Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark - “He Was Shooting Execution Style." – Mass Shooting Survivor Suzanna Hupp

Episode Date: September 17, 2021

Imagine going to lunch with your parents. Suddenly a truck crashes into the restaurant, a man steps out, and he begins shooting people one by one. This is a true story, and it happened to Suzanna Hupp.Join Alex Clark as she dives deep into the true story of The Luby’s Massacre with survivor, Suzanna Hupp, on her new podcast, The Spillover! Looking for like-minded friends? Join the Cuteservative Facebook group HERE.Listen at 9 PM PST / MIDNIGHT EASTERN every Thursday by subscribing to ‘The Spi...

Well, well, well. What do we have here? They finally caved in and gave me a podcast. Okay, well, I think we all know that this much unsupervised time together could be atomic, could be electric, will be controversial. But conservatives are used to that. I am sitting like this, by the way, because this is how I sit. This is how I work at my desk. Anyone that works with me knows this is how I'm comfortable.

And I don't really get to sit like this on Poplittics. And guess what? This is where we bend the rules. This is where we break the rules. So I'm doing it on the spillo. because that's, yeah, that's the freedom that I get now. So if you're somehow stumbling upon this and you have no idea what's going on here, my name is Alex Clark and I am calling the show the spillover because it's all the conservate that I don't have the time to discuss in an episode

of Poplittics, which is my daily show on Instagram where I cover pop culture and entertainment news, all from a conservative perspective. And you can see how I'm sitting if you're watching this on TPSA Live or on the Poplitts YouTube channel. Otherwise, you might be listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And the thing about Poplitics, which is our Instagram show, is that it's only 10 minutes every single day. And the spillover is going to be around 45 minutes every Friday. And the spillover is also going to allow me to go into some subjects and conversations that just really wouldn't get justice in a only 10 minute show. And I'll tell you, it has been about a year of behind the scenes discussions, trying ideas,

scrapping ideas and trying some again to figure out exactly what this show was going to be, what kind of experience I wanted you to have while listening. And my entire career, whether I've been in the position, whenever I've been in the position to create a new show, I have always just kind of put myself in your shoes and thought about what I would want to watch or listen to myself. And if you watch Poplittics regularly, you know that I love true crime. I have since I was a little girl. It started with Unsolved Mysteries. Then it kind of grew into Nancy Drew books. And then I graduated to researching serial killers, which concerned my parents for a very short period of time. But they got over that. And I also love pop culture. I started my career in pop radio.

And then when I realized that it was cancel or be canceled because I'm conservative, I bounced. And then I came up with the idea of poplittics and to host that with Turning Point USA. And, you know, then the conservative community was born out of poplite. and a real bond was formed between you and I, and I wanted to have more time to talk to you about these things that matter to both of us, all of these different subjects, politics, true crime, pop culture, just like true close friends do. You share, you talk about everything. And whether I'm dying to get relationship advice from you with something that I'm going through,

there's a celebrity guest that we need to get the scoop from, or we need to get a really serious talk and talk to somebody about, child sexual abuse or a crazy trauma that they've endured. The spillover is not one dimensional. We aren't locked into only one type of content. Every week is going to be a grab bag. The show could be more funny. One week, another week it could get more serious, maybe more sad, another one's suspenseful. It all just really depends on the guest or the topic. And the show isn't one dimensional because you and I aren't. It's impossible to put cute conservatives in a box. Just when the left thinks that they figured it out, we surprise them. And so

today's episode is going to be exactly that. And I want you to imagine whether you're, you know, whatever you're doing right now, whether that's cooking or cleaning in the kitchen, you're, you know, folding laundry, you're walking to class, you're driving to or from work. I want you to imagine that today you have plans to have lunch with your parents. And in the middle of your lunch, a truck crashes into the restaurant that you're eating in. And a man gets out and he starts shooting customers. This is a true story. And it happened to Susanna Hup.

I first heard Susanna story on I survived on Lifetime, if you've ever watched that show. and I Googled her after the episode as soon as it was over just so I could see if she was conservative because I just knew she was. I don't know if you ever do that when you're watching a reality show or something or a show like I survived where there's real people and you look them up real quick to see what they're like. And sure enough, I was right. Susanna is now the special executive advisor to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and she's a 2A advocate. And her story is intense. I'm going to warn you now. It's also important. And I love survivor stories when it comes to true crime because every time I hear them, I feel like I'm learning something important that could save my life one day or someone else's. And I wanted to hear that story myself from Susanna. I had questions about it that I feel like didn't get asked on her I survived episode. And I also wanted to talk to her about gun control advocates and what they get wrong when it comes to preventing mass shootings. And some parts of her story are,

really hard to hear. I'm going to tell you now. I'm going to give a listener discretion advisory on this episode, but I hope that it will touch you like it did me. The Susanna Hupp story happens right here on the spillover after this quick break. This is the spillover and Susanna Hupp is the special executive advisor to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a former Texas state legislator and author, and is also a survivor of the Luby's massacre, which was a mass shooting that took place on October 16th, 1991 at Alubis cafeteria in Killeen, Texas. 24 people died and 27 were injured. Susanna survived.

And Susanna, if you could just start at the very beginning on that day in 1991, starting with when you woke up, what your plans were for that day, what your mindset was. Well, I was a chiropractor and had my own clinic and was working in my clinic that day. And my parents came by and asked me if I wanted to go to lunch. We didn't have a lot of options, but the Lubies cafeteria right down the road was always a good one for us. And a friend of mine was the manager there, so we were always welcome. We drove down to the Lubies, and on the way it was kind of interesting because we were talking, my mom and I were talking about their 47th wedding anniversary was coming up,

and we were talking about potential party or plans. So at the cafeteria, it was, you know, it was a beautiful sunny day. It was in the middle of the day. The restaurant was packed. It was Boss's Day, and it was also the day after payday. We sat down and ate lunch, interestingly also, in a slightly different place than we normally do because it was so packed. And my manager friend sat down and ate with us. And we were pretty much finished eating.

My manager friend got up and went to check on some things in the kitchen. And all of a sudden, this pickup truck. came blasting through the floor-to-ceiling window that was off to the side exactly where we normally sat. He knocked over a number of people right in that area, knocked over their tables, and of course we thought it was an accident. The truck came to a halt, maybe 15 feet from me. It was still bouncing on its axles. I started to raise up to go help the people he had knocked over, and then we heard gunshots. My father and I immediately got down on the floor. We put the table up in front of us. My mom got down behind us, and there was a window, it was all floor to ceiling

windows behind us, and I remember thinking, okay, it's a robbery, right? Now, I realized this was 1991 and these, these got awful mass shootings that we're having now so frequently, they weren't happening then. So when we heard the gunshots, you logically went to, it's a robbery. I was waiting for somebody to say something like, everybody, put your wallets up on the table. Something. And the shooting continued. Now, it was on the other side of the truck from me, so I couldn't really see what the guy was doing. But within about, I don't know, 40, 45 seconds, he came around the front of his truck and was beginning to come in our direction. And that's what I saw what he was doing. He was simply executing people.

Most of the people were on the floor at that point, and he was simply walk up to one of them, take aim, and pull the trigger. Was he choosing people based on something in particular that you noticed? He was just going from one to the other as far as I could tell and executing them. And that wasn't, it may sound a little funny to you, but it wasn't the first thing that came to mind. As I said, I was waiting for him to say it's a robbery. I remember thinking maybe it's a hit. Maybe there's somebody important in here because, place was packed. So when I realized what was going on, I thought there are always cops in here,

always because they would give free or half-priced meals to the cops. But nobody was stepping forward. We found out later that he sat out in the parking lot and waited for the cops to leave before he did this. So again, 45 seconds, which I got to tell you, that's an eternity. When I realized what he was doing and I realized no one was taking action. I reached for my purse that was on the floor next to me. I always carried a gun in my purse. I had the table up in front of us. I had a perfect place to prop my arm. He was up. Everybody else was down. I've hit much smaller targets and much greater distances. But then I realized that a couple of months earlier I had made the stupidest decision of my life. I had begun leaving my gun out in my car because at that time in the state of Texas,

it was illegal to carry. Actually, New York had looser gun laws than the state of Texas at that time. So my gun was 100 yards away and my car completely useless to me. And I remember thinking, what do I do now? Throw my purse at him. You know, I kind of sarcastically chuckled. I thought, well, it's heavy enough to do damage. But honestly, you've got a guy with a gun. You've got a lot of people. He has complete and utter control over. And you can't go up against somebody like that with the salt shaker or the sugar pack or your butter knife.

That doesn't work. And I've had other people say things like, well, couldn't you coordinate an attack? It doesn't work that way. It's literally bringing a knife to a gunfight. Yep. That's exactly right. Or you could even go further and say a sugar pack to a gun fight. You know, it's just, it doesn't work.

At that point, somebody, well, he continued toward us. And, of course, we're frantically thinking, what can we do? What can we do? We were up in this kind of a corner area that was glass behind us, very heavy-duty glass behind us. Was he saying anything? Not that I was aware of. Now, I heard later that he was saying some things. He was saying the B word, calling some women the B word.

He apparently had a issue with American women. But that's all stuff that we found out later. You know, I didn't really hear anything. In fact, I'll tell you this, it was oddly silent. You would hear an occasional muffled scream or an occasional groan or somebody saying, get down. But he was oddly silent. Nobody was screaming.

And not especially. No, no. And the popping noises. You know, everybody says you hear the popping noises. And I mean, I've heard gunfire a million times, but indoors with carpeting and all, it was a popping noise. So he was continuing toward us. And at that point, my father was down on the floor next to us. And he said, you know, he was of that World War II generation. And he said, I've got to do something. I've got to do something. He's going to kill everybody in here. And I grabbed him by the shirt collar and I tried to hold him down. And I said, I remember, or kind of cursing at him and saying, you know, he's going to shoot you two, stay down. But when he saw what he thought was a chance, he got up and he went at the guy, and at this point the guy was maybe a dozen feet from us. But as I mentioned, the guy had complete control, and he just simply turned and caught my father. Maybe he had covered maybe half the distance, and he shot him in the chest. And my father went down in the aisle, maybe seven, eight feet from me,

and as horrible as this may sound, I saw the wound, and he was still alive and still conscious, but I essentially wrote him off at that point. What were you? What was going through your mind? Did you even have time to register like my father is dying in front of me? Honestly, I was very clinical about it. I was trying to go through the steps of what can I do. Yeah. So I wasn't panicked at that point.

You know, people talk about things being in slow motion. It wasn't that way for me. I remember looking around seriously at that point. You ask an interesting question because I remember, I don't want to offend your watchers here, but I remember thinking to myself, you know, if nothing else, when that SOB gets to me, I'm going to shoot him the bird.

I was just, you know, I was starting to get angry at that point. The good news about what my father did is that it, because he went down in the aisle, it made the gunman change directions slightly. And he went off to my left and continued around the corner of the room away from me. So shortly after that, somebody way at the back of the restaurant, a big guy that is a hero, my hero to this day, he was able to break out the window at the back of the restaurant. Great big guy. He threw himself against the window several times.

And I saw people getting out that way. And we had no exits, nothing around us. And so when I thought, you know, I looked up over the top of the upturn table and he had moved, he was closer to his truck at this point, the back end of his truck. And I thought, this is my chance. And I stood up and I grabbed my mother by the shirt collar and I said, come on, come on, we got to run. We got to get out of here. And what was her temperament at this point? I mean, she just saw her husband get shot.

She's probably terrified. What was she doing? I can't answer that. I don't know. She was behind me. I stood up, grabbed her. and said those words. And I remember as I was standing there with my back to the guy,

I remember I kept waiting to feel impact of a bullet. Because, of course, with my back to him, I didn't know if he was looking at me or not. And on a side note that we can talk about another day, I was shot in the arm with a 22 when I was a kid. And I remember you don't get pain initially. You get impact. And I was waiting to feel that impact

when I was trying to pull my mom. mom up. So I tried to pull her up. I said what I said. And then my feet grew wings. And I ran to the back window, stumbled through it. At that time, my manager friend came out of a side door. And he said, oh, God, thank God, you're all right. And I said, yeah, but my dad's been hitting. It's bad. And I turned to say something to my mom. And that was when I realized she didn't follow me out. And you couldn't see, everything was backlit because of the windows. You couldn't see where the bad guy was. You didn't, you couldn't really see what was going on. So right about that time is when cops were just beginning to arrive. And I, we were all, without the cops there, we ran across to some

apartment complexes right across the street there. And, and I got some cuts going through the window, so I was cleaning them up. I'll tell you this, the cops were one building away. Did they not hear anything happening? They were one building away, heard nothing until they got the calls. They were actually at a hotel, as I said, a building away. They were in a conference and in an odd twist of gun control fate. The manager of the hotel asked them to leave their weapons in their trunks so that they didn't offend any of her patrons. You're kidding. No, and several of them were patients of mine, so they told me all about this later. So they said they had, they wasted precious moments while they retrieved their guns from the trunks of their cars, ran over there, they didn't

know who the gunman was initially. They came in through the broken glass where the truck had come through and they were looking, trying to figure out who the gunman was, and they saw a woman cradling a man out in the way they worded it, they said, we saw this woman cradling what was clearly a mortally wounded man out in the aisle. And they said, this 30-something-year-old man, that of course was the gunman, walked up to her. They said, he put a gun to her head. They said she looked up at him, looked down, and he pulled the trigger. And that's how they knew who the gunman was.

They said all they had to do was fire shot into the ceiling. And this guy rabbited to a back bathroom alcove area, exchanged some gunfire with them, and then put a bullet in his own head. My dad was still conscious through all of this. I tell you that because when I was trying to get her to run out with me, I told you my parents had just, they were coming up on their 40, actually they had just had their 47th wedding anniversary. We were plotting their 48th just two weeks prior.

And mom wasn't going anywhere without dad. And that was just the way it was. It never occurred to me as I was running out that back window. So I was angry. You know, I mean, I, one of the cops that I was a patient of mine, we walked around, they got the perimeter set up and he walked me around to the front and they had already pulled my dad out, but he had passed at that point. I was, I didn't, I actually didn't know about my mom until later that day. But I was, I was very angry because I felt like the only thing the gun laws did at that time was legislate me out of the right to protect my husband. myself and my family and there were several other people including my manager

friend that day that had guns that were out in their cars worthless completely useless so yeah I was angry I'm still angry if you can't see it in my face I'm angry and makes me right to be and so could you just like walk us through so after that happens I mean what is it what are the the next days like for someone that goes through a tragedy like that I mean I mean are you even aware like of anything going on? Like, are you just focused on that? I mean, in the years following. I mean, what was life like for you following that? Well, I, this may sound a bit odd, but I think my older brother and my younger sister and I,

in some ways, are fortunate. And I say that because my parents were killed essentially together and very quickly. They died quickly and together. I've known other families that have had to go through. the death of a parent or a spouse. And that's an awful, awful situation. Obviously, I would prefer my parents hadn't died violently. Of course. But to answer your question, we as a family made a choice.

I wasn't married then. We as a family made a choice to speak to the press. The press was, of course, everywhere. That was the first and the largest mass shooting in this country. And, you know, we figured they have to report it. They have to report something. So you might as well talk to them and give them your version. Then if they get it wrong, you have something to gripe about, right?

Do you remember what the first thing you said on the news was or to the press? Yeah. One of the things I said was that I wasn't angry at the guy that did it. Because to me, that was like being mad at a rabid dog. I mean, this guy is sick. He's not a career criminal. This is somebody who's sick. You don't be mad at a rabid.

rabid dog. You might take it behind the barn and kill it. But I wasn't angry at it. But I was genuinely mad as hell at my legislators for legislating me out of the right to protect myself and my family. I was angry. I was angry at myself for having made the decision to follow a stupid law. I was very angry. And so I think because I said that, I don't think that was what they expected. And so I started getting a tremendous number of requests for interviews. And yeah, I said my peace to all of them. I had a place to focus my anger, so that was good. Yeah. Do you remember how long it took for you to forgive yourself for leaving your gun and your car? Like, was that a really hard struggle for you to overcome? You know, you make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the time.

and like most, I would think most 30-year-old young women listening to you right now, you'd say, eh, what are the odds? You know, it's more likely that I would be hurt by someone if my car broke down on a back road. And that was my thinking. You know, you don't expect bad things to happen in a crowded, well-lit place in the middle of the day. It's just not in our psyche, thank God. you know, I don't know that that's something you forgive yourself for. You just, you realize you made the best decision you could and you move on.

I'm not sure that's the same as forgiveness. Yeah. Yeah. I think that, I mean, that's the best that you can absolutely do in that type of situation. And so now you've dedicated your entire life to fighting against gun control. But we hear all the time as conservatives, as people who do support the Second Amendment, that, you know, if we had stricter gun control measures across the country, or if we just got rid of guns entirely, that mass shootings like this wouldn't happen.

I'm sorry. I laugh because as the years have gone on, I'm trying to teach my son, my grown son, to not waste a lot of time arguing with people that honestly don't have a clue. And some of the folks that say some of those things, they're so clueless. It's just you can't, I can't even have an argument with them. When I've had, and I hate to say this, ladies, I hate to say this, but very often it's young women who will say to me, well, couldn't you have tried to talk to him? Oh my gosh. I've had that happen.

I had one woman say, you know, when I was speaking about having a gun, and she said, well, you know, I just don't know if I could pull the trigger on someone. And I asked her, I said, do you have children? And she said, yes, I do. And I said, so you're telling me that if you're in a restaurant somewhere and a madman is leveling his weapon on your child's forehead that you couldn't take him out first? she said well I just don't know if I could and I said ma'am even a goose will protect its young yeah at some point you can't waste time arguing with people like that I mean I feel like a lot of people I mean it's true we do hear it that people that have gone through similar circumstances to you they do say you know they dedicate their lives to fighting for gun control you've dedicated

your life to fighting against gun control have you ever linked up or talked to other survivors of your shooting? Yes. What about other shootings? Yes. Yes. And so what is that like? Getting together with people that have gone through this?

There's such a small amount of people in the country that have ever felt the way that you do. Right. Yeah. Thank you, God. You know, it's always, I mean, anytime one of these things happens and I see it on TV, my heart just breaks for the folks involved. Very often, they feel like. I do? Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they think it's the gun that somehow animated itself and went in there

and pulled its own trigger. I believe that evil exists. I genuinely believe that there are people in this world that can be rehabilitated, that can be fixed, but then I also think that evil really does exist. And I just want every opportunity and every tool that I can possibly have to be to do my best to protect myself and my family and my loved ones from that evil. And I wouldn't hesitate for one second to pull the trigger. And you know what? I would lose a night's sleep if I killed somebody like that. I'd lose a night's sleep. But I'd lose a heck of a lot more sleep if I was having to grieve over the rest of my family members. That's powerful. That's so powerful. I've got to tell you, Alex, I didn't grow up in a house with guns.

I'm not a hunter. I'm not into blasting Bambi. I support hunting, but I'm not personally into it. And I get how women feel. I mean, nobody likes guns are loud and they can do a lot of damage. You know, we all get that. And I think that's why particularly a lot of young women just kind of don't like them. And I get that. But I would say to them, and I would say to any of the, the older folks that are watching this, that even if you choose not to have a gun and carry it, I get it. But if you're in that situation and you're in a restaurant later today and some crazy person comes in and decides he wants to rack up a high body bag count, even if you've chosen not to have a weapon, don't you hope the person behind you has one and knows how to use it? it's not a guarantee, but it changes the odds. And you have even ran for office, and this has been one of your primary issues. Yeah.

So talk about that. Well, when I was speaking so much to the press, I had a lot of people asking me to run for office. I think their hope was that I felt as strongly about our entire Constitution as strongly as I do about the Second Amendment. And I do. And so when we were in a financial position that I felt like we could do it, I ran for office at that point. I was married and had my first son and later had another one and enjoyed, mostly enjoyed about a dozen years in office and then I retired. And so now where do you feel like you're out in your life in this fight? You know, I enjoy going and speaking to groups.

I enjoy trying to win over. Listen, I love talking to the choir, but it's also a lot of fun for me to go into groups that are kind of on the fence about it. Like I said, maybe they just don't really like guns. The book that I wrote is really designed for those people. It's designed for, you know, Joe Bubba Hunter, who's got his girlfriend that's just not real comfortable with guns. And it's designed for her.

It's an easy read. Yeah, it's a super quick, easy read. It's not filled with statistics and graphs. I left that for the experts like John Lott's a great example of that. He's got all the facts and the logic and mine is more of the mushy side of it. Do you think that the gun control lobby or gun control rights activists, do you think that they are specifically seeking out victims of tragedies like this to try to get them, hey, hey, don't you think guns should be illegal and get them to, speak out? Absolutely. There's no doubt. Have people tried to convince you to go to the other side? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Of course. Well, early on they did. I haven't had anybody bother me with that in a long time. Yes, yes, absolutely. You know, I don't fault them for that, having worked in government, with government, having been with lobby. And by the way, lobbying, for all you listening, lobbyists are not the evil empire. Lobbyists are, every one of you probably has a

lobbyist that works for you if you belong to any association, if you belong to the NRA. Part of your dues goes into a pot that hires an expert to go fight for the rights that you believe in. And so, you know, we hear so many negative things about the lobby. And most of us are too busy working and that's why you hire somebody to go take care of that stuff for you. And I totally lost track of your question. Sorry. What you're doing now? Or do you think that people, that's what I asked you was, do you think people now are,

that have gone through the similar tragedies as you? If they're being, you know, like I think of the kids that were involved in the parkland shooting. Yes. You know, especially with them being so young, are gun control activist groups going, Oh, perfect. Let's try to convince them to become political activist for us, even if that's not even on their radar.

And then that's why we see so many of these kids becoming many leftist gun control celebrities. Yes. Having said that, I can't really blame the other side because it works. You know, it works. I mean, I'll tell you the truth. When legislators, we all like to think legislators are real left-brain people that make their decisions based on logic and facts. B.S.

I mean, I'll just call it B.S. almost no everybody makes their decisions at the gut level and then they look for the facts and statistics to back up what they've decided at the gut level and that's why I think arguments like mine listen I hate being the victim you know but but I totally recognize why the NRA and gun owners of America and many other organizations have asked me to come testify because I am I am the emotional place where they're hoping those legislators make the right decision and then they have the facts to back it up. You've got to have that.

Have you ever been, obviously when you're traveling, that's different, but when you're home, have you ever been anywhere without your guns since? Funny, you should ask that. I flew out here with that. Yeah. You know, I'm not paranoid. I don't carry it with me all the time everywhere, but 99% of the time. Yes.

Was it important for you? You have young sons, young adult sons. Was it important for you for them to learn how to carry and being familiar around guns? Yes, because I'll tell you one thing. My parents were pretty cool people, and it kind of ticks me off that my kids never got to know them. That really, that irritates me. I know that sounds maybe kind of funny, but. I can tell you that I've also really instilled on them to be aware of their surroundings.

And again, I don't feel like I'm paranoid. But if I'm in a restaurant somewhere and a single man walks in and looks odd for any reason, or we were recently in a theater where that was the case, and I couldn't watch the movie. I got up, walked out and went behind the guy and kept my eye on him. And I think one of the other things is being aware of your ex-examines. I used to always, when we'd go to a restaurant, when they'd sit down, I'd say, close your eyes, and they go, ah, and I'd say, where are the exits?

Know where your exits are. Pay attention to people around you. Not paranoia, awareness. That's all it is. That's right. And that comes from a place of strength, I think, too. And being a good mother and being a good parent and keeping aware of those types of things. And I just think there's no way with every.

everything that you have done with your life, and I hope you feel this way. I mean, wouldn't you say your parents must be so proud of everything that you've done after that? You didn't let that destroy your life. You kept going. You kept fighting. I, you know, I hope so. My dad was actually an expert on the founding of the country, so I was steeped in the Second Amendment and what it meant from early life. So I hope so. I think he always wanted one of us to run for office. And I just didn't think it would be me. I love that, though. I love that.

And you talked about, you know, you don't like saying that you're a victim. And at Turning Point USA, we've always said, you know, it's not about being a victim. It's about being a victor. And I think that you are the epitome of somebody who has been a victor out of some circumstances that were unfortunate. But you have done such an incredible job and are so inspirational to women everywhere. And I heard your story a few years ago and you've always stayed with me. Thank you. Absolutely. And so that's why I wanted to bring you on the spillover because I knew that cute servatives, I knew that your story would impact them as much as it did me. And I hope that, you know, Susanna's story really is that thing that you needed to hear, the story that you needed to hear to convince you, okay, this is it. I got to buckle down and do this. I need to get my concealed carry. I need to start getting familiar with a firearm. And so if you could just give a quick tip, I mean, for somebody who has, for a young woman who has no idea her way around a firearm,

What is the best first step to get started? Find, believe it or not, there are a lot of firearm stealers that you can look up online that cater to women. Go find one. You don't have to be embarrassed because I know what it's like. You don't want some man telling you, oh, my God, you know, you're not doing it right. There are guys and gals out there that cater to women and cater to people who have never touched a gun. They're out there and they make it fun. And I've got to tell you, most women, in fact, every woman that I've ever seen, shoot a gun for the first time, they have a blast doing it.

And I'll add one other thing. You can't know everything in a candidate's heart, whether it's a candidate for a legislature or the Congress or a judge or whoever it is. So what I always encourage people is ask them just one question. Ask them what their views are on the Second Amendment. It's kind of a bellwether because I'll tell you, if they believe that you have, have the Second Amendment rights in all of its glory, it tells you how they view you as a constituent, whether or not they view you as someone to be lorded over and taken care of, nanny state, or whether or not they view you as a freedom-loving individual. It tells you a lot, so it's a

bellwether. Thank you so much, Susanna, for coming on the spillover and sharing your story. Thank you for having me. This is fun. Welcome back. It's The Spillover with Alex Clark, and we just heard Susanna Hupp story of surviving a mass shooting. And you know, what I love about her is that even though she went through a tragedy like that, she is still a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and concealed carry rights. And I think what we've learned from this episode is carry everywhere that you legally can. If you're apprehensive about carrying a firearm or you haven't ever even shot a firearm, you need to watch one of our newest series on TPSA Live.

It's called Reloaded with Paige Rue. She's a training coordinator and senior firearms instructor for an indoor shooting range here in Phoenix, Arizona, which is where we are filming this. We are at the Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix. And Paige has been in the gun industry and raised around guns for her entire life, helping people gain confidence around firearms like you and I. And get this? She's like the same age as us. She's 24. And she will tell you that carrying a firearm for personal protection for the first time can be extremely intimidating.

I know, and she knows that. But it is also possible for you to do it. And it's incredibly empowering. And so I want you to watch Reloaded with Page. She's going to show you everything from basic firearm safety, marksmanship, concealment, and even advanced shooting skills. Whether you live in Phoenix or not, this show, Reloaded, is an excellent starting place for people who have no background with a gun.

And if you want to train to exercise your Second Amendment right in your city, here's what you can do. You can follow TPSA Reloaded on Instagram, DM Page, the host, and she will help you with all the first steps so that you know what to do wherever you live on getting trained and comfortable around a firearm. You can also join her two-way baddies group on Facebook, just like how we have the cute servitude's Facebook group. Page has two-way batties,

and so you're going to get in there and meet other women from all around the country who could be in the same phase as you when it comes to how comfortable they are around a firearm. maybe they're more experienced, maybe they're less experienced, or they're just curious. So they just want to know more. They're not even ready to purchase a gun yet, but they just want to know more. That's the place to do it, especially if the Second Amendment is your issue. And as far as this show goes, as in the spillover with me, if you liked this episode with Susanna, we have more survivors this season that we're going to talk to from cases that

you may or may not have ever heard of. And I'm telling you, it is going to blow your mind. We're also going to do more lighthearted episodes. so they aren't always going to be super serious or, you know, like a true crime type of episode. We're going to have a special celebrity guests, and I am so excited for you to see those. And, of course, we're going to do just interesting stories in general from people that I know you are going to find Five Orange Juicy. So if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, make sure that you subscribe. You're leaving a five-star review on our Poplittics channels.

And then you can tune in next week, same day, same time for more of the spillover. It's all the conservate that I can't fit in a regular poplite episode where, of course, I cover pop culture without the propaganda every single weekday in 10 minutes. By the way, yes, I still love you. You mean it. Bye.