It Could Happen Here - Safe Gun Ownership
Episode Date: November 22, 2024James 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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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,
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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,
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
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?
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 know 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 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.
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.
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?
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
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?
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
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,
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 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.
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.
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,
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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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.
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
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.
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.
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
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,
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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?
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
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
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.
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 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
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
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
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.
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All right, we're back. So we've had 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 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
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
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.
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
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,
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 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,
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
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
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.
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.
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
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 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,
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
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
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.
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
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
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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?
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.
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.
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,
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
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,
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
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.
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,
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.
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
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.
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,
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
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,
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,
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.
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.
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,
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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