It Could Happen Here - CZM Rewind: Safe Gun Ownership

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

James and Robert are joined by Karl Kasarda of InRangeTV to discuss a sensible approach to gun ownership after the election. Original Air Date: 11.22.2024 Resources: inrange.tv https://theliberalgunclub.com/ https://www.instagram.com/armedequality/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. The Dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. We're launching Podlandia, AEO, rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters,

and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Chrysler, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song about it.

Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. A.A.O. Rewatch on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam, it's sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the hosts of everyone watches women's sports,

a new podcast from Together. We're breaking down the biggest headlines, the viral moments, and the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. From game-changing performances to culture shifting conversations we'll give you our takes,

our debates, and a few laughs along the way. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. My first guest is Karen Tilton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin.

You have surprises? Many surprises. Welcome to the Sweet 305 podcast where the group chat comes to life. What on? You're the only person I know that loves a yellow starburst. It's lemonade.

This is Sweet 305. Here, oversharing is encouraged. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier,

and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less so I don't have to do so much. I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

AllZone Media. What's Pew Pew in my Pews? This is Robert Evans, and it could happen. a podcast about it happening here as it seems to be more every week. And when things get worse, one thing that a lot of folks start talking about is, should I buy a gun? And obviously, this is a fraught question, and the only responsible answers to it are very complicated. And so to talk over some very complicated answers, we've got James Stout. And we have in the audience with us the great Carl Caserta, Carl of InRange TV. Thank you for coming on to be our resident

firearms expert in this podcast where we try not to be deeply irresponsible. Yeah, thank you for having me on. It's always a pleasure to come back to the show. And people always ask for more collabs, and here we are, but on a very important topic. And the only question I have is now is, when do you change the name of the podcast to? Oh, no, it's happening here. We're talking with the marketing people. It done happened here.

Oh, shit, it's happening again. It's been happening here. Yeah. Here it is. Here now, right in this moment. Be here now, comma, it. Yeah. We've got to work out which one SEO is best, but we're on it, Carl, don't worry. Great. We're working on it. So, as I think both of you know, but maybe listeners don't, gun sales typically saw before elections, as to ammunition purchases.

People are afraid of gun bans has been traditionally one reason why, and the firearms industry is not afraid of hyping those up to increase sales in election years. Normally, prices increase in line with demand. Like, if you go back to November 2020 and look at the prices of ammunition and guns compared to now, you'll see how much incredibly higher they were. That was for a number of reasons. But considering inflation, gun prices are pretty low right now. You know, that is kind of a recurrent thing for the most part, is that while everything else gets more expensive television and firearms remain affordable.

Guns have gone to the point where they're more affordable than they've ever been. Uh-huh. Yeah, they really are. AR-15s, I used to talk about this on Enraining, air-fifteenths are essentially cordwood. And you can get a fully fled, good-to-go AR-15 now for like $4 to $500. Yeah. You get pistols for $250. Oh, yeah.

The prices on guns are like through the floor. And it's interesting to note that, like, if you are a gun manufacturer or firearms dealer, even if you don't hype elections, it would be unintelligent of you to not prep for elections because they're so consistently the Christmas of gun sales. So this is an instance in which we didn't see that. It's kind of interesting. I think there's an element, because obviously when we talk, I think, to people who are not into guns and talk about how cheap guns have gotten, they're like, well, that's very bad.

And there's definitely downsides to that. But an upside of that is it does kind of suggest we are not seeing the degree of panicked hoarding for a civil war that we have seen at previous points when gun prices were not as cratered. And ammo prices were a lot higher. and ammo availability was a lot lower. Like, in some ways, that's kind of an optimistic sign. Yeah, or the dark side of that is the traditional prepper air quote is so saturated in guns and ammunition. Right.

But they don't even need another one. Right. Well, I think that is where a lot of people are. Yeah, yeah. Also, like, capacity really increased in 2020, and I think they've been pumping out. Like, it's interesting to look at, like, the cost of 9mm and 556 ammunition, which, if you're not familiar, are, like, the most commonly used defensive ammunition rounds compared to more niche stuff. Like that hasn't gone down as much if you're trying to get 300 whism or something.

The funny thing to that, yeah, 5, 5, 5, 6 and 9mm, both defensively as well as just recreationally are the most common ammunition by far. And some of the weirdo stuff I like to shoot like percussion caps for percussion revolvers, you can't find that stuff to save your life. That stuff's through the roof and expensive. So they've literally just bunkered down, intense, tent there and are making 5-5-6 and 9-millimeter because that's where the demand is and will continue to be.

Yeah, I can't find, you can't see it. I have a little reloading setup here. I can't find shotgun primers or certain powders anywhere now. And this is going to be a problem because if we have another Cowboys and Aliens kind of situation, what are we going to use? You know, what is Harrison Ford going to use to save us? Anyway, nobody saw that movie. Why am I making that joke?

Let me know I've got a good stash of percussion cat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're all going to be leaning heavily on Carl. Carl Furrell humanity. So I think we've gotten a little bit ahead of our skis here. We should start by talking, because again, I think we've all seen a lot of people being like, well, I guess I should get a gun now in the wake of Trump's victory. Yeah.

And I think the first caveat we should give everyone is like if you are reacting in a way that is totally reasonable to this news, being depressed, right? If you're somebody who deals with suicidal ideation, if you have been spiraling, lately if you have been thinking about self-harm, if you are just not in a stable mental place, and especially if you have no experience with firearms and are not in a stable mental place, don't go rush to pick one up now. Like, for one thing, I assure you they will be available in the future. They are not going to get harder to buy.

No, you know, it reminds me of a line from the movie We Were Soldiers, which is actually a pretty good movie, historically speaking. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a lot of fun. In spite of Mill Gibson, it was pretty good. And there's a scene where, like, the old hardened soldier from World War II in Korea gets to Vietnam, and he's like, he's just got a pistol. And everyone's around him saying, don't you want an M16? He goes, don't worry, there'll be plenty of those laying around if I need one. So, right. Kind of, that's where we're at in this country. Don't worry. There'll be plenty laying around if you need one. Yeah. Yeah. We are not entering a period where that's, you know, I think there are some specific worries where there may be attempts to restrict specific groups from arming themselves. But even so, I wouldn't say that elevates it above a threat if you are. dealing with suicidal ideation. Having a gun is not a talisman, as our friend tactical girlfriend often brings up, and you shouldn't treat it as one. And part of what that means is that, like,

you have to model, like, the threat that you're facing, right? And if you are not in immediate danger, if nobody is threatening to kill you specifically, you know, then that may not be the safest thing for you, right? And particularly, I think the other side of it that, Carl, you are much more qualified to talk about within me, is that if you are going to buy a firearm, if you want that to be a thing that can actually protect you in a situation where you are in danger, where someone is threatening your life, you have to train with it. Yeah, no, absolutely. I think that not to make light of that at all with that little joke about that movie,

but the reality is we as people, humans in general, all of us are bad at threat modeling. And that's not to say that the perceived threat that we're seeing with the results isn't real. Yeah. I think it is. But that said, at the moment, if you're dealing with some of those issues like you mentioned or the living situation you're in or even the community around you, isn't one in which a firearm laying around is particularly safe, could mean that you're actually inducing more threat and risk to yourself than what might come in two years. So that is something we have to think about very carefully. Can I possess this responsibly? Do I now how to use it responsibly? Am I in a place, not only in my living situation, but my mental state that possessing this? very quick and easy to use lethal device is safe to have a round. Those are questions you should ask first before worrying about tomorrow. Right. Yeah, I mean, maybe we should address, like, a couple of things that Carl said right off the bat.

Like you said, having a firearm lying around. Right. One thing that we should address is, like, I know I recently purchased a new gun safe, but, like, if you have X budget to buy a gun, Robert also mentioned that without training your liability with the gun, right? maybe we can break down, if you have $1,000, you don't need to go out and spend $1,000 on your gun, right? Perhaps it would be better to save some of that money and put it towards other things. I think it might make sense to just break those down for people in case they're not familiar.

Yeah, I think that might be a good place to start, is if you decide, number one, I'm in an emotionally stable place, I either have some specific threats or I want to be prepared for a future where those threats are more likely. and let's start with a budget of $1,000, right? And, you know, this is one of the, there's going to be people who can't afford a budget of $1,000, and that's very unfortunate, but this is one of those things that, like, isn't fair, right? Like guns cost money, not everyone has disposable income. But $1,000, I think, is a reasonable floor for not just acquiring a firearm, but, like, the things you need to be able to start building proficiency with it.

So, like, let's talk about that, Carl. Like, what would you do? What would you advise someone with a grand who is looking into, getting into shooting and also being set up to potentially defend themselves if they need to. Right. So it's such a nuanced question and answer because there's so many variabilities there. One of which is you have to understand the living situation you're in. Are you living in a place that is solely your own? Do you live with roommates? Do you have, do you have children and your parents? I mean, like, these things all come into the equation

about how well can you secure this thing should you acquire it. And so that comes up to, do you need a full bolt into the wall safe? Do you need something that is locked with cable underneath the bed that still is reasonably difficult to get into but is accessible otherwise? Do you have a situation to which you're the only one that could access this? And therefore, you're not worried about that. So the first thing you have to think about is I'm taking possession of responsibility of this. It is a lethal weapon. What am I going to do to make sure that that doesn't fall into the wrong hands, whether there are people that live within your own structure or outside of it, should something go awry.

So you have to consider that. So right off the bat is what are the situation I'm in and what are the things I need to consider to make sure this doesn't leak out of my control? Because we've seen in so many instances, especially some of the horrible spree-shooting and such, in which it's not the person that possessed the gun, but someone around them that took it from them

and used it for that. Absolutely. And that's because it wasn't stored well. And so that's number one. So you're going to think about one, are you getting a pithel or a long arm? And that's a discussion to be had too. But those two equate.

And then depending on which one of those two you're acquiring, determines the kind of safe storage requirements that also align with your current living situation. Of course, the best thing is a safe bolted to the floor that only you can get into. But that's not viable for everyone. Right. But it's something, right? Yeah. Yeah.

What comes along with that is you also, this is going to be true at every stage of this process. You need to know the laws of your state and maybe even your local area, right? Like in Oregon, we have very strict safe storage laws, right? Like you can be held accountable to a higher degree in this state if you don't secure a weapon and someone gets access to it, right? Now, obviously, if you have a safe and someone drills into your safe, you're not liable, right? Like, you took the actions you could to stop them from being able to get to your firearms. There's not an expectation that you have a fortress of solitude or whatever. But you have to have taken reasonable steps to lock them away, right?

And, you know, that's going to be different. A lot of states have absolutely no requirements whatsoever. But you need to be aware of what your local legal situation is. Yeah, I appreciate you bringing that to the table because myself living in Arizona, we have no such rules. And so I could essentially... You can just keep them on the floor. I could stack them in my front yard, right? I'm like, ah, just put them out in the yard.

We'll see. I had extra ARs. I use them to make a fence cheaper than wood right now. Yeah, literally cold wood now. So the thing about that is, again, these things get more and more complicated over time, but we don't want to make this conversation impenetrable. But the kind of safe you acquire is important too. And that's a deeper topic than we could ever do in one video.

I'm going to go ahead and just dovetel out to a friend of mine, Devi and Olaf. He has a channel. He does a lot of video work about gun safes and which ones are good or bad. But let's just say the cheap $90 thing with the cylindrical key lock isn't it. So you've got to be a little better than that. So I would estimate, let's go with costs. You're buying, let's say, an air 15, you're probably going to need to spend, And I'm guessing here, around $250 for a safe that's actually worth a damn.

Yeah. Yeah. It's about what I spent recently for a little handgun safe. Yeah. So let's build on that, right? Let's say you've decided that you want a gun and that it's safe for you to have a gun. I think, yeah, the first thing you ought to prioritize is making sure that no one who, for whom it is not safe, gets that gun, which we've addressed, right? The second thing that you need to prioritize is that you could use that gun safe.

And like you are not a liability every time that you pick up and load that gun, right? Yes. And part of that is in, and maybe I'll have different opinions on this, but I think we're probably sympathetico. Picking the right type of firearm, I see a lot of people saying, I am worried I'm going to get attacked. You know, I have been, I've gotten a death threat, you know, I'm scared particularly of this group of, you know, Nazis or whatever. So I'm going to buy a handgun. And I will tell you right now, my opinion. is that if you are looking for a self-defense weapon, a handgun probably shouldn't be what you pick unless you are looking to carry a gun. Yeah, no, that's a good quote, right? I carry a handgun because it's unwieldy to walk around with a BF50 BMG.

Yeah, yeah, I cannot take my AR with me in the street, right? So I keep a nine on me, you know? Handguns are the most difficult thing to use skillfully under distress and duress than any other firearm and above and beyond that, they are actually the least effective at doing the job you think they're going to do than anything else. Yeah. Yeah.

There are a shocking number of people are shot way more times than you would expect they could survive with a handgun, right? Like, that is just a reality of the way that they work because they're much, much less powerful than a rifle. And it's also like, I had a friend a couple of years ago who bought a snub nose 38 thinking, well, this is simple. I can't fuck it up. It's a good. And I took her out. and was like, I'm going to set up a 10-foot target,

and we'll see how many times you can hit it with this gun. And she could not do it one out of five times. And then I brought out my Glock, and she was able to hit it every time, right? And it's because one of those is a much easier weapon for somebody who is a complete novice to learn how to use functionally, right? And it's not the snub nose 38.

In the roughest of most senses, typically the smaller the gun is, the more a professional you need to be to use it. Right. Yeah. And like with that in mind, you're responsible for every shot you fire, right? Training in self-defense, by fucking accident because you don't know how to clean your gun or what have you. Every bullet that leaves that barrel, it's your fault. And every one of those is potentially someone's life.

So when you're thinking about buying a gun, you want to have something where you can, a handle it safely and be discharging it and know where that bullet's going to go. Yeah, so on the note, this has been asked for me many times and we're talking about, we're all, we are on the same page. It's like when someone asking this question and it comes up more than you think, first of all, we're getting past the issue of like, are you safe to own this and safe storage? So now we're at the point you are buying a gun, right? So you have to think of what's the threat? Are we worried about three years from now and the potential realities of a very caustic and dangerous political future?

Are you worried about only home defense? Are you worried about your own self-protection walking down the street? Because obviously you're not going to be, well, not obviously, but for the most part, you're not going to be carrying an AR-15 down the street. But if you are only worried about your castle, make a joke about Castle, Doctor. If you're only worried about your house, inside your house, there is no reason to be picking a pistol. None whatsoever. Now, I will say that there's a number of folks in the lefty gun space who will say,

so just get an AR-15. That's not always going to be practical depending on your loss. right? Like that is not something that we can say everyone will be able to do, right? Yeah. But we can say there will be a non-handgun option that will probably be a better fit for you. Yeah, absolutely. And this is where we see a lot of people in the gun space. It's kind of weird. It's like cultural shifts in the zeit guys. Yeah. What's the cool defensive thing of the time? But there's a lot to be said, depending on what you think you're going to have to shoot at, hopefully never, of course. But like, and AR-15 does things like armor piercing in terms of Kevlar and da-da-da-da-da-da-da. But for home defense, it really still is kind of hard to go wrong with a shotgun in many instances, and that should not be ignored. You know what else shouldn't be

ignored? It's our obligation to pivot to advertisements about every 15 minutes on this show. Canadian women are looking for more. More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada as most inspiring women. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey. So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on IHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and IHeart Women's Sports. Because let's be real.

Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about. these days. So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is, like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women sports. Naomi Osaka showing out, she beat Sabalinka. Shout out to you, Naomi. You get the palm, Naomi. You get the palm for that.

Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the Iheart radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here.

You know us or rather you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike and yes, the chicken. We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about. Podlandia AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast. Each week we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning,

breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Chrysler, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin,

legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song ability. Well, I thought he was going to write. I thought you're all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. Ayo, rewatch on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My first guest is Harris Holton, Shakira, Luke and Ierrin. Samira and Gracie! I'm so excited for! You have surprises? Many surprises. Welcome to Sweet 305 where the group chat comes to life.

What a f*** It's like a way Hello, my friend, hello, Hello, my brother. What a... Look, I never have ever been with nobody. Except with my kids, my kids,

my son, I'm my amante. Oof, Yeah, that's incredible, yeah, the telenovela. You're the only person I know that, loves a yellow starburst. It's lemonade.

And no there's someone like you'd like to collaborate with this person. This is Sweet 305. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons

as part of my Coultera podcast network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, we're back. Carl, you've mentioned that you think a shotgun

sometimes can be more effective than AL-15. Especially another thing I would add is you're in a state like California, the laws regarding semi-automatic center-fire rifles are incredibly confusing. It's extremely easy to buy something on Amazon, slap it on your gun, and render it a felony. Yeah.

I would generally say, like, in most situations, an AR, if you're new to shooting, it's going to be easier to figure out. They're very simple, easy to upgrade and modify. But, like, yeah, in California, in a state, New York is similar, it's very easy to commit a felony with an AR-15 and not know that you are. are, and you don't want to find out that your gun is a felony when you have to use it in self-defense, right? This is an instance in which the good old man, again, I'm not trying to promote, I'm not on team shotgun here,

but when it comes to cross all state lines, I mean, sure, there's an exception somewhere, but for the most part, a manually pump-activated shotgun. Yeah. Is likely to not run a fallible law anywhere. Additionally, there's a good chance that if you were to, and we have to consider all realities, there's a good chance that should you need to use it, that when you're in court, trying to defend yourself for using this lethal weapon, a shotgun doesn't seem to evoke the same concerns, let's say, from courts and from judges that an AR might. An AR, regardless of how common they are and how much they proliferate society, there's still those scary rifles. A shotgun does not tend to evoke that same kind of response. It is most likely legal almost anywhere, and the diversity of ammunition you can use in it really.

bridge of the gap from one yard to 100 yards or more. But a lot of people that are new to guns will think, well, shotgun, I don't need to aim. That is incorrect. Shotguns need to be aimed as much as any other long arm. They're just very effective when they actually connect. Yeah. It's one of those, I think, because I do change, like, what I am taking with me based on where I go. And, like, when I'm in California, I generally, like, if I'm going camping or something, I'll make sure I have a 12-gauge in the car, right? Because I'm not going to try to get whatever. this month's gun laws are right? You know?

Like, that's just not practical to me. That said, I think, because there are a number of people who will be very frustrated us talking about shotguns. One thing that they are right about is there's a different type of training that's necessary with the shotgun, and they are in some ways more complicated to use than an AR, in part because for every shot, well, unless it's a semi-automatic, like, for every shot, you're pumping it, right? And, like, that is a, that is, there's muscle memory that has to be built there, right?

It's harder, you know, maybe a little bit slower to get up to a level, or at least you have to train differently with it, right? The other thing about it is that, like, it loads very differently. You know, a shotgun is a completely different kind of ammunition than an AR has, which all goes back to the whole, like, you have to be willing to train with whatever it is you're going to use. Fair enough. Yeah. So ideally, like, if you're in this position of thinking, if you can find a friend or failing that a range that will allow. you to try different guns. I think as a novice, you're going to pick up, if you've never shot a gun before,

I probably wouldn't pick up a 12-gauge shotgun and start pewing away, because the recoil will be quite profound and noticeable to you. So don't start there. Start with something else. There's smaller shotguns, a 20-gauge, you know? Yeah, and those are fine, expect if you're a smaller statute person, even a 28 or 16s are hard to probably buy a defensive ammunition for. But I think if you can, when you begin that journey,

Like, often I see people say with hang guns, find one that fits your hand, you probably have no idea what fits you and feels good if you're just starting out. Yeah. Finding someone who is local to you, ideally who has some experience, who can help you along that process, I think. And someone who you trust, right? Like, I've been, like, I have to train, I have a concealed carry weapons permit in California. The last time I went to take a course, like, from the outset, I got like xenophobia, homophobia, like jokes that. I guess the guy who was instructing the course thought that everyone was in on.

Just like they made me feel unwelcome and I'm a cis-hap white guy. Yeah. But I think maybe we should address that. Like if you're thinking getting started, what kind of instruction should you look for? Where should you look for it? And like what would you

recommend? Maybe other sources too, Carl, like your YouTube channel has been a great resource for me. This is where in the firearms. Owning a thing doesn't make a community. So there's always this phrase the gun community. It's not a thing.

Owning a thing doesn't make a community. A community is a group of people that bond together over a mutual beliefs and hopefully care for one another. So there's no firearms community. But that said, the broad scope of people that have been interested in the topic for the longest duration of time has been mostly seceded to a group that we would not find ourselves aligned with or comfortable with being around. And so this is where the community building thing is real,

because the more we build communities and we're behind in this regards in terms to alternative voices in the firearm space, but the more we build that community, not only online but amongst one another, the more we're going to have safer, better spaces for us to work together to learn how to use these things safely and efficiently. And that is a challenge.

If you walk in sight unseen to a place that is probably foreign to you in firearms land, sadly, at this time point in time, is a pretty good chance it's not going to be something you're going to be comfortable with, quite honest. Just like you mentioned, James, like it's going to be that kind of stuff.

There's probably going to be Trump stuff on the wall. There's probably going to, you're probably going to hear some jokes that are just jokes, but you know, they're really not. That's the kind of space that that's filled with. And so when people come and say, well, who can I go to to get this training with? I'm like, that's challenging. There's some options online. There's like Operation Blazing Sword. There's a, there's, the liberal gun club has some training options as well.

But what's better is finding people and interconnecting with people of like mind around you, if you can, and working together. and then actually building a real community that isn't a gun community. And that's where we're going to find solace and the ability to get better at this stuff together. Not exactly a strong answer, but it's the truth. But if you're going in, if you're going in just unhindered, you're going to expect it to be a place that you're probably not going to be happy with. Yeah. Yeah.

And I think that's a really good point. I'd like you, can we talk a little bit more about training options? Like, not just, because you mentioned Operation Blazing Sword. I'd like to hear a little more about them, but also where people could go for like reading and videos in order to kind of find more information on how to develop proficiency. Yeah, so, okay, so YouTube University doesn't teach you how to actually like effectively hit targets with something. Right, right, right. You can. You can't. There's no way to learn that besides doing it. But in terms of general firearms understanding, learning some of the history, learning about how guns work, there are some YouTube resources out there, um, tactical. girlfriend you already mentioned has four years of a legacy of content on her site that a lot of

it is focused on beginner style content. In fact, she just posted a playlist. She has kind of stopped making videos in general. She mentioned that a while back. But she still has her content online. And she posted a playlist recently of all of her how to get going videos, 101 stuff. And that would kind of be where I'd start with. Yes, absolutely. My channel, Inrange TV, has some of that. I tend to focused a little bit on the more esoteric and like next level things, but that's not to say it's not there as well. So I'm not trying to solve promote, but I would actually say her playlist is going to be better than some of my own, although we have stuff like that on in range TV as well. If you want to open up that dark boy called Reddit, the liberal gun club has resources on it.

If you go there, they have a list of people and local resources. You can also Google the liberal gun club. I'm not even trying to say anyone doing that is necessarily identifying as a liberal, but they have gathered lists of statewide resources as many as they can that are providing training in regional places that would be a good place to start. Operation Blading Sword is a subset of that. Blake Alv...

I can't pronounce them not thing. Blake has been on my channel and you'll find him there in the Liberal Gun Club listing. When I think of that, I would say, go to YouTube, hit up Tactical Girlfriend, go to InRange TV if you want to see maybe not 101, but next level stuff,

but a friendly space to you. And then check out the Liberal Gun Club, best I can say, because they do have a list of resources that they're gathering across the country. Yeah. And I think one thing that tactical girlfriend talks about that is a – because you're right, and I think this is an important point that, like, you have to spend time shooting, and, you know, that costs money in order to get better.

But there is one thing that you can do that does not cost ongoing money to get better with a handgun, if you're, again, looking to carry a gun, which is dryfire training, right? which is a very useful process of building proficiency. You can do it. I mean, you could do it every day if you want. It will help. It does not replace needing to go shoot, right? But you can find guides.

Tactical girlfriend talks about it a lot, but you can find other guides online, and that is a way that you can kind of stretch your ammo budget and gain additional proficiency. There are even products designed specifically for that. One of them that popped to mind, and there are others like Mantis X. And you make sure you're going to safely unload it

and you're proficient with that part. of it. You put these devices in and you can actually fire it. Dry fire is firing with no ammunition in the gun. Click, add a target on the wall and it'll teach you things about like, did you pull to the right? Did you push to the left? Did you dip the gun? And those are very good products that you can use. Once you buy them, it gets more money. But you can train proficiently in a safe place without firing live ammunition and improve your skills quite a bit. That's a good point. Yep. Yeah. I would say like another organization I would plug is armed equality, especially if I'm like LGBTQIA people,

a friend to mine, very nice people. Perhaps we should go back then to that. Like, Robert's mentioned dry firing. Well, first, I think we need to go to ads, James. You're right, Robert. We should go back to Chumba Casino. Yeah, so dry fire at the wall and think of Trumba Casino. Or just download an upgrade from Neuralink that you got from Elon.

Yep, that's right. That's right. Our primary sponsors, the brain chip. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Do we want to jump right in? Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish right inside the free IHard Radio app. Make some noise.

Oohie! Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like Bestie Listen, Hey Jonas and Las Culturistas. Now with full video. I'll just leave that there. It's the same hosts and the same chemistry with all the hilarious moments you've been missing right on your screen. Open the free IHard radio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch. What's up fam?

I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and I Heart Women's Sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is, like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow,

Keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. Naomi Osaka showing out. She beat Sabalinka. Shout out to you, Naomi. You get the palm, Naomi. You get the palm for that. Because we're not just interested in what happened.

We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports on the IHeart Radio app. Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us or rather you know this. Them, Tony and Candice, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, The Chicken.

We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia, AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast. Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made? Why do you think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guestrars, collaborators and friends, including director Jonathan Chryssel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here.

You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. Well, I thought he was going to write. I thought you were going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. Ayo, rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcasts. My first guest is Paris Hilton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin, Samira, and Gracie.

I'm so excited on the bouncy bed. You have surprises? Many surprises. Welcome to Sweet 305 where the group chat comes to life. What a f***. It's like a way to say like, Oh la a friend, oh, my best friend, hello, oh my brother, what a .

Look, I never have to have to be able to know, except with my kids, my kids, and my kids, Yes. I'm my amant. Oof. Punch. That's incredible. Yeah, the telenovela.

You're the only person I know that loves a yellow starburst. It's lemonade. No, there's someone. I'd like to collaborate with this person. This is Sweet 305. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons as part of my Coulthura podcast network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're back.

So we've had this discussion about training, safe storage, and a little bit about, like, what to look at firearms-wise. But I want to go back to that third one, because you are marketed at so heavily when you're trying to buy a firearm, right? And the likelihood of you getting misinformation, right? We all know smaller statute of people who have been given, yeah, a snub-nose 38, a gun that's entirely inappropriate for them.

Carl, what, like, if you could maybe go through, like, each major category, right, if we do hang gun, shotgun, semi-automatic rifle, maybe one that is compatible with AR-band states and one that's, you know, if you're in real America. There are some options like the Ares SCR that are basically AR-15s that are a lot easier to keep in compliance in a state like California, but they are also more than twice as expensive as like the budget AR-15. which is not to say it's impossible to have a budget AR-15 that is in compliance with California law. It's just I am not going to take on the responsibility of telling you how to do that legally, because when I lived in California, I was only about 80% sure that I was in compliance with the law. If you're in California, my advice would be to go to a shop and buy the gun complete. Yes. Don't piece it together off the internet.

That's good advice. Oh, well, if you're a new gun on or don't piece to get it. anything together because the knowledge to make something reliable that you've put together from bits and pieces is not a good idea. You want something that's got a, I mean, literally, you want something from a quote-unquote reputable manufacturer, but it has a warranty. Like, let's just be, don't even start with trying to put something together. Yeah. Yeah. So let's just go ahead and start with pistol. So the challenge there is like, of course, it would be very nice to be able to buy like four of them because you can train with a 22 and practice with this and,

but let's go with the constraint that we had earlier of this thousand dollars. And you're going to by a pistol, and with it you plan to train, get better, be proficient, but also maybe have to use it for self-defense. You really want to stick with a nine-millimeter. I mean, there are smaller guns, like 380s and such like that, but we're getting into specialist guns. Yeah. What is, what I'm going to say here across the board, when I recommend something, it's going to be the opposite of specialist, it's going to be the most bland, boring possible thing. Yeah. And when it comes to that, and I know that everyone's like, ugh, but it's a, it's a nine millimeter, probably a Glock. Yep. The Glock 19 is a relatively reasonably size.

gun. The 17 is a little bigger. The 19's in this nice middle ground. It is carryable. It's small enough to be concealed should you have the right to do so. But it's big enough to be viable for being reasonably accurate with not extensive amounts of training, but enough training to get good. Yeah. And

it's a bunch around the 9mm magazine that just plain works. Yep. Yep. If you're on a tight budget, I will say that cops are always, you can find trade in police clocks pretty cheap. Cops don't shoot very much. You can sometimes get some pretty good deals on those.

Yep. That's it. I'm revealing a little bit of future history of what's going on in range. We're doing a video in a couple weeks. There is a strange trade imbalance between us and never mind the politics. Turkey.

And they are making some really high-end really well-made guns. There is a Glock clone from Turkey that I can't vouch for yet. But this is the kind of where we're at in the gun space. This thing is interchangeable with all Glock parts and the gun's like $250.

Oh, well. You can't beat that. We don't know yet. I'm not saying, buy that, but I'm saying we're going to do a review of it. The point is, there are Glocked and Glock-like things that can get the price down. Yeah, right. And so you're looking at, you know, if you get a budget AR for 500 bucks, you know, a budget nine millimeter handgun, because even if with not counting that one, there are other budget options that are in the 300-ish dollar range.

You just have to look around a bit. And I should also note, buying used with a firearm is not like buying used with electronics. If a gun is well-maintain, it will outlast you. Yeah. Right. There are some parts that will need replacing from time to time, right?

Your springs and stuff are going to age faster than other things. And like barrels you can shoot out, but it takes quite a bit of shooting to shoot a barrel, you know, smooth, right? So it's never a bad to consider like finding, like you said,

like a police trade in or something like that. Like that could be a great way to save money. Absolutely. So when it comes to the pistol, we're talking about buying just one, pretty much boil it down to a 9mm that is probably a polymer frame gun, not some big heavy steel thing. A Glock is like the de facto, but there are others. I mean, there's HKs, there's Ruger's. Yeah, I like SIGs, but they're pricier, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. The thing about Glock is Glock's been around forever. It's the standard. Finding, accessorizing, buying magazines, or even getting repairs done to a Glock is ubiquitous across the country. If you get a Glock, you'll be able to deal with it, fix it, do whatever you want to straight up. And what has helped me a lot in general is, you know, I have my carry gun. I have my home defense firearm. And then I have built a couple of firearms from the ground up. And I would certainly, as you said, I would never have started there.

But because I had the extra money doing that means that has given me so much deeper of an understanding of what goes wrong when things do go wrong with a gun and how to fix it. Like I've replaced every part on my carry gun at this point, right? like over time. And it's like given me a much deeper level of understanding of just like mechanically how these things function. You know, building an AR-15 was the same process. And I'm really, I do find that valuable. Obviously, it's throwing more money at the problem too. Yeah, totally. So the other advantage of 9mm, which is reasonably cheap to feed and shoot, he's reasonably cheap to practice with. For those of you that don't know anything about guns,

you will typically practice with what's called FMJ bulk pack ammunition. Yeah. 9mm, 115 grain. It's just a bullet that's got a copper jacket on it. And that's your practice ammo. And then for carry, should you be carrying it, you'll probably want to carry something that's specifically designed to be defensive ammunition. It'll be far more expensive per box. But once you get to the point of, yes, I am ready, safe and capable to carry this,

you're going to want to pick something gold dots, spear gold dots, or a hollow point. Designed to specifically be for self-defense. But make sure the gun you've chosen works reliably with that defensive ammo. Because even though it works, 100% with that FMJ. It may not work with the defensive ammo. You might have to play with a little bit. Yeah.

We should also note when you are buying ammo online, which is not going to be legal in every state, but most people will be able to do this. It pays to be careful. There is a lot of stuff that is sketchier out there, and there can be consequences. I have had a firearm, I have had like a handgun blow up in my hand

as a result of getting ammunition that I had not shot before. This was, in fact, Turkish. I think it was because, I think it was a hot load, but it's possible that it was the result of a bullet, a squib that then jammed in the barrel and then another round came in after it. I generally have been pretty good at checking

to make sure there's a hole in the paper with each shot, which is something you should be making sure of, like when you're shooting, because if you shoot a round that does not have enough powder behind it, right? If you get a bad round, it can jam in the barrel, and then the second round can cause the barrel to burst. This is also why we always wear eye protection. But when looking at ammo, if you think this looks like good ammo and it's cheap,

look online, add like Reddit to the name, see what other people say about it, right? Like, see if you can find anything written about that. Usually other people, if it's like a less reliable manufacturer, will have said, I've had a bad experience with this ammunition. Do your diligence, right, the first time you're shooting a new kind of cheap target ammo. That being said, like, there's a lot of names that almost anyone that's never owned a gun before will recognize names like Remington, Winchester. Yes. These, that's not to say that they don't make mistakes too.

But like, if you're going to go buy a Winchester bulk pack of ammunition, you are buying at least what is generally considered consumer level reliable ammo. If you're buying it from Crazy Bob's Reloading Shack. Right. You don't know what's going to get. That was what, because it's a lot of the sketchy stuff isn't even a manufacturer. It's like ammo that you may not notice immediately. It's like, oh, wow, this seems really cheap. And then it'll say in small letters, remanufactured, right?

Which means somebody is reloaded. Reloaded ammo. And like, you know, you can reload ammo and have it be perfectly good ammunition. But do you know who reloaded this ammo, right? I will tell you as a person that shoots a lot and has been doing it for decades, I personally, even with all that, I will never fire remanufactured ammunition. I want to deal with Crazy Bob's weird bad Wednesday. Yes, yes, yes.

Exactly. Crazy Bob's bad Wednesday boy. It's a great name for it. Yeah. Yes. We've addressed a pistol, right? I want to address long guns, and then you mentioned a couple of things, car, which you should also address, which are, like, accessories. Robert mentioned eye protection, so

ear and eye protection. Let me add one more piece to the pistol, and we'll move on. The thing now, the whiz-bang thing now is every pistol has a red dot site on it. A red dot site is essentially an electro-optical box that sits on the top of the slide, and you look through it to aim and it projects a red dot, like almost like a laser dot, if you're not familiar with it,

to aim with. For the most part, I'm not saying you shouldn't have one because they're cool, but for the most part, a person getting into this specifically for self-defense does not need one of those. You don't need to spend $300 on a red dot. The iron sights that come on any of these guns should be sufficient for most purposes. So don't get suckered into you. I need that. If that's something you want later, think about it, but it's not a requirement. Now that said, if a gun has one on it, I don't agree with people who say, like, you can't learn to shoot on a red dot. I think that that's, now, you should, you will need to look up because it may not be cited how to cite it, right? Like, because it, like, red dots are a thing, like, you need to dial them in, right? And there is a way

to do that. Again, you can find guides to this online, just like you can find guides to, like, mounting a scope on a rifle. These are complex mechanical tasks, a red dot less so than a scope. but you can't just buy a gun with a red dot on it and trust that that red dot points out where the bullet's going to go. That's not how they work. Absolutely. My point being is if you gave me,

you said, this person here needs to be able to hit a target 15 yards away. You've got one hour. I would not be messing by giving them a red dot. I would give them with something with iron sights and just get them through the task. That's where I'm going with that. Yeah, I think that's perfectly reasonable.

Yeah. I prefer, like, now that I know what I'm doing to use my red dots and stuff, but I also pretty regularly shoot with iron sights, in part because I like it. It's enjoyable mechanically, and it's kind of how I learned. Well, don't get me wrong, it is better. Yeah, yeah.

It also adds another level of complexity. And it's more to go wrong. Like, if you're installing that yourself, it's annoying, and it's easy to mess up, and then you're upset. Yeah. Yeah. Let's move on to Long Guns. Like, one thing that we should mention,

that you might buy an AR, specifically an AR actually, and find that it comes with no sighting systems at all. Yes. And that's a thing to build into your budget. So let's talk about what to get for your budget in the long gun category, Carl. Yeah, so when we go to long guns, we talk about rifles and shotguns. Let's stick with rifles for now, I'm assuming. So in that regard, this is the thing where, like, actually I have a video on my channel

about the NFA, which is the National Firearms Act, which is what regulates a lot of, like, machine guns and stuff. This also occurs across many gun control laws. They're frequently ableist. Very much so. And the things that they push the most restrictions on are the things that are actually most capable. And that means AR-15s in their general guys with a pistol grip

and a red dot site, which we just mentioned for pistols, and a 30-run magazine is the thing that is going to be the most... I could get anyone, I tell you, anyone, capable of hitting at a target at 50 yards within a four-hour training session, with a red dot-sided AR-15 and a good magazine. It's a good ammunition. AR-15s are light, low recoil. They're loud because of the 556,

but they're light, low-recoil guns that almost anyone of most body structure can handle. Now, there's exceptions, of course. If you have specific physical challenges, that's another discussion. But if almost anyone, tiny to large, can handle a basic AR-15, and it is the gun that is most focused on

for gun control, ironically, places like California where they take away things that make it more functional, like the pistol grip, or reduce your magazine capacity, because they're trying to diminish the functionality of the gun. But the reality is the reason they're doing that is because that is the gun that is most functional for most people. And it is therefore the one that almost anyone can handle pretty well with the smallest amount of training. Yeah. Yes. And I think there's a good point there in, if I were coaching someone who is buying an AR that has no, does not have iron,

sights on it at all. You are, it is much easier to learn how to cite in and use a red dot on an AR than learning how to adjust the site, the iron sights on an AR-15, right? Like, not that you can't learn that. You should, again, you have to, you can watch a video on it, but it's much more intuitive to set up a red dot in that way. This is actually where I would flip-flop. If you're with the pistol, don't concern yourself too much with a red dot.

If you're going with an AR-15, concern yourself of the red dot. Please get a red dot. Yeah. Unless you were like in the Marines or something and you know how to dial in your irons, right? Like, and even then, you're going to have a better time with a red dot. Yeah. Yeah, totally. And you're once, and a red dot is very intuitive. So one of the things that people are familiar with firearms, but when you bring up a long arm, there's multiple points of contact to the person shooting the gun. And you bring up a pistol, you probably have two hands on it and you're pushing your arms out, almost like you're like you're like making a triangle. And you're using a long arm, like an AR-15, there's a buttstock on your shoulder. Your cheek is on. on the actual comb, which is the base of the stock. Your other hand, your support hand, it's holding the gun up on the front of it. You have a minimum of three points of contact. With a red dot, that makes it very stable

and easy to get reliable hits. And the red dot means you can keep both eyes open. Don't need to worry about the idiosyncrasies of focusing on a front site. Essentially, if it's zero, meaning the dot is regulated to where the gun hits, and you put the dot on the thing and press the trigger without doing something

like jerking the gun, you'll hit the target. And so that's why that matters. Yeah. So what sort of budget should people be looking at and like, would you be comfortable recommending, like, even brands that they should look at? It all comes down the cost when it comes to AR-15s. You can spend as much money as you want. The reality is I have a video on the channel. Never mind if you like or dislike the company. They're one of the ones that really push the lower cost products out there. PSA, it stands for Palmetto, Palmetto State Armory. You can go there and get your branded Trump lower, but at the same time, you can get an AR-15. 15 for like 400 bucks. Yeah. And like in the gun space, you're not, you're not going to find someone to buy who is spotless and selling guns in large numbers cheaply.

Yeah. Like, that's generally not. So like, so for 400 bucks or around there from PSA, you can get a traditional, what's called an M4, it's essentially a 16 inch carbene. It won't have any siting system on it. So expect to throw another 200 bucks-ish onto a reasonable red dot site on that. So for around the $600 range, you're going to get a gun that's going to weigh seven pounds,

but it's going to have low recoil, and you're going to have something that's for the most part reasonably reliable. Is it the best of the company? Is the best of the best? No, but it's reasonably lightweight. It is well manufactured. I've done videos about them on my channel. They've worked just fine.

And so, 400 to 400-ish for the gun, the 200 for the siting system, a couple of mags. You could get out of the door for, Under $700 with everything, probably under that, maybe under $600, even if you're careful. Oh, but let me plug one thing. If you've got lots more money, double that. You get a what would standard do carbine, which I designed, it'll be half the weight and super reliable from Cady Arms.

But it doesn't bring any money to me. I'm just saying the point I'm making here is you can get something good enough. And if you got more money, there is better out there that are lighter, more reliable guns. But you don't need to, as my point. I'm not trying to sell anything here. Yeah. They are one of the few manufacturers who often. like a California compliance solution at checkout, which is nice for California people. Yes, yes. So that can be a really beneficial thing to you

in terms of not having it be something that you're scared about. California compliant will probably mean no flash hider, no pistol grip, and a fixed magazine, at least at this point in time. You can have the removal magazine if you don't have the flashlight of the pistol grip and the collapsing stuff. Okay.

All right. Well, if you can buy it from them ready to go, I know there's also magazine capacity requirements or in so maybe you have to buy like a couple 10 round mags or something like that. Obviously 30 round mags are better than 10 round mags and for most if you live in a place like California, do not worry too much about that. If you get a little proficiency on that, a couple 10 round mags will do a lot. And to be honest, in self-defense shootings, the odds are low that you will be firing that many rounds, right? now, if you're in a self-defense shooting where you do need more bullets than that, there's really nothing that can replace having those bullets, you know, available.

But yeah, don't get wrapped around the ax on it. Like, it's not something you can change. The fact that you only have a 10-round magazine does not mean that you can't become proficient. Yeah, and I don't want anyone here to think that I'm saying you shouldn't, you should be able to get a 60-round magazine, one far as I'm concerned. Places like California to have these restrictions, have them. Statistically speaking, and I don't know if this data's changed, most self-defense shootings happen within three yards, three seconds, three shots fired.

Yep, yeah. Yep. I think it's really good to remember that when you're seeing some YouTuber tell you you need to be able to have 30 rounds and 500 yards. I don't go downtown without my backpack and my SBR 300 blackout with 630 round magazines accessible. I was a conservative man's scared of cities. Yeah. Yeah, I carry an RPG and I take the little safety cap off because I like, live that way. Yeah. Yeah, dangerously. My clothing is made out of debt cord. I just wear

nothing but debt cord wherever I go. We're all going down. At least you take some people with you. This whole city blocks done. Self-defense martin. But let me say one more thing about long arms. Another thing you'll see from people that are new in the space depending on what they've seen or what they've consumed. This is going to get some hate. Don't bother with AKs. Just don't. This is the United States of America. And this country believes in the air 15. And what that boiled down to is they're everywhere. They're prolific.

The parts are here. The repairs here. They're well manufactured. When you stray from that course to something like an AK, first of all, you're losing aeronomics, but that's a different problem. You're dealing with an unknown quantity of problems. You get an AR-15. That's what's in this country.

It's what's prolific. If you were in somewhere war-torn Africa, get your AK. I'll say this about the war-torn AK countries, because I've, I've been. in three countries where the primary arm is an AKM, right? Like a kind of AK, right? Syria, Ukraine, and Iraq. In all three of those countries, every soldier who knew their stuff who was proficient and had the option chosen AR platform if they could.

100% of the time. They're just better firearms. Yeah, that's been my experience as well. They look cool, but don't go there. Just get an air for them. Like, I love my AKs, but they're range toys, right? Yeah. Yeah.

So let's talk about accessorizing, which again is much easier with AI as and AKs. Like, what other stuff do you need to build into your budget? If you've not shot before, you might not know that you need AirPro, Ipro, Sling, maybe, holster. Well, we'll start with the firearms accessories, right?

So with the pistol, first of all, we talked about safe storage, so that's already off the table. With the pistol, if you plan to carry it, you need a good, reliable holster and a good reliable gun belt. Good Lord, yes. depending on how you want to carry it, that'll determine the kind of holster.

If you want an outside the waistband, which means it sits outside your belt, that's one thing. If you're carrying it concealed, you're probably going to want an inside the waistband, which goes between your belt and your body. Again, another level of training there, because when you're drawing from that,

things can go wrong. Sure. And that's where people tend to shoot themselves, so that's something you need to be very cautious of. But with a pithful, typically, you're going to want probably an extra magazine or two. It may come with one, depending on what you bought,

a quality gun belt, and a quality holster. Now, what about a 44 derringer and an ankle holster on each ankle, right? Like, that seems like the ideal solution. Anytime you're in danger, you just got to squat right down there, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. Get real low. Yep, yeah.

When you've been pushed onto your back by the mob and you're there in that scene and you're pulling it out of your ankle holster, yeah, right. No, no, no. Just get a wire around the trigger and attach it to your toes. that you can squeeze your toes and fire the attention. What you need is the belt buckle revolver from North American Ums. Yeah, that is great.

Yeah, no, from that freaking movie, the vampire movie, Quinn Tarantino. Oh, geez. Dust till dawn. Dust till dawn. God, yeah. No, but for the pistol, belt, a magazine or two extra, it might come with them and a quality holster. Now, the obvious question is, what's a quality

holster? And the obvious answer is there's too many out there to be able to offer you that answer right now. Probably something polymer if it's going to be outside the waistband. And this will be another one that'll get people fired up. Generally avoid the SERPA holsters unless you really want to have a lot of training. Serpa holsters are one that have a little button on the side that allows the gun to come out. If you're not trained well or have the wrong gun in it, it also allows you to accidentally shoot yourself quite easily as well. Yeah, best avoided. That's a very good point. And also, one thing I will note is there's a danger that a lot of people

aren't aware of with leather, which is that leather holsters. Now, there are some leather holsters that have like a trigger area reinforced with Kidex, which is, you know, a rigid plasticy substance. But if it's not in time, those can start to like get weaker and worn in such a way that it can also cause it to press the trigger when you holster it. Like, that's a thing that has happened to people. So I generally think, you want whatever, you want the trigger guard to be rigid and not something that's going to like warp and be malleable around the trigger, right? Like the whole point is that it stops the trigger from fire. Yes, you want to avoid that.

How about with the long guns? Like, what are you going to need to budget for those? And then other things like for shooting generally that you'll need if you don't already have them. So when it comes to the long arm, we already said if you're going to get an AR-15, you're going to want to stick some sort of red dot site on it. The lowest cost ones that are the unbelievably bomb-proof are, a Chinese company called Hollow Sun. Hell yeah.

I have a Hollow Sun from 2017 that still works just fine. I love my Hollow Suns. My Hollow Sun's been bounced down on asphalt road and it still works fine. Yeah, it's the opposite of a fail son, a hollow son. Exactly.

So you can pick up a red dot hollow son. Those can go ahead. You can get those sometimes sometimes the low is like 150 bucks. Yeah. So you'll need a red dot site. A sling is nice, not required. especially if you're going to be using within

the premises of your property, you probably don't need to worry about that. Also, slings can cause issues, like get caught on things or on things in your house or even tangle you up. So that's a training issue. So sling is iffy, an extra magazine or two. And if you're planning on needing

to use this for a defensive purpose inside of your home or structure, or at night, it's not the worst thing in the world to throw on a flashlight. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes. Especially if it's like a defensive firearm, like your home defense gun or a carry gun, like a flashlight. And also, I think it's generally a good idea. If you're going to carry a carry firearm with a

flashlight, have another flashlight that's not on a gun because one thing you should never do is use your gun flashlight to look at just random shit that you need a flashlight for. You come home in night, it's dark. You forgot, you forgot. You can't find which key is the right key to you're using your gun to illuminate your door. Don't do that. Don't do that. No, do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. It's a pretty good list of accessories. Make sure you have allowed ear and eye protection as well. So that's where we're going to go.

On the safety side of things, you need proper shooting glasses. That means not the glasses that you picked up for readers at Walgreen. If they're shooting glasses can be as cheap as $9, all the way up to hundreds of bucks, you can get them at the sporting goods store. But they're designed with the kind of plastic to be able to take shrapnel or hits from pieces of fragments that are high velocity. They're meant for that. So $10 shooting glasses.

Yes. You need hearing protection. Those can be squishy earplugs you put in your ear or they can be over the head muffs. Do not ever shoot guns except in the most critical conditions or situations without eye protection and hearing protection. Because that's the kind of stuff where you lose an eye. And every time you fire that gun, you're losing hearing every time. Yes. Yes.

Yes. And like for the really, because obviously most like it hurts to shoot a firearm without hearing. hearing protection, like, you can get away with shooting a gun without eye pro every time but the one time, right? Which is why I really emphasize eye protection. It's easy to convince yourself, I don't need to have it on right now. You do. Because that's the day that it does the thing. Yes, yes. Guns do fuck up, for lack of a better term. And you really don't want your eye unprotected if they do. Yeah, it's a bad day. Absolutely. And so, but you, On the safety side of eye protection and hearing protection,

it can be as cheap as $10 shooting glasses and a bottle of squishy earplugs. You're going to be in there for $20. Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't have to be expensive. Make sure you have it and make sure you use it. But you know what? Before you do any of this, you know what's a smart thing to do? Go take a class from Stop the Bleed and learn how to use turnicants and medical gear

and have that around anyway. Before you ever buy a gun, go do that. Yes. That's the most important thing you can do for anyone. Yeah. Yes. That, and that, as you said, should be a priority before getting the firearm. And if you have the money to get and train a gun, you have no excuse for not having an individual first aid kit, an IFAC, and the knowledge of how to use it, right?

And I think Stop the Bleed classes are usually free. You can look it up at stopthebleed.com or dot org. Google it. Take a class. It's easy how to use a tourniquet, use how to use a bandage, have an IFAC, as was just mentioned, which can be a pretty simple kit. And as you said, Robert, if you can afford a gun, you can afford that. Yeah, and have that with you on the range anytime you're shooting, because as you said, guns can fuck up. They usually don't, but if they do, you're going to want that IFAC.

And that IFAC and that training might just help your neighbor one day when they get in a car accident or whatever. I regularly make the decision not to carry my gun with me places, right? You know, I'm going to go out and get drunk tonight. I don't need if I have a firearm on me when I'm drunk. But you know what I always have is the IFAC, right? Every single time, you know? Because, number one, drunk with an IFAC, I'm no, I'm no. I'm probably less effective, but I'm not going to endanger anyone.

You're just like, hey, buddy, I think you need a parniquet. He's like, no, I don't. Get you. Give me your. Google said this goes around the neck. But once again, a stop the bleed class and an IFAC is more likely to serve you or your community more than any gun ever will. Yeah. That's a great place.

I would say that if you are going down this pathway and you're looking to join openly leftist gun organizations, there are several, right, John Grand Club, Socialist Rifle Association. We've had those people on our show before. Be cautious when you're doing that and keep an eye on things, because that could be something that might get you into trouble in the long run. So it's something to be aware of. Yeah, it might be good to just put a holder on joining a new organization until we're a few months into this thing coming up next year,

maybe have an idea about what kind of things might be safe and what kind of things might be less safe. Yeah, definitely. No, but none of that stops you from using signal, building community, and learning how to use a firearm properly. Right. Meeting people, yes, and like training with them, you know, and taking, getting training, getting building proficiency. Absolutely. All of that is legal and will remain legal. Just don't start, if anyone ever talks to you about let's make a militia. Don't do that.

It's time to leave that conversation, right? Because among other things, at this point, there's a good chance they're the FBI. If you live in Michigan, do not. Yeah, yeah. This podcast brought to you by Co-Intel Pro. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's great. But I mean, it's a tough challenge.

And so the other thing you can do is also, once you've got your basic proficiency up and you know that you are safe in terms of handling things, let me throw this out there too. It doesn't have to be any specific one, although remember you're going into a space that may not be politically your comfortable place. a good place to build up skill is to go shoot matches, competitions. For the most part, it's business-oriented. You'll hear some stupid comments here or there, depending on what match you're at. But the reality is you're not there for that. You're there to get better with your gun on a course of fire that they put up for you.

Pay your $10 or $20 to learn how to shoot better in those conditions. And that's another space to, once the basic training is out of the way, don't go to a match to beat training. Use the match to help increase your skill after you've gotten training. but those matches can be a place to really help you out a lot. And there's a lot of them around, and those are easier to find than almost anything. Yep. Practice score is where you can look them up if you're into that kind of thing.

Excellent. Thanks very much for joining us, Carl. Do you want to very briefly plug your YouTube channel? Where can people find you? Well, sure. And thank you for having me on the show. It's always a treat. I really appreciate it.

It's always great to be able to just to hang out with you both. You should do it more often. You can find my work. It's Inrange TV. You can find my website at inrange. dot TV. I'm distributed, decentralized across multiple platforms, the predominant one being YouTube. Cover everything from civil rights, history, human rights to firearms, to from Old West flitlocks, up to the most modern machine guns across the channel. Some of it is instructional,

some of its history. And I've got a cool video dropping tomorrow, in fact, well, tomorrow, based on when we're recording this, on the Opium Wars and how Britain and China's firearms technology discrepancy caused Hong Kong to be owned by Britain. That's the kind of stuff I do on my channel. So check that out. And if you want to find matches that are going to be a place that is truly an inclusive space, we do run matches called brutality matches. You can find them at Brutalitymatches.org. They're not monthly. We have run a couple of them across the country. But I can guarantee you that's a space you will feel comfortable because we make it that way. Awesome. Yeah. Thanks, Kyle.

It could happen here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcast from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, poolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can now find sources for it could happen here listed directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. The Dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. We're launching Podlandia, AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters, and pulling back

curtain on how it all got made. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guestrars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Chrysall, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song. Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that.

Listen to Podlandia. A.O. Rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam, it's sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together. We're breaking down the biggest headlines, the viral moments, and the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports.

From game-changing performances to culture-shifting conversations, we'll give you our takes, our debates, and a few laughs along the way. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone Watches Women's Sports. On the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. My first guest is Paris Hilton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin. Have surprises? Many surprises.

Welcome to the Sweet 305 podcast where the group check comes to life. What on? You're the only person I know that loves a yellow starburst. It's lemonade. This is Sweet 305. Here, oversharing is encouraged. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jake Brennan, and on the Disgraceland podcast, I explore the wild lives of rock stars and unbelievable true crime stories from music history.

These are the stories you haven't heard, the kind you'll end up telling someone else. Like the time Paul McCartney spent in a notorious prison or the bizarre crime Lady Gaga is accused of, where that time Blondie's Debbie Harry escaped Ted Bunny. Listen to Disgraceland on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.