It Could Happen Here - Safe Gun Ownership

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

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

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Starting point is 00:02:02 Hey, you've been doing all that talking. It's time to get rewarded for it. Submit your podcast today at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, five-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez was found off the coast of Florida. And the question was, should the boy go back to his
Starting point is 00:02:27 father in Cuba? Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or stay with his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's pew-pewing my pews? This is Robert Evans, and It Could Happen Here, 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,
Starting point is 00:03:21 we've got James Stout, and we have in the audience with us the great Carl Casarda. Carl of InRangeTV, 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 only question i have is now is when do you change the name of the podcast to oh no it's happening here uh we're talking with the marketing people uh it done happened here uh oh shit it's happening again it's been happening here yeah here it is here now right right in this moment.
Starting point is 00:04:07 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. We're working on it. So as I think both of you know, but maybe listeners don't, gun sales typically soar before elections, as do 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 and 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 a recurrent thing for the most part is that while
Starting point is 00:04:50 everything else gets more expensive television and firearms remain affordable yeah guns have gone to the point where they're more affordable than they've ever been uh-huh yeah they really are ar-15s or i used to talk about this on in rain ar-15s are essentially cordwood and you can get a fully fled good to go ar-15 now for like four to five hundred bucks yeah you get pistols for 250 bucks oh yeah the prices on guns are like through the floor and it's interesting to note that like um 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
Starting point is 00:05:30 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. 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 that's i think that is where a lot of people are also like capacity really increased in 2020 and uh i think they've been pumping out like
Starting point is 00:06:21 it's interesting to look at like the cost of nine millimeter and five five six 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 wisdom or something the funny thing that yeah five five six and nine millimeter both the defensively as well as just recreationally are the most common ammunition yeah 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 yeah they've literally just bunkered down intent there and are making five by six and nine millimeter because that's where the demand is and will continue to be yeah i can't find you can't
Starting point is 00:07:05 see it i 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 Let me know. I've got a good stash of percussion. We're all going to be leaning heavily on Carl. Call for all humanity. So I think we've gotten a little bit ahead of our skis here. We should 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 as in the wake of Trump's victory. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:42 a gun now as 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,
Starting point is 00:08:09 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 Mel Gibson, it was pretty good and there's a scene where like the old hardened soldier from korea world war ii in korea gets to vietnam and he's like he's just got a
Starting point is 00:08:32 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 uh often 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?
Starting point is 00:09:10 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,
Starting point is 00:09:42 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 know how to use it responsibly? Am I in a place, not only in my living situation, but my mental state that possessing this
Starting point is 00:10:19 very quick and easy to use lethal device is safe to have around. 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.
Starting point is 00:10:35 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, you're a 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 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.
Starting point is 00:11:24 And that's very unfortunate. But this is one of those things's going to be people who can't afford a budget of a thousand dollars. 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 a thousand dollars, 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 car. Like, what would you do?
Starting point is 00:11:43 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, this boils, 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 living situation you're in? Are you living in a place that is solely your own? Do you live with roommates? 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
Starting point is 00:12:19 underneath the bed that still is reasonably difficult to get into, but is accessible otherwise? Do you have a situation in 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 they're people that live within your own structure or outside of it, should something go awry? So you 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?
Starting point is 00:12:54 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. 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 longarm? 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
Starting point is 00:13:17 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. But it's something, right? What comes along with that is you also, this is going to be true at every stage of this process,
Starting point is 00:13:34 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.
Starting point is 00:13:59 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 can essentially you just keep them on the. I could stack them in my front yard, right? I'm like, ah, just put them out in the yard. We'll see.
Starting point is 00:14:27 I had extra ARs. I used 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, and we don't want to make this conversation impenetrable. Right.
Starting point is 00:14:41 But the kind of safe you acquire is important, too. And that's a deeper topic than we could ever do in oneble. Right. But like, the kind of safe you acquire is important too. And that's a deeper topic than we could ever do in one video. Yeah. I'm going to go ahead and just dovetail out to a friend of mine,
Starting point is 00:14:50 DeviantOlaf. 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
Starting point is 00:15:00 isn't it. So you got to be a little better than that. So I would estimate, let's go with cost. You're buying, let's say, an AR--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 uh about what i spent recently for a little handgun safe yeah so let's let's build on that right let's say you've decided that you want a gun and that it is safe for you to have a gun.
Starting point is 00:15:25 I think, yeah, the first thing you ought to prioritize is making sure that no one 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 safely and you are not a liability every time that you pick up and load that gun, right? Yes. And part of that is in, and load that gun, right? Yes.
Starting point is 00:15:46 And part of that is in, and maybe y'all will have different opinions on this, but I think we're probably simpatico, 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'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 biff 50 bG. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:25 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. 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 yeah 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 need, I'm going to have 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
Starting point is 00:17:14 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-nosed.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, whatever, 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.
Starting point is 00:17:53 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 B, dischargeging and know where that bullet's going to go yeah so on that 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 asked me this question and it comes up more than you think um 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
Starting point is 00:18:21 think about 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 doctrine if you're only worried about your house inside your a joke about castle doctrine, 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 laws, 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 able to do right yeah but we can say there will be a
Starting point is 00:19:05 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 or it's kind of weird there's like cultural shifts in the zeitgeist 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 and hopefully never never, of course, but like, and AR-15 does things like armor piercing in terms of Kevlar and 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.
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Starting point is 00:24:02 It's time to get rewarded for it. Submit your podcast today at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. All right, we're back. Carl, you've mentioned that you think a shotgun sometimes can be more effective than AR-15. Especially another thing I will add is here in a state like California, the laws regarding semi-automatic centerfire rifles are incredibly confusing.
Starting point is 00:24:34 It's extremely easy to buy something on Amazon, slap it on your gun, and render it a felony. I would generally say 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, like New York is similar, it's very easy to commit a felony with an AR-15 and not know that you 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, 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 is likely
Starting point is 00:25:19 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, you know, 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.
Starting point is 00:25:50 It is most likely legal almost anywhere. And the diversity of ammunition you can use in it really bridges 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.
Starting point is 00:26:06 They're just very effective when they actually connect. Yeah. It's one of those, I think, because I do change what I am taking with me based on where I go. And when I'm in California, I generally, 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 as 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
Starting point is 00:26:45 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? 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 well fair enough yeah so ideally like if you're if you're in this position of thinking if you can find a friend or failing that range that will allow you to try different guns,
Starting point is 00:27:29 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.
Starting point is 00:27:41 There's smaller shotguns, a 20-gauge. Yeah, and those are fine especially if you're a smaller statute person even a 28 or 16 is hard to probably buy defensive ammunition for but i think if you can when you begin that journey like i've done tb balls say with handguns 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. Finding someone who is local to you, ideally who has some experience, who can help you along that process, I think.
Starting point is 00:28:11 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. They made me feel unwelcome, and I'm a cishet white guy.
Starting point is 00:28:33 Yeah. But I think maybe we should address that. If you're thinking of getting started, what kind of instruction should you look for? Where should you look for it? And what would you recommend? Maybe other sources too carl like your youtube channel has been a great resource for me this is this is where we're in the firearms
Starting point is 00:28:52 it's owning a thing doesn't make a community so there's always this phrase the gun community it's not a thing owning 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 yeah 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
Starting point is 00:29:35 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 but sadly at this type point in time there's a pretty good chance it's not going to be something you're going to be comfortable with quite honestly 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 you're probably going to hear some jokes that are just jokes but you know they're really not yeah 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 um there's uh the the
Starting point is 00:30:13 liberal gun club has some training options as well but what's better is finding people 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 a great not exactly a strong answer but if the truth but if you're going in yeah 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. Yeah. And I think that's a really good point. I'd like it. Can we talk a little bit more about training options?
Starting point is 00:30:49 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 yeah so okay so youtube university doesn't teach
Starting point is 00:31:05 you how to actually like effectively hit targets with something right like that 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, 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
Starting point is 00:31:45 absolutely my channel in range tv has some of that i tend to focus a little bit on the more esoteric and like uh next level things but that's not to say it's not there as well so i'm not trying to self-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. If you want to open up that dark void 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.
Starting point is 00:32:14 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
Starting point is 00:32:30 pronounce his last name. 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 InRangeTV if you want to see maybe not 101, but next level stuff, but a friendly space to you, and then check out
Starting point is 00:32:45 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 because you 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 uh if you're again looking to carry a gun which is dry fire 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 But you can find guides. Tactical
Starting point is 00:33:26 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 is a pop-up mine, and there are others like Mantis X. And you make sure your gun is safely unloaded and you're proficient with that part of it. You put these devices in and you can actually fire it a dry fire is firing with no ammunition 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 gets more money but you can train proficiently in a safe place without
Starting point is 00:34:01 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 for like lgbtqia people they're friends of mine very nice people perhaps we should go back then to that like robert's mentioned dry firing we've mentioned 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 Chumba Casino. Or just download an upgrade from Neuralink that you got from Elon. Yeah, that's right. That's right.
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Starting point is 00:39:28 And the likelihood of you getting misinformation, right? We all know smaller statute people who have been given a snub-nosed.38, a gun that's entirely inappropriate for them. Carl, if you could maybe go through each major category, right? If we do handgun, shotgun, semi-automatic rifle, maybe one that is compatible with AR banned states and one that's here 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 a budget AR-15, right? Like, 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
Starting point is 00:40:23 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 good advice oh well if you're a new gun owner don't piece to get 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 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 pistols
Starting point is 00:40:56 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 well let's go with the constraint that we had earlier of this thousand dollars and you're going to buy 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 um 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. And when it comes to that, and I know that everyone's like, but it's a 9mm, probably a Glock. Yep.
Starting point is 00:41:33 The Glock 19 is a relatively reasonably sized gun. The 17 is a little bigger. The 19 is in this nice middle ground. It is carryable. It's small enough to be concealed should you have the right to do so. 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 with not extensive amounts of training but enough training to be to get good yeah and um it's a bunch around the nine millimeter magazine that just plain works yep yeah yep if you're uh on a tight budget i
Starting point is 00:42:00 would 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,
Starting point is 00:42:20 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.
Starting point is 00:42:35 We don't know yet. I'm not saying go buy that. But I'm saying we're going to do a review of it. The point is, there are Glocks 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,
Starting point is 00:42:48 you know, a budget 9mm handgun, because even if with not counting that one, there are other budget options that are in the 300-ish dollar range. Yeah. You just have to look around a bit. And I should also note, buying used with a firearm
Starting point is 00:43:03 is not like buying used with electronics. If a gun is well-maintained, it will outlast you, 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 bad to consider 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
Starting point is 00:43:34 nine millimeter yep that is probably a polymer frame gun not some big heavy steel thing a glock is them is like the de facto but there are others i I mean, there's HKs, there's Rugers. 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.
Starting point is 00:43:58 If you get a Glock, you'll be able to deal with it, fix it, do whatever you want to it, 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 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.
Starting point is 00:44:33 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 the other advantage of nine millimeter which is reasonably cheap to feed and shoot is 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 nine millimeter 115 grain it's just a bullet that's got a copper jacket on it. And that's
Starting point is 00:45:06 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.
Starting point is 00:45:22 Spear gold dots are 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. And you might have to play with it 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,
Starting point is 00:45:49 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 yet 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 get if you shoot around that that does not have enough powder behind it, 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 Reddit to the name, see what
Starting point is 00:46:41 other people say about it, right? 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 Remingtonington right 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 absolutely crazy bob's reloading shack right yes 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 because it's a lot of the sketchy stuff isn't even a manufacturer
Starting point is 00:47:26 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 has reloaded it uh 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 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 don't want to deal with Crazy Bob's weird bad Wednesday.
Starting point is 00:47:54 Yes, yes, yes. Crazy Bob's bad Wednesday bullets. It's a great name for it. Yeah, yes. We've addressed the pistol, right? Like, I want to address long guns, and then you mentioned a couple of things car which you should also address which are like accessories or robert mentioned eye
Starting point is 00:48:09 protection so here and let me let me add one more piece to the pistol and we'll move on um uh the the thing now the whiz bang thing now is every pistol has a red dot sight on it a red dot sight 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, 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
Starting point is 00:48:36 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, 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?
Starting point is 00:49:09 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 right 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 if that's what i'm where i'm
Starting point is 00:49:42 going with that yeah i 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. Like, it's enjoyable mechanically, and it's kind of how I learned.
Starting point is 00:49:59 Well, don't get me wrong. It is better. 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.
Starting point is 00:50:11 Yeah. Yeah. Let's move on to long guns. Like one thing that we should mention, that if you might buy an AR, specifically an AR actually, and find that it comes with no sighting systems at all. So that's a thing to build into your budget.
Starting point is 00:50:28 So let's talk about what to get for your budget in the long gun category, Carl. 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
Starting point is 00:50:43 is the National Firearms Act, which is what regulates a lot of, like, machine guns and stuff. But this also occurs across many gun control laws. They're frequently ableist. Very much so. And the things that they put the most restrictions on are the things that are actually most capable. That means AR-15s in their general guise with a pistol grip and a red dot sight, which we just mentioned for pistols, and a 30-round magazine is the thing that is going to be the most... I could get anyone, I tell you anyone, capable of hitting a target at 50 yards within a four-hour training session with a red dot sighted AR-15 and a good magazine. It's a good ammunition. AR-15s are light, low recoil.
Starting point is 00:51:26 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 any one 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
Starting point is 00:51:56 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 i think there's a good point there in if i were coaching someone who is buying an ar that has no you know does not have iron sights on it at all you are it is much easier to learn how to sight in and use a red dot on an ar than learning how to adjust
Starting point is 00:52:26 to learn how to sight in and use a red dot on an ar than learning how to adjust the sight the the iron sights on an ar-15 right like not that you can't learn that there you should again you have to what you can watch a video on it but it's much more intuitive to 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 the red dot if you're going with an ar-15 concern yourself with the much with a red dot. If you're going with an AR-15, concern yourself with a red dot. Please get a red dot. Do the opposite. Yeah. Yeah. Unless you were like in the Marines or something and you know how to dial in your irons, right?
Starting point is 00:52:53 Like, and even then you're going to have a better time with a red dot. Yeah. Yeah, totally. And a red dot is very intuitive. So one of the things that people aren't familiar with firearms, but when you bring up a long arm, there's multiple points of contact to the person shooting the gun. When you bring up a pistol, you probably have two hands on it and you're pushing your arms out, almost like you're making a triangle. When you're using a long arm, like an AR-15, there's a buttstock on your shoulder. Your cheek is on the actual comb, which is the base of the stock.
Starting point is 00:53:19 Your other hand, your support hand, is 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 sight 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.
Starting point is 00:53:47 So what sort of budget should people be looking at? And would you be comfortable recommending even brands that they should look at? It all comes down to 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 stands for Palmetto State Armory. You can go there and get your branded Trump lower, but at the same time,
Starting point is 00:54:15 you can get an AR-15 for like 400 bucks. Yeah. And like, in the gun space, 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 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 carbine it won't have any sighting 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 um and so four to four hundred ish for the gun of the 200 for the sighting system
Starting point is 00:55:10 a couple mags you could get out 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 of lots more money double that you get what would stoner do, Carbine, which I designed, it'll be half the weight and super reliable from K&E Arms. I love mine. 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,
Starting point is 00:55:35 and if you've got more money, there is better out there that are lighter, more reliable guns. But you don't need to, is my point. I'm not trying to sell anything here. Yeah. They are one of the few manufacturers who offer a California-compliant solution at checkout, which is nice for
Starting point is 00:55:48 California people. 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.
Starting point is 00:56:04 You can have the you can have the removable magazine if you don't have the flash hider the pistol grip and the collapsing stock so okay all right well if you can buy it from them ready to go uh there's 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 yeah yeah obviously 30 round mags are better than 10 round mags and uh 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,
Starting point is 00:56:45 there's really nothing that can replace having those bullets available. Yeah, don't get wrapped around the axle on it. 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.
Starting point is 00:57:00 You should be able to get a 60-round magazine, as far as I'm concerned. Places like California that have these restrictions have them. Statistically speaking speaking and i don't know if these this data has changed most self-defense shootings happen within three yards three seconds three shots fired yep 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
Starting point is 00:57:28 with six 30-round magazines accessible. I was a conservative man scared of cities. Yeah. Yeah, I carry an RPG and I take the little safety cap off because I like to live that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, dangerously. My clothing is made out of debt cord.
Starting point is 00:57:44 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 martyrdom. Oh, but let me say one more thing about long arms. Another thing you'll see from people that are new in this space, depending on what they've seen or what they've consumed,
Starting point is 00:58:01 this is going to get some hate. Don't bother with AKs. Yeah. Just don't. This is the United States of America and this country believes in the AR-15. And what that boils down to is
Starting point is 00:58:09 they're everywhere. They're prolific. The parts are here. The repair is here. They're well manufactured. When you stray from that course to something like an AK, first of all,
Starting point is 00:58:18 you're losing ergonomics, 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 yeah if you were in if you were in somewhere war-torn africa get your ak here 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 ak m right right? Like a kind of AK, right? Syria, Ukraine, and Iraq. In all three of those countries,
Starting point is 00:58:47 every soldier who knew their stuff, who was proficient and had the option, chose an AR platform if they could. Yeah. 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.
Starting point is 00:59:01 Just get an AR-15. Yeah. Like, I love my AKs, but they're range toys, right? Yeah. So let's talk about accessorizing, which again is much easier with ARs and AKs.
Starting point is 00:59:13 What other stuff do you need to build into your budget? If you've not shot before, you might not know that you need Air Pro, iPro,
Starting point is 00:59:20 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 uh with the pistol if you plan to carry it you need a good reliable holster and a good reliable gun belt good lord yes it 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
Starting point is 00:59:44 carrying it concealed you're probably going to want an inside 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. Yeah. But with a pistol, typically, you're going to want probably an extra magazine or two. It may come with one, depending on what you bought bought a quality gun belt and a quality holster now what what about what about a 44 derringer and an ankle holster on each ankle right like that seems like the ideal solution
Starting point is 01:00:16 anytime you're in danger you just got to squat right down there you know yeah yeah yeah no get get real low yeah when you've been been pushed onto your back by the mob and you're there in that scene and you're pulling it out of your ankle hole yeah right just get a wire around the trigger and attach it to your toes so that you can squeeze your toes
Starting point is 01:00:38 and fire from retention what you need is the belt buckle revolver from North American Oms yeah that is great from that freaking movie the vampire, Quentin Tarantino. Oh, geez. Dust Till Dawn. Dust Till Dawn.
Starting point is 01:00:51 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 that's a very good point and also one thing i will note is
Starting point is 01:01:29 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 kydex which is you know a rigid plasticky 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 i generally think you 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 firing yes you want to avoid that how about with the uh with the long
Starting point is 01:02:10 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 sight on it. The lowest cost ones that are the unbelievably bomb-proof are a Chinese company called HoloSun. I have a HoloSun from 2017 that still works just fine.
Starting point is 01:02:36 I love my HoloSuns. My HoloSun's been bounced down an asphalt road and it still works fine. It's the opposite of a fail sun, a HoloSun. So you can pick up a red dot hollow sun those can go in 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 them within the premises of your property you probably don't need to worry about that it also slings cause issues, like get caught on things or on things in your house or even tangle you up.
Starting point is 01:03:09 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. it's not the worst thing in the world to throw on a flashlight yeah yes especially if it's like a defensive firearm like a it's your home defense gun or a carry gun like a flashlight and also if
Starting point is 01:03:33 you're 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 at night it's dark
Starting point is 01:03:49 you forgot you forgot you can't find which key is the right key so you're using your gun to illuminate your door. Don't do that. Don't do that.
Starting point is 01:03:57 Don't do that. Don't do that. It's a pretty good list of accessories there. Make sure you have a lot of 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.
Starting point is 01:04:08 That means not the glasses that you picked up for readers at Walgreens. Their 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 dollar shooting glasses yes you need yes hearing protection those can be squishy ear plugs you put in your ear or they can be over the head muffs do not ever shoot guns except in the
Starting point is 01:04:37 most critical conditions or situations yeah 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 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
Starting point is 01:05:06 to convince yourself i don't need to have it on right now you do like 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, 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 bucks.
Starting point is 01:05:35 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 tourniquets and medical gear. Yes. And have that around anyway. Before you ever buy a gun, go do that.
Starting point is 01:05:49 Yes, yes. That's the most important thing you could do for anyone. Yeah, yes. 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 the knowledge of how to use it right and i think stop the bleed classes are usually free you can look it up at stop the bleed.com or.org google it uh 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 yeah 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, if you can afford a gun, you can afford that and have that with you on the range anytime you're shooting.
Starting point is 01:06:25 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 to 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 i'm gonna 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
Starting point is 01:06:49 because number one drunk with an ifac i'm no i may i'm probably less effective but i'm not going to endanger anyone you're just like hey buddy i think you need a counter kid he's like no no no get your give me give me your google said this goes around the neck He's like, no, I don't want to. Give me your... Google said this goes around the neck. But once again, a stop the bleed class on an IFAC is more likely to serve you or your community more than any gun ever will.
Starting point is 01:07:13 Yeah, I think 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 Brown Gun 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 that might get you into into trouble in in the long run so it's something yeah 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
Starting point is 01:07:45 year maybe have an idea about what kind of things might be safe and what kind of things might be less safe definitely no but none of that stops you from using signal building community and learning how to use a firearm properly right at meeting people yes and like training with them you know or 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 Cointelpro. Do you?
Starting point is 01:08:28 Yeah, 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.
Starting point is 01:08:41 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 bucks or 20 bucks, learn how to shoot better in those conditions. And that's another space to, once the basic training's out of the way, don't go to a match to be training. Use the match to help increase your skill after you've gotten training.
Starting point is 01:09:16 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. 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
Starting point is 01:09:33 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 it's you do it more often yeah you can find uh my work it's in range tv you can find my website at inRange.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
Starting point is 01:09:55 flip-locks up to the most modern machine guns across the channel. Some of it is instructional, some of it's history, and I've got a cool video dropping tomorrow, in fact. Well, tomorrow, based on when we're recording this 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.
Starting point is 01:10:26 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, Kel. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media.
Starting point is 01:10:41 For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio 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 guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into
Starting point is 01:11:19 their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. third journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get real and dive straight into todo lo actual y viral. We're talking música, los premios, el chisme, and all things trending in my cultura. I'm bringing you all the latest happening in our entertainment world
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Starting point is 01:12:06 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into Tex Elite and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. The 2025 iHeart Podcast Awards are coming.
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