Welcome to the Stay the Second podcast.
Speaker AMy name is John and today we're joined by Jordan from Gideon Optics.
Speaker AHow are you, my friend?
Speaker BGreat.
Speaker BHow are you, John?
Speaker AGood.
Speaker ASo, first and foremost, I want to start off, we got a little gift from you.
Speaker AThis is from our sponsor and partner at Palmetto and aac.
Speaker ASo this is an ammo dump that they're going to be sending you after the show.
Speaker ASo go ahead and there you go.
Speaker AWe got a cool dump of ammo from aac.
Speaker BThank you.
Speaker AYou're welcome.
Speaker AWell, thank you for being here.
Speaker AYou can leave it up there.
Speaker ANo, you can take it out.
Speaker BLeave it.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ALittle brand spot.
Speaker BThey got it.
Speaker ACool.
Speaker ASo go ahead and get just a little background about who you are and we'll dive into this.
Speaker BSure.
Speaker BSo I'm Jordan Vinro with Gideon Optics and a few other brands you may have heard of.
Speaker BI started about 11 years ago in the firearms industry, selling parts, gun shows, and online.
Speaker BAnd then we just kind of gradually have built different things along the way, added more parts in gun shows.
Speaker BWe have a couple series of gun shows throughout the country.
Speaker BAnd now we have an optics brand that we're really leaning into and having a lot of fun with that.
Speaker ASo, yeah, you guys have a blast with it.
Speaker BYeah, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker AYou've all become your own celebrity at Chacho with your own individual patch.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BYeah, we got some fun ones this year, too.
Speaker BYeah, that's a new thing we're doing.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AExcited.
Speaker ASo we're going to go into our first segment, which is our rapid fire segment.
Speaker AThis is brought to you by Blackout Coffee.
Speaker AGo ahead and check out Blackout Coffee for the new goa no Compromise roast.
Speaker AGet your caffeine fix from Blackout Coffee.
Speaker AAgain, they support goa, support the companies that support us and help us with our no compromise mission.
Speaker ASo we're going to ask you five questions.
Speaker AYou can answer them as fast or slow as you want, and you just throw it into this.
Speaker ASo first question, Pineapple on pizza, yes or no?
Speaker ANo.
Speaker ANo.
Speaker AWhy no pineapple on pizza?
Speaker BI don't eat pineapple at all.
Speaker BCertainly not on pizza.
Speaker BNew heathen.
Speaker AWhat is your EDC right now?
Speaker BSIG P365 with a Patmos arm slide, which is one of our brands.
Speaker BAnd my.
Speaker BWell, I have a prototype, Gideon Judge 2 on there.
Speaker BSo I get to try all the new stuff for a while before we release it.
Speaker ASpoiler.
Speaker AIf you can make one firearms movie realistic, which one would it be?
Speaker BOh, man, I don't know.
Speaker BRambo, probably Rambo.
Speaker AYeah, they're all which.
Speaker AWhich Rambo?
Speaker AThe first.
Speaker AFirst Blood.
Speaker AFirst blood part three.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BFirst blood.
Speaker AFirst blood.
Speaker AWhat are your top three games?
Speaker AGuns for the zombie apocalypse.
Speaker BProbably an AR15,556 12 gauge.
Speaker BProbably a Glock.
Speaker AProbably a Glock.
Speaker AWhich one?
Speaker BAny nine millimeter?
Speaker B19.
Speaker AGlock 19.
Speaker AGlock 19.
Speaker BAnd the reason is because all that's the most common ammo you're gonna find when you're pillaging for wares and items.
Speaker AAnd then last question is, what is your go to home defense right now?
Speaker BIt's a Mossberg shockwave.
Speaker BLittle shorty.
Speaker B12 gauge.
Speaker AFun.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASo you got a brace on it or is it just.
Speaker BNo, just the bird's head.
Speaker AJust the bird head.
Speaker BYep, yep.
Speaker AThat's a.
Speaker AThat's different.
Speaker BYeah, it's just what's playing next to my bed right now.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ASo that's cool.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASo let's go ahead and talk about, you know, Gideon and how you guys started and all that stuff because you guys are relatively new ish to the industry.
Speaker AGo ahead and just like what made you want to bring into get in the optics game?
Speaker BSure.
Speaker BSo JSD Supply was my original, our original business and brand.
Speaker BAnd we were selling privately made firearm parts basically is, you know, what they've become 80% more commonly known as.
Speaker BAnd so some of the laws are starting to change and we kind of saw that coming.
Speaker BSo we wanted to get into something that was less politically charged.
Speaker BSo it was.
Speaker BWe were looking at knives, maybe we'd start a knife company, maybe we start an optics company.
Speaker BWe weren't sure, but it was one of those two paths.
Speaker BAnd so we went down both of them and eventually landed on optics.
Speaker BSo one of our remote employees, Mike Branson, has worked in a few different optics companies over the years.
Speaker BSo he became available and so we worked with him a little bit.
Speaker BHe does a lot of our design work on the reticles.
Speaker BAnd he's more of our technical guy too.
Speaker BHe knows all the nerd stuff, I like to call it.
Speaker BSo we did that.
Speaker BAnd all the folks at work are active shooters and different involvement with the industry.
Speaker BSo optics is something that we all use.
Speaker BWe thought, why don't we do it and add our flavor to it?
Speaker BSo we've been out for about two years now to retail.
Speaker BSo it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker BWe've been growing like crazy.
Speaker BIt's.
Speaker BIt's been excellent to.
Speaker BTo have already had all the pitfalls in business previously in this industry.
Speaker BYou know, any of the wrong turns we made or Whatever.
Speaker BWe kind of get to jump the line in that regard since we've been around for a while, so.
Speaker ASo.
Speaker AWell, that.
Speaker AThat's awesome.
Speaker AI'm.
Speaker AI'm glad that you guys are doing it now.
Speaker AI know this.
Speaker AI don't know if a lot of people know this.
Speaker AYou're a Pittsburgh boy.
Speaker AIs that why you went black and gold?
Speaker AIt's just.
Speaker BYeah, I'm sure it plays into it subconsciously because that's all we see in our area in western Pennsylvania is black and gold.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BYeah, it just.
Speaker BI don't know, we just liked it.
Speaker BI think it pops.
Speaker ASo you get into this game.
Speaker AWhat was the first optic you came out with?
Speaker BWe came out with, I think probably three or four right away.
Speaker BOur top seller is the Omega.
Speaker BIt's kind of like the large circular window, competition style type of optic.
Speaker AMy personal favorite.
Speaker AGet yourself one.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo we have a lot of people that really like that because there's other higher dollar, more expensive optics out there that are very similar and guys that are girls too, I guess, but guys that want to get into some competition shooting, but they don't want to spend the $700 on just an optic to try it.
Speaker BThey can get ours for, you know, in the ballpark of low two hundreds and hit the range, hit the local match, whatever, and have a lot of fun.
Speaker BSo it's a.
Speaker BIt's an easy segue into figuring out if an optic is right for your pistol or.
Speaker BOr that style.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker ASo here, here's my quick, like, little spicy topic for right now.
Speaker ACan we get together and so now I'm talking to an optics company.
Speaker ACan we get together all the optics companies in one room and go, hey, this is the standardized footprint that we're going for.
Speaker AEverything and everybody.
Speaker AHere's the screws that we're gonna use and everybody go with this.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BHave you ever heard high school girls argue about things?
Speaker BThat's essentially what that side of the business is like.
Speaker BSo, yeah, there is no standard, really.
Speaker BThere's like two or three that kind of are the big boys right now for as far as footprints.
Speaker ABut this is what armor rmsc.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd Delta Point Pro is starting to come on pretty strong.
Speaker BI know some of Vortex's stuff is coming out with that footprint.
Speaker BSo I think they're trying to make a push to kind of standardize that one.
Speaker ASo just want one standard zip and all the screws cut to the same size and depth and.
Speaker BYeah, it's never going to happen.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI can pray and hope.
Speaker BYeah, you can yeah, you can.
Speaker BWe'll get there.
Speaker AI think you.
Speaker AJordan, I'm going to spearhead this.
Speaker BYou're going to spearhead this demand that all the other manufacturers do what I say.
Speaker ADo what I say.
Speaker ASo while we're on the, the topic of, of spearheading things, you guys were at our first convention.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker AAnd we were talking last night about this.
Speaker AYou guys really enjoyed yourself.
Speaker AIt was really busy the whole time.
Speaker AWhat did you see at our convention that was different from other things that you've gone to?
Speaker BSo I really like knowing the people that are putting the event on.
Speaker BSo, like, when I see you walking through the crowd, I get to be crazy and be silly in the middle of the show.
Speaker BSo that's great.
Speaker BNot all conventions allow me to be myself when we're there.
Speaker BSo, yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker BAnd then to see, you know, how some.
Speaker BI know some of the inner workings of putting on a show.
Speaker BSo to see you guys succeeding there is really fun because I know how hard it is to put on a convention and a show that nobody really knows what goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker BI think you just show up and here it is.
Speaker BSet your stuff up and get out, you know, so.
Speaker BBut that was awesome.
Speaker BAnd then, you know, Gua is like one giant family, you know, and when we're there, we feel that way too.
Speaker BLike everybody says hello, even some of the, you know, the higher ranking people, you know, they come through and it's just friendly and fun.
Speaker BSo it's some of the most fun we have.
Speaker BWas it goals?
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI mean, did you.
Speaker AI was talking to Rachel over at Night Vision.
Speaker AShe said that that was the most fun.
Speaker AA lot of people had said this to me, but she really stood out, is that the people coming up to your booth actually wanted to have conversations with you about the product.
Speaker AIt wasn't just like you make what.
Speaker BYeah, yeah, it was great.
Speaker BEngagement to the customers or the folks that attendees were all super happy to talk to you and friendly.
Speaker BThis space is just friendly.
Speaker BGenerally the two way space, everybody is kind of like on one mission at the end of the day.
Speaker BSo it's fun to see different walks of life come through and just learn more about the local area and what consumers are wanting to see out of our products.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ASo as we continue with this kind of talking about the optics and things like that, what kind of restraints or restrictions or what goes into the process of developing a new optic and trying to get it into the country.
Speaker BI mean, if you got into like tritium or any kind of that stuff, there's some heavy regulation, but right now, for what our products are, it's.
Speaker BThere's not much.
Speaker BI mean, you just declare it at customs and pay your import taxes and get it.
Speaker BSo we design a lot of it here and the engineering is done here, and then our overseas manufacturers make it to our spec.
Speaker BWe get it in, they inspect it before they ship it.
Speaker BWe get everything in and we touch every single product when it comes in to our shop and then again when it goes back out.
Speaker BSo say we get, for number's sake, 100 units in.
Speaker BThe guys will check every single one of those, put batteries in, make sure the reticle isn't purple when it's supposed to be red or whatever.
Speaker BSo they check that and then it'll go on the stock shelf and basically ready for retail, ready to be shipped out.
Speaker BAnd then once it is ready to ship out, they will then check it again just to make sure that the warehouse guy didn't miss something.
Speaker BNow the shipping guy gets to take a final look at it again.
Speaker BWe've had great success doing that.
Speaker ANow, do you guys have a great warranty?
Speaker ASo people who don't know what is your warranty process?
Speaker BSo it's lifetime warranty.
Speaker BYou should send us an email basically and say whatever, I don't know, you broke the glass.
Speaker BYou know, we even cover, I don't know what, you know, my lawyers would probably be mad, but I cover basically anything as long as you don't tell me you beat it with a baseball bat on purpose or ran it over with your F250 just to see what would happen.
Speaker BIf you dropped it off this table and something were to happen, we replace it.
Speaker BSo it's a lifetime warranty for the product.
Speaker AThat's great.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd a lot of people, especially in this industry, you need to stand by your product.
Speaker AAnd if you don't, you could become that.
Speaker ABut I've heard nothing but great things.
Speaker AHey, this broke that called them.
Speaker AIt was already replaced within two hours.
Speaker AThat had a new shipping label.
Speaker ASo it's great to hear when what, what goes into that process of developing a new optic.
Speaker AYou just go, hey, there's a, there's this need that we need.
Speaker AOr is it just like, hey, you know, so and so is doing this.
Speaker ALet's, let's piggyback off of this and do the.
Speaker AMake something at the better price point.
Speaker BSo kind of all of that, I guess price point's always a big one for us.
Speaker BI like to be, I don't want to say the lowest price point, but I want to be at an aggressive price point and still be able to offer high quality.
Speaker BA product that says that's gonna do what we say it's going to do and do it repeatedly.
Speaker BSo that goes into a lot of it.
Speaker BAnd so speaking just of red dots on pistols, the footprint is very small.
Speaker BThere's only so much you can do with a piece of metal, a piece of glass and a little light beam.
Speaker BSo there's gonna be a lot of overlap in styling.
Speaker BBut we try to bring a little bit of our own flavor to the options that we have available.
Speaker BSo there's really not a whole lot of huge leaps in innovation in this space right now.
Speaker BMike said the other day, and it's a great point, is that the innovation right now is being able to make the product better, faster and cheaper than even five years ago.
Speaker BA lot of our LPVOs, low power variable optic rifle scopes, you know, our, say ours that sells for 400, you know, five, six, seven years ago, would probably be in the $1,200 range for the exact same product, same quality, everything.
Speaker BBut, you know, as technology would have been able to make it cheaper, quicker and still maintain the same quality.
Speaker ASo now, I mean, I know we weren't going to talk about the election, but we're post election.
Speaker ADo you have any concerns over any tariffs or anything like that, bringing stuff into the country?
Speaker BYeah, we've talked about it.
Speaker BI don't know.
Speaker BThere's always seems to be a way to maneuver that and still stay within the legal bounds.
Speaker BSo we don't know.
Speaker BI don't like to get too worked up about stuff until it happens.
Speaker BSo there's no sense in losing sleep over tariffs.
Speaker BCause if we come up with an idea and say, okay, we're going to have plan A and then that never comes to fruition because the tariffs were not put on or they weren't in a certain way that we thought they were going to be.
Speaker BSo we'll navigate that when it comes.
Speaker BBut it's not going to be just our product line either.
Speaker BIt's going to be everybody else's.
Speaker BSo it's still a level playing field, I guess you could say.
Speaker AYeah, and I think that's, that's the big thing when it comes to everyone was so concerned over that.
Speaker AAnd we're post election now.
Speaker AThe big thing that we need to really do is continue to push our politicians.
Speaker AI know we, we won.
Speaker ABut now is the time to continue that grassroots effort and push to get exactly what we want.
Speaker AYou know, there's a lot of talk about in national reciprocity and things like that.
Speaker AThat doesn't happen unless we push.
Speaker AAnd that's a big thing that we need to do is now is not the time to, as, as human beings, we, we come and I guess again, again with our, with the Republican side of the House, we always, we win and then we're just like, cool, right?
Speaker AWe're good.
Speaker AWe got this.
Speaker ANo, now's the time to actually push.
Speaker AYou know, if you were to give a message to gun owners right now, you know about that, what would you say?
Speaker BYeah, you need to contact your congressmen, your senators, even at a state level, it's.
Speaker BIt's hugely important.
Speaker BYou don't understand how much they.
Speaker BThey look at those numbers when somebody calls in and say, I support or I don't support this bill that's coming or this law that maybe will be changing.
Speaker BSo you really got to get in front of the line and let your representatives know how you stand and how the rest of the community stands too.
Speaker BSo in our industry, and I'll speak maybe for conservatives in general, we just kind of want to be left alone.
Speaker BSo we figure, hey, we're not going to push the envelope.
Speaker BThey're off my back now.
Speaker BTaxes are a little bit lower.
Speaker BIt's a little bit easier to buy things now.
Speaker AGreat.
Speaker BThat's all we want.
Speaker BLeave me alone, let me buy my groceries, let me get my kids to where they need to be and stay out of my life, basically, from a government standpoint.
Speaker BSo I think that's where you're right.
Speaker BI think we drop the ball a lot in the activism side, if that's what you want to call it.
Speaker BSo we need to get a little bit more organized.
Speaker BBut with goa, you guys are kind of the forefront of that.
Speaker BSo the information you guys put out, just piggyback off of that at your local level and, you know, push these folks to get in line with what we need.
Speaker AYeah, and that's a big thing with geo.
Speaker AWe are a grassroots organization, so we want to continue to grow and.
Speaker ABig thing, guys, if you're listening to this, I know we've said this before, but it takes 30 seconds.
Speaker AJust go to our website.
Speaker AYou can find your congressman, your senator right there.
Speaker AThere's form letters that you can fill out or we can tell you how to write it, and you just go in and fill that out and send 30 seconds to write a letter to your congressman or senator.
Speaker ABut you're absolutely right, is as conservatives, we really just want to be left alone.
Speaker AWe Want to be left alone.
Speaker AWe don't want to be poked.
Speaker AAnd I don't want to say that's our downfall, but that is something we just.
Speaker AWe're not.
Speaker ANot loud, we're not noisy.
Speaker ABut now is the time for us to actually win back some of those rights that were taken away.
Speaker AGet stuff.
Speaker AAnd that kind of leads into our next segment, which is from the Soapbox.
Speaker AFrom the Soapbox is brought to you by Patriot mobile.
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Speaker AAgain, use code GOA for one month free.
Speaker ASo from the Soapbox is where we talk about policy and things that are our frustrations and our gripes and things like that.
Speaker AWith the ATF and you being being at GST supply and 80% frames, you've got a big gripe that's been.
Speaker AYou gotta fight because you started Gideon Optics because of this fight.
Speaker AGo ahead and just jump into that.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo we were involved in the Vanderstock case for the frame and receiver rule essentially shut down the entire 80% side of the business.
Speaker BSo that's made its way to the Supreme Court.
Speaker BWe actually went in October 8th of 2024 was the hearing, oral arguments.
Speaker BSo I got to take my family down to that.
Speaker BThat was pretty cool.
Speaker BDefense Distributed was there.
Speaker BBlackhawk manufacturing, which is 80% arms.
Speaker BThey were there.
Speaker BAnd so we got to sit and listen to our case and oral arguments in front of the Supreme Court.
Speaker BSo that was cool by itself.
Speaker BSo I think we're going to win that one.
Speaker BIt'll probably be like a 5, 4 in our favor, but we won't know probably until like May or June, I think of 2025.
Speaker BBut that's a huge one.
Speaker BAnd really the entire industry needs to be concerned about those style of rule changes because it affects everybody, whether they believe it or it does or doesn't.
Speaker BThe way they're worded, it's going to affect every single manufacturer from Sig Sauer, Ruger, Smith and Wesson all the way down to guys that are only making 100 rifles a year or something.
Speaker BSo we need to make sure that the ATF is held in check from the balance of power that they have and what they've been doing.
Speaker BSo Congress has very clearly described what firearms are and then we peel it away as we go a little bit here and there.
Speaker BSo it's totally changed the landscape of what a firearm is.
Speaker BAnd I think we're going to bring that back to reality.
Speaker AYeah, I think that's our.
Speaker AYou, you brought up a good point.
Speaker AAnd I think that's our biggest issue as an industry or, or as a community as whole is hey, this doesn't affect me now kind of mentality when it comes to things.
Speaker AYou know, we, you know, we got the frame and receiver issue and that, you know, bigger companies.
Speaker AOh, well, I don't do 80% frames or I don't do this.
Speaker ABut we saw the same issue with the bump stocks and it was like bump stocks, you know, it's.
Speaker AEverybody thinks, you know.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AI'm going to say it now.
Speaker AA good chunk of us think they're the dumbest thing to ever be invented, but everybody should have the right to own it.
Speaker AWell, when the bump stock ban came down, everybody was like, eh, right.
Speaker AWell then, then they went over after the FRT triggers and this.
Speaker AAnd it's going to be the same thing that's going to go with this Vanderstock case that if, if they go.
Speaker AAnd they go, okay, well this will.
Speaker AHow does that affect, you know, I'm going to break the fourth wall for people out there.
Speaker ANot a lot of people do their own forgings.
Speaker BRight, Right.
Speaker ASo like how's that going to affect a Cigare Ruger, a Smith and Wesson who have to buy forgings from the one of six or seven forge houses that are out there and you know that that's an 80% forging that shows up at their house or not their house, their warehouse to go into the machining process or it's a, you know, or even like a fax and, or the smaller companies that's going to, it's a ripple effect.
Speaker AYou know, how do you, how do we get those bigger the companies that don't think they're affected to actually get on board with this?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo before this rule went into effect, there was a comment period.
Speaker BAnd so we, we got everybody that we knew on the 80% side involved.
Speaker BWe drafted letters and you know, kind of like a industry letter we sent out and Sig Sauer actually stepped up and they were, I think they did their own.
Speaker BBut they realized that the way that they're even the P365 or the P320, how it's a modular system.
Speaker BThe way this rule was written, the grip module, which is not a firearm, the way it sits on a P320 or P365, that would have been considered a firearm.
Speaker BNow the ATF's going to tell you, no, that's not, no, that's not the way we intended this to be.
Speaker BIt's not going to affect you.
Speaker BBut it's going to because it always does.
Speaker BThey don't write these rules narrow.
Speaker BIt's very broad and it's for every three lettered agency.
Speaker BIt's not just the atf, the epa, everybody else.
Speaker BSo SIG saw that that was what was coming down the road.
Speaker BAnd so they got involved, which I got to give kudos to them because they're the only know mainstream business that, you know, gun manufacturer that got involved as far as I know.
Speaker BSo it does affect everybody.
Speaker BIt will affect everybody.
Speaker BThe, the forgings for AR15s, like you said, those are going to be thousands.
Speaker BYou know, you could ship a pallet of it from the forging house to the manufacturer and it's just a part.
Speaker BWell, now the forging is going to have to have a manufacturer's license.
Speaker BThey're going to have to serialize everything.
Speaker BAnd what happens if one fault literally falls off the truck in shipping or something?
Speaker BNow you have a missing firearm that's not really a firearm, it's a chunk of metal.
Speaker BBut now you gotta go through that process and it's just the whole spider web of mess.
Speaker AWell, not only that, but then you gotta think on top of that how much more money it's gonna cost for those forgings because now they have to go and individually serialize.
Speaker AOkay, well now when it gets to the manufacturer to manufacture it, do they run with the same serial number or do they have to go do a new serial number because they're, it's their thing.
Speaker AOr does everybody have to send out their variants beforehand?
Speaker AIt's, there's a, it's a, it's a waterfall that a lot of people don't.
Speaker AYou don't think of the small things.
Speaker AYou're like, oh, it doesn't affect me.
Speaker AI don't make 80%.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AYou know, or I don't sell 80 percenters.
Speaker ABut it's gonna change so much.
Speaker BYeah, totally would change the landscape of the firearms, which is what they want.
Speaker BYeah, unfortunately.
Speaker BBut.
Speaker AWell, and that's a, it's a lot of things.
Speaker AYou know, we saw it with Hunt, you know, we saw it with Hunters.
Speaker AWe see it with everything.
Speaker AIt's like, well, that doesn't affect me now.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AIt's not going after, they're going after AR15s.
Speaker AWell, I, I've used the same.
Speaker A30, 30, 3030 Winchester that my daddy gave me.
Speaker AAnd it was his daddy's and.
Speaker BRight, right.
Speaker AYou know, but.
Speaker AAnd I, I think that was a great.
Speaker ATo jump back real quick to the grassroots thing.
Speaker ALike that was a great thing that we did during the election period.
Speaker AWe got a lot of those.
Speaker AThe claim is 10 million gun owners are unregistered voters.
Speaker AYou know, we're seeing this shift, this culture shift in gunners actually getting out and voting.
Speaker AAnd I, and I really have to attest to that, that they're now seeing like, oh, this actually is going to affect me.
Speaker AOh, this is something.
Speaker AWhat do you mean?
Speaker AI did a class a couple weeks ago or a few months ago at this point with, with Carrie Stallone and we're sitting there and Carrie runs the organization.
Speaker AWe, the female.
Speaker AWe're sitting there and there's.
Speaker AIn this class, there's liberal gun owners and to watch them as we actually start fact checking them.
Speaker AWell, Australia did a gun ban.
Speaker AWell, actually Australia did do a gun ban.
Speaker AIt was more of a buyback but you know, violent crime ban drop.
Speaker AWell, their whole thing was gun violence dropped.
Speaker AGun violence dropped.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ABut everything else went through the roof.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BIt's just replaced by something.
Speaker AReplaced by something.
Speaker ACriminals are going to do criminal things.
Speaker BThat's right.
Speaker AThere's nothing you can say about that.
Speaker AThat's what they, they do.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BNow there's stabbing attacks in the UK and places like that.
Speaker AAustralia had what last year, two or three mass stabbings.
Speaker BHow do you even say that?
Speaker BSaying that out loud sounds crazy.
Speaker AIt sounds crazy.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AWell, when I think messed.
Speaker AIt's the thing that comes to my mind when I hear mastabing is like some dude with a samurai sword running around.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ALike from a ninja movie.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker ALike that.
Speaker AIt just doesn't sound right.
Speaker BNo.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker ABut it's, it's the same thing every, when you start saying the facts or if you start telling them.
Speaker ALike even people who say it doesn't affect them.
Speaker AOh, it doesn't affect me at this point in time.
Speaker AWell, it's a slippery slope.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker ABecause once you take, you know, hey, they came.
Speaker AThe, the saying is, oh, they came from my era 15s and I said nothing.
Speaker AAnd then they came for the, the wood semi.
Speaker AThen they came for semi automatics and I said nothing.
Speaker AAnd then all of a sudden they, they came for, they came for bolt guns and I said nothing because it doesn't affect me.
Speaker AAnd then they came for shotguns.
Speaker AAnd then I was like, oh, right.
Speaker AAnd that's just.
Speaker BNow it's too late.
Speaker AIt's too late.
Speaker AYou know, it's the same Thing we see in other states with mag bans and everything like that, everyone says, well, it doesn't affect me at this point.
Speaker BIt will, it will.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd I think you touched on something that we all need to realize is that the 2A is not just a conservative movement or a conservative idea.
Speaker BWe have plenty of, you know, liberal or whatever you want to classify yourself as on the left side, I guess, of center.
Speaker BSo we really need to embrace those folks too.
Speaker BAnd it's not just a white guy thing.
Speaker BYou know, women are a huge growing segment of the firearms industry and low income folks are some of the folks that need it the most.
Speaker BSo we have a lot of them coming into the space too.
Speaker BSo we really need to kind of change our public appearance, I think, and public Persona that this is a conservative good old boys club, I think.
Speaker BAnd we're doing it with the younger generations.
Speaker BI'll be 40 in a couple weeks here.
Speaker BSo I think the folks younger than me are doing a much better job in embracing all walks of the political spectrum and all walks of the economic spectrum and everything else.
Speaker BSo we need to bring everybody together when it comes to the 2A.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI mean, getting to it, the election just happened.
Speaker ADuring the election cycle, we put out our scorecard and a lot of people will think, well, I'll just vote R across the board.
Speaker ALike because they, they follow what I believe in.
Speaker AThey're pro gun.
Speaker ANot all Republicans are pro gun, not all Democrats are anti gun.
Speaker AThat's where those scorecards come into effect.
Speaker AYou know, you're absolutely right.
Speaker AWe're seeing, we're not only seeing an increase in, in women who are gun owners, but we saw during COVID we jumped up 40 million new gun owners.
Speaker AThey're not all conservative.
Speaker AAnd that's a big thing, is that you don't.
Speaker AGun rights don't have a letter next to them.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AThere's no RD next to gun rights.
Speaker AIt is our second Amendment.
Speaker AThere's a constitutionally given rights.
Speaker AIf you are a gun owner and you are going to stay a gun owner and you seeing these attacks, now is the time to go, okay, well, which politicians are pro gun?
Speaker AWhich politicians vote with?
Speaker AThe way I vote, you know, Sean Heron, who's a good friend we of ours who has been on the show, you know, we, we talk about it all the time as being in the firearms industry.
Speaker AWe're in this echo chamber and we only hear about firearm stuff and things like that.
Speaker AAnd when we go outside of our echo chambers, when we start learning things and learning how to go after these attacks.
Speaker ABut we also have to understand like there are people who own guns who are not in the same echo chamber as we are.
Speaker AAnd we need to get them to understand like, hey, this is what's really happening.
Speaker AThis is why this is bad.
Speaker ABecause they might go, well, I've got a shotgun, I don't want an AR15.
Speaker AAR15.
Speaker AWell listen, if you, if they ban AR15s, your shotgun's not too far down the road to go, oh no, they'll never bet you.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker AYou never know that.
Speaker BYeah, yeah, we've seen this, seen this movie before, you know.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAnd that's the thing.
Speaker AA lot of people think that like the second amendment is this American thing and it is.
Speaker ABut Britain had what they would say their second amendment based on what their king was pushing at the time.
Speaker AThey don't have guns anymore.
Speaker AAnd you see how that's going, right?
Speaker AAustralia, the same thing.
Speaker AWe're seeing the Canadians are big gun people too.
Speaker AWe're seeing their attacks too.
Speaker AIt's only, it's a trickle down effect.
Speaker AAnd you, you can look at the examples around the world and just see how, how it affects and now coming toward to us and we're like, well, it'll never happen here.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BOr the last stand.
Speaker BYeah, it's, they're chipping away at it every day.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker AOh, the, the small things, the big thing, it's always the small things that people don't understand.
Speaker AThere's anti gun legislation in almost everything that goes through because they're trying.
Speaker BAnd that's where it starts.
Speaker BYou gain some traction, state level, city level.
Speaker BMaybe, maybe you start at the city level, you gain some traction there.
Speaker BGo to the state, then the federal.
Speaker BSo you really got to work at all aspects of it.
Speaker BIt goes back to what we said earlier about contacting your representatives, local, state, federal.
Speaker BYou need to contact all of them all the time and let them know where they need to be to maintain their, their positions.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd being, I mean you guys, you're, you're in Pennsylvania, depending on where you're at in Pennsylvania, it's like, oh, guns are bad or oh, guns are good.
Speaker AYou know, what's it like being in such a large state where the, it's literally depending on where you are in the state is where the climate change is.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker BWe have preemption in Pennsylvania so they can't cities except Philadelphia for some reason.
Speaker BI think, I think it's because they have, they're considered a city of the first class.
Speaker BAnd it used to be because they had Over a million people, I think was the explanation.
Speaker BI'm not 100% sure.
Speaker BBut anyway, across the state, these little townships and local ordinances and stuff, they try to add in gun restrictions and they can't.
Speaker BSo that's one good thing that we have about Pennsylvania with our preemption laws.
Speaker BBut you get down to the city of Pittsburgh, we put on a gun show there.
Speaker BThere hadn't been a gun show in the city of Pittsburgh for.
Speaker BI Forget how long, 20 years.
Speaker BI'm gonna make it up.
Speaker BSo we rented the convention center and had a small show there.
Speaker BBut we.
Speaker BYou should have heard the phone calls we got from local gun owners that you can't have a show there.
Speaker BYou can't sell AR15s there, because there was a city ordinance a few years ago that they tried to ban.
Speaker BI think it was AR15s in the city limits or something.
Speaker BIt got struck down, of course.
Speaker BI think GOA actually did that.
Speaker BSo anyway, yeah, it's.
Speaker BBut you go anywhere else, you know, right in the city of Pittsburgh, because we're on the western side of the state.
Speaker BSo you go anywhere outside the city of Pittsburgh and it's all your standard gun owners, hunters, normal everyday people.
Speaker BSame with Philadelphia.
Speaker BGet down to the city of Philadelphia, it's terrible.
Speaker BAnd the city hates firearms, but you get just a little bit outside of Philadelphia and they're all normal people that understand that firearms are there for protection for all the things that we use them for.
Speaker BSo it is a very interesting state.
Speaker BAll the middle is normal for the most part, too.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker AYeah, well, it's.
Speaker AIt's funny because Ohio has the same thing where in the city of Cleveland had a 15 round restriction and everyone's like, wait a minute, what?
Speaker AWell, you can't do that.
Speaker AAnd then Columbus tried to ban AR mags and it was the same thing where the state's like, wait a minute, you can't do that.
Speaker AAnd we're now seeing that.
Speaker AWe're seeing a lot of it on the city level.
Speaker AI mean, Memphis, which we're going to sue on or have already sued on, Memphis is trying to do gun things.
Speaker AAnd even where we held our convention, it's the same thing.
Speaker AKnoxville has a law with no gun show.
Speaker AAnd we went in there and all the people in Knoxville.
Speaker AThank you.
Speaker AYeah, thank you for being here.
Speaker AThank you.
Speaker AYou know, but the same thing.
Speaker AWell, they said, no, you can.
Speaker AThere's no gun shows allowed here.
Speaker AAnd we get there and they're like, thank you for doing this.
Speaker AWe need this.
Speaker AWe need this as a Community and that's a big thing that people.
Speaker AAgain same thing.
Speaker AWhat we were talking about is they said no, we can't do this.
Speaker AIt hasn't happened in 20 years.
Speaker AMy grandfather, the last time we had a gun show, my grandfather was there.
Speaker AAnd when you come in and do those changes, you know, people's like oh no.
Speaker AIt's a no.
Speaker AAnd then you get there and they're like thank you.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AYou know.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BIt's almost like we're afraid of our rights.
Speaker BWe're afraid to go against the status quo.
Speaker AI think it's because we're like you said earlier, we're very.
Speaker AJust won't be left alone and I think we're very, we're law abiding citizens and we.
Speaker AThat's the big thing with Gunna Gunner law gun owners are law abiding citizens.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AThe amount of the, the paperwork we have to go through and all this stuff like we are very.
Speaker AWe followed the law to the te or we're scared about breaking the law.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAnd, and getting our rights taken away.
Speaker AI think that's what our.
Speaker AWe don't like to be loud.
Speaker AWe don't like to be the boisterous and that's slightly changing.
Speaker AI think we're seeing a culture shift into that and that's why I'm, I'm going to encourage everybody.
Speaker ANow is the time to be the loud person in the room.
Speaker ABecause if we're not the loud person, we have this opportunity that we don't get very often where we have both the House and the Senate and the presidency.
Speaker AWe don't get that very often.
Speaker AThe last time we had it we were kind of like cool.
Speaker AWe got it right.
Speaker AYou guys going to do anything?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ACome on.
Speaker AThen our two years came up.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AAnd we lost it.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker ANow is the time to go.
Speaker ADo it.
Speaker AYeah, do it now or else.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AWe'll put somebody else in.
Speaker ASomebody else who will do it.
Speaker AAnd now is the time to do that.
Speaker ADo it now.
Speaker BYeah, right.
Speaker BDon't be afraid.
Speaker ADon't be.
Speaker AI don't know why.
Speaker AI don't get it.
Speaker AI don't get why we're so afraid to.
Speaker BI don't know, just been beaten into our heads I guess from time we.
Speaker AWere little maybe probably.
Speaker AI mean we were all grew up with most of us at this point we're boomer parents and we're Gen X.
Speaker AVery quiet.
Speaker AAnd now when you, when you wake up the Gen Xers.
Speaker AGood luck.
Speaker ASorry you guys are in trouble.
Speaker AThose people have been waiting so let's get into what we call our spicy topic of the day and let's just kind of go, we touched on footprint.
Speaker AIt's spicy.
Speaker AWhat are companies doing wrong?
Speaker AWe don't have to say names, but what are we doing wrong in the optics space that we should do better?
Speaker BI don't know.
Speaker BProbably.
Speaker BThere's.
Speaker BThere's so many great options out there.
Speaker BIt's.
Speaker BIt's hard to kind of pinpoint what somebody's doing wrong.
Speaker BI guess generally my thoughts are listen to the customers and then try to peel back the nonsense that they're claiming that they want versus what they're actually going to buy.
Speaker BAn example in our parts business is 10 mm.
Speaker BOh, if you had this in 10 mm, I'd buy this thing.
Speaker BSo we made it in 10 mm, get the same.
Speaker BOh, if you had it in 10 mm.
Speaker BWell, I have one.
Speaker BOh, that's cool, man.
Speaker BHey, thanks for showing me.
Speaker BAnd off they go.
Speaker BSo they think that they want some whiz bang something so somebody makes it and it falls flat.
Speaker BSo we are focusing on the core customer and we'll eventually branch out into some more risky things, I guess you could say, as far as, like a product line would go.
Speaker BMaybe some off the wall design feature or something like that.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BIt's hard to pinpoint exactly what you brought.
Speaker AYou just hit the topic of all topics.
Speaker ASo this is.
Speaker AThis makes me laugh.
Speaker AEvery time I was at shows, when I was at Faxon, we have like, somebody come up, you need to make this in this oddball caliber because me and 10 of my friends will buy it.
Speaker ANo, sir, we can't do that.
Speaker AWhat do you mean?
Speaker ABut then it's exactly what you mean is people will ask for a product and then people get mad.
Speaker AThey're like, why aren't you making XYZ product?
Speaker AWell, the.
Speaker AThe market doesn't say, I need XYZ product.
Speaker AWell, me and my friends want to buy XYZ products.
Speaker AAnd they'll get a group of people together and they'll all be loud and boisterous, and finally you make XYZ product.
Speaker ACool.
Speaker AThank you.
Speaker AThank you.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AFor making explosives.
Speaker BSell four of them.
Speaker AYeah, yeah.
Speaker BAnd you made 500.
Speaker AAnd they're like.
Speaker AYou're like, yeah, you know, I did it.
Speaker AWhat do you want?
Speaker BRight?
Speaker AWell, I wanted something different.
Speaker AWhat did you want?
Speaker AThis is exactly what you asked for.
Speaker BYeah, yeah.
Speaker BIt's always changing.
Speaker BSo you got to really take the good with the bad and figure it out.
Speaker AAnd that's what we talk about.
Speaker AI've talked about this with industry folks.
Speaker AIs you we talk about all the time.
Speaker AEveryone's like, oh, the firearms industry doesn't innovate.
Speaker AThey don't innovate.
Speaker AThe minute you innovate or do something different, look at that.
Speaker AI'm doing that different thing.
Speaker BAll the haters come out of the wood.
Speaker AYeah, yeah, Like, I'm sorry.
Speaker ALike.
Speaker AAnd there's been some attempts at some outside of the box thinking one of the big ones that come to mind is the Taurus curve.
Speaker BLike, yes.
Speaker AYeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker AOutside of the box thinking the gun's curved to conceal better.
Speaker AJust then everyone's like, nah, this is dumb.
Speaker AYeah, it's like, I feel bad for to that.
Speaker AI will applaud them.
Speaker AI think they're one of the the best outside of the box thinkers in the industry.
Speaker ABut every time they come out with something, someone's like, like, I remember they did the curve.
Speaker AThen they did a really, really, really small revolver with like a piece of Lexan or Lexi or whatever.
Speaker ASo you can see the internals.
Speaker AI'm like, that's cool.
Speaker AAnd everyone's like, nah, stupid.
Speaker AWell, that's kind of cool.
Speaker BIt's kind of cool.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ABut I like to see that.
Speaker AI don't know why.
Speaker AAnd this is a great example of why we don't do some of that stuff is.
Speaker AYeah, everyone's like, innovate, innovate, innovate.
Speaker AAnd we're like, no.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnother one for on that topic is the folding Glock.
Speaker BDo you remember that from years ago?
Speaker BRemember that guy was pretty cool, the guy that owned the company.
Speaker BI talked to him a few times.
Speaker BBut yeah, it just, you know, it's innovation, of course.
Speaker BI mean, you basically cut a Glock in half and made it fold in on itself.
Speaker BCool idea.
Speaker BEngineering stuff was cool to see.
Speaker BAnd maybe that's not the product, but eventually down the road, maybe that small idea turns into some next whiz bang thing that somebody actually wants.
Speaker AWell, I mean, look at the.
Speaker AWas it the.
Speaker ALook at the Hudson, like that was a cool idea.
Speaker AAnd then they just kind of.
Speaker AWell, Daniel has brought it back now, but same idea.
Speaker AIt's like, oh, cool.
Speaker AWhiz bang.
Speaker AAnd then either they just can't keep up with demand or yeah, they go out of business.
Speaker BYeah, I think there's some product issues there maybe too.
Speaker AThere was a little bit of.
Speaker BI don't know a lot about it.
Speaker ABut little bit of product issues there.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BBut yeah, things like that is cool.
Speaker BThat Choppa is.
Speaker BHow do you say it?
Speaker BThe Rhino, that revolver that shoots off the, like the bottom.
Speaker BThat's kind of neat.
Speaker BI don't, you know, never shot one, but it looks cool.
Speaker BCool idea.
Speaker AMaybe I've shot there.
Speaker AThey're dope.
Speaker BYeah, they look sweet.
Speaker AI just want cool stuff.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AThat's all I'm asking industry people.
Speaker AI want cool stuff.
Speaker AHey, we're friends.
Speaker ABut that's the, that's the thing is we always ask for cool stuff.
Speaker ALike if you come out tomorrow with an, like a giant optic because everybody wants big windows.
Speaker AThey're gonna be like, cool.
Speaker AThat's too big.
Speaker BIt's too big.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAnd then you shrink it.
Speaker AWell, now that's too small.
Speaker AOkay, well, where do you want it?
Speaker AWell, we want big.
Speaker ALike the last one.
Speaker AYeah, we want small.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AWhat is it?
Speaker BYeah, maybe we'll make a folding.
Speaker BLike the Samsung phones that fold.
Speaker BMaybe we'll make a lens that folds.
Speaker BYeah, so you get both.
Speaker BYeah, so you get to decide what they, you know, if you're going to go competition, fold it, open the next one.
Speaker AYou.
Speaker AYeah, I put an LCD TV on top of your.
Speaker AYeah, a 40 inch window.
Speaker BYeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker ABut that's the, that's the thing.
Speaker AWe always like, we want this and then we can.
Speaker AWell, really didn't want that.
Speaker AI thought I wanted it, but turns out I didn't.
Speaker BNo, I'll just take the Glock 19.
Speaker AI mean, you're not wrong.
Speaker AI really want this.
Speaker AI want a polymer frame, but I want the slide of a CZ this.
Speaker AThen somebody's like, cool, here it is.
Speaker ANow I just take a clock.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BPeople get wild with some of their ideas, and you got to go where the money's at.
Speaker BI mean, we're companies to.
Speaker BWe're in business to make money.
Speaker BUltimately, you know, if we don't make money.
Speaker AWhat do you mean?
Speaker BYeah, you don't get to buy anything because I can't make it.
Speaker BSo, you know, got to really make sure your R and D dollars are going to where the money's at.
Speaker AYou're trying to make money.
Speaker AWhat do you mean?
Speaker BI know.
Speaker BSecrets out of the bag.
Speaker ABreaking the fourth wall.
Speaker AYou're going to bl.
Speaker AWell, that's the thing.
Speaker AI think as a society, we always want stuff, but we don't want to pay for it.
Speaker AWe want somebody else to do it.
Speaker AHey, you've been to show.
Speaker AHey, I got an idea for you, buddy.
Speaker AEvery show.
Speaker AI got an idea.
Speaker AI got this idea for you.
Speaker ACool.
Speaker AI don't think that product's for me, but go for It.
Speaker ATry it out.
Speaker ALike, yeah, a lot of people have these ideas.
Speaker AThey're scared to do it.
Speaker AGo do it.
Speaker AYeah, go, go do it.
Speaker AHave fun.
Speaker BYep.
Speaker ATry it.
Speaker AThat's.
Speaker ATake risk in life.
Speaker BYou have to.
Speaker BThat's how you start a business.
Speaker BAnd we always would tell those guys, hey, listen, if someone was serious about a product, it's not for us.
Speaker BWe're not going to spend our efforts on it.
Speaker BJust doesn't fit what we're doing right now.
Speaker BBut if you find somebody that makes it, or I can connect you with people that could make it, we'll sell it, I'll retail it and help you out in that way.
Speaker BBut very few make it beyond the, hey, I got this idea, which I wish more people would take their idea and turn it into something.
Speaker BI mean, we'd have much better stuff if everybody.
Speaker AOh, yeah.
Speaker BCould do it.
Speaker BWe have a lot of dumb stuff, but you got to get the dumb stuff out of the way for the good stuff to.
Speaker BTo come through.
Speaker AWell, a great example of an idea.
Speaker AAnd again, this is not for everybody, but this is my, my.
Speaker AThis is.
Speaker AI really love the guy who came up with the idea.
Speaker AHe's got a great story.
Speaker AIs that pen gun, do you see Liberty pen gun?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASuch a cool idea.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASuch a cool product.
Speaker ALike, he went out and did it, like.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker AIs it, Is it practical?
Speaker BProbably not, but it's cool.
Speaker ASuper cool.
Speaker AOh, yeah.
Speaker AWell, I shot it at goals and I love it.
Speaker AEven though it's like, I'm like, what am I going to do with this thing?
Speaker ANo, it's a talking point.
Speaker AIt's a cool thing.
Speaker AThe story behind it is super cool.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ALike, yeah, if I, If I ever get kidnapped, I want that pen gun with me.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AYou know.
Speaker BDo you see the belt, too?
Speaker AYeah, yeah.
Speaker AWith the speed loader or whatever.
Speaker BYeah, that was awesome.
Speaker ABut it's people like that who come out with those cool ideas and where everyone's going to go, there's two sides of the fence to that.
Speaker AIt's like, either it's super cool or, yeah, it's not for me.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ABut I'm in that party of.
Speaker AThat's super cool.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAnd I want to see more things like that that are just kind of like, I mean, can only have so many Glock clones.
Speaker AWe can only have so many 1911 variants.
Speaker AWe can only have like, I want.
Speaker AEveryone's like, I want cool new products.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BYou know, get your bases covered.
Speaker BThen go get a pen gun.
Speaker AGet a pen gun.
Speaker BBrought to you by John Farner.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker ABrought to you by me.
Speaker AMark, if you're listening to this, get a pen.
Speaker AThe owner, he's got a great story.
Speaker AYou did you talk to him at goals?
Speaker BI didn't talk to him at goals, but I talked to him at another event.
Speaker AHe's got such a cool story of.
Speaker AI think he's.
Speaker AWe're going to do some work with them.
Speaker ABut the pen gun, just the story behind it, the wood, his, his whole story is cool.
Speaker ASo speaking of stories, let's get back to you.
Speaker ASo we know that you mentioned the Omega is your top selling product.
Speaker AWhat else have you been coming out with lately?
Speaker AThat's been kind of the.
Speaker AThe hot new whiz bang.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo the granite we got sitting there, that's our competition window granite.
Speaker BSo it's an MOS footprint.
Speaker BSo that's again one of those things we were talking about.
Speaker BIt's its own pattern.
Speaker BGlock decided that they are perfection.
Speaker BAnd the MOS is that.
Speaker BSo instead of having an adapter plate, we thought there's not a ton of people making a Glock MOS footprint.
Speaker BSo that's what we did.
Speaker BSo that right now is the competition window.
Speaker BWe have a carry window.
Speaker BIf the competition's too large, we have the carry.
Speaker BIt's a little bit smaller.
Speaker AIt's a big window.
Speaker BIt's a big window, guys.
Speaker AIt's a really big window.
Speaker AIt's cool.
Speaker AIt's a big window.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo geared towards competition, but you could carry it.
Speaker BWe do our own destruction test too.
Speaker BBob does all those and he just ran one and he was texting us some video while he was doing it.
Speaker BHe's like, I haven't broke this yet.
Speaker BAnd I've done six foot drop tests, thrown it across concrete, all the different things.
Speaker BYou know, beat a nail into a board almost.
Speaker BYou know, I don't know.
Speaker BHe does all kinds of stuff with them.
Speaker BAnd then he eventually got it to break because it's aluminum and it's glass, it's going to break.
Speaker BBut.
Speaker BSo it's, dare I say, the most rugged red dot we have right now, even with that gigantic window.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BBut that's the new one.
Speaker BWe have some other ones coming out.
Speaker BThis won't launch till probably, what, January or so, this video.
Speaker BSo we have an RMSC enclosed emitter.
Speaker BSo that's in production right now.
Speaker BI'm hoping to have it.
Speaker BI'll definitely have it before shot show, but I was hoping to have it before Christmas.
Speaker BI'm not sure if that, that'll happen or not.
Speaker BAnd we have some other stuff coming.
Speaker BFive to 25 rifle scope, you know, kind of a long range, working on a shoot, super short lpvo.
Speaker BWhat else?
Speaker BCouple other RMSC footprints, big windows.
Speaker BThere's a lot of guns like a Canik that are coming with, you know, full size gun that have the, the small footprint because the slides are so narrow.
Speaker BSo we're, we've developed a large window with a small footprint for the competition guys or the full size firearms guys.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd the avidity arms too would fit into that category for us.
Speaker BKind of a full size frame with a slender slide.
Speaker BSo a couple of those coming and then we'll do a granite for RMR as well because that's, that's kind of the Glock 19 of the footprints is, is the RMR style footprint.
Speaker BSo we'll develop that.
Speaker BThat's kind of what we got right now.
Speaker BI'm always looking at thermal and stuff, but I don't know a whole lot about it.
Speaker BI'm kind of super fresh there, so I got to see what that looks like.
Speaker AI mean a close emitter pharmacy.
Speaker AThat's pretty dope.
Speaker BYeah, it's a good one.
Speaker AI'm excited.
Speaker AYeah, you've made me excited before I forget.
Speaker ABob, do you need anything?
Speaker AYou good daddy?
Speaker AIf you need anything, let me know.
Speaker BNice.
Speaker AYeah, I had to throw it in there somewhere.
Speaker BYeah, yeah.
Speaker AThere's a backstory behind this.
Speaker AIt's an inside joke.
Speaker ASorry folks.
Speaker AThat was such a good time.
Speaker BIt was a great time.
Speaker AScrewed with each other at goals to talking.
Speaker AYeah, and that's, that's.
Speaker AWe touched on it for a bit.
Speaker ABut that's the fun part about our community and being.
Speaker AWe talked about actually this last night how the firearms community looks really large, but it's really small and tight knit and you're like you said you hadn't met a bad person yet and that's because all the bad people get kicked out.
Speaker AIt's true though.
Speaker BYeah, it must be.
Speaker BI'm sure there's a couple sour apples or whatever out there, but for the most part, everybody I've met in this industry, I've been here 11 years, so I still feel like I'm the new guy, but I've been around just as long as most of the everybody else.
Speaker BBut yeah, it's been a great community and tons of support.
Speaker BI mean if you have a question about your product, you can pick up the phone and find somebody within two or three phone calls like we were talking about last night.
Speaker BIf you're trying to get ahold of somebody, we're tight enough that you can get that done.
Speaker AAnd that's the thing, folks.
Speaker AWe are approachable.
Speaker AWe're very personable.
Speaker ABut that's the thing when you get it.
Speaker AA lot of people ask me all the time, like, how do I get into the space?
Speaker AOr, oh, I just got in this space.
Speaker AWhat do I do?
Speaker AAnd I always go, well, go network, talk to people, become friends.
Speaker ABecause once you know one person, you know 20 people.
Speaker AAnd once you become friends with them, like, we brought a ton last night, came by, you're like, oh, I remember.
Speaker AI know you from pv.
Speaker AAnd we talked, and he's one of those people where I'll call and be like, hey, I need contact at so and so my contact left.
Speaker AAnd that's the other thing.
Speaker ALike, people move around so much in this industry that you could be like, if you were to move to Hollow sun tomorrow, for some reason, I don't know why you would move over there.
Speaker ABut yeah, you know, it's the same thing.
Speaker ALike, okay, now I got a guy for house, and I don't have a guy over at Gideon anymore.
Speaker ALet me call so and so.
Speaker AAnd then they'd be like, oh, yeah, Bob over there.
Speaker AGideon, you know, and that's the cool part about our.
Speaker AOur spaces.
Speaker AWe move around, but it's like, what's the game?
Speaker AFive Degrees of Kevin Bacon?
Speaker AYeah, it's the five degrees of the gun industry, you know.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ABut a person who knows, right?
Speaker BAnd even these, like, you know, air quotes, famous gun tuber and personalities in the gun space, firearms space, all the ones that I've ran into are super personable.
Speaker BLike, I remember the first time I met Rob Pincus.
Speaker BI remember watching him on TV whenever I was a little bit younger and, you know, on the Outdoor Channel and all that stuff, so.
Speaker BBut he's about as regular dude as can be.
Speaker BWe met him at the Gun Makers Match, which we have a lot of fun at, but.
Speaker BAnd Rob and I are great friends.
Speaker BYears later, and I see him all over the place.
Speaker BAnd who else ton, you know, last night, I've never spoken to him, but I mean, we were there for a while at dinner and just cutting it up and having a great time.
Speaker BSo everybody at Brandon Herrera ran into at Shot show, and somebody I was with knew him, and so we just kind of stopped and talked to him for a minute.
Speaker BI mean, all these guys are super personable.
Speaker AWell, that's the.
Speaker AHere.
Speaker AMy example is I met Sean when I was working at Faxon.
Speaker AI can call him.
Speaker AI called him the other day, and we're.
Speaker AThey're friends, like, some of my friends and people, they're like, you know.
Speaker AYou know John Patton?
Speaker AYeah, I know John Patton.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AYeah, I'll call him right now.
Speaker AHere's John Patton, right?
Speaker AWhat?
Speaker ANo way.
Speaker AYeah, yeah, he's a friend.
Speaker ALike, Tactical Toolbox is a really good friend of mine.
Speaker AAnd so he lives down the road for him.
Speaker ASo it was Tactical Toolbox.
Speaker ATechnical considerations.
Speaker AThere's so many tacticals.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AAnd Mr.
Speaker ABig Kid, they're all friends of mine.
Speaker ASo I'm like, hey, come over for Thanksgiving.
Speaker ASo we're.
Speaker AWe're sitting there, Thanksgiving, and we take a picture, and people are like, wait, you know Tactical Toolbox, right?
Speaker AYeah, he said my house for things.
Speaker AWhat?
Speaker AYeah, they're friends now.
Speaker ALike, again, growing up.
Speaker AAnd I grew up in the YouTube.
Speaker AWe call it the YouTube era because I was just.
Speaker AWhen YouTube started, I was just going into college, so all the gun tubers and stuff was fresh, new.
Speaker AAnd then going into the industry, like, you'd be like, hey, these are my.
Speaker AThe guys I watch all the time.
Speaker AThen you get to talk to.
Speaker ANow you're friends and you're like.
Speaker AIt went from like, oh, my God, fangirling over.
Speaker AI've told Patton this story.
Speaker AI was, like, fangirling over Patton at a show the one year to now.
Speaker AI just.
Speaker ALiterally two days ago, I called him.
Speaker AHey, buddy.
Speaker AHow's it been?
Speaker AJust to catch up.
Speaker AIt's crazy to think how we are people.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAnd it's not hard to be like, as long as you're not creepy.
Speaker AYeah, please don't be creepy.
Speaker AYou can come up and give me a hug or just.
Speaker BYeah, he likes that.
Speaker ADon't be creepy.
Speaker BYeah, no, you can be creepy.
Speaker AThe guy last night.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AWell, it's the same thing.
Speaker AKaylee, who's a co host, who's on maternity leave right now, she.
Speaker AWe.
Speaker AWe.
Speaker AWe filmed in Myrtle Beach.
Speaker AWe came up in the elevator at the hotel we stayed at, and that's the same hotel you were staying at last night.
Speaker AAnd I got there early, and they wouldn't let me check in because it was under her name.
Speaker AShe comes upstairs and she's talking to this guy.
Speaker AIt's the security guard for the hotel.
Speaker AAnd she's talking to him, and I'm like, do you.
Speaker ADo you know him?
Speaker ADid you meet him?
Speaker AShe goes, no.
Speaker AHe watches the show.
Speaker BNice.
Speaker AAnd I go, you've been recognized because it's so weird and awkward.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ALike, I don't care.
Speaker AYeah, Just say hi.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BWalking around some of our shows, man.
Speaker BI get some young guys that have seen me on different.
Speaker BI don't even know, YouTube or whatever, and I'll kind of hear him behind me like, hey, I think that's that guy.
Speaker BI'm like, there's not talking about me, you know?
Speaker BAnd then they'll like, tap me, like, hey, man, are you Jordan?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BHey, how's it going?
Speaker BNice to meet you.
Speaker BOh, man, I saw you on whatever, you know, this podcast or something, so it doesn't happen all the time.
Speaker BIt's happened, you know, maybe two or three times over the years, but it's the craziest thing that total strangers recognize any of us.
Speaker BAnd, you know.
Speaker AOh, it's.
Speaker AIt's.
Speaker AIt was weird the first time we went to the.
Speaker AThe Gathering.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAnd this is right after we did our episode with Jamin, the owner of psa.
Speaker AI got stopped a hundred times by people.
Speaker AHey.
Speaker AHey.
Speaker AHow'd it go?
Speaker AOh, you talked to.
Speaker AIt's like, yeah.
Speaker AAt first it was like, hi, Right?
Speaker BYou know, you kind of think you know me.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ABut after a while, it's.
Speaker AIt's become that.
Speaker AIt's just like, hey, yeah, how you doing?
Speaker AGood thing.
Speaker AThanks for watching.
Speaker AThanks for being.
Speaker AI was out with Sean told me the story.
Speaker ASean was out with Patton in Colorado at Costco, and somebody's like, are you John?
Speaker APatton goes, no, I'm not that guy.
Speaker AThe guy's like, oh, okay.
Speaker AI thought.
Speaker AHe goes, no, he goes, yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker ABut it's cool.
Speaker AAnd that's the cool part.
Speaker ALike, we're approaching.
Speaker AJust don't be.
Speaker AYou're not awkward.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ABut come.
Speaker ALike, I see people at shows, and people stop and say hi, and we'll see it all the time with it with.
Speaker AEven with gun tubers, you know.
Speaker AHey, how you doing?
Speaker AJust like, my favorite.
Speaker AMy favorite story, my first shot show, Jerry Mitchell, like, came by the booth, and Jerry Mitchulek is a God to most.
Speaker AMost of the people that got an industry.
Speaker ASo this is my first shot show with a company like Gun Ho Kid.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASo I just walked up to him like I knew him forever.
Speaker AI'm like, hey, Jerry, how you been, buddy?
Speaker AGood to see you.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI come here to talk about this.
Speaker ACool.
Speaker AHey, do you mind?
Speaker AI'm going to talk to you about this.
Speaker AYou mind checking this?
Speaker AI want to get your opinion on this product that we.
Speaker AWe had a lightweight AR super.
Speaker AIt was like, under five pounds, like, Jerry.
Speaker AHey, this is our.
Speaker AOur competition, lightweight ar.
Speaker ACan I get your opinion on this?
Speaker AReal quick, because.
Speaker AOh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker ASo I showed it to him, sitting there talking.
Speaker AAnd, you know, Kurt.
Speaker AKurt was in charge of marketing at Faxon.
Speaker AAnd I turn around, and they are all jaws on the ground because the new guy's talking to Jerry.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAnd they're freaking out.
Speaker AAnd I'm just.
Speaker ABecause I'm just per.
Speaker AI'm a personable person, but because I treated him like he was a human, he's just, yeah, I want to hang out.
Speaker AAnd then I got a tap on the shoulder from somebody and pulled out real quick.
Speaker ABut it's like, I've been talking to Jerry for, like, three minutes.
Speaker BThat's awesome.
Speaker AAnd I get a tap on the shoulder from somebody.
Speaker BGet out of here, new guy.
Speaker AGet out of here.
Speaker BScrewing this up.
Speaker AWell, no, Jerry and I were actually having.
Speaker AWe were talking.
Speaker AWe were talking about bulkier groups, and he was, like, really into it.
Speaker AWe were both into it.
Speaker AAnd I got the tap on the shoulder, like, you need to go.
Speaker AYou're the new guy.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAll right, cool.
Speaker AI had Jerry all ready to go.
Speaker BThat's awesome.
Speaker ABut that's the thing, everybody.
Speaker AIf you approach it the right way, like, we're just people.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AI don't even.
Speaker ALike, when I met.
Speaker AWhen I met Herrera, I was just like, hey, how's it going?
Speaker AGood to meet you.
Speaker AGood to see you.
Speaker AAnd the one that.
Speaker AThere was a couple who have been, like, really taken aback by it.
Speaker ALike, you don't know who I.
Speaker ANo, dude, I know who you are.
Speaker AI'm just being like, hey, good to see you.
Speaker ALike, yeah, cool.
Speaker ALike, have we met before?
Speaker ANo.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BBut you're just a guy that.
Speaker AYou're just a guy.
Speaker BHis pants on, one leg at a time.
Speaker AYou're cool people.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ALike, same thing with Oias.
Speaker AI fangirled over.
Speaker AO.
Speaker AHe came in here, now we're friends.
Speaker AIt's just the same thing.
Speaker ALike, yeah, you're the reason why I buy things.
Speaker AHe goes, what?
Speaker AYeah, you and your old gun magic.
Speaker AYou wizard.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ALove you, buddy.
Speaker ABut it's.
Speaker AIt's.
Speaker AThat's the cool part.
Speaker AWe're not all old white people, like we said, and we want everybody to be in the community.
Speaker AThat's a big thing that a lot of people.
Speaker AI'll talk again.
Speaker AGo into that class, like, the.
Speaker AThe very liberal people who are in there, they were, like, taken aback about how nice we were and how genuine we are and how everyone thinks we're the devil.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker BLike, and how actually accepting we are of all walks of life to come together.
Speaker ALike, from the water, boy.
Speaker AWe're not the devil, mama.
Speaker ANot, though.
Speaker AThat's the thing.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AWe're all walks of life.
Speaker AWe all have probably all grew up in the same experience.
Speaker AYou know, we have similar experiences and things like that.
Speaker AAnd, you know, that's the cool part about the community part.
Speaker AAnd that's.
Speaker AWhy would I say, like, now is the time to continue growing that grass roots?
Speaker AIt's because we need to continue to grow that community.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BI think we have more in common than.
Speaker BThan differences.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker AYeah, we all like shooting guns.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BDo it more often.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ADo it now.
Speaker ARight now.
Speaker APause this desktop.
Speaker AGo to desktop.
Speaker APause this and go.
Speaker AYou're trying to pull over.
Speaker AGo to the range now.
Speaker AGo now.
Speaker ADo it.
Speaker BYou're in Chicago.
Speaker BYou just roll your window.
Speaker AOh, God, no.
Speaker AWell, on that note, Jordan, where can people find you?
Speaker AFind the company socials, all that fun stuff.
Speaker AI appreciate, again, thank you for being on.
Speaker AEnjoy your gift from Palmetto.
Speaker BI certainly will.
Speaker BThank you.
Speaker AThank you again to Palmetto for sponsoring and to all the sponsors.
Speaker ABut yeah, go ahead.
Speaker BGideonOptics.com all the socials, X Instagram, Facebook, Gideon Optics.
Speaker AYou heard the man.
Speaker AGideon optics.com Go check them out.
Speaker AGet yourself an Omega.
Speaker AHighly recommend.
Speaker AReally love the Omega.
Speaker AI've got it on my prodigy.
Speaker AFantastic.
Speaker AOptic again.
Speaker AAnother home run from you guys.
Speaker AMake sure to, like, share and subscribe.
Speaker AHit the little bell for notifications.
Speaker ASubscribe on all podcasting hopes and we will see you on the next one.