Riding Shotgun With Charlie

Riding Shotgun With Charlie takes Charlie Cook around the country interviewing people involved with firearms, music, and much more.

RSWC Pit Stop Ursula Williams 07/02/2025

RSWC Pit Stop Bryan Eastridge 06/30/2025

RSWC Pit Stop Philip Van Cleave 06/27/2025

RSWC #232 Mekkos Beech 06/24/2025

RSWC #232 Mekkos Beech Riding Shotgun With Charlie #232 Mekkos Beech Memphis Beech, Instructor & YouTuber I met Mekkos in a YouTube mastermind group hosted by Will Workman (RSWC #185). His YouTube channel is called Memphis Beech. So I asked the obvious question: are you in Memphis? I was scheduling a short southern tour and reached out to Mekkos. I was very lucky to have Mekkos on the show. He’s a great guy, very knowledgeable, and a good tour guide! I’m glad we were able to connect and become friends. We met up at in Memphis and headed down towards Beale Street and ended the show in Arkansas. Mekkos grew up in a military family, including his mother, with relatives in the Marines, Army, and Navy. He joined the Marines but he didn’t grow up shooting but started his training in the military. He was a helicopter electrician and when he got out there weren’t a lot of jobs in aviation. So he found a career in IT doing cyber security for most of the time. He got into competitive shooting, mostly IDPA. He started as an RSO at Top Gun and offers classes there. The classes he offers are just the continuing training that people need. He teaches IDPA classes, but he’s also got classes like Mastering the Pistol and Beyond the Permit. He also has private one on one coaching sessions. He’s got quite the credentials, too, being certified by Massad Ayoob Group, Tom Givens’ Rangemaster, Active Self Protection, Last Resort Firearms Training, as well as the NRA, USCCA, and NAAGA. You can see he’s a smart man. We spent some time talking about Tennessee. It is a permitless carry state but there are still lots of restrictions. They have what they call an “enhanced permit” which allows a permit holder to carry in more places than someone without one. I think he’s got a great take on “Constitutional carry” saying “the state establishes the Second Amendment as their carry permit.” Therefore the state cannot control where you can and cannot go while you’re carrying. His definition of permitless carry is as long as you can legally buy a gun and carry it, but there are rules and addendums you have to follow. The issue for permitless carry states is that you, as the citizen, still have to know what their laws are about where you can carry and even use force. This is why it is good to take some additional training. After studying defensive gun uses, he discovered that many of the skills used in the DGUs are not skills that people are getting at the permitting courses. Again, it is why those who carry should seek out additional training, take more classes, and read books about self defense. This is why when a state goes to permitless carry, training increases. When the government says you have to take a course and that’s all you need to know, that is often where people stop taking training. When he started his YouTube channel, it was to focus on the competition side of things. He was going to show viewers how to go through various stages and help with their competitive shooting issues. But there was a holster review that took off and got tens of thousands of views. Some of the other topics include working with students who have a fear of firearms. Sometimes, the instructor doesn’t know the student had a situation where they were affected by someone else using a firearm or if a woman is a DV survivor. I bring up a course I’d like to make and he helps guide me through what it should have. One of the reasons I wanted to start a show is to expand my circle of friends. My circle went to Will Workman, which led to his mastermind, which led to Mekkos. I’m honored he was able to make time to do the show, that we became friends, and that he shared his wisdom with us. Favorite quotes: “In Constitutional Carry, the state establishes the Second Amendment as their carry permit.” “It takes a little bit of emotional intelligence to keep people on track to remember the information from the first six hours.” “I have a huge passion for shooting. I have a huge passion for the pistol sports. I want to share that passion with others.” “I think of IDPA as a game. I think of USPSA as a sport.” Memphis Beech YouTube Facebook Instagram EDC: Every Day Conversations Podcast Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/37131925

RSWC Pit Stop Mike Ox 06/13/2025

RSWC Pit Stop Jacob Paulson 06/11/2025

RSWC 230 Ryan Muller 06/10/2025

RSWC 230 Ryan Muller Riding Shotgun With Charlie #231 Ryan Muller Competitive Shooter I’ve had a few chances to meet Ryan Muller. He’s the husband of Dianna Muller from Women for Gun Rights. He’s a great shooter on his own. When I got to NRA AM in Atlanta, Di called me and said I needed to do a show with Ryan since I had a car and we were both there. I picked him up at the aquarium and we drove around the ATL. When a friend set them up, they really hit it off. She took him to a competition and he did really well. They’ve had the chance to travel the world as a couple and individually doing competitions. Ryan grew up shooting pellet guns and moved into a Ruger 10/22 when he turned 13. He said living in a rural area, he got to shoot just about everything a boy would want to shoot. He was athletic and played sports, but never went to a range until Di took him to one. On his first match, she made him shoot first. They rotated the line up and he would go last the next time. This worked to his advantage as the first stage was stationary and used pistols. He was hooked after that. WIthin a few years, he was on the pro series for 3-Gun Nation. They spent the next 10 years as full time competitive shooters. While out there shooting, he’s done well. But he would pick up what others would tell him and apply those techniques and tips. It gave him the opportunity to shoot with some of the big name competitive shooters like Jerry Miculek, Bruce Piatt, and Tony Holmes. The wonderful thing about being around these shooters is they are willing to help you. They’ve got 40 years of experience doing it and figuring out why they do particular things while shooting. T\\hey’ll tell you what their plans are, what they saw while shooting a stage, and how they can improve. Ryan emphasises that as a sponsored and competitive shooter, you’ve got to build relationships with companies before you can ask them to get behind you. A lot of what companies are looking for is not that you’re winning, but that you’re out there doing social media, being approachable by others, and helping them sell products. Yes, it’s good when you win, but it’s better if you’re helping the company by getting their items into other people’s hands. A few years ago, Ryan had a motorcycle accident in his own driveway. He landed and really messed up his back. He was in the hospital for a month. When he was out, he couldn’t get around without a wheelchair, working his way to a walker and crutches. With the strong relationship he’s built with companies, they wanted to see that he was recovering well and doing better. He has been able to get back to some competitions despite the injury. At one event, he was above 66 other competitors but not close to the top. He also talks about W.O.F.T, West Orlando Firearm Training, sometimes called Where Our Family Trains. They offer training like no other place with scenario training for everyone, including Miculek. I do ask if it's “fair" that a competitive shooter carries. Ryan replies saying that the bad guy is the one who determines when things happen, our reaction times are going to be the same as a regular person. But with their training, everything else is going to be quicker and smoother. Which is why we all need more training and more practice. We talked about how the people and companies in the firearm community really want to see each other succeed and do well. From getting tips from Miculek to keeping sponsor deals after an injury, it’s really a testament to the kinds of people we have in our industry.. Favorite quotes: “Its just shooting out the back of a truck, it’s what I grew up doing.” “I got to learn and pick up on 30, 40 years of experience that I didn’t have to spend the time and ammo to get.” “We are going to give everybody that is our competition the best chance we can to give them to succeed. And I don’t think you see that in other sports.” “You’re going to point shoot in one of those situations.” Facebook Instagram Women for Gun Rights Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/36935330

RSWC Pit Stop Lisa Paris 06/09/2025

RSWC Pit Stop Brandon Maddox 06/06/2025

RSWC Pit Stop Hickok45 06/04/2025

RSWC Pit Stop Alex Shay 06/02/2025

RSWC #230 Denise Arcieri 05/27/2025

RSWC #230 Denise Arcieri Riding Shotgun With Charlie #230 Denise Arcieri Armed Princess I connected with Denise Arcieri through Yehuda Remer, The Pew Pew Jew (RSWC #012) a few years ago. We talked about doing a show but when I reached out recently, she said she had some exciting news and this was a perfect time! She works at in Whitinsville, MA. They make their own fixed magazine ARs, which are Mass legal. They did a special run of them with her Armed Princess logo! And we spent some time and got a few photos of those in the show. Denise grew up in a pro gun family and used to shoot with her father. Then her kids started shooting with her father. He encouraged her to come to a women's event and give it a try again. She found out that she was good at it and she enjoyed it. The instructor saw that she was competent and familiar and asked her to help run the line. She saw that some women were more responsive to her than to the male instructors. One of the women there was a DV survivor. She really attached herself to Denise that evening. That’s when Denise decided that she was going to get more involved. She’s also a DV survivor. When she was younger, she was in an abusive relationship. After incidents, she would call the police and they really didn’t do anything back then other than say things like "“let him cool off” or “he’ll be fine tomorrow” or “he’s not here now and there’s nothing we can do”. Even after she was fully out of this relationship, her ex and his family members would pop up in her life. Maybe run into her at the store. Or see her around town. There were late night phone calls from her ex, too. After becoming an instructor, she started working with more women and has been a great resource at Pioneer Arms. Due to her day job, she was apprehensive about posting pictures of her shooting. But once she started instructing and posting about upcoming courses, the ex’s family stopped running into her. She stopped getting calls. She was able to get her life back together and move on. This has also been inspiring to other women that she was teaching. Building an online presence wasn’t really something she was looking to do, but it has worked in her favor. Denise has been connecting with many other 2A influencers on “the ‘Gram” and building her audience. She connected with the folks at . She is one of their brand ambassadors.They gave her the title “Armed Princess” and she graciously accepted it and ran with it. I did get to Pioneer Arms to get some pictures of her logoed AR lowers. You’ll see those in the video. For Mass residents, they do have fixed magazines, both as short 10 round mags and long 10 round mags. You can also get a speedloader for this or any AR style rifle. If you’re in “free America”, you can also order a lower and they can ship it to your local FFL. The hard part about life is those learning lessons and years. Fortunately, Denise has taken what were some bad years and turned them into something that’s not just good for her and her life, but good for other women, too. With the perspective of being the Armed Princess, she can help other women learn to shoot, become familiar with firearms, and maybe give them the skills and confidence that they need to get out of their situation. That can lead to these women helping others. And so on. And so on. Favorite quotes: “Why did I stop doing this? I love this.” “When you’re coming out of one of those situations, sometimes don’t believe your own life is worth protecting.” “The idea of a gun to protect myself didn’t enter my mind, even though it had been in my life.” “Given that we live in an area where you drive three hours and go through three states, that they would recognize each other’s licenses.” “...told me she had been to three gun shops previously and walked out of every one because she didn’t feel comfortable.” Armed Princess Instagram Armed Princess Facebook Pioneer Arms LLC Pioneer Arms LLC Facebook Pioneer Arms LLC Instagram Greyman Solutions Use Princess15 for free shipping Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/36721110

RSWC #229 John Turrell 05/13/2025

RSWC #229 John Turrell Riding Shotgun With Charlie #229 John Turrell Armed Lifestyle Magazine There are some nice perks about going to SHOT Show as media and having more than one media gig. After I was asked to write for Armed Lifestyle Magazine, I got to meet the other contributors at SHOT. One of the ALM writers is John Turrell. John, as you’ll hear, is from England. This is my second international passenger! I’m glad we were able to connect with a crazy busy SHOT schedule. Not just mine, he keeps busy in Vegas, too. And not with the night life. With writing! He and his team put out daily reviews from SHOT. Like many folks, John started shooting as a young child, around 10 years old, with his father. He’s worked his way up to competitive shooting in UKPSA and IPSC. UKPSA is the United Kingdom Practical Shooting Association. He enjoys shooting pistols competitively and even went up against Jerry Miculek, who got him into shooting revolvers. He is currently the sales manager at a gun range, where he offers a shooting experience for new folks. The hopes are to turn them into licensed individuals who get into firearms and shooting. The range is unique particularly in the UK.They have an indoor range with turning targets. With the range shooting experience, people can get a safety briefing, how to shoot session, then fire 50 rounds, ending with a little fun competition with turning targets. The range is very much like an indoor range here in the US. In 1996, there was a mass shooting. The government decided that it was time to ban all pistols from the “subjects”. There are several limitations…ahem…infringements. The barrel length must be 12 inches long and the overall length has to be at least 24 inches. That sounds like a rifle to me rather than a pistol. Obviously, that makes it hard to carry on one’s body, which the government doesn’t want them to do. To get a license in the UK, you have to attend a class, join a range, then you have a probationary period of at least three months. Then you apply to your local country police force for the license, with the usual background check and references. Of course, you’re not guaranteed to get the license either. If all goes well, you get a certificate. There are two types of certificates. The section one certificate is for centerfire rifles and long barreled pistols and shotguns with a more than three round capacity. The type of action doesn’t matter, just the capacity. The section two license is for shotguns which hold two rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. Despite the limitations, John enjoys having to do all the reloading. Seeing some Mossberg’s at SHOT, he’d really love to have a 590, but due to the barrel length, he wouldn’t be able to get home. We also talk about suppressors. As I’ve learned the original name was a silencer, but in the UK, they call them moderators. First, in order to purchase one, it has to be on your license that you can have them. To have it added to your license, it’s only about $25. At the gun store, you tell them which one you’d like, then add the serial number to the license, you pay for it, and then go home with it. Boom. Easy! The main reason these are legal is for hearing protection. There is a possibility that the moderators will become an item that they don’t keep track of on your license. However, if you buy one for your air rifle, no license information is required. He says it could be possible that it gets as easy as going to the store to buy groceries and then picking up a moderator like it's any other item. Very different than it is here. I really enjoyed getting to know John better. He’s a great guy with a lot of knowledge. While at SHOT, he and his team crank out daily reports of the guns and gear they see.So he’s there truly for work and not necessarily pleasure. It was great to learn the difference in our gun cultures between the UK and the US. Please keep an eye out in the free online resource of Armed Lifestyle Magazine for John’s writings and reviews. Favorite quotes: “The government at the time, then banned all pistols.” “The current laws state that the barrel must be at least 12 inches long and the overall length of the pistol has to be 24 inches.” “Suppressors have to be on your license.” “We call them moderators in the UK.” Armed Lifestyle Magazine website Armed Lifestyle Magazine Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thearmedlifestylemagazine/ Armed Lifestyle Magazine Instagram https://www.instagram.com/armedlifestyle/ Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/36546235

RSWC #228 Jay Grazio 04/22/2025

RSWC #228 Jay Grazio Riding Shotgun With Charlie #228 Jay Grazio Executive Editor, Shooting Illustrated I was down in Fairfax, VA, filming shows with the NRA staff. One of the folks who I had lunch with was Jay Grazio. He’s originally from Massachusetts, a funny guy, and we hit it off well. So we filmed a show! One of the perks of his position is that he gets to train. When we did the show, he’d recently visited in Arizona. It also sounds like the NRA has the employees do training together, which he says he did with one of the other staff members. As a Bay Stater, it’s hard to be a gun person, with all the limitations (infringements) and laws (more infringements) that we have. As much as he loved growing up in small town New England, it wasn’t good as a gun activist and writer. When he took the position at Shooting Illustrated, he made the move to free America in Virginia. At a young age, the shooting bug hit him. His father was a Mass State Police police officer and his grandfather was a town police officer. Firearms were always around and safety was emphasised by the elders. Guns were tools to the family. His grandfather would tell him stories of when he was young and owned a diner. During the Depression, often people would settle up with bills and exchange meals for firearms. This makes the history of firearms a big interest for Jay. One prized possession is his grandfather’s Colt revolver that he carried, which was made in the 1930’s. Another is a 1911 from 1917, which still fires without any issues, just like it did over 100 years ago. Always one to look for a good gun story, Jay would help friends in need by offering to buy guns from friends and when they could pay him back, he’d give the gun back. But there was one Colt Python that he wasn’t able to come up with the money for and it got away from him. He also had to pass on a fully, lawfully transferable M16 that was only $10,000 back then. He has a degree in biology and a master’s degree in biochemistry, so of course he became an editor. In the early days, Jay was involved in lots of blogging on various websites and topics. He used to argue over politics online, like many of us still do. Then a friend had him write as the resident “gun guy”. He started his own blog about firearms by reviewing LaserLyte products, which he saw in an American Rifleman magazine. That led to more and more reviews and products. Things just kept rolling from there. Since then he’s written for Shooting Illustrated, Recoil, and Western Shooting Journal. When there was an opening at Shooting Illustrated, he was encouraged to apply. He took the chance and it worked out. Getting a degree and masters with a biology and sciences background, he understood writing, working on thesis, and meeting deadlines. Having some experience in sales marketing and websites came in handy, too. All transferable skills as he admits. At a previous job, Jay shares what's really a typical story for a gun owner in “occupied territory.” One colleague, who was an avid hunter, kept a knife in his truck in case there was an incident. This person wasn’t a fan of ARs. He thanked Jay on his last day at the job for not causing an incident when he left. This is a display that not all gun owners are created equally. It was OK for the man to have a “military grade sniper rifle”, but not acceptable, to him, for someone else to own an AR. Hypocrisy has no bounds. Jay was a great guy to spend time with! He’s a great story teller. His position gives him exposure to all sorts of training, gear, and personalities in the gun community. This was a fun interview and I hope y’all enjoy it. You can check out Shooting Illustrated from or the link below, or NRA’s website, and read all of Jay’s articles and the work he does. Favorite quotes: “Massachusetts is the birthplace, and graveyard, of liberty.” “It’s a way of connecting with the past in a manner that you can use it the way it was intended.” “Massachusetts doesn’t make it easy to be a Second Amendment advocate.” ”Guns are not good, guns are not evil. Guns are chunks of metal.” Shooting Illustrated National Rifle Association Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/36261145

RSWC #227 Jonathan Goldstein 03/18/2025

RSWC #227 Jonathan Goldstein Riding Shotgun With Charlie #227 Jonathan Goldstein NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate This is a small first, but a first nonetheless. Jonathan Goldstein flew up from Philadelphia to Boston just to film a show with me! Yes, I’m beyond honored! He’s also working that hard to get elected for the NRA Board of Directors. And in his home state of Pennsylvania for their gun owners. It’s always fun to meet someone new and widen my circle of friends. I picked up Jonathan at the airport and we drove for a bit to get to know each other. We kick things off quickly and jump in deep, talking about Bruen, open carry v concealed, and why some laws aren’t conducive to logic. He’s got a great line, borrowed from Chris Conte from the NRA ILA, about “New Jersey being the North Korea of gun ownership.” I knew things were going to be fun after that. Jonathan didn’t really grow up as a gun guy. He owned IT businesses and sold them before going to law school. Besides that, he was a newlywed and applied for law school, and was on the ballot for the state legislature. After not liking the big law firm, he got together with some other friends and started outsourcing legal work to India. But as he says everyone “hates outsourcing, but they hate lawyers more.” Back in 1994, the gun laws were being redone in the Pa. There were lots of folks against it and he wanted to see what they were against. Each of the towns and cities were supposed to have the same laws. But they decided they were going to have different classes of cities, and thus, Philly was in its own class. Therefore, having its own laws that the rest of the state didn’t have. He started thinking about why the politicians were so set against lawful gun ownership. That piqued his interest and that’s when he became a gun owner. He got a permit, bought a snub revolver, got into shotguns and bird hunting and found a new passion. Around the time Heller was going on in 2008, he was getting more involved in getting cases and getting noticed by the NRA. This is where he became friends with Chris Conte at NRA ILA. In 2011, he was awarded the Defender of Justice by NRA ILA. He also helped raise money for the NRA. On the radar of the NRA, he ends up on a couple committees, one for the legal affairs and one for the non-traditional gun owner, those of racial and sexual minorities. With enough trust, he was placed on the nominating committee. That’s when he started seeing that things were not necessarily going so well. That’s when he started seeing that some BOD members weren’t there for wholesome reasons. He saw that they weren’t all rowing in the same direction. Some of the folks haven’t seen that the old tactics aren’t working, haven’t been, and don’t want to change. We got into it a bit more of course. He’s very passionate about the NRA and what is going on and what needs to be changed. I really enjoyed the conversation with Jonathan and I look forward to seeing him in Atlanta in April. This wraps up the five interviews I’ve done with the NRA 2.0 Candidates running on the reform ticket. I’ve had another five or so on the show over the years. I’m voting for all 28 of the “Reformers”. I enjoyed the conversations with them all. As with the NRA staff that I’ve had on the show, I can see the passion for the NRA and our rights that they have and they’re fighting for. These 28 candidates know that the NRA didn’t earn the respect of the members, their funds, and their support. I do have faith in them and what they plan on doing to resurrect the NRA from what has been going on. I have confidence in them and I’m looking forward to the progress for gun owners across the country. While it is too late to become a life member and be able to vote, it’s not too late to vote for those who haven’t yet. Ballots were sent out in the February magazines and have to be received by April 6, 2025. Favorite quotes: “The goal is to frustrate the gun owner.” “The modality that works best today is concealed carry. Not open carry.” “The fact that I carry a gun keeps you safer. You’re welcome.” “What do these politicians intend to do to me that my ownership of firearms is a threat to them.” “NRA is back on the map. We’re clean. We’re well run. We deserve to get out seat at the table back.” Elect A New NRA Website Goldstein Law Partners Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/35740105

RSWC #226 Jim Wallace 03/11/2025

RSWC #226 Jim Wallace Riding Shotgun With Charlie #226 Jim Wallace NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate GOAL, Executive Director I’ve known Jim Wallace and Gun Owners Action League as long as I’ve been a gun owner. I took a class with GOAL in 2002 before I even owned a gun. I became an instructor though GOAL, volunteered teaching with them, and even sat in their booth at the local outdoor expo. Having Jim on the show was a long time coming. And since he’s an NRA 2.0 candidate, now was the perfect time. Jim was a letter carrier with the postal system when he joined the Georgetown Fish & Game Club. He got involved in the League of Essex County Sportsmen’s Club. After doing some searching around, he found out that the people doing the licensing for hunting and fishing were going to be online and it was going to be most costly. At the time, he wasn’t much of a speaker or activist, he was just looking to see where the money was going and why it was going up. This got the attention of the folks at Gun Owners Action League. They invited him to the office to see what he found, and they figured if he could do this while maintaining a full-time job, they could pay him and he could find out more. Back in the day, Jim spent a lot of time in the Mass State House on Beacon Hill. He was able to spend his days there just talking with the state reps and senators. They often had questions for him about upcoming bills and legislation. He was able to educate and inform them about how this was going to affect hunters, fishers, and shooters. Jim and GOAL have faced so many issues over the years in the anti-gun commonwealth of Massachusetts. We talked about the 1994 AWB and what happened in 2004 when Governor Romney signed what he thought was going to be an improvement to the Mass gun laws, but ended up being a lot of gun control. Sometimes gun owners accept some bad laws to get some better laws that can, and should, be changed later. We cover a lot about the Gun Law Listening Tour of 2023 and how that was a sham hosted by the anti-gun politicians. I covered many of those events on News2A.com. After the tour and before the bill dropped, the main “writer” of the bill was visited by Gabby Giffords. I assumed that she gave the representative a hefty check and the legislation she wanted passed because when addressed about the contents of the bill, the Rep didn’t know what was in the bill. We also got into the NRA stuff, covering how the board has been changing for the positive with new people and new blood. Wallace also brings up that NY AG Letitia James could be the person credited with saving the NRA by going after the association. As with all the episodes with the NRA 2.0 candidates, I want to emphasize that the 28 candidates running as the reformers need to be elected as a whole if we want to see changes to the NRA BOD. The ballots were sent out in the February NRA magazine issues and need to be in by April 6, 2025. The only members who can vote have to be a dues paying member for 5 years in a row or have a life membership. I went up to where Jim lives to record the episode. He lives on the very North Shore of Boston. We got to drive through his hometown area, see some of the scenery of those who live by the ocean, and where he used to hunt, and still lives an active outdoorsmen lifestyle. Favorite quotes: “I just dug because something didn’t look right.” “As a result, I had weekly meetings with his Chief of Staff until he left office.” “They didn’t care about input. They already had the bill written.” “We didn’t turn that bill 180 but we certainly turned it 175 degrees.” “There’s a little bit of education that’s going to have to happen with new people being on the board and how things work. But I think we’re heading in the right direction.” Elect A New NRA Website Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/35621210

RSWC #225 Charlie Hiltunen 03/04/2025

RSWC #225 Charlie Hiltunen Riding Shotgun With Charlie #225 Charlie Hiltunen III NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate Here’s another great interview with one of the NRA Board of Director members and NRA 2.0 Reform Candidate, Charlie Hiltunen III. At the Great American Outdoor Show, I got to meet several of the NRA 2.0 Candidates and set up to film some shows with a few of them. He had some commitments on the morning we filmed and asked if I could get him back so he was able to get to the airport. I told him I could do him one better and take him there. Currently, he’s finishing his first term on the board. Hiltunen was born and raised in Indiana. He grew up shooting and hunting as part of the midwest family life. He grew up in a time where high schoolers would bring a .22 rifle to school to hunt on the way home. This was a tradition with his father and he wanted to pass it along to his own children. When his kids were old enough, he was instructing and coaching them in the Scholastic Clay Target Program and Scholastic Action Program. With all the coaching and working with young people, he thinks he got more from it than they did. His career was as an attorney working with government affairs, lobbying, and politics. When the traditions he shared as a son and father were at risk, he got more involved in activism. Part of this journey got him involved with the Indiana State Rifle and Pistol Association. The “family bond in the 2A community became even stronger.” As an instructor and coach and president of ISRPA, he was asked if he wanted to be a candidate for the NRA BOD. While on a hiking trip in Michigan, he got the message about the offer. When he asked when they needed a bio, they said right away! With his experience as an attorney, lobbyist, and as the president of a state association, it was a great fit! One of his personal goals is to reconnect the NRA with its members, new and old. The messaging from the BOD members I’ve talked to have all been the same. They want to increase members which will bring back some political clout. They want to focus on safety training, education, and competitions. The board is working more with each other to make the improvements they see fit. They all want to make sure the association stays around for another 150 years. But they do know that getting the message out is going to be a challenge. Part of the conversation is about permitless carry and training. When Indiana went to permitless carry, there were more people who wanted to get training. Of course, it's needed for responsible gun owners. The need for those without permits is different from a regular licensing course. When the state requires training for a carry permit, that’s often the only thing people take. But when they don’t need a license, they have more practical needs for shooting and training. We talk about training the women being the largest growing demographic of gun owners. He brought up fellow board member Rick Ector and the event he does in Detroit every year. It is important to get new people to try shooting so that they get that shooting is fun and training and safety are important for everyone. It is important to vote for all 28 of the Reform Candidates. In the past, people have encouraged “bullet voting” to try and get a message to the board. That method raises only a few candidates and pushes the others down. But this slate of candidates is going to work together to make the changes they think are needed. With more of the reformers on the board, there will be less of the “old guard” who had allegiance to the former EVP. Ballots were sent out in the February issues of the NRA magazines. They’re due on April 6, 2025. It was great to get to know Charlie more during this conversation. I’m looking forward to seeing what the reformers will do and hoping the changes they make will be positive changes for the association. Favorite quotes: “There’s so many great people on the board of directors.” “Change is difficult for any organization.” “The NRA is not an organization, it’s an organism.” “If you forget your history, you’re going to lose your future.” Elect A New NRA Website Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/35522865

RSWC #224 Philip Gray 02/25/2025

RSWC #224 Philip Gray Riding Shotgun With Charlie #224 Philip Gray NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate It was a busy weekend at the Great American Outdoor Show earlier this month. I was able to film three episodes with NRA Board of Director candidates who are on the reform ticket. This is a slate of 28 people who are up to reforming the way the NRA has been conducting business and some of the shenanigans that have been going on. Everyone I talked to was excited about the future of the NRA. One of the passengers I got to spend some time with was Philip Gray. He’s from Ohio and grew up shooting and hunting like so many Americans. It really was an integral part of his youth and family time. Shooting clays is still a treasured time for Philip and his family, which they do on the family farm with the kids and grandkids. His family got a land grant years ago. The family has been there with a farm since the mid-1800’s for five generations. Philip has a lifetime hunting license. I think he said it was like $2 when he got it at eight years old. And he’s been using it since he was young. He started off shooting small game and trapping. He spent 20 years working electric power as an engineer. He’s been involved with the Friends of the NRA program since 1994. Working as a field representative and climbing the ladder at NRA. Half of the funds raised by FNRA stay in the state where the money is raised. The other half helps the NRA’s many other programs. The program grew until they needed to split Ohio up into two groups. Then he was the director of the east central region. His territory was eight states with nine employees. As a field rep, he goes around to ranges and gun stores telling them the benefits of the NRA. They can lead the way with range insurance, training and safety programs, and the Eddie Eagle program. The field rep has lots of volunteers helping get the word out. Since we all have different strengths, it’s good to have a large group of people with lots of different skills. He was responsible for events in six time zones from Maine to Alaska and Hawaii. During his time working as a field rep for NRA, he did the Wall of Guns. I was able to get the mic from a friend who was making the announcements and I tried to get some sales for Wall of Guns. The good news is the Wall of Guns has a cash option should those of us in occupied territory win and it’s not an “approved firearm.” They also take the winner’s information and send the firearm they won to their favorite and local FFL to make the transfer. Not gun show loopholes here! He retired from NRA just before the 2020 virus that shall not be named. Things were changing politically and he decided it was time to get involved a bit more. He got involved with the local Republican party and joined two Senate campaigns. Recently, they voted him as the chairman of the local Republican Party. Talking with his grandson, the boy asked why he is spending so much time and money working on these things. Philip replied "If we don’t, you might not get anything that we have.” We did talk about bullet voting and how that was effective in the past. But this time we need to support 28 reform candidates and vote for all of them. With these 28 people, there will be a majority of reformers and we will see some changes, but it will take time. The NRA is needed and it needs to be strong to face the anti gun crowd. This group of diverse people can and will make it happen. Some of the candidates are lawyers, some have business backgrounds, and others have political minds. I’m going to have a handful more of the NRA BOD reform candidates over the next month. Please be on the lookout for those upcoming shows. And share them with your friends. Favorite quotes: “I had some concerns at the NRA when I left.” “Working with the right people does pay off down the road.” “I think the turnout, the number of people voting, is going to be a record high.” “You should always be learning the job above you.” “Getting the Board changed to a little different direction. And then getting started getting the members back will be the two most important things we do.” Elect A New NRA Website Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/35416980

RSWC Al Hammond, NRA 2.0 Candidate 02/19/2025

RSWC Al Hammond, NRA 2.0 Candidate Riding Shotgun With Charlie #223 Al Hammond NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate I get to travel the country and film RSWC episodes. I take the cameras just about every time I hit the road. Recently, I went down to the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pa. On the eve of the beginning, I went to a Friends of the NRA dinner. There were several of the NRA BOD reform candidates at the dinner. I was able to connect with them and arrange to film shows over the weekend. First I had Al Hammond. He’s one of the newer board members, having only served one three-year term. However, he has worked as NRA staff for 28 years. One of the reasons he ran for the BOD is that he saw things that didn’t sit well for him while he was on staff. He wanted to make some changes and he’s with the 28 who are being billed as the ‘reformers.’ Al was raised in a shooting family in Florida. He’s spent much of his career and life in the agriculture business. Shooting and hunting has always been a part of his life. It’s a cultural thing for him. It’s important to him to be able to pass this on to his children and his grandchildren. Before his career with NRA, he worked for several agriculture companies and was involved in some farm co-ops. He helped conservation groups raise money, and has even testified about conservation. He had a friend who was working for the NRA and they were looking for help with the Friends of the NRA program. Al and others were involved in starting and growing the FNRA program back in 1993. He was the field representative for Florida and that position grew. Over the years, he became the regional director and ultimately, the director of field staff. The main responsibilities for a field representative are raising funds for the NRA and the foundation. Half of the money raised in the state, stays in the state for programs for the youth programs, grants for ranges, training, and the shooting sports. They also end up being a liaison between the NRA HQ and the members in the area. The Florida permit comes up in the conversation. I’m a Utah instructor. I tell him the Utah permit is cheaper than Florida, but he retorts that it’s good for 7 years. Which leads into why we need to have national reciprocity. Let’s hope this can get passed before 2028! It should be possible with 29 states that have Constitutional/permitless carry. It would make things much easier for someone like me who carries on most of my adventures. We talk about how passing this on to future generations is important. He wants to make sure that his grandkids are able to go shooting. I talked about going to the library and getting the Eddie Eagle video on VHS and watching it with my children. It’s important for children to learn firearm safety, not just because you have firearms. But because they could go into the home of a friend who doesn’t keep their guns locked up. There could very easily be an accident if they don’t know the simple Eddie Eagle rules. The whole weekend when I would talk with those on the ballot as reformers, they emphasised that the NRA needs to get back to their roots, which is education, training, and competition. They all talked about gaining back the trust of the members and growing the membership. They want to get past the legal hurdles they’ve gone through with the New York Attorney General and build and expand on the fundamentals of what the NRA was. The number of gun owners vs the number of NRA members is vastly different. Some say there’s 100 million gun owners but only about 4 million NRA members. There can be an NRA member who has family members who align with the same beliefs and even votes like the NRA member. The latter may not be a dues paying member, but they consider themselves as part of the NRA. I’m going to have a handful more of the NRA BOD reform candidates over the next month. Please be on the lookout for those upcoming shows. And share them with your friends. Favorite quotes: “I saw some things that just didn’t sit with me as well as they should have, for the organization.” “We don’t advocate everyone should own a firearm. We advocate they should have the right to choose. And if you choose to own a firearm, we want to make you a responsible firearms owner.” “We were built on education, training, and safety.” “It wasn’t a job for me; it was a lifestyle.” “We believe in what we’re doing.” Elect A New NRA Website Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/35346970

RSWC #222 Ed Monk 02/11/2025

RSWC #222 Ed Monk Riding Shotgun With Charlie #222 Ed Monk Last Resort Firearm Training Ed Monk is a name I’ve heard several times over the years. In October 2024, Matt Mallory and I did a live show with Ed and I was able to talk him into letting me drive him around Boston. Last fall, I had a chance to film a show with him before he was presenting at a conference for law enforcement officers. His area of expertise is analyzing the aftermath of school shootings. As a teacher for over 3 decades, this is a topic that hits home for me. Monk grew up in Arkansas with a family with firearms, mostly for hunting. Around 1999, he connected with Jim Higginbothom who taught Ed that there’s a whole new world with defensive gun fighting and shooting. His training resume is beyond impressive. He’s taken classes at Front Sight, Tactical Defense Institute, and Rangemaster with Tom Givens. He also had training in the Army, where he spent 24 years. He’s been teaching for about 15 years. His brother built a range on the family property. Their range went from 3 pistol bays, to another bay that was covered from the weather. Then his brother became “terminally ill with long range shooting” and added a 480 yard range, too. And they have a 50 yard range that holds 15 people. Just after finishing his time in Iraq, he got a job teaching at a high school, where he taught for 4 years. Going from a profession that only dealt with deadly violence to one that avoids it was a difficult change. During some professional development, he realized that the school was prepared and didn’t know how to prepare for a school shooter. The school’s plan was to gather all the students and put them in one area, thus making it easier for the shooter to hit more targets. With the school's staff not knowing how to prepare and deal with violence, they thought this was an acceptable answer. But Ed knew it wasn’t. That put him on the path to study school shootings and how they’re committed. Ed has done the work and crunched the numbers. He’s realized that it becomes a math problem of sorts. The longer it takes to get someone who is prepared and ready to deal with the shooter, the higher the victim count goes. Locking the doors and hiding under the desks works well every day the shooter doesn’t show up. There are things that can be done. He suggests things like painting the hallways in different colors. Instead of having the art wing, the police can go to the green hallway. Elementary schools can also put barriers up on the playgrounds, ones that can be filled with sand or water. They can even have ballistic tables in the lunchroom. All things that would slow someone down who is committing a heinous crime. When it comes to stopping a shooter, the time it takes to respond matters, and relates to the number of victims. Ed says that schools don’t need everyone to carry but they need some people who are willing to step up and stop the carnage. But that person also needs to be at the school, where the action is taking place. Not several minutes away or even on the other side of the school. We have a treat in this episode. One of my friends, Mark Lindblom, aka The Bay State King of GLOCKS (BSKOG as we call him), calls in with a question for Ed.Mark has been talking to me about Ed and several other trainers. And he turned me on to Ed’s series on the Active Self Protection app. Ed offers classes and seminars all around the country. He can bring his program to your school as well. You can find where he’s teaching and presenting on his Facebook page. If you can get him to come to your district, that would be very beneficial to your community. He also offers training for churches. In August 2025, at his home range, he is hosting Hero’s Conference. You’ll be able to hear from heroes who stopped active shooters. People like Jack Wilson, Greg Stevens, Stephen Willeford, and Pastor David George. Favorite quotes: “Then plopped into a public teaching profession, where we don’t discuss violence at all.” “The locking the doors and hiding under the desks works very, very well the shooter doesn’t show up.” “They like putting stuff in the plans that’s easy to type, that’s easy to drill, that’s not controversial, that doesn’t trigger anybody.” “The longer we let him shoot us, the more of us get shot. Or the sooner we stop him, the fewer of us get shot.” Last Resort Firearms Training Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/35229860

RSWC #221 Mark Oliva 01/28/2025

RSWC #221 Mark Oliva Riding Shotgun With Charlie #221 Mark Oliva NSSF, Managing Director of Public Affairs Heading down to Virginia for a few other shows, I was able to connect with Mark Oliva. He’s been on my radar as a potential passenger for sometime. I met him last year at SHOT. You can’t miss him. He wears a big cowboy hat. Many others do, too. But he has an NSSF badge that says “All Access.” We were able to meet at an “undisclosed location” in Northern Virginia. His job at NSSF takes him into DC regularly. We start off with some Range Day benefits, like Mark being able to figure out what he wants on his Christmas list. Then we cover talking about taking new folks shooting and shopping for their first gun. And why it’s important for ranges to have family friendly facilities and not just a five gallon bucket for a portable bathroom. If we want to get more people into the shooting sports, then we need to make it more comfortable and enjoyable for them. If places aren’t welcoming to women, he calls it the “hey, little lady complex.” He and his wife, a former Marine, went to one of those ranges and his wife outshoot everyone else in the class. Mark was born in New England and went into the Marine Corps right out of high school. He spent 25 years serving the country. He’s lived all around the country while serving. And picked up a drawl living in the Carolinas. He got orders to work on Capitol Hill and then he was offered a position at the NSSF. Summing up one career into the other, he says that he went “from one big gun club to another.” With his current position at NSSF as the Managing Director of Public Affairs, he’s on 24/7. He’s got two phones; a personal and a work phone. When the work phone rings, he has to answer it. Any day. Any time. Because he has to be knowledgeable about everything that’s going on, he says he knows “a lot about a lot of things but it’s hard to drill down and become a subject matter expert.” His job in the military was also in public affairs, so this was an easy transition. He enjoyed talking about the Marines and wanted the same thing in his other career. I do love it when people say the 2A events around the country, SHOT, NRA AM, GRPC, are a family reunion. It is exciting to go to these events, but it’s just as important to see and catch up with friends that we’ve made and the relationships we’ve built. Mark says the folks at the NSSF, no matter what they do, love hunting and shooting and keeping the firearm industry going and thriving. Mark talks about how he doesn’t give any credence to the media who want to take our rights away. So he can and does have to be firm with them. With everything that is going on, he can’t walk blindly into conversations with reporters. When he has these discussions, he’s got to have the facts to refute some of the untruths that reporters throw at him. We talk about how big the industry is, but also about how small it is. He runs into people that are with one company, then move to another company doing the same thing. All these folks, the movers and shakers, know each other. It’s a bit like the six degrees of separation. Or as I’ve heard it called, the Olympic rings of the gun community. I ran into Mark at SHOT last week. He was wearing a cowboy hat. Shocking, I know. He’s all over making sure everyone is getting the things they need and taken care of. SHOT week is really the NSSF’s Super Bowl of the shooting and outdoor industry. Everyone is on the go, on their feet, from sunup to way after sundown. And it’s always a great week! Favorite quotes: “You come out to SHOT Show, you can’t buy anything at the show. But man this is a great place to make a Christmas list.” “It was really easy and natural for me to have that kind of job, so why would I not want to do that in my next career?” “When it comes to the facts, you’ve got to have a good solid knowledge of those facts, and a handle on those facts.” “You’ve seen Justice Thomas repeatedly say that the lower courts are denigrating the Second Amendment to a second class right. And he’s frustrated with it.” NSSF Website NSSF Facebook NSSF Instagram NSSF LinkedIn NSSF YouTube NSSF X Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Dennis McCurdy Author, Speaker, Firewalker Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/35041435

RSWC #220 Matthias Quellenberg 01/14/2025

RSWC #220 Matthias Quellenberg Riding Shotgun With Charlie #220 Matthias Quellenberg San Diego Firearms Academy In 2022, I went to GunProm, hosted by San Diego Gun Owners. It was a huge event with over 750 attendees, the biggest 2A dinner I’ve attended. I was there with John Petrolino and we didn’t really know many folks. We were put at the table with Matthais. We talked all night and exchanged contact info. The next day, he messaged me via Instagram and said he’s seen the show, but didn’t put it together after seeing me. The next week, Petrolinio messages me and says he’s been messaging Matthias. I asked who and he replied “The German.” The name stuck. In 2024, GRPC was held in San Diego, where he lives. We were able to film a show at the end of GRPC. Everyone was talking about “the wall” and I thought it was some sort of Pink Floyd tribute. Alas, it was the border wall. When he asked where we were driving, I replied “the wall.” We had to make sure we didn’t cross into Mexico. I don’t have a passport. He was packing. Matthias grew up in Germany and served in the army. That was his first exposure to shooting and firearms. If it was a choice and an option for the citizens, he would have been a gun owner. But it’s very elitist in Germany. The first gun he got to shoot was a Walther P1, the predecessor to the P38. He did boot camp, specialized training, then some office work, and ended up in the Ministry of Defense, similar to the Pentagon here. Then he became a boot camp instructor. He met an American woman and they had a long distance relationship. Eventually, he made it to Boston. After they got married, he was able to get a green card and he applied for a License To Carry right away. They moved to California and settled in San Francisco. He found out there were only 2 carry permits issued in the city when he got there. In the same time, Fresno County issued over 6,000 permits. Then life brought them to San Diego. Doing some research, he found out you needed to list your guns and serial numbers on your license and you could only have three guns on that carry license. He looked for an attorney who may want to pursue suing the state about this and ended up talking with the lawyers from the Peruta case. The lawyers thought they may be able to pair the cases, but it didn’t fit their strategy. Back in 2020 while he was Ubering, he would talk with his riders and gun owning came up. They were looking for guidance and opinions. Realizing that there could be a market, he became an NRA certified instructor and started San Diego Firearms School. We got into talking about teaching gun classes. He teaches a couple classes a month. The next step for him is to get certified by the sheriff’s department to be an instructor. In California, you have to take a short test to get the firearm safety certificate, which you need to purchase a firearm. Then you have to do a shooting qualification to be able to take the 16 hour course needed for the CCW permit. Matthais won tickets to the GunProm back in 2022. That’s when he started to see that there are so many more people involved in firearms and the bigger gun community in general. He’s good friends with Desi Bergman (RSWC #217) and they both do lots for San Diego County Gun Owners. He even presented for one of their seminars. I had a great time with Matthais. He’s a great guy and he’s out there busting his tail to make things happen. He’s very active on Instagram, so follow him. If you end up in San Diego, get an Uber driver with a German accent, and his good dog, Lucky, there’s a good chance it’s Matthias! Favorite quotes: “We don’t have gun rights. Guns is not a thing in Germany.” “Within a week of me getting a greencard, I got my first gun and I applied for a License To Carry.” “At the time, you can only have three guns on your license.” “So many people were asking me questions and looking for help and guidance.” San Diego Firearms School Website San Diego Firearms School Instagram San Diego County Gun Owners Gun Owners Radio Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Dennis McCurdy Author, Speaker, Firewalker Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/34846060

RSWC #219 Liz Bush 12/24/2024

RSWC #219 Liz Bush Riding Shotgun With Charlie #219 Liz Bush Deputy Executive Director, NRA General Operations I had a chance to film some shows with the NRA staff at the NRA HQ in Fairfax, VA. With time in my schedule, I asked a friend on the BOD who else I could have. She suggested Liz Bush. I wasn’t familiar with her name, but she’s got her hands on many things going on at NRA. It was great to have some time with her. I was in need of some NRA teaching materials, but wasn’t able to get those from HQ on this trip. They come from a warehouse somewhere else. Liz’s position at NRA is the Deputy Executive Director of General Operations. It covers everything that isn’t political. She works with everything from Community Engagement Departments to Women On Target to Friends of the NRA. She tends to the community outreach, clubs and range associations, education and training, law enforcement training division, competitive shooting, NRA Museum, the NRA range, shows and exhibits department, and even the Eddie Eagle program. Like she said, everything but politics! She may have donned the Eagle costume once. But there was a height requirement. Growing up, her family had a number of firearms and her father was into shooting where she grew up in south New Jersey. Eventually she and her husband moved to the DC metro area. She went into marketing and worked retail but didn’t enjoy it. Her father suggested applying for a job at NRA. But when she got a job at NRA is when she really got into learning about firearms and shooting. She did go through much of the NRA Training Programs. And when there are changes within the programs, she gets to be part of the test case. She’s gotten really good at trap shooting and often her husband won’t go shooting with her. Doing a project with Mark Keefe (RSWC #216), Liz found she really likes the GLOCK 19. She talked her mother into buying one, too! There’s a lot more programs than I know or even realize that the NRA offers. There’s a Youth Hunter Education Challenge. It’s the next level after a regular hunter ed course.There’s eight levels for challenge. This program has between 40-50 courses and reaches about 4,000 students. The NRA Day program is a mixed bag of all the disciplines for new shooters and gun owners. It’s like an open house for shooting. The clubs that host NRA Day have the flexibility to design the program to what they’d like to offer participants. The Women On Target hosts nearly 100 events a year and reaches 4,000-5,000 women each year. The Range Services department helps ranges and range owners who are looking to start or improve their ranges. One of the programs is the Friends of the NRA. I’ve been to a few of these around the country. The great thing about them is not just hanging out with like minded people and having something in common. The funds raised are split between the NRA and the state where the money is raised in the form of grants. Over the years with NRA, Liz has been moving through different departments and different areas. It’s fantastic to see that one job can lead to several different positions and cover lots of various aspects of keeping the organization going. The people that work at NRA HQ genuinely enjoy working for them and doing what they do. They’re there to support it’s members and get the word out about shooting, gun ownership, and the benefits it brings. We did talk about Phil Schreier (RSWC #182) the NRA Museum. Phil is a celebrity due to all his appearances on the History Channel and Outdoor Channel programs. And I need to find some time to get back down to take in the museum and all it has to offer. Maybe I’ll get some other folks from the NRA to hop in the stagecoach! Favorite quotes: “We really focus on the programs, any touch points with the members. Anything that gets them pulling triggers.” “It says a lot about for the people and the community and camaraderie that we have as employees at NRA.” “Eddie Eagle is probably one our most successful programs, reaches millions of kids a year.” “Sporting clays is fun, it’s like a round of golf but for shooters.” “We’re one big team and over the years learned what everyone else is doing.” National Rifle Association NRA Explore/NRA Programs NRA Facebook NRA Instagram Friends of the NRA Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Dennis McCurdy Author, Speaker, Firewalker Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/34599130

RSWC #218 Jacek Waliszewski 12/10/2024

RSWC #218 Jacek Waliszewski Riding Shotgun With Charlie #218 Jacek Waliszewki Code Name: Spike, Author Sometimes the planets all line up for me. I was in Knoxville, TN, for the Gun Owners of America’s G.O.A.L.S event. I was talking with Kirk Whatley from Samson Mfg. Kirk has been a friend for a long time. He was RSWC #005 back when I was learning how to edit video. Samson’s booth was across from Liberty Mfg’s booth. They have a pen gun. And at their booth was Jacek Waliszewski, author of Code Name: Spike. Jacek was born in Poland but he was raised in a revolution. His father co-founded the Solidarity Movement there and they kicked communism out of Poland. As an infant, his mother would put propaganda papers in his diapers that he would take to his father while he was locked up. It all had to be done before he soiled the diaper! He was muling documents for his father to read and sign. The family eventually came to the United States as political refugees during the Reagan years. After moving around the country with his father’s job, Jacek joined the Army and went into Special Forces. He spent 20 years serving the country and he’s working on his second career and spending time with his own family. His second career finds him as a writer. He’s authored a book called Code Name: Spike. He was at the Liberty Mfg booth promoting his book because Liberty has a pen gun. And a story in his book involves the first real life use of a pen gun. Going from Special Forces medic to Special Forces warrant officer, he got to spend time in the Nation Archives. Near George Washington’s flag and maps from Normandy, still with sand in them, he finds a leather bound book. The book was written by two men in the Office of Strategic Services back in 1946. The CIA didn’t declassify the documents until the 1980’s. He wondered how this memoir existed and no one knew about it. When they tried to publish it in 1946, the CIA and the State Department refused to let them release these secrets into the public. Jacek spent five years researching and working on this book. He cross referenced their Morse code messages. It even took him to England, where he found their secret Morse code messages. After chasing the background around the world, the Department of Defense finally cleared everything for the publication of the book. One of the truly amazing things he did was reach out to the surviving family members of Steven Bizic & Joseph S. Kosky to let them know about the history of their fathers and grandfathers. That involved hundreds of calls and emails to find everyone. The family members didn’t know these stories because they were super secret. And it was a time when men didn’t talk about what they did during war. He had a chance to bring their lives full circle with this book. It’s amazing that he discovered the things that formed Special Operations.The OSS was the foundation of many of the other groups like Spec Ops and CIA. The stories could also change the history of the communists. There’s stories about how they would confiscate firearms from people, who would hand them over, because they think they’re doing the right thing. Then they immediately found out that the partisans were the judge, jury, and executioner. The people who surrendered their guns would then be shot with their own firearms as punishment. In another chapter, he talks about how the OSS were able to derail a train which ended up taking the lives of 200 Nazis. This book reads like a novel. But a true history book that will keep you riveted and reading. To top it off, his next book is going to be how the same group of OSS were plotting to take out Mussolini. Somewhere, someone has Mussolini’s pistol. Favorite quotes: “I like to say I was born into revolution.” “It’s the first Special Operations memoir written after the war.” “This book reveals all the things we did wrong in the war.” “To give back to the Special Operations community, this is the legacy book.” “It’s more disturbing to know that it’s true.” Stories By Jack website Jacek Waliszewski on Instagram Liberty Mfg Code Name: Spike on Amazon Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Dennis McCurdy Author, Speaker, Firewalker Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/34359165

RSWC #217 Desi Bergman 11/26/2024

RSWC #217 Desi Bergman Riding Shotgun With Charlie #217 Desi Bergman Not Me SD I met Desi Bergman at GunProm held by San Diego County Gun Owners back in June of 2022. I met a lot of people that weekend. I may have been “over self-served.” But at Gun Rights Policy Conference in 2024, we got to meet again. And I’ll remember it this time. (Gulp!) I always plan on filming shows while I’m on a trip, and GPRC 2024 was no different. But I had to make changes to my plans. Desi and I caught up on the Friday evening social. I asked if she was interested in doing the show and she agreed to it. We headed to Coronado Island and got a selfie at Dog Beach. As a young child, guns were always around for her and her family. Her grandparents owned a farm in central California. While her dad was out checking the property, she was the girl who was shooting at rabbits from the truck with a BB gun. Her father was a sheriff reserve and taught the kids to respect firearms, how to be safe, and how to shoot. One of her prized possessions is her father’s Colt Python. When her mother inquires about it, she keeps telling her it's in for repair. Having been in San Diego for 13 years, she discovered San Diego County Gun Owners about five years ago. I had Michael Schwartz from SDCGO on episode #153. Desi & Michael met at a BBQ for SDCGO. He was telling her about Not Me SD and how he was trying to get it up and going. She loved the idea and got involved in volunteering to learn more about it. When the virus that shall not be named hit,they needed someone to be more involved. She stepped up and took on the part-time role. There were some instructing certifications she needed and earned. Having them gives her more credentials for converting women to gun ownership. Not Me SD is a program for women who are survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. The program takes the women all through the process to get a CCW in California. They have scholarships for those in need. They teach the women all aspects of self defense, from situational awareness, pepper spray, and firearms. Since 2020, females are the largest growing demographic of firearms owners and those who are seeking out training. Not Me is a huge resource for women who want help. They have regular and monthly get-togethers for training and shooting socials, as they call them. This pairs women up with instructors. We do talk about the process to get a permit in The Golden State. There’s a quick and easy 30 question test to get the firearm safety card, which is step one. We did talk about what makes a good first gun for a woman. Of course there is no “correct” answer, but it was fun to talk about. Desi used a term about GLOCK that I hadn’t heard before. She called it the “Honda of the gun world.” Ya know, she’s not wrong. We also talked about the SIG P365 getting added to the CA roster and using red dots. One of the amazing success stories from Not Me SD is of a woman who was shot in the neck twice by her ex-husband. Not only did she survive the incident but she got into firearms and self protection, she enjoyed learning and turned into a survivor. A big step for DV survivors is actually hearing the gun being fired. Her program has reached over 1,300 women. Everytime she is on a local TV show, she has more and more people reaching out to get training and education. California has a roster, much like Massachusetts. Both states have lots of restrictions and unconstitutional laws about firearms. We also have so-called assault weapon bans and magazine restrictions. Desi and I talked more about Not Me SD while we drove to Coronado Island. We grabbed a selfie at Dog Beach. San Diego is a beautiful place. The weather is amazing. It could be a perfect place, but the gun laws in Cali… Not so much. Favorite quotes: “I was holding a gun since I was two years old and I could hold one.” “I like to have all the qualifications because it help me articulate better when I’m teaching these classes.” “GLOCKS are the Honda of the gun world.” “We always end the day with a mag dump on the .22.” “I believe that women should have as many tools as they can to protect themselves.” Not Me SD Not Me CA Not Me CA Facebook Gun Owners Radio Instagram Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Dennis McCurdy Author, Speaker, Firewalker Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/34150735

RSWC #216 Mark Keefe 11/12/2024

RSWC #216 Mark Keefe Riding Shotgun With Charlie #216 Mark Keefe NRA Managing Director of Editorial & Public Affairs Like everyone who has read any of the NRA’s magazines or watched American Rifleman, or even seen some shows on The Outdoor Channel or The History Channel, I’ve seen Mark Keefe for years. Emails between the NRA staff and me while setting up the show with Doug Hamlin (RSWC #213), I saw that Mark was on the email last. I had to ask if he would be available and interested. And he was. I was pleasantly surprised when Mark came out before I interviewed Doug to check and make sure everything was good to go. Mark has been shooting since he was young. His grandfather used to drink beef from a can. When the beer got old, they used to shoot the beer cans with the beer in them while using a BB gun. That’s quite a reactive target, for sure! As a young teenager, the family elders decided he was “old enough for the Thompson.” But it was only semi-auto until he was older. He also did some shooting in the Boy Scouts. In 1988, Mark wanted to be a Shooting Sports Director for the Boy Scouts so he could teach rifle, shotgun, and archery. To do this, he had to become an NRA Certified Instructor. In this process, he reconnected with Phil Schreier (RSWC #182). His interest in collecting historical firearms really took off. Mark told me the story about Phil getting a job volunteering at the NRA Museum and telling him that you never know where it will lead and you have to grow up sometime. The following year, Phil ended up offering Mark the weekend work at the Museum saying… you never know where it will lead and you have to grow up sometime. Mark has been there 34 years, and Phil has been there 35 years. After being at the Museum a few years, he started as the assistant technical editor for some of the magazines. He worked through the ranks as associate technical editor, managing editor, and finally editor and he ran American Rifleman for 21 years. In the early 2000’s, he was encouraged to start a column so the readers could learn more about the NRA contributors. That was the beginning of The Keefe Report. He still kept reviewing guns, the current issues, and his regular duties. In the late 1990’s/early 2000’s, the NRA started having the staff and writers get out and gain experience with the firearms they were reviewing. That’s when Mark had the chance to travel the world and do some training and hunting. Learning to shoot a rifle at moving game is different from hunting in the United States. These hunting trips and experiences really gave them the chance to experience the usefulness and dependability of the firearms they were using. While using firearms in the field, he began to see why some of the designs of rifles or cocking methods or stocks were built the way they are. It made more sense once they put them to use in real situations. In the early 2000’s Mark was on a hunt with people from The Outdoor Channel. They told Mark there really needed to be an American Rifleman TV show. But he didn’t have a lot of video experience. He, his staff, and Phil came up with a plan to get the show going and what the content would be. He told me a great story about someone who went back to Europe and was able to find brass from rounds fired by Alvin York! It’s an amazing story! Mark’s most recent title is the Managing Director of Editorial & Public Affairs. He’s got his hands in many things NRA and media related, from The Keefe Report to American Rifleman, but also keeping up with the new trends in social media. Mark is NRA to the core. And a firearm guy through and through. He told me after we were done filming that we didn’t even get to any of the hunting stores. I can’t wait for those. Favorite quotes: “I think he’s probably old enough for the Thompson.” “You can’t really slap a rifle trigger, but you can pull it quickly.” “We wanted to take people places they couldn’t go.” “We blend the story of the people who used these guns.” “We’re involved in things that we just don’t get credit for.” National Rifle Association American Rifleman NRA Publications on YouTube NRA Explore/NRA Programs NRA Facebook NRA Instagram Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Dennis McCurdy Author, Speaker, Firewalker Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/33891882

RSWC #215 Keith Berry 10/29/2024

RSWC #215 Keith Berry Riding Shotgun With Charlie #215 Keith Barry (KB) 51Fifty Rifles/Optimum At the NRA Annual Meeting, I got a message from Frank Johnson to meet him at the 51Fifty/Optimum booth. I was asked to be on Frank’s show Range Report earlier in the year, so I wanted to meet him in person. At the 51Fifty booth was Keith Berry (KB). I was very impressed at how fast Frank was able to take down their AR style rifle. Legit, I looked away to see if my bag was still on the ground and the rifle was apart. They have a Rapid Access Cam that connects the upper and lower receivers. With the flip of a lever, similar to a safety switch, you can do the lock and take the rifle apart. Recently, I got the time to go out and meet with KB. He’s only in western Mass so it wasn’t far of a drive to get together. He gave me a tour of the building and how they build their rifles. They’ve got a room in the back where they do all their videos with a number of “wall decorations” as their backdrop. KB grew up shooting since he was young, like for years old! His father ingrained the safety rules at a young age, which gave him a strong basis on safe gun handling. He progressed from BB guns, to pellet guns, to .22 rifles. His father served in Viet Nam and was much of the inspiration and motivation for the beginning of 51Fifty. Their first rifle was a tribute to KB’s dad. Once he started making rifles, he would ask his dad what he would want for this part and for that part. That’s what KB was putting together just for his dad. One of his dad’s life long goals was to become a certified gunsmith, which he achieved before passing away. Many of the rifles made by 51Fifty have been made to commemorate things like the slaying of the five Dallas police officers a few years ago. They remade the rifle for his father and added some coating to make it look distressed and used. The company that worked with them asked them to join them at SHOT Show, which they were happy to go along with. Before getting into the firearm business, KB spent 20 years doing printing. Due to health issues from printing, he needed a new career. He got into working in the auto industry and financing. Within a year, he got into helping non-compliant companies and did that in five states for the next 20 years. When KB was based in Texas, there was a lot of back and forth between the Lone State and the Bay State, where the parts were being built. Building parts were in Mass while painting and assembly was in Texas. So KB and his wife moved to New England to help run the business and the shop from here. One of the things 51Fifty prides themselves on is listening to what their customers want. Their rifles are in several countries with their troops. When they give feedback to 51Fifty, they listen, take notes, and make changes. They’re addressing issues that have been around with the AR platform since the beginning and they’re working to make superior rifles for everyone, whether in the military, law enforcement, or civilians. At their first SHOT Show, a veteran was going by their booth in a wheelchair. He couldn’t believe how fast the disassembly of the AR was done. There are several big name folks that have the 51Fifty rifles. They make a lot of specialty rifles and they donate several of them to charities. One of their rifles is a .308 and is worth about $50,000. It only gets brought out for big charity events. The engraving on it is just incredible. They are doing a big event for SHOT Show 2025, so if you’re in the media, make sure you stop by and try out their rifles. If you can’t make it, please visit their website and check out all the cool and wild designs they’ve got. Favorite quotes: “You take the curiosity away. You don’t make it taboo.” “We need to do something to help these families.” “Right now we’re not Goliath we’re David, but we want to slay Goliath.” “If I had had this system, I’d still have my legs.” 51Fifty Rifles 51Fifty Rifles Facebook 51Fifty Rifles Instagram 51Fifty Rifles X 51Fifty Rifles YouTube 51Fifty Rifles LinkedIn 51Fifty Rifles Truth Social Second Amendment Foundation https://secure.anedot.com/saf/donate?sc=RidingShotgun Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms https://www.ccrkba.org/ Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Dennis McCurdy Author, Speaker, Firewalker http://www.find-away.com/ Self Defense Radio Network http://sdrn.us/ Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% www.powertac.com/RSWC SABRE Red Pepper Spray https://lddy.no/1iq1n Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/riding-shotgun-with-charlie/id1275691565 /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/33646367

RSWC #215 Keith Berry 10/29/2024

RSWC #214 News2A 10/23/2024

RSWC #214 News2A Riding Shotgun With Charlie #214 News2A Shawn Abramson & Grant Kielczewski Last year, I filmed a show with Shawn and Grant from News2A. Due to camera issues, we decided to scrap it and do it another time. That time was in Knoxville, Tenn, at the Gun Owners of America’s G.O.A.L.s event. Since we first tried this, Grant up and moved from New Jersey to middle Tennessee, so this was the ideal time to make it happen again. Shawn grew up in a mostly non-gun house, but he and his brother took any chance they could to go out and shoot with their father’s friends. At 18, getting an FID and joining the NRA was on the top of the things he wanted to do as an adult. For Grant growing up in the Midwest, guns were just tools. Also buying his first gun at 18, he spent years just being a casual shooter. In the last five years, things changed for him. He’s been more active in taking courses and in helping others get started on their gun owning path. He’s been working more towards becoming a better instructor. Shawn and Grant were both New Jersey guys with an idea to start a website with a focus on the Garden State. News2A (N2A) was launched after the Bruen decision in June 2022. New Jersey finally caved, kicking and screaming, to allow their peasants to have pitchforks. And allow them to carry their pitchforks. For a while, it was a hotbed of overreaching government having a post-Bruen hissy fit. There were lots of things going on. The gents thought there needed to be a place where people could get the up to date and correct info on the goings on. We spend some time talking about the differences between states like, New Jersey & Massachusetts, versus other states, like Florida & Tennessee. It is bad in Jersey. You cannot carry in sensitive places so you have to disarm in your car and do a lot of administrative loading and unloading. Post Bruen, New York and New Jersey really tried tamping down the rights and abilities of gun owners. When the guys started getting more involved, they went to Trenton to watch the testimonies and see how the sausage is made. And it ain’t pretty. None of the things we may have been taught in school, or from Schoolhouse Rock, really happens like that. It was an education and eye opening for them. At one point, John Petrolino, RSWC #093, reached out to me and asked if I wanted to do some writing. He said that N2A was looking for writers and contributors for their website. He said I could send things to him to edit, then I could pass it along to N2A. In the meantime, he wrote to Shawn and Grant, saying that maybe they could publish some of my writings there. It’s been a great outlet for me as a writer. I was able to cover the nonsense of the Gun Law Listening Tour in early 2023. The website is chock full of writers. Covering topics of politics, gun rights, training, editorials. They’ve got about eight writers plus Shawn and Grant contributing to the site. Some I’ve had on the show and some still need to get in the stagecoach. They also have sections on the site that are great resources for Jersey residents, where you can carry, how to carry, how to apply for everyone. And, of course, safety tips, too. Let me tell you, the gun folks from Jersey have aggravation in their blood about their process, licensing scheme, and the nonsense they have to deal with. There’s only a handful of states that the Bruen decision really affected. These states are the most egregious about doing their best to make sure that lawful and responsible citizens have a hard time with owning, possessing, and carrying firearms. Fortunately, they’ve got Shawn and Grant putting in time, love, and money in keeping everyone informed and on top of the situation. Favorite quotes: Shawn: “You meet the right people, too. They have the right values. They’re just friendly people willing to help others in general.” Shawn: “They only care about making sure their party’s agenda happens.” Grant:”We’ve tried to take this very complex information and make it as applicable to people as possible.” Grant: “I know people underestimate the value of training.” News2A Website News2A Twitter/X News2A Facebook News2A Gab US Law Shield (Code:NEWS2A) Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Dennis McCurdy Author, Speaker, Firewalker Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/33564347

RSWC #213 Doug Hamlin 10/08/2024

RSWC #213 Doug Hamlin Riding Shotgun With Charlie #213 Doug Hamlin NRA, Executive Vice President It’s not everyday you get to interview the Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association, let alone take him for a drive around Fairfax. But when the chance comes up, you take it. I owe a huge Thank You to Amanda Suffecool for making the connection. It’s pretty cool when Mark Keefe, who I’ve seen on TV and in magazines, comes out to make sure everything is ready for the interview. Like many folks, firearms were a family tradition for Doug. He learned to hunt from his grandfather and they had a “healthy collection” of firearms, many which were military surplus. When he was old enough, Doug joined the Marines. The years in service were very beneficial in forming the self confidence that people need. It also taught him that life is competitive and that you need to step up or step out. After the Marines, he had a friend who was working with Petersen Publishing Company in Detroit. His friend was doing well. He asked his friend to put in a good word at the Petersen headquarters in LA. He got to meet with Mr. Robert Petersen and was offered a job at Guns & Ammo magazine in the late 1980’s. Mr. Petersen, of course, is the largest donor to the National Firearm Museum at NRA HQ.Petersen was a big role model and mentor to Doug. He moved from ad sales to publisher in 4 years. Eventually Petersen moved Doug over to publish MotorTrend Magazine, which was a very important property to Petersen Publishing. Being a bit of a car guy, this was a good fit. The day after getting the new job, Petersen jetted him off to the New York auto show. Doug got to travel the world with Petersen, including trips to London. Often, they’d stop at Purdy and Holland & Holland to “make an investment”. Many of these investments happen to be in the NRA Museum. His NRA roots run deep! Having lunch with Ken Elliot, his former boss at Petersen, it came up that Joe Graham was retiring from NRA Publications. Ken asked if some NRA folks, including Wayne LaPierre, could join them for lunch. Having Doug as the executive director of publications came up in the conversation. He started the position in early 2014, and spent 10 years working as publisher. When LaPierre stepped down in February, there were going to be changes on the Board. There were the “old guard” and the “reformers”. It came down to Doug and Ronnie Barrett. Doug speaks extensively on what happened at the meetings and election. Getting back to NRA HQ after the election and with almost no sleep, Doug got right to work. Doug has ignited a spark to the staff. Everyone at NRA has a much brighter outlook on the future of NRA. They’re working to rebuild the trust with membership, as well as grow it to what it was just a few years ago. There’s only a small percentage of gun owners who are members. With around 100 million gun owners and only 4 million NRA members, there's a lot of room for expansion. The NRA has several publications and over 40 programs. Things from helping ranges get started, Eddie Eagle, lobbying in every state, several websites,and training. Their publications have been rebranded as NRA Media, and Mark Keefe is the leader there. (And the interview with Mark will be dropping soon!) With all their media, they’re reaching 20 million people a month! We do need a strong and stable NRA. I’ve said this several times, the NRA is taking the arrows from the antis while the other groups are doing work. The antis don’t know about the other groups since they are smaller than the NRA. I did get a chance to interview a few others at NRA while I was there. Everyone loves their jobs at NRA and enjoy working there. It’s good to see and hear this. Like I said, we need a strong NRA. Favorite quotes: “You better step up or step out.” “They also understand the significance of a strong NRA. It benefits the entire industry when you have a strong NRA.” “You can count on us. You can trust us.” “NRA is a tremendous institution and we’re doing a lot to get us back on track and rebuild our membership.” National Rifle Association Friends of NRA NRA Foundation Grants NRA Explore/NRA Programs NRA Facebook NRA Instagram Second Amendment Foundation Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Dennis McCurdy Author, Speaker, Firewalker Self Defense Radio Network Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% SABRE Red Pepper Spray Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts /episode/index/show/ridingshotgunwithcharlie/id/33360847

Riding Shotgun With Charlie

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