Shownotes
CZ-USA's Daniel joins John and Kaylee to make the case that the Second Amendment was never about hunting, even as hunting becomes one of the strongest on-ramps into gun ownership. With about nine years at CZ, Daniel walks through a product line that covers pistols, competition pistols, rimfire and centerfire rifles, and shotguns, and, after recent acquisitions, AR-platform rifles and revolvers through Colt plus ammunition through Sellier & Bellot. He explains why CZ runs both imported and domestically made products, the army of FFL licenses and compliance work that takes, and how a worldwide company based in the Czech Republic still treats the US as its biggest market.
The conversation digs into how the market has shifted. The old path into guns ran through a dad or grandpa who hunted; now a lot of people shoot their first gun at 25 and come in through self-defense or competition. Daniel describes the COVID-era surge in hunting and the clean-food movement, the resilience of the gun-owning community, and why CZ's wide line lets the company pivot when regulation hits one category like the pistol brace rule on the Scorpion. He and the hosts push back on the idea that hunters and tactical owners are separate camps, pointing to the Pittman-Robertson excise tax as proof that competition and tactical buyers already fund conservation.
Daniel also gets candid about why products slip. The DWX is the case study: suppliers were lined up and working guns were in hand until a key-component supplier went out of business during COVID, sending development back to square one. He explains CZ's testing bar, including taking a competition pistol to 50,000 rounds, and the push-and-pull of launching at SHOT Show without shipping vaporware. The episode closes on the Colt acquisition and its history, the value of staying in Connecticut for the workforce and a voice in a tough state, the decline of the skilled trades, retro designs like the Python and Cobra, and where to find CZ, Colt, and Dan Wesson online.
Links
Questions this episode answers
Why do hunters and tactical gun owners belong on the same team rather than separate camps?
Daniel and the hosts argue the divide is a myth, since competition and tactical buyers already fund conservation through the Pittman-Robertson excise tax. CZ-USA's wide product line spans both worlds, from hunting rifles and shotguns to competition pistols and AR-platform firearms.
How does CZ-USA handle being both an importer and a domestic manufacturer under ATF rules?
CZ-USA runs both imported and domestically made products, which requires an army of FFL licenses and heavy compliance work. As a Czech Republic company, it treats the US as its biggest market while managing both sides of that operation.
What happened to the DWX and why did it take so long to launch?
Suppliers were lined up and working guns were in hand until a key-component supplier went out of business during COVID. That sent the DWX's development process back to square one.
How has the path into gun ownership changed from hunting to self-defense and competition?
The old route ran through a dad or grandpa who hunted, but now many people shoot their first gun around age 25 and enter through self-defense or competition. Hunting still works as one of the strongest on-ramps into gun ownership.
How does the Pittman-Robertson excise tax connect competition shooters to conservation?
The Pittman-Robertson excise tax means competition and tactical buyers already fund conservation, not just hunters. Daniel and the hosts cite it as proof that the supposed split between hunters and tactical owners does not hold up.
Why did CZ-USA acquire Colt, and why keep manufacturing in Connecticut?
CZ acquired Colt as part of expanding its line into AR-platform rifles and revolvers, including retro designs like the Python and Cobra. Staying in Connecticut preserves the skilled workforce and gives the company a voice in a tough state.
How does CZ-USA design firearms that fit smaller shooters instead of just 'pink it and shrink it'?
Daniel rejects the old 'pink it and shrink it' approach to reaching women and smaller shooters. He stresses that real product development needs someone with genuine passion driving decisions, not just a swap of color or barrel length.
What testing does CZ-USA put a competition pistol through before it ships?
CZ takes a competition pistol to 50,000 rounds as part of its testing bar. Daniel also describes the discipline of launching at SHOT Show without shipping vaporware before a product is truly ready.
Chapters
- 00:00 — Meet Daniel and the CZ Group lineup
- 01:19 — Why the US is CZ's biggest market
- 02:35 — Importing and domestic manufacturing under the ATF
- 03:54 — Handling a moving regulatory goalpost
- 04:36 — Dedicated product managers and a vast line
- 05:55 — Attacks on hunting and the demographic shift
- 08:53 — COVID, clean food, and hunting's resurgence
- 12:32 — The Second Amendment isn't about hunting
- 15:20 — Reaching women beyond 'pink it and shrink it'
- 18:27 — Fighting the redefinition culture war
- 21:18 — Supply chains, SHOT Show, and the DWX story
- 25:24 — The Colt acquisition and its history
- 28:25 — Staying in Connecticut and the workforce question
- 35:49 — The next five years and where to find CZ
About the guest
Daniel is a product manager at CZ-USA who handles the company's rifles and shotguns, with a focus on hunting and target shooting. He has been with CZ for about nine years and is a hunter and shooter himself, processing his own game. He notes that CZ acquired Colt about two years ago and recently picked up Sellier & Bellot in the Czech Republic, and he has taught concealed carry classes [VERIFY]. His exact job title and any social media handles were not stated in this episode.
Key quotes
"I've been with CZ for about nine years, and one thing I love about it is we have almost everything, right?" — Daniel (CZ-USA)
"we still take about over half of what our factory produces into the US and so we are the biggest customer, for lack of a better term." — Daniel (CZ-USA)
"you have to have someone that has that passion, right? You can't just have a guy that, oh well, let's do this color. I think this barrel length is going to work." — Daniel (CZ-USA)
"the old saying used to be pink it and shrink it." — Daniel (CZ-USA)
"A lot of people will say the second Amendment's about hunting. It's not about hunting" — John
"we take our competition pistol to 50,000 rounds." — Daniel (CZ-USA)
"That supplier went out of business due to Covid. So that started our whole development process basically back at square one." — Daniel (CZ-USA)
"we really want to work ourselves out of a job." — Kaylee
Transcripts
All right, today we're here with Daniel from CZ USA and the whole conglomerate underneath the CZ Group.
Speaker A:Welcome to the show.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:I'm glad to be here.
Speaker A:So what do you guys do?
Speaker A:Tell a little bit of product history, what you can share about all the stuff and anything cool.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So we do a lot of cool stuff.
Speaker B:I've been with CZ for about nine years, and one thing I love about it is we have almost everything, right?
Speaker B:So we have pistols, competition pistols.
Speaker B:We have rimfire rifles.
Speaker B:We have centerfire rifles.
Speaker B:We have shotguns.
Speaker B:And so as a user myself, I love guns.
Speaker B:It's like, I don't have to, okay, buy a gun from this other company.
Speaker B:We can kind of use everything that we have.
Speaker B:And so I feel really cool about that.
Speaker B:And as you guys may know, we acquired Colt a couple years ago.
Speaker B:And so that checks out the AR and revolver box.
Speaker B:And so it's pretty cool.
Speaker B:And we want to grow, obviously, we want to become a bigger player in the US and just the world stage.
Speaker B:And so one really good way to do that is to acquire great companies.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:And some heritage, too, is also really good.
Speaker B:You guys know, Colt's been around for a while, and so we're happy to have that brand on board.
Speaker B:And, you know, in addition, we picked up seller and bloit recently in the Czech Republic, which is a great ammo manufacturer.
Speaker B:And so that's.
Speaker B:We do a little bit of everything.
Speaker B:You know, we've done suppressors, and our product line is really vast.
Speaker A:You mentioned the American market.
Speaker A:I mean, CZ is huge in Europe.
Speaker A:I mean, you guys are real popular over there.
Speaker A:So what.
Speaker A:What made the American market so strong for you guys?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And that's.
Speaker B:It's kind of interesting because we are obviously a worldwide company, right?
Speaker C:And.
Speaker B:And we're based in the Czech Republic.
Speaker B:That's where our parent company is.
Speaker B:And so in some ways, we're kind of working on the smaller group over here on the U.S. right?
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:But it's.
Speaker B:We still take about over half of what our factory produces into the US and so we are the biggest customer, for lack of a better term.
Speaker B: And, you know, it was: Speaker B:And it's kind of just.
Speaker B:Just exploded since then.
Speaker B:You know, as you guys know, the US Market is the largest market in the world by several factors.
Speaker B:You know, and it's.
Speaker B:Everyone wants to be here.
Speaker B:We feel really blessed to be here, you know, and I've had kind of people criticize our products being made overseas.
Speaker B:And like, man, I live here in Kansas City.
Speaker B:I'm, I'm in the US I got a job, you know, I got to pay the bills.
Speaker B:So we, we.
Speaker B:We have a strong US Pride.
Speaker B:And, you know, we love.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We try to put our.
Speaker B:US Spin on our products.
Speaker B:You know, obviously we have check products and stuff for the rest of the world, but we want people to know we're here for the US Market, you know, and that's.
Speaker B:We want to serve and we have US Guys doing that.
Speaker B:We have guys in the field hunting and, you know, we have tactical guys and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker B:So we have really good input on that area.
Speaker A:So you guys have like an interesting side of the business where part of your products are imported.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And part of your products are made domestically.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And as a manufacturer with having both products imported and what does that look like with the ATF and all the nonsense that goes on?
Speaker B:It's a lot.
Speaker B:It's crazy, you know, and it gives us flexibility in a lot of ways.
Speaker B:So we, we can use economy scales overseas where we're.
Speaker B:Our Czech company is making hundreds of thousands of guns, and we can kind of piggyback on some of those things so we can do smaller runs using that kind of economies of scale.
Speaker B:Then on the other side, because we have US Manufacturing, if we need to do something that is US Centric or we want to put a stock that's a US Stock on one of our check guns, okay.
Speaker B:We just bring the barreled action and we can assemble it here.
Speaker B:It gives us ultimate flexibility.
Speaker B:Now, that being said, we got a lot of FFL licenses and we have a great and incredible, you know, compliance team because it takes an army to kind of wrangle all that, because in between, you know, import permits and then import permits for different purposes and, and then also making stuff here, you know, and, and again, like you said, so we have Dan Wesson Firearms up in New York.
Speaker B:We have Connecticut, you know, where Colts housed.
Speaker B:You know, we're in Kansas City and kind of juggling all that moving guns, you know, in between those places.
Speaker B:And even, even in Kansas City, multiple locations, we have multiple FFLs to, to move them between buildings.
Speaker B:But it's.
Speaker B:There's a lot of hoops to jump through.
Speaker C:But yeah.
Speaker C:So obviously the Biden administration has changed the, the import game to a pretty significant degree.
Speaker C:How do you handle a constantly moving goal post?
Speaker B:Yeah, and that's.
Speaker B:I think anytime you're going to be in the gun industry, there's going to be some goalposts that move, right?
Speaker B:And it's, you know, luckily we're Americans, right?
Speaker B:And we are good at adapting, you know, and kind of find loopholes, for lack of a better term.
Speaker B:At the same time, we're Americans, right?
Speaker B:And we're gun owners, you know.
Speaker B:And so with that moving goalposts, we have a great legal team and we will challenge things that need to be challenged and partner with, you know, gunners America and other other kind of things like that to push where we think we need to push.
Speaker B:But it's, we're just trying to play inside the lines and do what we can do to sell guns.
Speaker A:So now you guys have a line that is probably one of the most diverse across the industry.
Speaker A:You guys are not only in self defense, but you also have competitive pistol shooting, you have competitive revolver shooting, now you have competitive shotgun shooting.
Speaker A:I mean, what makes you go, hey, I need, we need to change these products or hit these niche markets.
Speaker B:Yeah, so what, you know, about two years ago when we acquired Colt, we really made a push to get dedicated product managers.
Speaker B:Before that we kind of had it under marketing.
Speaker B:So you have, you know, marketing and so, and that's, there's kind of different motivations, different reasons to do all that.
Speaker B:But one of the, one of the big benefits we're doing now is we're a product driven company.
Speaker B:So you have guys like me, I love rifles and shotguns and so I'm out in the field using them.
Speaker B:I'm figuring out what breaks, you know, I'm trying to break our guns.
Speaker B:And, and so I think you have to have someone that has that passion, right?
Speaker B:You can't just have a guy that, oh well, let's do this color.
Speaker B:I think this barrel length is going to work.
Speaker B:I mean, how are you going to know that, right?
Speaker B:And so we've, and product managers, every level of all of our organizations that are users.
Speaker B:And that's, and that's a big thing for us.
Speaker B:And so, and it's, it's kind of a big pie to slice around, right?
Speaker B:You know, and we have like you said, the vast line we have.
Speaker B:And so we kind of have to break that up into individual parts and pieces.
Speaker B:And so, you know, we have some guys that handle our CZ pistols, right?
Speaker B:We have some guys that handle our Colt commercial market.
Speaker B:You know, we have Colt MLE market product manager, you know, and on the US on the CZS side, we have Pistols, Brens and Scorpions, which are kind of our more tactical stuff.
Speaker B:And Then I handle the, you know, the rifles and the shotguns, kind of more hunting focus and target shooting.
Speaker B:So that's about the only way you can do it.
Speaker B:And even sometimes then I'm like, I got too much on my plate.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So being focused in that hunting space, it's no surprise that the Biden administration has attacked hunting in ways that we've really never witnessed before with going so far as to try to remove hunter education courses from schools.
Speaker C:For so many people, hunting is that on ramp to the second amendment community.
Speaker C:How do you as a company look at the changing terrain and kind of adjust?
Speaker B:That's a great question.
Speaker B:And it's all about pivoting, right?
Speaker B:In every industry, you got to pivot.
Speaker B:So what we've seen a shift actually happen is growing up, the way people got into guns was, you know, dad hunts or grandpa hunts, and you start hunting when you're seven or eight and then you shoot.
Speaker B:They're 22.
Speaker B:When you learn how to shoot, you know, and you grow into guns, right?
Speaker B:That has changed.
Speaker B:And so kind of going back to the, where, you know, those regulations have changed and kind of things that are different, also the type of shooters that are coming in shoot are different.
Speaker B:You know, we have guys, the first gun they shoot is a 9 millimeter when they're 25, right.
Speaker B:And that I grew up shooting 22s, that's where you start on you a single shot or things like that.
Speaker B:And that didn't happen anymore or as much as it used to.
Speaker B:And so when you see some of those things happen that are different than it was 20 years ago, it has affected us, but it's.
Speaker B:You have a lot more kids getting interested in shooting at like shotguns in high school, right.
Speaker B:You can go to college on a full ride scholarship to shoot a shotgun, right.
Speaker B:And if I'd known that when I was a kid, I would have tried harder.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:So, I mean, so we've not only have we pivoted and kind of changed our targeting strategy or our product strategy, but the market has changed, you know, and so, you know, it's unfortunate that those things happen, obviously, but it's in a blessing.
Speaker B:It's been good because we can do different things, try different things.
Speaker B:And the demographic has shifted, right.
Speaker B:You know, you have guys that do a lot of shooting different things, not just, hey, I'm a pistol shooter.
Speaker B:That's all I do.
Speaker A:Well, you mentioned that the demographics have changed and with having such a wide variety of products in a number of different price points, what has been the Fastest growing category for you guys.
Speaker A:Is it hunting, is it tactical, is it concealed carry?
Speaker A:Where does that come from?
Speaker B: d so, you know, I remember in: Speaker B:Couldn't get them fast enough and they're going crazy.
Speaker B: And you know,: Speaker B:And the gun runs that we had seen a lot of was that, you know, ARS battle rifles and high capacity 9 millimeters.
Speaker B:When with 20, 20 and 21, we saw a complete shift away from that.
Speaker B:So, you know, you saw Magpul 30 round mags sitting on the shelf.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And not moving near like they were.
Speaker B:But what we saw was any hunting gun, any outdoor gun you can use was flying off the shelf.
Speaker B:You know, we had record sales for our shotguns.
Speaker B:And these are not tactical shotguns.
Speaker B:This is, you know, for hunting, you know, upland birds, waterfowl and things.
Speaker B:And you know, I know a lot of the.
Speaker B:We did some surveys with the state license sales, so they said hunting sales were the highest they've seen in years in 20, 20 and 21 by volume and demographic.
Speaker B:And so, you know, recently we've seen hunting grow, but, you know, I think it kind of depends on what, what the impulse is to, to grow that and what, what kind of comes and goes.
Speaker B:One advantage that we have as a company, the vast product line is, you know, when regulation hits in one area, like for example, our Scorpion, you know, and the, the brace band.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So that, that really hurt that sales because that's, that's a great gun to do that with.
Speaker B:Okay, well, we still have bolt action rifles, we still have shotguns that we can hunt with, we still have pistols.
Speaker B:And so with that we can pivot our business.
Speaker B:You know, we don't.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:We're not just an AR company that has to kind of, you know, stake our flag on that.
Speaker B:So we benefited in that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So that, I mean, that really speaks to kind of the ability of the second amendment community to be resilient at goa.
Speaker C:We have a definition of what a gun rights activist is, and it's someone who takes personal responsibility not only in the defense in the use of their firearms, but in the defense of their right to own them.
Speaker C:And I think that resonates with a lot of people, especially during that Covid time where not only do they want to take personal responsibility for their firearms and for their second amendment rights, but they also want to take personal responsibility to the food on their Table?
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:And that's, you know, and you've seen that kind of grown.
Speaker B:And I, I've always talked about the Second amendment is a uniquely American thing.
Speaker B:And not just that we have the right to own guns, but the idea of personal protection.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So what you're saying is, I'm going to take my protection in my hands.
Speaker B:My family's protection is in my hands.
Speaker B:Obviously, I'd much prefer a police officer, someone who's trained to come and defend me, but that's not practical.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so you're taking a step up saying, you know, I'm going to take care of myself and protect myself.
Speaker B:And that's kind of a very American mindset, right.
Speaker B:Where it's like, hey, if you work hard, go further in life, you know, and I'm, you know, it'd be nice for something else to happen, but that's not how it's going to be.
Speaker B:And so going to that, you know, that clean food movement or whatever you want to call it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:I want to put the food on my table.
Speaker B:I want to be responsible for that.
Speaker B:I want to be responsible for learning how to process meat and learning how to do all these things.
Speaker B:And so to your point, we've seen that explode and that, that drives that those guys that hunt or want to learn how to hunt.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Would you say that's why you're seeing an increase in that?
Speaker A:Is it just because of the rising price of meat and all that other stuff?
Speaker A:Are we talking looking at inflation stuff?
Speaker A:You know, is that why this movement's starting to turn more into hunting and seeing that category kind of jump up, which historically, you know, you've got a time period for hunting, it's September to December, and then after that you're just like, okay, those are gonna sit for a while.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so I think that that's part of it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So with COVID it kind of kicked off that, hey, you can't go inside and do anything.
Speaker B:You know, you can't go to bul.
Speaker B:Bowling alley, you can't go to a club or bar or anything like that.
Speaker B:Since it's like, what do you do?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Well, I can go outside and go hunting.
Speaker B:And so we saw resurgence there.
Speaker B:But also I think our culture's really getting back to that, hey, organic or non processed stuff.
Speaker B:And there's not much more organic or unprocessed meat you can get than a deer that's been.
Speaker B:And obviously they're eating GMO corn or whatever you want to say, but it's and I process all my own game because I want to get the deer that I shot back.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so that's something really important to our family.
Speaker B:And I grew up hunting, so I feel really advantaged, you know, doing that.
Speaker B:But I think that's where you're seeing a lot of that drive is just people want that, you know, and, and once you experience it, you know, I'm sure you guys have hunted.
Speaker B:It's kind of that the first time you go shoot something, you know, you cut it up and then you eat it, you're like, man, this feels good.
Speaker B:It feels right.
Speaker B:You know, and, you know, and you're seeing, I think we're more open as industry to having women or kids come out and do this stuff.
Speaker B:And so I don't think it's just the old crotchety, you know, guys that hunt clubs and things.
Speaker B:And I think we want to be inclusive, right.
Speaker B:You know, the R3 movement.
Speaker B:And I think that's done a really good job.
Speaker B:You know, you've seen a lot more guys at, you know, trailheads or public hunting spots that never would have been there 10 years ago and they adult onset hunting, right?
Speaker B:So those are guys that didn't have a dad or a grandpa to show them and that's fine, you know, and I think there's been a lot of mentor programs to bring people in the outdoors.
Speaker B:So as weird as it sounds, I think the things that we've been trying to do for the last 10 years are starting to pay off, you know, and it's kind of a, kind of a culmination of things.
Speaker B:But I think that's where we're seeing some of that growth happen, you know, and it's kind of shifting away from some of the tactical market and into the hunting.
Speaker B: hat you'd see happen, like in: Speaker B:I need to buy an ar.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B: ars or kind of same thing in: Speaker B:But what we're seeing now is guys that weren't, didn't own guns or weren't hunting are now hunting.
Speaker B:And that's a whole different demographic getting added to gun owners.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And that's growing the market.
Speaker B:It's not just moving the money around.
Speaker A:And I want to say this is.
Speaker A:A lot of people will say the second Amendment's about hunting.
Speaker A:It's not about hunting, not about right to be arms, but getting into hunting and getting in touch with nature and processing your own meat.
Speaker A:It's an experience.
Speaker A:It's something that if you haven't done, I recommend you do.
Speaker A:If you have a friend who wants to go hunting, the hunting community is very welcoming, very welcoming and will take you in.
Speaker A:And it's just like the shooting community.
Speaker A:And as 2A advocates and as gun owners, we need to.
Speaker A:There's always been this line that people have been fighting about is it's hunters on one side and gunner.
Speaker A:We need to kind of converge and partner up and go fight for.
Speaker A:You know, we've seen these attacks, we've seen the hunter education, we've seen the lead ammo attack.
Speaker A:You know, we need to come together and go, no more.
Speaker A:We're not moving the goalpost.
Speaker B:No, I think you're absolutely right.
Speaker B:And I think it's critical to think about that.
Speaker B:Is.
Speaker B:It's, it's, is not, you know, you've heard sometimes, well, I'm not into those ars.
Speaker B:I like.
Speaker B:You don't need that.
Speaker B:I like Boltex rifles or I like, you know, shotguns and things.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:It's kind of like, you know, one day they came for the rifle, you know, the ars, and that was fine because I don't shoot ars.
Speaker B:And you know, it's just like a slippery slope.
Speaker B:But I think in the same way those guys that hunt or only do that, well, when I've put a scorpion, a 9 millimeter, you know, submachine gun, they love that, right?
Speaker B:And so you, it's like if you take that step into that world, it's just like a hunting gun, you know, and it's.
Speaker B:And in my opinion, it's one feeds the other, right?
Speaker B:You know, and if you guys are familiar with the Pittman Robertson act, right, so federal excise tax, you know, we pay 11% on every gun that we sell.
Speaker B:It goes to the PR dollars.
Speaker B:And those dollars go into conservation.
Speaker B:They build great conservation areas, partner estates, right?
Speaker B:So that's fed by guys that buy 9 millimeter and shoot USPSA, right?
Speaker B:And they're never going to.
Speaker B:They may never step on a, you know, a wildlife area or something, but they're helping pay for it.
Speaker B:That goes, you know, guys are tactical dudes, you know, buying AR15 magazines and things like this.
Speaker B:So I think in a lot of ways we should take a cue from that where it's, hey, you know, the guy carrying a bolt action rifle in Montana is not much different, really.
Speaker B:Has the same idea and the same goals as the guy that never steps, you know, on a mountain range.
Speaker B:So I, I think we should be a team.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:So we talk a lot about what the on ramp is for people to, to join the community, to get involved.
Speaker C:And obviously we're seeing one of the fastest demographics being women.
Speaker B:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker C:You guys have quite a few products that really fit those of us who may be slightly petite.
Speaker C:I'm five foot tall, I wear a child's large glove.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:Like I'm, I'm a small person and so like it's really.
Speaker C:I really commend you on the, the product diversification because it's very hard to find things that are.
Speaker C:Well, one don't weigh a ton of the especially.
Speaker C:But also, you know, just whether you're picking a concealed carry gun or you know, whatever you want to use for home defense, like, you guys really do have a large, diverse group.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, and our goal with that, to reach women, we're, you know, the old saying used to be pink it and shrink it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:That was what, that's how you make a woman's product.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And that definitely came from five, no offense, with five old guys sitting around the table and were like, well, they like pink.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Let's just do that.
Speaker B:So we look at it completely different actually.
Speaker B:One of our product managers is a female.
Speaker B:And so it's great having her on the team as she's a shooter hunter, she's active.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so, but our perspective is like, okay, so generally speaking, you know, women are a little bit more petite.
Speaker B:They usually have longer necks, higher cheekbones, so these things.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Well that also applies to 14 year old boys.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so we want to fit a gun that's going to fit a person that's a little bit more petite, you know, and it's, it's not just about, hey, go down to lighter gauge or 243 or going to 20 gauge or something.
Speaker B:It's like that gun's got to fit them and it's got to fit what they're doing.
Speaker B:You know, we, early on when we were trying to make some women specific products, we made a great 12 gauge and it was nine and a half pounds.
Speaker B:Now that's a heavy shotgun.
Speaker B:So it's like it would fit a woman perfectly, but she couldn't hold it up, you know, so that doesn't work.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so there's some of that balance between, hey, how do we make a shotgun fit this person?
Speaker B:It doesn't just need to be pretty, it's got to be functional.
Speaker B:That's a really big focus of us.
Speaker B:You know, one thing that CZ kind of hangs our hat on is ergonomics.
Speaker B:And so whether that's for a big guy like me, you know, or a small glove lady like yourself.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:We want to make sure that gun's fitting everybody.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:I think it kind of comes back to the debate of, well, I want this one pistol to do everything.
Speaker B:And it's like it's not going to be that way.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You can't just buy one gun to do everything.
Speaker B:But that's the good thing about it, right.
Speaker B:Is there's a lot of guns that do all sorts of different things.
Speaker B:So I try to push people towards that and what they're doing, what's their purpose?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:For it.
Speaker B:And yes, we try to make those products fit that person, not necessarily a woman, if that makes sense.
Speaker C:Yeah, no, and I think that that's a really good way to look at it because so often everyone wants to put everyone in these groups and in reality there's some crossover there.
Speaker C:There's some things.
Speaker C:So one of the things that has impacted not only the second amendment community, but manufacturers in more ways than we could ever really know is just this redefining of everything.
Speaker C:Whether it is the anti gun left redefining weapons to be assault weapons, or the creation of gun confiscation orders now being called red flag laws, or whether it a governmental agency like the ATF redefining things to make pistol braces illegal.
Speaker C:What is CZ's kind of perspective on combating the cultural war of this redefinition?
Speaker B:You know, it's really tough.
Speaker B:And I think that's a question for the industry.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I don't feel like, you know, I'm not confident enough to say that, hey, we're going to change it.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:And so in a lot of ways you got to look at the market and see what they're doing.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:And you got to look at people and see what they're doing.
Speaker B:You know, we can't fight a culture war.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You know, we can do what we can do and you're not going to change some people's minds.
Speaker B:And again, they're going to use terms negatively.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You know, like assault weapon.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Or assault rifle.
Speaker B:It sounds really bad and scary, but we all know I can assault someone with anything, right?
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But you know, we just try to keep our nomenclature correct, you know, and it, it's going to be really hard to change things, you Know, I think it's going to take someone bigger than the, than the gun industry to do it.
Speaker B:But I think on the other side of that coin, we saw in 20, 20 and 21 during some really rough times in our country, right?
Speaker B:Where our country's being pulled apart.
Speaker B:You have riots and all crazy things.
Speaker B:And you know, I think a lot of gun guys would make fun of some of those people that were anti gun, that were walking into gun stores for the first time to buy a gun, right.
Speaker B:To defend themselves.
Speaker B:And, and in that moment they saw the value of a firearm.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:It's like, I don't want to kill anybody, but if someone's trying to hurt me, that's a real good equalizer.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:And so I think we can capitalize on those situations where obviously we don't want any of that to happen.
Speaker B:But when you start to see some of those newer gun owners in the market, let's be welcoming, right?
Speaker B:You know, it doesn't matter if they drive a Subaru or Keens.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You know, let's, let's welcome into the fold, you know, and I talked in seal carry classes for a long time and we had a variety of people come and we had a lady who was staunchly anti gun and she got mugged, you know, and she quickly realized that a gun would be kind of helpful to protect her yourself.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so.
Speaker B:And she still had a lot of, I would say, not gun owner ideas.
Speaker B:And we just worked with that.
Speaker B:And I've stayed in touch with her and, you know, she's grown quite a bit, you know, kind of her perspective on 2A.
Speaker B:But it's, I think so to answer that question, it's, you gotta meet people where they are, right?
Speaker B:And we gotta meet the market where it is and we can't change it.
Speaker B:We just kind of work in it, you know, so.
Speaker A:So you guys manufacture in house, you guys import, you do this.
Speaker A:What are some of the biggest struggles you guys have?
Speaker A:Because I know a few years ago, and you don't want to talk about, we don't have to.
Speaker A: You guys at Shot Show: Speaker C:Oh, man.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then you ran into some problems.
Speaker A:So that's something a lot of people don't talk about is people like to criticize companies because they.
Speaker A:We all launch stuff at Shot Show.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then they go, it's vaporware.
Speaker A:Because it doesn't.
Speaker A:What does that look like for you guys?
Speaker A:Because as a manufacturer, that's something that you get pushback on and you have to explain to your customers, what's going on?
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a really tough one.
Speaker B:The biggest.
Speaker B:It's like suppliers, right?
Speaker B:It's the supply chain.
Speaker B:And we can talk about that specific project.
Speaker B:And it was a pretty crazy kind of culmination of perfect storm.
Speaker B:But, you know, there's a lot.
Speaker B:I kind of talk broadly about the market.
Speaker B:I know a lot of the product managers, other brands, and there's a constant push, right, hey, let's get that gun out at shot show.
Speaker B:We need those sales, you know, we need to get the face on it, you know, get people seeing it.
Speaker B:And it's like, hey, man, we're like four months out, six months out from launching that.
Speaker B:Really, I don't want to do that.
Speaker B:You know, it's like.
Speaker B:And there's sometimes we got that push and pull right between, hey, we need to get some eyes on this.
Speaker B:We need to get some marketing on it, which is shot shows, one of the biggest times to do that.
Speaker B:And also it's like, hey, we need to make sure we don't launch something that we can't sell or can't make, right?
Speaker B:And a lot of that comes down to, you know, when you go through like a product development, development process.
Speaker B:We're checking out vendors, right?
Speaker B:They send us apart.
Speaker B:It's probably not going to fit.
Speaker B:There's going to be two or three iterations of that.
Speaker B:We average two years to get a product from conception to market.
Speaker B:That's our goal, right?
Speaker B:And that's a pretty fast goal.
Speaker B:But also at the same time, you got to keep the lights on, right?
Speaker B:So you got to get those products out.
Speaker B:But the DWX specifically, one of the biggest things that happened there is we had suppliers lined up, we had first sample models, we had guns in hands that worked.
Speaker B:I personally shot them.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And one of our really key components, I won't talk too much specifically about what it was, but really key component to that gun.
Speaker B:That supplier went out of business due to Covid.
Speaker B:So that started our whole development process basically back at square one.
Speaker B:And so what happened during COVID as you guys know, everything shut down.
Speaker B:Raw material sourcing shut down.
Speaker B:You know, so you're talking about we can't get any more steel, you know, and then the companies that are already in line with other.
Speaker B:So our main.
Speaker B:Our supplier, you know, went out of business.
Speaker B:So when we're scrambling trying to find another supplier to do this, well, we're at the back of that line, right?
Speaker B:You know, they have 15 or 20 other companies in front of us trying to get the same products that they can't get anymore.
Speaker B:And so, and then once we got that product, okay, it is now a new product or a new piece of this puzzle, right?
Speaker B:We got to test it again.
Speaker B:So in all of our pistols, we, all of our guns, we want to make sure they're going to work, right?
Speaker B:The last thing I want to do is send any gun out there that I'm not confident is going to work.
Speaker B:So we take our competition pistol to 50,000 rounds.
Speaker B:We take three of them.
Speaker B:To do that with no, it has to have a very low margin of failure.
Speaker B:And it's really minor stuff, you know, a failure to feed once or twice.
Speaker B:And so to get a pistol to do that is tough, you know, and like we were launching this year our barrel warranty.
Speaker B:So we're standing behind our cold hammer forged barrels for a lifetime of that gun, right?
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And so we want to stand behind our products and to do that you got to test it, right?
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And we took a lot of flack on the dwx and there was, I would say there was three or four times throughout until we relaunched it, that we were real close and you know, and it was one of those movies we'd love to get this out to kind of get, you know, to get those sales and really take care of the customers that we promised us to, right?
Speaker B:And as a shooter, I wanted to get it out so I could buy one and shoot it.
Speaker B:You know, I remember I shot in a week, there was four of us and we went through about 75,000 rounds on one of the iterations that it failed, you know, and so like, you're investing that much time and energy in a 9 millimeter when it's hard to get 9 millimeter and you got to start back at square zero.
Speaker B:But really the story of that for our products is we're trying to get away from that.
Speaker B:We're trying not to launch stuff or bring stuff to Shot show that we can't get out.
Speaker B:But the reason behind that is we're not just sitting there going, oh, I guess we'll get that out next week.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:We want to make sure it's right.
Speaker B:We want to make sure it's good, you know, and I would say that pressure's all over the industry, you know, and you'll see that happen with a bunch of companies.
Speaker B:You know, I'm not going to name any names, but it's.
Speaker B:It happens every year at Shot show where someone releases something that's vaporware and you can't find it.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:So changing the topic slightly, I really want to dive into Colt because, like, what an amazing American brand.
Speaker C:It's been a staple of the two A community for a long time.
Speaker C:And when we at GOA and our sister organization gof, when we sue, we're suing on the basis of text, history and tradition.
Speaker C:And there's very few companies out there that have that level of tradition like Colt.
Speaker C:So walk us through some of the things that have come from that acquisition.
Speaker B:Yeah, man, it's history, right?
Speaker B:So we.
Speaker B:Okay, again, so we started 98 in the US side, right?
Speaker B:We've been in the Czech Republic for years, you know, back to.
Speaker B:Even in some of our roots, like brno.
Speaker B:So we've been around for quite a while there.
Speaker B:But, like, as an American, right, I grew up learning about Colt, I grew up learning about Winchester, some of these crazy things.
Speaker B:And I remember the first time I walked through the doors at Colt.
Speaker B:I mean, it's like, as a gun guy, you get this kind of tingly feeling, and you're like, Samuel Colt.
Speaker B:Who else do you know, right?
Speaker B:The Peacemaker, all these.
Speaker B:All these really iconic things.
Speaker B:And so the cool thing about Colt, and this is because this is my perception, when we purchased them, there was a little bit of scariness, right?
Speaker B:I mean, Colt is Colt, right?
Speaker B:And they may not be viewed as innovative and things, but they have so much history, right?
Speaker B:And I was excited because I'm like, man, we've kind of been the European company in the US For a while.
Speaker B:You got Colt.
Speaker B:You got a name like Colt, I mean, that's such a solid name.
Speaker B:And with that, you have the history you have.
Speaker B:You can go back, you know, 30, 40, 50, 100 years and look at designs, you know?
Speaker B:And Colt relaunched some of our revolvers a couple years ago.
Speaker B:And, you know, those revolvers are better than the old Pythons that used to be on the market.
Speaker B:The Cobras used to be on the market.
Speaker B:We put thousands rounds of.357 Magnum through those things.
Speaker B:It hurts the hand.
Speaker B:But you.
Speaker B:But so what I love about that is you're taking products that, like, I grew up, you know, an uncle has a python.
Speaker B:Oh, man, it's so cool.
Speaker B:But now to buy Those old guns, six, $7,000, right?
Speaker B: new Python or a new Cobra for: Speaker B:And so acquiring that company and that history, it's like a dream.
Speaker B:I don't know how else to explain it.
Speaker B:You Talk about the support that they've done to the military for years and years and years in that history.
Speaker B:And the AR15 and you're talking about in Vietnam, the car 15, the Colt automatic rifle, and just this history there.
Speaker B:It's been really cool.
Speaker B:And the cool thing about bringing Colt kind of into the fold is you get that longevity and that history in the market, but also they can be innovative and they can do some stuff that's specifically Colt.
Speaker B:You know, they launched a new bolt action rifle and it's not a CZ rifle.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:Those guys did a great job designing it and they had some really, really smart engineers kind of put some input into that.
Speaker B:And it's an awesome rifle.
Speaker B:And so this is kind of the first show that people can get their hands on it.
Speaker B:And that's.
Speaker B:And so that's something that they haven't done in a long time.
Speaker B:But they still have those, those core products that we've known Colt for, for years.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:So Colt obviously is in Connecticut.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:The whole Northeast is not known for being favorable when it comes to the Second Amendment.
Speaker C:You guys are in Kansas City.
Speaker C:And depending upon what side you're on,.
Speaker B:We're on the Kansas side.
Speaker C:It drastically changes the way that the Second Amendment landscape works for you guys.
Speaker C:From a company's perspective, what is the, I guess what is it like dealing with the state governments?
Speaker C:Because we focus on state legislation and the national legislation, but national is far more likely to make the headlines.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah, it's actually a really cool opportunity.
Speaker B:So, you know, being, being in Kansas, in Missouri.
Speaker B:Missouri's pretty conservative.
Speaker B:Well, it's, it's nothing like that kind of northeastern environment or would be on the west coast.
Speaker B:But one of the really cool things that not a lot of people talk about, Colt is so kind of like I talked about earlier, where we're, you know, we don't want to be known as those old guys that, you know, wear flannel and stuff like that.
Speaker B:Where, where they're situated in Connecticut.
Speaker B:They're one of the few gun companies left in that area.
Speaker B:You know, and you look at the history, I mean, Smith and Wesson was, is in that area.
Speaker B:You know, Savage was in that area, Winchester was in that area.
Speaker B:A lot of those companies have pulled back or pulled out.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so the benefit that Colt has had is that they've been one of the long standing companies and you know, Connecticut has often come to help them with tax advantages and all sorts and they want to stay there and they have.
Speaker B:We have a great union workforce there.
Speaker B:And, you know, we have hundreds of employees that we're employing, and that helps that area.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And one of the really cool things that we've been able to do is when local politicians or when local news agencies have questions about guns, they go to call, you know, and we get an opportunity to talk about that.
Speaker B:We get an opportunity to kind of give an educated opinion as opposed to kind of what you hear in a lot of the other places.
Speaker B:And so if we weren't there, if we weren't in that environment, that wouldn't.
Speaker B:That voice wouldn't be heard.
Speaker B:And so as.
Speaker B:As tough as it looks from the outside of being in Connecticut or a state like that, we get.
Speaker B:We get a voice in those areas where we wouldn't have a voice.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And, you know, what I've experienced is there's a lot of good gun guys in New York, Connecticut, you know, California, Illinois.
Speaker B:And so it's.
Speaker B:We want to be an advocate for those guys, too, you know, and so not that we're changing the tide everywhere, but we get an opportunity to do that, and we wouldn't have that opportunity if we weren't there.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think that's such a good point.
Speaker C:I mean, people often ask, you know, if they're not living in those states, well, why are you even fighting?
Speaker C:Why even file a lawsuit?
Speaker C:Why.
Speaker C:Why even send an action alert and get people involved?
Speaker C:They're not going to change anything.
Speaker C:But in reality, your elected officials, whether you agree with them or not, are there to represent you.
Speaker C:And if you don't let your voice be hear.
Speaker C:Heard, how do they know that there's a group of people that doesn't want that.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:No, I.
Speaker B:You can't be mad for them doing something you don't do if you don't tell them.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You know, you got to reach out to your elected officials.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, it's an election year, so.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:Vote.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Use your voice to vote.
Speaker A:Use your voice.
Speaker A:If.
Speaker A:If they aren't doing what you want them to do, let them know.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Now, Kelly brought up that, you know, Colts in Connecticut, Dan Wesson's in New York.
Speaker A:We just saw Smith and Wesson move from Massachusetts out.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Is that even a consideration with the history?
Speaker A:Because Colt is history.
Speaker A:Smith and Wesson, I mean, we saw Remington move.
Speaker A:We saw that.
Speaker A:Is that something even that you guys would even think about?
Speaker A:Because you're taking such that history and now it's just.
Speaker A:It's same company, same history for sure.
Speaker A:But now it's not that Colt factory or that Danielson factory.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And I can kind of speak to that kind of vague terms, right?
Speaker B:So I wouldn't say never, but that's not the plan right now.
Speaker B:And we're actually moving things to Colt and so kind of, kind of understanding why we bought Colt.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Previously, CZ had talked about moving some other places in the country to kind of build a manufacturing facility.
Speaker B:And just kind of from a practicality standpoint, if you're gonna.
Speaker B:I'm gonna build a facility and hire 600 people to build guns, right?
Speaker B:You can't just build that anywhere because you need a labor force that's educated, right?
Speaker B:And so when we looked for a location, we tried to find.
Speaker B:Find industrial centers around the country.
Speaker B:Where, where's the place where they're.
Speaker B:They have a sewing machine factory or they have generations of building motorcycles and things like this, right?
Speaker B:Because you're gonna have a labor pool to pull from that is educated on how to use machines.
Speaker B:You know, mill rights.
Speaker B:You know, you're.
Speaker B:It's gonna be a lot easier to pull those guys than would be in other areas.
Speaker B:And you've seen some states like Arkansas pull a lot of gun companies there partly because of the workforce, really.
Speaker B:And so when you look at Connecticut, there's a lot of those companies that pulled out.
Speaker B:And we've picked up a lot of employees from Smith and Wesson, Savage, some of these other companies that pulled out of that area that those guys have lived there their whole life, right?
Speaker B:And they don't want to move.
Speaker B:And so for us, it's been a big benefit.
Speaker B:And the thing is, too, you know, I know when they moved Remington next to a lot of those machines on the wall, they had the order of operation or how to use that gun, right?
Speaker B:Well, so they moved all that part of it down to Alabama and some other places, those machines moved, but those guys didn't move, right?
Speaker B:That.
Speaker B:That knowledge base didn't move.
Speaker B:And so I, I knew some people that worked at the original Remington plant.
Speaker B:They got phone calls because they needed help, send those new machines up, you know, in other states.
Speaker B:And so if we did that, we will lose that.
Speaker B:You know, you, you.
Speaker B:There's a knowledge base you can't get back, you know, when you, when you move.
Speaker B:And also, again, those.
Speaker B:A lot of those employees have worked there for 20, 30 years.
Speaker B:You know, like, they're not going to leave that area.
Speaker B:And, and we owe something to them.
Speaker B:You know, they've.
Speaker B:They've invested in us, you know, and been with us for a long time.
Speaker B:And so that's I'm not saying we'd never move out of it, but it'd be a long, it'd be a long shot to move.
Speaker B:And one reason we went after Colt and one of them as part of our fold is they have a manufacturing facility.
Speaker B:I mean, it's huge.
Speaker B:It's really, it's really, it's been there forever.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:And so it's, it's been a huge benefit to our company and our group by bringing them on for that.
Speaker A:So now you mentioned what you're talking about when you want to find a new location as a machinist.
Speaker A:And we're seeing a decline in the trades.
Speaker A:You know, what, how do we pick that up?
Speaker A:How do we get more people interested in the trades?
Speaker A:Because we've lost whole generation.
Speaker B:Well, and I, I think it comes.
Speaker B:This is going back to that cultural question, right?
Speaker B:I don't think CZ is going to change it.
Speaker B:But you know, I grew up, hey, you got to go to high school, go to college and get, you know, get a four year degree and then go work at work, an office job.
Speaker B:That's success, right?
Speaker B:That's who you want to be.
Speaker B:And you know, I think our parents wanted us to do that.
Speaker B:I mean, because they, they saw the opportunity to get.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Well, the kind of caveat to that is you don't want to be a mechanic, you know, you don't want to be a plumber.
Speaker B:You don't want to be.
Speaker B:And you know, those guys make some good money now, you know, and they can go to a technical college for a year or two.
Speaker B:And honestly, it's not that that those guys couldn't go to college.
Speaker B:They may not want to.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:They may, they enjoy what they're doing.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so I think the only way that that's going to change is a culture shift.
Speaker B:Man, we got to get back to, hey, it's okay to work with your hands.
Speaker B:Like, it's okay to have, you know, grease stains on your pants and come home and change and then go out to dinner, right?
Speaker B:And I mean, again, those guys, that skilled labor force is shrinking left and right.
Speaker B:And you know, one cool thing we've started to see is companies bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. i mean, that's where you're going to see some of that drive come when the jobs are available.
Speaker B:Right, Right.
Speaker B:And if the jobs pay well enough, you know, because you think about it, if you're, you know, if you have kids, you're looking, you know, your son's 15, 16, 17, right.
Speaker B:You're looking at that, hey, is he gonna go to college?
Speaker B:And you're saying you want your best for your kid, right?
Speaker B:So you want them to be set up really well, make a decent salary, you know, and be able to kind of live on that, push them towards those trades if they're, if that's what their proclivity is.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You know, don't just say, hey, you gotta go to college.
Speaker B:So I think that's gonna take a culture shift for us to do, but it's needed.
Speaker B:It is massively needed.
Speaker B:And, and you know Mike Rowe with Dirty jobs, right?
Speaker B:That's one of his big things, is getting people, hey, go back into the trades.
Speaker B:It's not a, not a bad deal at all.
Speaker B:And you can make some decent money and have a good career at it.
Speaker C:So what scene in your crystal ball, right, what do you see for you guys in the next five, 10 years?
Speaker C:And how do you want the state of the second amendment to be in that time period?
Speaker B:Well, I would always like, in general, I'd like less regulation.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I think we all would.
Speaker B:I don't know if we can achieve that dream, but that's going to help.
Speaker B:That's going to help us.
Speaker B:You know, we can do more stuff, right?
Speaker B:We can bring more stuff in, do different things.
Speaker B:Our manufacturing could go down if we, we could import certain things.
Speaker B:So that'd be really awesome.
Speaker B:But as a company, you know, so we really started that product management push about a year and a half ago and again, kind of go back to my timeline of two years.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So as soon as we started, really, products that, that we have our thumbprint on that are ours, uniquely our product team, you're not going to see that for another six months.
Speaker B:And so there's stuff coming that's really cool and it's going to be kind of the precursor to other really cool stuff coming.
Speaker B:So I think, you know, you're going to, in the same way we kind of talked about Colt, right?
Speaker B:We have some products we're known for legacy ideas and, you know, metal, double action, single action guns, things we've been known for forever.
Speaker B:You're going to see those stay and get better and you're gonna see some really cool, innovative products come out.
Speaker B:So we're, we're trying to push the envelope.
Speaker B:We want to be known as innovative.
Speaker B:We want to be known as that front runner.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:And so there's a lot of other companies compete against, but we, I think we have a great team and we're investing heavily in that.
Speaker B:We're Investing in R and D. We're investing in having product managers that.
Speaker B:That want to drive the company.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And drive the product.
Speaker B:So I'm excited for the next four or five years.
Speaker B:Look like I'm excited for what you guys can do for the next four or five years.
Speaker B:Help us out with regulation a little bit.
Speaker C:You know, we're working on it.
Speaker C:We want to see a restoration of the Second Amendment.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:One of the greatest things about GOA and the reason that I find myself excited to go to work after all of these years is we really want to work ourselves out of a job.
Speaker B:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker C:We want that complete restoration of the second Amendment.
Speaker C:And part of that is so that we can have all of the fun stuff that we want and to be able to.
Speaker C:To see and live out the founder's intent.
Speaker C:I would love to own some machine guns, Some full auto.
Speaker C:Like, there's so much.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Some suppressors with all the taxes over the counter.
Speaker B:Suppressors.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:There's so much there.
Speaker C:And I know that given that opportunity, CZ would have an even crazier product line, and it'd be pretty dang cool.
Speaker A:Listen, all I want is the Colt monitor to come back.
Speaker A:Let's go full auto cold monitor.
Speaker A:Let's do it.
Speaker B:It.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:Well, I'll pass that along.
Speaker A:You know, I got one more thing to touch on.
Speaker A:On Colt real quick.
Speaker A:Colt.
Speaker A:Not only was Colt a big name, but there was another guy who stepped through that building.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:A bunch of times with some designs.
Speaker A:So you know the man, the legend, John Moses Browning.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Do you guys look at some of the old retro designs and see how hot retro is getting?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:To bring some of his older designs that have.
Speaker A:Have not been seen for.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Almost a century.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, and so to answer that question.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, you know, and again, going back to, like, I'm a gun guy.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And we're gun people.
Speaker B:It's like, we want to see some of that cool old stuff.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And so that's one thing we're trying to do with Colt and in some ways in cz too, where we want those core products we're known for.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But we also want to push the envelope.
Speaker B:And whether that's retro or whether that's.
Speaker B:Again, looking at the.
Speaker B:The Pythons and the Copras, the revolvers, those were a really good homage to what we've made in the past.
Speaker B:But they're better.
Speaker B:They're a better gun.
Speaker B:We're releasing now at a better price point.
Speaker B:That's gonna be really robust and lasts forever.
Speaker B:And so you're gonna see more of that stuff come out.
Speaker B:And obviously we're a huge fan of Browning.
Speaker B:I mean, you know, it's.
Speaker B: And Colt's still making: Speaker B:You know, the history there is just incredible.
Speaker A: o yeah, I mean a double stack: Speaker B:We have DWX.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But no, it's, we're gonna, you're gonna see some really, really cool stuff and that's.
Speaker B:And you know, like I said.
Speaker B:So we're still about a year and a half into the.
Speaker B:The new product managers coming on and what's cool about that is at this shot show we have new products in every category across our company.
Speaker B:And that's, that's just kind of the taste of what we're going to be doing.
Speaker B:So I don't want people to think we're gonna get rid of all of our cool stuff, but we're.
Speaker B:You're gonna see a lot more, more innovative stuff kind of pushing that envelope that we're gonna come out with.
Speaker C:So, so where can people find you plug all of the socials.
Speaker B:Yeah, so that's, you know, CZ usa.
Speaker B:That's still our, our website and all on all the socials at cz, you know, CZ Firearms.
Speaker B:Anything like that is, is going to be us obviously.
Speaker B:Colt, you want to go colt.com.
Speaker B:And then you know we also we Czub is is our check our check side of things and you can go to their website and see some cool stuff that we have.
Speaker B:Don't get here yet.
Speaker B:Yet.
Speaker B:It's a big thing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I was going to say we also have Dan Wesson, Dan Wesson Firearms.
Speaker B:So on all those socials you kind of type those names and you're going to get some stuff pull up.
Speaker C:Awesome.
Speaker C:Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Speaker C:It's been great.
Speaker A:This was fantastic.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker C:Thank you.
