Speaker C:Try to.
Speaker C:Yeah, definitely talk a lot.
Speaker C:Getting together is a little bit different because of all the, I guess, time schedules on this stuff.
Speaker C:But when we can do stuff like the Naughty After Dark and stuff like that.
Speaker C:That's what I'm saying.
Speaker C:Like, when it comes to his hustling, dude, he just.
Speaker C:He gets everything and he tries to.
Speaker C:He gets a lot of it done.
Speaker C:So some of us rely on him to do that.
Speaker C:But yeah, whenever we get together, we try to.
Speaker C:Steve was.
Speaker C:He was like.
Speaker C:I think he called me one before he moved here, and he was like, hey, man, I'm looking for a place to move to.
Speaker C:And I was like, this is really funny.
Speaker C:So I had a friend of mine, his name is Tony Merkel, he runs a media company where he does a podcast, actually, and it's a.
Speaker C:It's not even in gun stuff.
Speaker C:It's paranormal.
Speaker C:But he called me up.
Speaker C:I had.
Speaker C:I had been following him for a while because our cameraman followed him, and he was like, hey, man, I'm looking to move down south.
Speaker C:Because he was in Philly, and he was like, it's getting crazy up here, and, like, you know, really blue and liberal and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker C:And I was like, well, Marvel's pretty cool.
Speaker C:And he was like, okay.
Speaker C:He was like, I think he was looking at a house or something.
Speaker C:He was like, once you go.
Speaker C:He was like, will you look at this house for me?
Speaker C:And I was like, sure.
Speaker C:And, like, the rest is history.
Speaker C:Like, I was like, you should totally buy this house.
Speaker C:And he was like, all right.
Speaker C:So he did.
Speaker C:And then literally, like, not even a couple months after that, Steve called me and he was like, hey, man, I'm looking to move down there.
Speaker C:And I think I got a job in Knoxville and all sorts of stuff.
Speaker C:And I was just like, maryville's a great place to live, man.
Speaker C:And so he ended up moving down here, too.
Speaker C:So I was like, we get us all right here in the same area.
Speaker B:Well, you stole Steve from me.
Speaker B:I'm still a little mad about that.
Speaker B:For those of you who know, we're talking about Mr. Big Kid.
Speaker B:Great guy.
Speaker B:Yeah, we were hoping to have him on this week.
Speaker B:He's doing his own thing.
Speaker B:He's busy this week.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, the reason why I bring that up is because, you know, as gun people, as, you know, people who've done media in the gun space, we tend to find like minded people and we build a community around it.
Speaker B:And that was really cool.
Speaker B:When Steve was in Phoenix, we had, you know, like I said, we had me, Steve, tactical considerations, tactical toolbox, would all get together, we'd film content together.
Speaker B:And I. I like seeing when YouTubers, you know, people think that YouTubers have this ego about them or this.
Speaker B:It's not true.
Speaker B:I mean, we all get together and hang out and.
Speaker B:And want to share content and watch each other grow.
Speaker C:I borrow stuff from everybody.
Speaker C:They borrow stuff from me.
Speaker C:Like, it's.
Speaker C:Well more me borrowing stuff from everybody else.
Speaker C:But they.
Speaker C:They all have more contacts than I have.
Speaker C:But it's.
Speaker C:But yeah, yeah, we kind of get together whenever we can.
Speaker C:I mean, when it comes to.
Speaker C:When it comes to Community and stuff like that.
Speaker C:Like, this is the thing.
Speaker C:So when we first started, there was.
Speaker C:Obviously, there's big YouTubers that you watch, right?
Speaker C:Like, for me, it was like, you know, the militia ranch, obviously, and, you know, Iraq veteran and, you know, everybody else, Mac, all that stuff.
Speaker C: go to the NRA AM, that was in: Speaker C:They're not cool anymore.
Speaker C:So anyway.
Speaker C:But basically, when we had the chance to go there, we went there, and that's when John was doing the panel.
Speaker C:And so I was like, well, we got to go to this panel.
Speaker C:And so we did.
Speaker C:We went.
Speaker C:And I didn't know Johnny.
Speaker C:Johnny B. I didn't know him, but I had.
Speaker C:I think either he had seen some of my stuff or.
Speaker C:Oh, that's what it was.
Speaker C:So I did a video, and I was.
Speaker C:This is why I think Jaeger hated me for a while.
Speaker C:I. I kind of mocked James Yeager for a minute or for.
Speaker C:In a video.
Speaker C:And I wasn't mocking him.
Speaker C:I was.
Speaker C:I was doing something funny.
Speaker C:It just so happened to be what he does, which is basically like, when they're doing the training thing, they do this thing where they kind of turn around with their pistol in their hand.
Speaker C:But anyway, I did that in a video, and Johnny thought that was funny.
Speaker C:And so he came up to me, and he was like, I didn't.
Speaker C:I didn't know who he was.
Speaker C:And then when we got there, we were, like, standing in line or something.
Speaker C:And I think we might have sent some pictures back and forth through Instagram, that kind of thing first.
Speaker C:And this is back when he was doing gun drama, Johnny.
Speaker C:So I sent him.
Speaker C:He was asking for a picture of people with some kind of boas on him or whatever, right?
Speaker C:And so I sent him a picture of me with a belt of 50 cal around my necks as my boa.
Speaker C:And so he used that for the.
Speaker C:The COVID of one of his thumbnails of his video.
Speaker C:And so that's how we kind of met.
Speaker C:And so we started talking from then on out, and he kind of watched some stuff or whatever.
Speaker C:And then.
Speaker C:Because I've always thought that Johnny does a lot of.
Speaker C:Like, when he was doing the gun drama stuff, like, it was hilarious.
Speaker C:I thought that was great.
Speaker C:And that's ones I channel.
Speaker C:I really watch for that reason.
Speaker C:And then when we got to the panel, he was there, and he was like.
Speaker C:And he started talking to us.
Speaker C:I was like, oh, my God, I can't believe Johnny knows who we are.
Speaker C:That kind of thing.
Speaker C:And of course, we didn't know anybody at that time.
Speaker C:And then when we got in there, like, Pat and he kind of.
Speaker C:Patton was there, and he was like, hey, guys, like, everybody kind of opened us up with, like, open arms.
Speaker C:So it's like you go in there thinking, like, I'm gonna be singled out or I'm gonna be, you know, the.
Speaker C:The odd man out or whatever, but really, all these guys just, like, they.
Speaker C:They're kind of opening to people.
Speaker C:Like, it's not like they're shut off, like, I'm bigger than you are.
Speaker C:I got more numbers than you or anything like that.
Speaker C:It's never been like that, ever.
Speaker C:And it's not for me anyway.
Speaker C:I mean, so I can't speak for everybody else, but it's never been.
Speaker B:No, I can speak to the same thing.
Speaker B:I mean, Mike has been great helping me out with stuff and doing stuff throughout the years when it comes to marketing for other companies.
Speaker B:Even with Goa, he's helped and offered to help promote.
Speaker B:Steve has always been great.
Speaker B:Jonathan's been great.
Speaker B:Patton has, you know, has opened.
Speaker B:You know, welcomed me in my.
Speaker B:My first show.
Speaker B:When I met Patton, he, like, gave me this hug, and I'm like, I've watched you on the Internet.
Speaker B:I don't know you as a person, but you gave me a big old hug.
Speaker B:You know, the.
Speaker B:Sean Herron has been fantastic, great guy, you know, and that's.
Speaker B:That just speaks a lot to our community on how welcoming we are.
Speaker B:And it's just funny, you know, you watch these guys on.
Speaker B:We were upstairs earlier talking about fangirling and fanboying over these guys, and you watched them for years on YouTube, and you're like, oh, my God, that's.
Speaker B:That's John Patton.
Speaker B:Or, oh, my God, that's Josh from Black Diamond Guns and Gear.
Speaker C:And I don't think anybody's saying, Alice,.
Speaker B:I just said it now, or, oh, my God, it's Guns Daily.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:It's great because, you know, they've all become good friends of ours, but even from the beginning, they've been welcoming.
Speaker B:They've been wanting to talk.
Speaker B:You know, they give you their number.
Speaker B:Hey, if you're in town, like, let's get together, or, hey, let's go grab drinks, or let's go to the range together, or, hey, you know, I got the new whiz bang cool thing.
Speaker B:Come try it out with me.
Speaker B:And I think that speaks a lot for the.
Speaker B:The, like, what Kaylee said, the.
Speaker B:On ramp to being a gun owner.
Speaker B:You know, these guys are you guys in particular and the YouTubers in general are helping with an on ramp to teaching people about firearms.
Speaker B:But it's also talking about how close knit and how welcoming we are as a community.
Speaker B:We've never, there's just, they've never had an experience where I felt like I was an outsider.
Speaker C:I think that most, for the most part, like if you were somebody that came up to pretty much anybody and showed interest in that, in guns or anything like that, they would be more apt to be like, hey, cool, well look at this or hey let me show you this or whatever.
Speaker C:Like more than like that guy's got a high point or what, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker C:Or whatever.
Speaker C:I think that that's more the case than anything else.
Speaker C:Totally been able to open up and show you stuff or show you what's cool, not what's cooler.
Speaker C:Well, yeah, I mean, I guess what's cooler but like how to do something if you don't know how to do it is what I'm saying.
Speaker C:Not necessarily like teaching you, but suggesting like hey, this will make you better or hey, this will do better for you, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think it's being willing to help without the fear factor.
Speaker A:I think a lot of people get intimidated when they're coming into the firearms community because, you know, you don't know everything, especially when you start out.
Speaker A:And so I, I love the fact that people are friendly on the range.
Speaker A:I love the fact that people are willing to encourage you to offer pointers and to help you on your journey.
Speaker A:It's not a competition.
Speaker A:There can't just be one person that's good at guns.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like there's room for everybody.
Speaker A:And that really goes into how we bring up new gun owners into gun advocates.
Speaker A:There's got to be some sort of forward progression and we don't want anyone to purchase a gun and keep it in the box.
Speaker A:We want you to, to get confident in shooting, we want you to feel confident with your purchase, we want you to, to join the community and then hopefully you fill the, the unction.
Speaker A:I guess for lack of a better terms to start getting involved and advocating on a state and federal level to expand your rights and to defend against the attacks of the anti gun left.
Speaker A:But that doesn't happen if you give somebody the cold shoulder.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so the best, the best.
Speaker A:The, the secret weapon of the Second Amendment community is the Second Amendment community.
Speaker C:Oh yeah, I agree 100%.
Speaker C:I think that basically when it comes to.
Speaker C:I would love to be able to teach a class or whatever, which I. I think I could share.
Speaker C:What I know doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to be good at teaching a class, but I like, Obie has done that.
Speaker C:He started his own, like, classes and stuff like that.
Speaker C:And I've told him.
Speaker C:I was like, man, that's awesome.
Speaker C:If there's something I could do where I would want to make money at it, that'd be it.
Speaker C:Because that's just, like, ultimate fun to me.
Speaker C:Going to classes, taking classes and teaching classes.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It's really weird.
Speaker C:It's like the whole YouTube thing, like, you're.
Speaker C:It's almost like you're teaching a class every time you do a video.
Speaker C:You know, I'm saying, like, you have that, I guess, mentality of, like, speaking to somebody.
Speaker C:I guess.
Speaker C:So it kind of gets easier and easier as you go.
Speaker C:I just think I would.
Speaker C:I would like to do that, but I don't think.
Speaker C:I don't think I will ever will, but I. I would.
Speaker C:I think that would be really cool.
Speaker B:As well somebody put it.
Speaker B:And I know exactly.
Speaker B:Mr.
Speaker B:Guns and Gear.
Speaker B:Goodness.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:Yeah, let me start that.
Speaker B:Mr.
Speaker B:Guns and Gear told me one time, we were talking, and this was a long time ago, I was doing social media for a gun range.
Speaker B:I was like, yeah, you know, I tried the YouTube thing.
Speaker B:It.
Speaker B:For the gun range.
Speaker B:You know, I only got 142subs.
Speaker B:I. I didn't.
Speaker B:I don't think we.
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker B:Well, I don't think.
Speaker B:And he goes, that's 142 people you touched.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:You go, well, I didn't think of it that way at the time.
Speaker B:And he goes, no, you.
Speaker B:You don't understand.
Speaker B:That's 142 people who may not have been interested in guns, or 142 people.
Speaker C:Who.
Speaker B:Are just getting in the Second Amendment or 142 people who are looking for information.
Speaker B:You've touched them in some way to want to get into this.
Speaker B:And they may not have liked what you had to say.
Speaker B:They may have liked what you had to say, but that's more people that we can have in our community.
Speaker B:And I really encourage a lot of people to, you know, doing content is hard.
Speaker B:It really is.
Speaker B:You know, staring at a camera can be daunting, and it can be.
Speaker B:It takes a minute for you to go, I'm talking to.
Speaker B:I'm not talking to a camera.
Speaker B:I'm talking to somebody.
Speaker B:It takes a minute because it's that mental Mindset and, And fear of being on camera.
Speaker C:I'll be honest with you.
Speaker C:I can talk to anybody anytime.
Speaker C:Like, I can talk to.
Speaker C:I can talk to a wall.
Speaker C:Like, I can literally talk to anybody.
Speaker B:You and me both.
Speaker C:So it's.
Speaker C:It.
Speaker C:I don't know if it's like second nature or whatever.
Speaker C:I've never done anything on camera before, but I've just always been able to talk and it's.
Speaker C:It's, you know, it is what it is.
Speaker B:Yeah, but once you get over that, like, that fear and that initial, like, fear of being in front of a camera, it just becomes second nature.
Speaker B:And it really does.
Speaker C:You don't even know it's there.
Speaker B:No, but then.
Speaker B:But what I wanted to say is, like, I encourage people to pick up a camera and go out and film content and in.
Speaker B:And we.
Speaker B:We've heard from three this year.
Speaker B:The third YouTuber today who said this, that, you know, my first video was garbage.
Speaker C:Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And it's gonna be garbage.
Speaker C:I'm gonna say my first, like, hundred garbage.
Speaker C:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker B:Not good, not good, not good.
Speaker B:It's gonna be.
Speaker B:But it's getting up and having the courage to know that, yeah, it wasn't great, but I'm gonna go do it again.
Speaker C:Funny thing is, I still get comments on this, which is really weird.
Speaker C:Like, every now and then you'll see one pop up and you're like, dude, that was like seven years ago.
Speaker C:How are you?
Speaker C:Like, I had one, a guy, he was just like, he commented something on it and, and said something about like, what I was doing or something like that.
Speaker C:Anyway, it was some kind of, like, had something to do that.
Speaker C:It didn't have anything to do with what's going on right now.
Speaker C:And I was like, you realize that was like seven years ago, right?
Speaker C:And I mean, I wasn't like an ass in the comments, but I was like, you really?
Speaker C:Like, dude, this.
Speaker C:This video is like 7 years old.
Speaker C:And he was like, oh, I didn't even pay attention to the date.
Speaker C:So it was like something that he'd.
Speaker B:I guess the algorithm just picked it.
Speaker C:Up and guess something that he was looking for.
Speaker C:And he.
Speaker C:And he saw it and he commented on it and is what it is.
Speaker C:Like, I think they're all garbage from the first hundred, at least for sure.
Speaker C:But a lot of people will ask you, how do you start YouTube?
Speaker C:How do you start doing that?
Speaker C:Like, you get this question.
Speaker C:I get this question all the time.
Speaker C:And I tell people, especially now, like, with, like, I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max or whatever.
Speaker C:Dude, that is the best camera, one of the best cameras.
Speaker C:It's in your pocket.
Speaker C:I ran our YouTube channel editing and everything out of my first like iPhone 8 or something like that.
Speaker C:Like I ran that for like a year and a half.
Speaker C:Didn't even have a camera.
Speaker C:No camera at all, no mics, nothing.
Speaker C:We had a couple lights.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker C:That on a tripod.
Speaker C:So you can use a phone to do that.
Speaker C:And especially now because the cameras are ridiculous.
Speaker C:Oh yeah, you can, you can use an iPhone and it looks like you're using something with really, really good depth of field, which is crazy.
Speaker A:What I think is important is that as an individual we share our stories.
Speaker A:And if that means that you share it with your close friends and family to encourage them into the second amendment community or whether you choose to put it on YouTube, your limiting factor is just your comfort level.
Speaker A:But your impact can go far beyond that.
Speaker A:Even if you just introduce one person into the second amendment.
Speaker A:It's all about building that on ramp.
Speaker A:And I think, you know, we see that because different people respond to different people in, in a way that you might not be expecting.
Speaker A:And it's also meeting needs in the industry.
Speaker A:We don't need to copy everyone else.
Speaker A:We can be our, our individual.
Speaker C:They'll need 10 demo ranches.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because you're, if you're comparing yourself to him, you're never going to know where your potential could be.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker A:And there are tips and tricks that you'll pick up that you know are different and that work for you and that might not be his style.
Speaker A:And like those differences make us stronger as a community.
Speaker A:And I think it's, it's indicative of the firearms culture at large that we show just how diverse we are because the narratives by the anti gun left is so focused on making us out to be outdated.
Speaker A:How many times have we heard, oh, gun owners are just old white guys.
Speaker A:How many times have we heard that, you know, they're just, you know, they're, they're fuds or, or they just want to dress up like the military and larp and do all of that stuff.
Speaker A:How many times do do they do we hear the narratives that are told about us and the only way to fight those narratives is to show the depth that we truly have.
Speaker A:We have a thriving community that is in all facets of life from moms concealed carrying at the grocery store to people who are active military and veterans.
Speaker A:And we can have all of that because our second amendment right is an individual Right.
Speaker A:And so I would encourage anyone to take out their iPhone if they feel comfortable and start a channel.
Speaker A:It can be on YouTube, it can be on TikTok, it can be on.
Speaker C:Rumble at this point, I mean, wherever.
Speaker A:You find your people are the people that you are supposed to influence.
Speaker A:And as long as we continue to show people and educate people on the safety and the political side of things, we are going to be able to expand and grow this community like never before.
Speaker C:I agree.
Speaker B:Our journey, when we're talking about our journey and stuff.
Speaker B:So, you know, we have, we do these different crossroads in our journey.
Speaker B:You know, one of my favorite crossroads that I experienced in my journey in the two way space and teaching people how to, you know, about the second amendment and gun and how to, you know, how fun guns can be, was teaching youth riflery for a couple years.
Speaker B:And then as I, as I moved on, you know, being able to teach a new generation on what the second amendment is, how to properly handle firearm, you know, I still get, I think I was talking to you, I told you I got a message the other day on Instagram from one of my former campers and he's like, hey man, like, I want to thank you.
Speaker B:And I was like, what's up?
Speaker B:Like first off, he said, do you remember me?
Speaker B:I'm like, yeah, I know, I remember you.
Speaker B:Like, he's like, dude, I want to thank you.
Speaker B:Because of you, I got into guns.
Speaker B:Because of you, I got into 3D printing.
Speaker B:I just saw your episode with PSR.
Speaker B:Because of you, I am where I'm at in this, my own journey on, you know, in the second Amendment.
Speaker B:I think that as we grow, you know, there's a certain point where you want to pass on knowledge and being, doing content and things like that.
Speaker B:Be it, you know, YouTube, rumble, Twitter, X, Y, Z, whatever you want to call it, you know, going and finding like mind individuals and spreading your, your talk.
Speaker B:I mean for the last few years I've been really into the cigars community, which is really in the gun community.
Speaker B:And that would bring, you know, it's.
Speaker C:Weird how they mesh together, weird how.
Speaker B:It meshes together, but in the same thing, you know, I, I did, I created content for previous jobs and creating content here on this job and being able to touch or be able to, you know, help people along the way to expand their knowledge of the second Amendment.
Speaker B:Maybe I taught them something that they didn't know.
Speaker B:It really brings me joy.
Speaker B:And we were talking about, you know, the joy of watching other people shoot at, you know, our women's event and then at range days, you know, knowing that I was able to influence somebody to grow in their second amendment community and now I've added another person to the community.
Speaker B:Just, it brings me a lot of joy.
Speaker B:And I, I'm guessing you both had similar experiences at some point.
Speaker C:I, you know, I'm really passionate about telling fat people they can carry guns.
Speaker B:I mean, that's.
Speaker C:Ever had anybody shirtless on your podcast before?
Speaker B:We just pulled off,.
Speaker C:Look at me, I'm fat.
Speaker C:So are you probably.
Speaker C:It's okay to carry a gun if you're a big guy.
Speaker C:Go to fattac.com and you can buy a Fat Tack holster and that helps you do it.
Speaker C:Look, I got one right here.
Speaker B:See that?
Speaker C:Sitting with it right underneath there.
Speaker B:Super comfortable.
Speaker B:This is a first and movie.
Speaker B:Alas.
Speaker C:Anyway, Fat Tack holsters where it's@fat tack.com anyway.
Speaker C:But for real, being a big guy is very uncomfortable.
Speaker C:When you, you, you can only, like a lot of people tell you can only carry it a certain way.
Speaker C:You can only carry at 3, 4 o' clock or whatever.
Speaker C:This is not the case.
Speaker C:That's why we have the Fat Tack holster.
Speaker C:And it allows you to carry appendix.
Speaker C:I'm telling you, I can't tell you how many big guys are like, oh man, I've always wanted to carry appendix, but I never knew I could do it or I can't do it because of this.
Speaker C:That the other you can do it.
Speaker C:All you have to have is a Fat Tack holster.
Speaker A:No, I'm gonna need you to rebrand and come out with a version for.
Speaker C:Expecting mom that this works for that too.
Speaker A:But I'm going to tell you, as someone who has had children, there is a zero percent chance that I'm buying.
Speaker C:It under the green.
Speaker B:Why the Mommy Holster?
Speaker B:Well, that just sounds wrong.
Speaker A:That sounds awful.
Speaker B:Cut that out.
Speaker A:I don't see how you got into firearms marketing the mommy holster.
Speaker B:Know, the getting into firearms marketing.
Speaker B:The funny part is like, you will sit around a table like this and you'll sit there and there'll be like 45 names in front of you of what you should call a gun or call something.
Speaker B:And the names that I've seen that people wanted called guns is just.
Speaker B:You're like, what?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:That one sounds like a wrestler.
Speaker C:Like Echelon.
Speaker B:No, Reaper.
Speaker B:Reapers.
Speaker C:Reaper.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:The reaper was the Fat Tack.
Speaker C:Rolls off the tongue.
Speaker A:It's a really cool name.
Speaker A:But as someone who felt just like overwhelmingly large, I had twins.
Speaker C:Oh, wow.
Speaker A:So, like, I nicknamed my belly the Torpedo.
Speaker C:Nice.
Speaker A:I would have been like, I won't buy it just because I just can't.
Speaker C:The thing about the holster is that it goes really low in your pants.
Speaker C:And so a lot of people are just like, well, if it goes lower, you can't draw it.
Speaker C:And that's not true.
Speaker C:I can draw sitting down right now.
Speaker C:You want me show you?
Speaker C:Yeah, okay, I can.
Speaker C:But anyway, I've done videos about it.
Speaker C:Go Black Diamond Guns and gear anyway.
Speaker C:But, yeah, you can draw sitting down and you can draw from it being lower.
Speaker C:All you have to do is basically learn the way you do it.
Speaker C:It's like a grip thing.
Speaker C:Anyway, I've done videos on it.
Speaker C:But anyway, the thing about the lower riding stuff is, is that if you're smart, you're getting behind cover or you're getting behind concealment and you're able to draw anyway.
Speaker C:So that's my opinion.
Speaker B:See, that's the thing, like, because you.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker C:Would you like me to put my shirt back on?
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Alex has been rolling since you.
Speaker B:No, that was the greatest moment.
Speaker A:It was just.
Speaker A:She has been trying to contain her laughter and has been doing.
Speaker B:That was the thing that was so good.
Speaker C:I know that I'm really white and it's blinding in lights, like, I get it.
Speaker C:100.
Speaker C:It's not.
Speaker C:It's not good for lights, guys.
Speaker C:I get it.
Speaker C:It was really funny.
Speaker C:This is also probably not good for your eyes.
Speaker C:This is gonna be great editing.
Speaker B:No, this is gonna be fantastic.
Speaker B:This is staying.
Speaker C:What.
Speaker A:What people you don't see.
Speaker A:In the back is Alex, who is amazing behind the scenes that helps us run all of this.
Speaker A:She is trying so hard to see my fat titty.
Speaker B:It's fine.
Speaker A:She is trying so hard not to laugh because of the audio and she.
Speaker A:And she's just, like, the quietest little, like, person.
Speaker A:And so to see her, like, almost lose her mind back there has been a joy to watch.
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker B:That was a Bert Kreischer moment if I've ever had it in my life.
Speaker B:This is just.
Speaker B:This is probably.
Speaker C:It's a fat tack moment.
Speaker B:It's a fat tack moment.
Speaker B:Okay, so now that we got distracted by Josh's nipples.
Speaker B:Nipples.
Speaker B:Let's talk about.
Speaker B:You know, we've talked about our journey, and we've talked about, you know, influencing people and to do stuff.
Speaker B:One of the things that I do want to touch on is you.
Speaker B:We influenced you to react to Jamin from PSA episode of the podcast.
Speaker B:Yeah, that was cool.
Speaker B:And what made you want to kind of react to that?
Speaker C:Well, that episode was really neat to me because I've always, you know, I've had PSA stuff.
Speaker C:I think everybody has had PSA stuff and I think that it is, everybody's probably go to first thing, honestly, like when it comes to Ars, let's say for instance, Ars, for sure, I think that everybody has had one.
Speaker C:If not, it's been their first.
Speaker C:So when seeing that and seeing the stuff that he was saying, I thought it was really neat and I thought that not only did I want to put it out there and to show, I guess what he was saying about his own company being that he wants to be able to arm everybody regardless of price and all that stuff like that.
Speaker C:Like, I thought that was very cool.
Speaker C:And not only that I wanted to put out there that y' all were doing a podcast.
Speaker C:I don't, I don't know how long y' all had been doing it when y' all did that episode, but I'll.
Speaker C:But I was just like, hey, this would be cool because friends with the guys, I can throw the podcast out there and I can put it out there that people want to hear this.
Speaker C:So that's, that's the reason why, man, it was, it was just, it was a beneficial for me to help you guys out, even even though I didn't know that it was going to get as many views as it.
Speaker C:But because honestly, I mean, I don't get tons of views or nothing like that, but it was cool for me to be able to help you guys and also put the word out there that PSA is cool and that podcast.
Speaker B:Is our most viewed podcast.
Speaker B:It has 190,000 plus at this point.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And your video, what had almost 200,000,.
Speaker C:It was like 2:30 or something like that.
Speaker B:So just first off, we appreciate you doing that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So thank you for that.
Speaker B:But it just shows to me like how many people really wanted to see what Jamin had to say and proved it just on our podcast.
Speaker B:But the reaction, the comments were, dude,.
Speaker C:If you look at YouTube, PSA is on everything.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:And to be honest with you, like, people look at firearms as well.
Speaker C:This is too expensive, I can't buy this.
Speaker C:And this is everything is a lot of stuff is very high priced.
Speaker C:People look for budget options.
Speaker C:That's just a given.
Speaker C:And honestly, if you look at, look back at a lot of videos, a lot of it's budget friendly, the ones that get the most views.
Speaker C:So PSA is obviously going to get views because they do a lot of budget friendly stuff now.
Speaker C:They do have some High end stuff.
Speaker C:But a lot of their budget stuff gets views, man.
Speaker B:Well, it's.
Speaker B:You touched on a good point.
Speaker B:You know, I found as well in the past that budget video budget guns get a lot of views and I, and I feel like it's in coming from experience myself too, when I'm going to spend that much money.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And for some people like $300, 3$400 doesn't seem like a lot of money.
Speaker C:It is.
Speaker C:When you're not into firearms.
Speaker B:When you're not into firearms and you're.
Speaker C:Just getting started into it.
Speaker C:Of course, course it is.
Speaker A:It's also a lot of money in this economy.
Speaker C:Right, like right now.
Speaker C:Yes, for sure.
Speaker A:I mean let's, let's be real, like 3, $400 is very easily your grocery budget.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker A:And so if you're, you know, in, if you are one of the people who are struggling right now in, you know, Biden's America, you're looking at that like, okay, well this is my monthly grocery budget that I'm about to spend.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Is it quality and is it going to do the job that I needed?
Speaker C:That's the whole thing is like from a YouTube standpoint, yes, it gets views, but also if you can facilitate that by buying a dagger or whatever and spending 300 bucks of your own money and, and showing whether it's good or not, like that's also what I like doing, if that makes any sense.
Speaker C:Like I personally like doing that.
Speaker B:No, I don't disagree.
Speaker B:I mean the, there's a lot of people viewing that because like you said, in this economy that's a lot of money.
Speaker B:That's grocery bills, gas bill.
Speaker B:That's a lot of money to, to spend.
Speaker B:And when I was poor or when I was a college student, I didn't have a lot of money.
Speaker B:And that's not to say I have a lot of money now because I don't have a lot either way.
Speaker C:Not all YouTubers are rich guys.
Speaker C:It just ain't.
Speaker C:That ain't true.
Speaker B:But I watched a lot of content ranch, different story.
Speaker C:Totally rich guy.
Speaker C:Totally rich guy.
Speaker A:I, the ADHD is strong when he.
Speaker C:I'm going on three hours of sleep.
Speaker B:So you know, I was watching a ton of.
Speaker B:Consuming a ton of that budget content and even talking to companies today, $400 seems to be the sweet point for people.
Speaker B:You know, a lot of the budget minded companies are thriving right now.
Speaker B:And it's not to say that they're like we said earlier, they're not bad guns.
Speaker B:You know what a lot of people like to poo poo on them because they're.
Speaker B:They're cheap because of the price.
Speaker B:And I think what.
Speaker B:What really the takeaway from Jamon's episode is he really said the truth.
Speaker B:He's like, I know how much it costs to make a gun.
Speaker B:I'm gonna make it for this much.
Speaker B:We're gonna make a 10% margin or whatever on it, and we're gonna arm America.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that just speaks a lot.
Speaker C:When I heard him say that, I was like, dude, I have to.
Speaker C:I have to make this video because everyone, like you said, everybody has a certain stigma about PSA or stigma about other cheaper brands or whatever.
Speaker C:And that's when I heard him say that.
Speaker C:I was just like, dude, that's got to be put out there.
Speaker C:Like you.
Speaker C:It's just.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I just.
Speaker B:We did a tour of the.
Speaker B:The rifle facility.
Speaker B:It's insane how much money they have invested in that facility.
Speaker C:Just to see the amount of comments that I got on there.
Speaker C:They were just like, I love bsa.
Speaker C:I love what they stand for.
Speaker C:I love this.
Speaker C:I love this company.
Speaker C:I. I buy everything from them.
Speaker C:I mean, just tons of really good comments.
Speaker C:There's some bad ones on there that are like, you know, they're always crap or whatever, but there's more good than bad, and there's more people that are more positive about the company.
Speaker C:Well, because of what he said, basically.
Speaker A:Well, I think there's multiple levels to that.
Speaker A:Say what you want to say about the unpredictability of the firearms industry or consumer behavior and human nature in general.
Speaker A:But during COVID during times where we don't know what's going to happen in the world, you start looking at your family and kind of taking stock of like, how am I going to defend?
Speaker A:How am I going to protect?
Speaker A:How am I going to make sure that I can provide a safe home for my children?
Speaker A:How can I ensure that I can protect my.
Speaker A:Myself?
Speaker A:And I think we have a very toxic culture right now where we don't want to value lives, we don't want to value ourselves, and we want to take our own safety out of our own hands.
Speaker A:I think there's a lot of people that feel like, well, the police are here to protect me, and that's not how it works.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It might in theory.
Speaker C:Trust me, nobody's coming for you.
Speaker C:It's all up to you.
Speaker A:It might work in theory, but that's not.
Speaker A:That's not reality.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker C:Well, we just saw recently where they were talking about Another state where they, I can't remember what state it was, but they were like, the police are not responding to calls.
Speaker C:Was it like Pennsylvania or something?
Speaker B:Pittsburgh.
Speaker C:Pittsburgh.
Speaker C:They're like, yeah, we're no longer responding to these kind of calls.
Speaker C:Like, what do you do in that situation?
Speaker C:Of course, you got to take it into your own hands.
Speaker C:Yeah, you better have it is all I'm saying.
Speaker A: , you know, the recessions in: Speaker A:And then we had like a little bit of prosperity and then Covid, and then now we're seeing in crazy inflation again.
Speaker A:And I think people are, are trying to decide, you know, how do I get involved, what, what do I pick?
Speaker A:How do I pick?
Speaker A:And so for a company and, and I, I hope that more companies join in, in this saying, we're about spreading freedom.
Speaker A:We're about allowing you to have quality products that, that are affordable, that you can protect yourself, that you can train with.
Speaker A:You know, I, I love seeing the innovation with like the Mantis systems because ammo is incredibly expensive, especially if you're a new shooter and you're having to invest in self defense rounds and purchasing your firearms and getting training.
Speaker A:Being able to pick up a system for a hundred bucks when you could, you know, buy maybe two boxes maybe for, for practice, I mean, that's going to help hone your skills tremendously.
Speaker A:Because the second amendment community isn't cheap to join.
Speaker C:It's really not.
Speaker C:I mean, everything's expensive.
Speaker A:Everything's not only in the budget categories.
Speaker A:It's still an investment for people.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:Yeah, I agree.
Speaker B:I mean, when I was working behind the counter, I would always ask, what's your budget?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And because if I, if you walk in, and I think that's, I want to applaud because we've seen this big turnaround on the gun counter side of a lot of people going towards more of asking those questions and being more knowledgeable.
Speaker B: a pink revolver or you get a: Speaker B:And I like to ask people what their budget is because, you know, if I, if you walk into a store and I go, hey, here's the latest and greatest thing from so and so, it's 600 bucks.
Speaker B:This is what you need and you got $400 to spend.
Speaker B:You're gonna walk out the door.
Speaker B:You're gonna think guns are expensive.
Speaker B:You're gonna be scared.
Speaker B:But If I go, Hey, 300 Smith and Wesson because they're here in Tennessee now.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:In Maryville.
Speaker B:So let's applaud them for moving to the great state of Tennessee.
Speaker B:Shameless plug for them.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I have not got one with the Tristar on it yet.
Speaker B:They just launched them too.
Speaker C:I want one real bad.
Speaker B:So let's just say here's this 300 Smith and Wesson.
Speaker C:I was not gonna buy their SD9.
Speaker C:I was like I'm not buying that thing.
Speaker C:I'll wait till they do the MPs you should have.
Speaker C:Nah, it's not.
Speaker B:Anyway, anyways, so here's this 300 Smith and Wesson.
Speaker B:You got 100 bucks to play with for ammo.
Speaker C:You know, I don't know what's been 300.
Speaker C:I don't know what the Smith Wesson is.
Speaker C:300.
Speaker C:Oh yeah.
Speaker C:I forget about that one.
Speaker C:I forget about that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm not buying it.
Speaker B:But here's this 300 Smith.
Speaker B:Even the old, the first gen shields were going to for about 300 bucks.
Speaker B:But here's this 300 Smith and Wesson you got 100 bucks to play with.
Speaker B:You're gonn need.
Speaker B:You're gonna need some practice ammo.
Speaker B:You're gonna need some self defense ammo.
Speaker B:You're gonna need a cleaning kit, a holster holster.
Speaker B:Eyes, ears, Fat tac dot com.
Speaker B:I mean the shameless plugs from this guy.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker C:And you just go to fat tacky.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker C:I. I agree with you.
Speaker B:But yeah, once you, once you add up all that up, I mean that's 400 bucks right there.
Speaker C:Between.
Speaker A:It's more when you add training.
Speaker B:Yeah training.
Speaker A:I mean and lane, you know, range time depending upon where you're at.
Speaker A:And that's why like I never want to shame someone or make them feel like whatever they have.
Speaker A:As long as it runs, whatever you have is great.
Speaker C:That's what I was gonna say.
Speaker C:So basically if you looking at something, let's say I'm gonna pick.
Speaker C:I'm gonna pick a whatever a Glock 19, whatever that I think is going to run for my, you know, battle gun or whatever you want to call it like something that's you know, shtf, you know, whatever that's going to be something I'm going to go for.
Speaker C:You may not, you may not be the same person.
Speaker C:You may be the person that Comes in and says, hey, I just want something that if somebody pops into my house and they're threatening me, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to do work.
Speaker C:You may be that person, you may not be the person that's going to take it to the range every two weeks or every week or whatever and do all your, you know, stuff that we do, or go out and shoot all the time or take different, bunch of different training courses.
Speaker C:Even though you should be able to do that.
Speaker C:I think that when, when you become a gun owner and, and in my mind you are being that person that's like, I'm not going to be a victim.
Speaker C:I'm not going to be, I'm not going to be a victim of evil.
Speaker C:Basically that could happen at any second.
Speaker C:So with that, you should want to train, you should want to do this and that the other to get better at it.
Speaker C:You shouldn't just be that person that just like, well, I'm just going to put it in the drawer and when something happens, I hope I can get it up in time to do whatever I got to do.
Speaker C:You should want to train to do that stuff.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:But the point is, is that you may not be that.
Speaker C:You may be an older lady or an older guy that can't physically go out to the range all the time, can't go to training courses all the time.
Speaker C:So you may need that one gun that just gonna, it's just gonna work.
Speaker C:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker C:So I think a dagger would be completely fine for you to put at your house or you know, anything like that.
Speaker C:Like you said, 300, $400, whatever.
Speaker C:You don't have to go buy Glock, you don't have to go buy a VP9, anything like that.
Speaker A:And the greatest thing is, is you're not locked into one gun for life.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker A:And, and that's the, the other thing is, you know how many people sit on the fence because they want X, Y or Z?
Speaker C:Sure, yeah.
Speaker A:When they can very easily.
Speaker A:When, when they can very easily get a gun, use it for a couple of years and then upgrade.
Speaker A:Thank the Lord that the first gun I ever purchased is not the only gun that I've ever purchased.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like it was a, it was a great little starter gun.
Speaker A:It's not, it's not my cup of tea.
Speaker A:It really didn't fit my hand super well.
Speaker A:I wear a child sized glove.
Speaker A:Not many guns do fit my hand very well.
Speaker A:Like I'm a tiny person.
Speaker C:What?
Speaker B:No way.
Speaker A:But you know, it, it Gets better and you're not.
Speaker A:Thankfully, we still live in a free country and the more we advocate for our rights that, you know, the more options we can have.
Speaker A:But you know, you're not locked into one gun for life.
Speaker A:Like it's okay.
Speaker C:So did you hear about the teachers having the thing passed where they can actually carry in the, in schools now?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:It's pretty crazy.
Speaker C:I agree with it and I think that it's a great step in the right direction because we're always on the defensive about it.
Speaker C:We're always having to play defense on the rules and stuff they're trying to put out there, trying to pass laws and all that stuff.
Speaker C:But we're never really on the offensive.
Speaker C:I think we need to throw more stuff out there to see if we can try to get stuff like this to pass.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm, I'm hopeful that the, the governor.
Speaker A:The governor.
Speaker A:The governor.
Speaker A:I keep wanting to say government.
Speaker A:The governor will, will sign that because that's going to be, you know, it's not a perfect, you know, the permitless carry bill in Tennessee, yeah, wasn't perfect.
Speaker A:There's, there's a lot of work there, but it's a step in the right direction.
Speaker A:The, the reality is true, whether it's in Tennessee or Alabama or Texas or in, in Chicago, if you are in a gun free zone, you are a.
Speaker C:Soft target, you are a sitting duck.
Speaker A:And the fact that they're making a positive move to harden the schools is such a big win and good job to the legislature for getting that passed.
Speaker A:It's not perfect and we'll be coming back for fixes.
Speaker A:But a step in the right direction is a, is a step in the right direction in any time.
Speaker A:We can be on the offensive, whether it is on a small issue or a big issue or any in between issue.
Speaker A:That's where we see that restoration, restoration cannot and should not only come from the court systems.
Speaker A:I think that there is this misconception with gun owners that, you know, if we're going to win, we're going to win in the court.
Speaker A:If we're going to win, we are going to be active, we are going to be loud and we are going to be persistent in every level of government.
Speaker A:Whether it is a second amendment sanctuary ordinance in your county or in your city.
Speaker A:If it is permitless carry and constitutional carry in your state, if it is, could still carry reciprocity and the dismantling of the NFA and getting rid of the Gun Control act at the federal level.
Speaker A:The only way that we are going to see wins big, small and in the middle is if we are persistent in fighting against the anti gunners.
Speaker A:Because the anti gunners are so cunning in how they operate.
Speaker A:You know, they go and they ask for an outlandish request and then when you say no, they're like, well, they just won't compromise.
Speaker A:And that, that's, it's, it's a radical school of thought that they have.
Speaker A:But they're so persistent at it all the time.
Speaker A:And so it's important that we get on the offensive.
Speaker A:We might not get everything all at once, but it's those incremental bites that are going to allow us to have real restoration.
Speaker A:Sign up for the Gun Owners Advocacy and Leadership Summit Goals in Knoxville, Tennessee August 17th and [email protected] owners.org it is free for all members.
Speaker A:There is a lot of exclusive surprise coming.
Speaker A:We are rolling out panels and announcements of companies so be sure to follow us if you aren't following GOA and all of our channels.
Speaker A:And we're going to be posting some fantastic stuff.
Speaker A:So fattac.com obviously has been mentioned several times, but where else can people find you?
Speaker C:Black Diamond Guns of Gear is where we do our YouTube stuff at and we actually have a YouTube channel for fat Tack too.
Speaker C:It's Fat Tack.
Speaker C:I think it's just Fat Tack fact tech on YouTube.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So we're doing videos on there.
Speaker C:Instagram is Fat Tack gear.
Speaker C:Black Diamond Guns of gear on YouTube or.
Speaker C:And, and Instagram.
Speaker C:So a little bit of everywhere really.
Speaker A:Well, we are so excited to have you on a panel at Goals as well as Fat Tack as vendor.
Speaker A:We're so excited.
Speaker A:Goals is going to be a campus event and we have really designed this to be the celebration of our members that hopefully it is, it is up to the standard of our members because I really can't thank everyone who supports GOA enough in the fight.
Speaker A:I mean it is day in, day out.
Speaker A:I mean we were just talking about what happened in Tennessee, but it is so vital that we kind of get together, recharge our batteries, sharpen our skills.
Speaker A: Because: Speaker A:And so we're so excited.
Speaker A:If you haven't made plans to come to Goals, be sure to go to goals.gun owners.org it is free for GOA members.
Speaker A:If you are not a member.
Speaker A:There is a discount link in this description box and thank you for tuning in to another week of the State of the Second.
Speaker A:If you liked it and you learned something, please hit the like and subscribe button.
Speaker A:Leave a five star review on the podcasting platforms and we will see you next week.
Speaker B:FatTech.com FatTech.com Also, if you go to.
Speaker C:Fat Tac.com we were going to have a spot in there where you can actually donate to GOA in there too.
Speaker C:Kind of like the one up PSA does.
Speaker C:So go there and if anything you want to round up goes on there, that'd be very much appreciated.
Speaker C:Well, that's go in the fight, right?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Well, thank you again.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:And you guys have a great rest of your day.
