Episode 27
Humanizing the Firearm's Industry w/ Ari from PWS
Ari from Primary Weapon Systems and Lone Wolf joins State of the Second for a wide-ranging conversation about the human side of the firearms industry. Ari opens with a backstory he says he was once too ashamed to share. He dropped out of high school at 16 to help his family after his stepfather left and his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. He ran the family business importing goods from the Philippines, including garden gnomes and incense, sold around downtown Seattle, and built an early website on GeoCities. He rebounded and sold that business, then spent 11 years in technology and telecommunications, finishing as a senior business development manager who led teams of engineers building databases.
His path into firearms started with shooting sports. A fishing friend introduced him to IDPA, he fell in love with it, won a state championship in his first year, became a club president and safety officer, and sat on a council board representing the shooting sports. He left a nearly six-figure tech salary to take a $10-an-hour job at Rainier Arms under owner John Huang, starting by cleaning toilets and answering customer emails at midnight. Over 12 to 13 years he became the company's buyer, worked with more than 400 brands, and built a reputation for cross promotion and for finding small up-and-coming companies in the dungeon, or basement, of SHOT Show. He helped launch TriggerCon, which grew from a parking-lot grand opening to a full convention, added a VIP party, and partnered with the PTSD Foundation. After a stint as director of strategy at Aero Precision and a layoff that came a few weeks after losing his mother, he was hired by Nate Treadaway to run marketing for Primary Weapons and Lone Wolf.
The back half of the episode turns to humanizing gun owners. Ari talks about taking gymnastics parents and coaches to the range, teaching their kids proper mechanics with a suppressed .22, and proving to the City of Bellevue that firearms consumers are doctors, lawyers, fathers and mothers, not the caricature the media paints. He and the hosts agree that activism starts at home, that real change comes from educating the people around you rather than waiting for someone online to change minds, and that competition and innovation keep firearms accessible to first-time buyers. Ari also lays out the structural challenges of running a firearms business, from payment processors that drop you and banks that won't lend, to social media algorithms that bury your content, and why events and community have become the way the industry reaches its customers.
Links
Questions this episode answers
How did Ari get his start in business before entering the firearms industry?
At 16 he dropped out of high school to run his family's import business after his stepfather left and his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, bringing in goods like garden gnomes and incense from the Philippines. He later sold it and spent 11 years in technology and telecommunications.
Why did Ari leave a nearly six-figure tech career to take a $10-an-hour job at Rainier Arms?
He had fallen in love with the shooting sports through IDPA and followed that passion into the industry, starting at the bottom under Rainier Arms owner John Huang by cleaning toilets and answering emails at midnight. Over 12 to 13 years he became the company's buyer and worked with more than 400 brands.
How did TriggerCon begin, and how did it grow from a parking lot into a convention?
Ari helped launch TriggerCon at Rainier Arms, where it started as a parking-lot grand opening and grew into a full convention. It later added a VIP party and partnered with the PTSD Foundation.
What makes starting and marketing a firearms business harder than other businesses?
Firearms companies face structural hurdles other businesses do not, including payment processors that drop them, banks that will not lend, and social media algorithms that bury their content. Those constraints have pushed the industry to rely on events and community to reach customers.
How did Ari become senior director of marketing for Primary Weapons and Lone Wolf?
After serving as director of strategy at Aero Precision and being laid off just weeks after losing his mother, he was hired by Nate Treadaway to run marketing for Primary Weapons and Lone Wolf.
How can gun owners help humanize the firearms industry and educate the people around them?
Ari brought gymnastics parents and coaches to the range and taught their kids proper mechanics with a suppressed .22, showing a city government that firearms consumers are doctors, lawyers, and parents, not a media caricature. He argues real change starts at home by educating the people around you.
What three things does Ari point to as the foundation of business success?
Ari frames it around people, product, and process. In the episode he ties that to relationships and service, noting that the kind of person you meet is the same person you will know ten years later.
Why does Ari focus on small, up-and-coming companies in the dungeon of SHOT Show?
As Rainier Arms' buyer he built a reputation for cross promotion and for finding small, up-and-coming brands in the dungeon, or basement, of SHOT Show. He sees competition and innovation as what keeps firearms accessible to first-time buyers.
Chapters
- 00:00 — Welcome and introducing Ari
- 00:19 — Dropping out at 16 to help family
- 01:37 — The family import business and GeoCities
- 04:15 — Eleven years in technology
- 04:57 — Falling in love with shooting sports
- 06:16 — Starting at Rainier Arms for $10 an hour
- 10:13 — Cross promotion and finding up-and-coming brands
- 11:50 — How TriggerCon grew into a convention
- 14:46 — Aero Precision, a layoff, and losing his mom
- 15:47 — Joining Primary Weapons and Lone Wolf
- 17:20 — The godfather of cross promotion
- 19:40 — People, product, and process
- 22:41 — The biggest hurdles for gun startups
- 28:58 — Taking parents and kids to the range
- 33:04 — Activism starts at home
- 34:38 — Wrap up and where to find Primary Weapons
About the guest
Ari is the senior director of marketing for Primary Weapons and Lone Wolf, brands owned by a company led by Nate Treadaway, who acquired Primary Weapons. He dropped out of high school at 16 to help run his family's import business after his stepfather left and his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. He later spent 11 years in technology and telecommunications, finishing as a senior business development manager who led teams of engineers. He got into the firearms industry at Rainier Arms under owner John Huang, where over 12 to 13 years he became the company's buyer, worked with more than 400 brands, and helped start the firearms event TriggerCon. He also spent time as director of strategy at Aero Precision before joining Primary Weapons. He has been married for 23 years and has three children. He comes from a military family.
Key quotes
"I think of the people I love, I think of the people I serve, and I lose myself in that service." — Ari
"I pride myself in the fact that the type of person you meet is probably the same person you're going to know ten years from now." — Ari
"You can't pay machines with love and likes." — Ari
"I think that we often forget that activism starts at home." — Kaylee
"We're regular responsible Americans just out there with this want and need to control our security for our family." — Ari
Transcript
Welcome back to the State of the Second podcast.
Speaker A:We are here with Ari from Primary Weapon Systems and Lone Wolf.
Speaker A:Ari, thank you for joining us today.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker A:Thank you again.
Speaker A:Let's go ahead and jump right into it.
Speaker A:Tell us a little about yourself, your backstory, and then we'll dive in deeper.
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:So, you know, I've always kind of had a knack for business and a lot of people don't really know how or where I got that understanding for business.
Speaker B:And you know, something I was actually really sheepish to share for a long time was, you know, I came up very non traditional.
Speaker B:You know, I dropped out of high school at 16 years old.
Speaker B:I never completed high school or college because there was a need for me to help my family.
Speaker B:My stepfather had left us and my mother had breast cancer.
Speaker B:So I helped with the business for a little bit.
Speaker B:And you know, for the longest as a 16, 17 year old, watching my friends go hang out and all that, you know, I kind of hit it.
Speaker B:It was shameful in a way.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But in all that time, I was like, you know, why is this happening to me?
Speaker B:You know, I'm never going to have a life after this.
Speaker B:But, you know, I had this immediate need to serve my family.
Speaker B:So, you know, I did that for three or four years, was able to rebound the business, able to sell the business and help my mom, you know, retire.
Speaker B:So it was very unconventional way of learning the business.
Speaker B:It was very retail level.
Speaker B:I think that's when I started learning about E commerce.
Speaker B:I started a website on GeoCities and I started promoting my business.
Speaker B:I started putting the signage outside and people were actually, you know, contacting me because, you know, it was in a pretty good location downtown, you know, but back then I didn't have a point of sale, so it was like merely, hey, email me.
Speaker B:I'll email you back, you send me a check.
Speaker B:I started posting pictures of our products and so my family business was, you know, imported goods from the Philippines.
Speaker B:We would go back home and we would basically fill a container full of sun dries, you know, whether it be clothing or, you know, car, wood carvings.
Speaker B:My biggest product was actually a garden gnomes.
Speaker B:So, you know, it was one thing that it was kind of wacky, right?
Speaker B:I do remember at a very young, early age and walking around downtown Seattle with bags full of, you know, garden gnomes, incense and all these random things.
Speaker B:And I would, I was trying to talk with businesses to see if they would buy items for me.
Speaker B:And then one thing led to another.
Speaker B:I Learned how to work with different businesses.
Speaker B:And the hardest thing was just try to make rent and let alone have enough money to live and survive.
Speaker B:And again, this was something that I didn't really share because it was just so shameful.
Speaker B:There was times I remember walking around and I would see friends and I would try to hide, you know, because I was like, people were like, what happened to you?
Speaker B:You know, where'd you go?
Speaker B:I would always lie, you know.
Speaker B:But after that, I went back into a community college program, you know, trying to learn something because I needed to desperately recover.
Speaker B:You know, all my friends were excelling.
Speaker B:They were going to college.
Speaker B:I had nothing.
Speaker B:So my teacher had.
Speaker B:He was so impressed with me.
Speaker B:He's like.
Speaker B:He knew.
Speaker B:He learned my story.
Speaker B:I opened up to him.
Speaker B:His wife hired me.
Speaker B:She was a technology telecommunications company.
Speaker B:And I ended up.
Speaker B:I remember my first three weeks there, I was like, I can't do this.
Speaker B:I'm not smart enough for this.
Speaker B:There's all these incredible people that are working there.
Speaker B:I really wanted to quit.
Speaker B:I really wanted to say, hey, guys, I'm lying.
Speaker B:I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker B:But again, that perseverance in me when I was.
Speaker B:That I learned when I was younger came out, and I ended up making a decent career out of it.
Speaker B:I spent 11 years in that field.
Speaker B:At the end of it, I became a senior business development manager in technology.
Speaker B:I would lead teams of engineers to build databases for accounting.
Speaker B:And that's when I started to make a little money.
Speaker B:I met my wife very young.
Speaker B:In fact, after the first two or three weeks, we moved into with each other, and everyone's like, you're crazy.
Speaker B:I was always the type of person where I always could make that decision really quickly.
Speaker B:And I just knew.
Speaker B:I was like, all right, you guys can down me.
Speaker B:And, you know, we have been together now for 23 years.
Speaker B:We have three beautiful children and a fairly normal life.
Speaker B:But anyhow, so from there, I fell in love with shooting sports.
Speaker B:A friend of mine that was a fishing friend of mine said, hey, you gotta try this game called idpa.
Speaker B:So I was like, all right, cool.
Speaker B:He finally got me to come out there.
Speaker B:Instantly fell in love.
Speaker B:I, you know, after that was shooting every weekend, I got involved with my club.
Speaker B:You know, I think my first year I won a state championship in that.
Speaker B:And then year two, I became the club president, started running clubs out of Renton Fish and Game Club.
Speaker B:I was the safety officer.
Speaker B:After my tenure there, I became a shooters rep. You know, I was very heavily involved in the sport.
Speaker B:I would always get there early, help every club set up, stayed late, break everything down, help with the scores, help with everything else, sit on the council board and represent the shooting sports.
Speaker B:I fell in love with it so much that I wanted to get into the business.
Speaker B:And then, you know, at that point in my life after, you know, the 12 years at telecommunications company, I. I was making pretty good money, right?
Speaker B:I was making almost six figures.
Speaker B:And then I was on forums online.
Speaker B:I was, like, looking up how to get into the industry, but I had no experience.
Speaker B:So I met a man named John Huang.
Speaker B:He had a rifle shop out in Auburn, Washington, called Rainier Arms.
Speaker B:And he hired me at $10 an hour.
Speaker B:I started very humbly.
Speaker B:I. I would clean toilets.
Speaker B:I would, you know, clean the counters.
Speaker B:I remember the first couple weeks he was.
Speaker B:He asked me, you know, why are you staying until 9?
Speaker B:I said, well, I'm restocking the shelves and I'm answering some emails.
Speaker B:And, you know, never asked me to do that, but as a former business owner, I just knew that that's what had to be done.
Speaker B:A few weeks later, he got a response from a customer that said, hey, this.
Speaker B:Thank you very much for answering my email.
Speaker B:At midnight.
Speaker B:He goes, really?
Speaker B:And he looked on the email and he was like, it was me.
Speaker B:I took initiative because that's what I learned early on, and I knew that was important for the business.
Speaker B:And I think from there, he kind of said, all right, this guy kind of has it.
Speaker B:He started opening up and allowing me to do different parts of the business.
Speaker B:I was a gunsmith for a little while.
Speaker B:I worked the counter, answered emails, all the while on the end of a printer table in this very tiny room.
Speaker B:And there's like, three of us in there.
Speaker B:This is the very early years of Rainier Arms.
Speaker B:And I wanted to just be more part of that business because I learned early on, like, I'm going to learn.
Speaker B:I'm going to try to figure this out.
Speaker B:I got heavily involved with product design and understanding the things that made people want to buy these products.
Speaker B:And I started becoming his buyer.
Speaker B:I started.
Speaker B:I think the first company I helped bring on was Nighthawk Customs.
Speaker B:Back then, Radio Arms was just a rifle company.
Speaker B:So he was like, oh, I don't know about pistols.
Speaker B:You know, John was always pretty hesitant about it.
Speaker B:We wanted to maintain a high level.
Speaker B:So he's like, all right, if you're going to bring in pistols, Ari, I want something really nice.
Speaker B:So I used to shoot with this guy named Rob Potter.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:In Iupa.
Speaker B:And I was very proud that I was able to get, you know, product in there.
Speaker B:And next thing you know, I'm like searching online on Instagram looking for just hot new products.
Speaker B:I went to my first, you know, shot show and, you know, I didn't know what to expect.
Speaker B:I didn't know what to do.
Speaker B:I'm just this kid, right?
Speaker B:You know, I think back then I was like 31, 32, and no one knows me from Adam.
Speaker B:I was just very persistent, trying to get in front of people.
Speaker B:Most of the time people are trying to shoot me off or didn't have the time to talk with me.
Speaker B:But I started working with more and more companies.
Speaker B:I chose companies that were up and coming.
Speaker B:I think that was John's way.
Speaker B:But also it was obviously a soft spot in my heart because I. I know what it felt like to struggle.
Speaker B:I know what it felt like to start a business and to really put your heart in it.
Speaker B:There's companies that have great capital and those guys, although very passionate, don't really have that risk.
Speaker B:Whereas these guys that are on the fourth floor of the Shot show, or what we call the dungeon, these guys are probably leveraging their mortgages and they're doing everything they can.
Speaker B:And I really appreciate that.
Speaker B:That's something that, you know, something instilled in me.
Speaker B:I wanted to help them.
Speaker B:At the same time, I believe that they could help.
Speaker B:And we started getting a reputation for finding these companies that were up and coming and had incredible products, incredible people.
Speaker B:I'm a people person.
Speaker B:And the more I started to form these relationships with these companies, the more they started to trust me.
Speaker B:I think my second or third year of shot show, that's when people were going, okay, that guy's legit, right?
Speaker B:He's nice.
Speaker B:At the very least, I've always tried to maintain a very honest and respectable approach to people.
Speaker B:Just been very clear.
Speaker B:I pride myself in the fact that the type of person you meet is probably the same person you're going to know ten years from now.
Speaker B:So I'm not very good at keeping a facade, and I was just that type of person.
Speaker B:Fast forward 12, 13 years, had probably worked with over 400 different brands and companies in many different capacities.
Speaker B:There's companies like lantec, I remember finding where all they had at that point was just a muzzle device.
Speaker B:And then they just really started to explode.
Speaker B:We were sharing them on social media.
Speaker B:We figured out the whole algorithm of cross promotion.
Speaker B:That was really the strength of Rainier Arms.
Speaker B:We were trying to find our, our image, our brand, and that's what it became.
Speaker B:And obviously John was a big part of that.
Speaker B:But I really appreciated the fact that he, because of my enthusiasm, allowed me to just do it.
Speaker B:And so we started this little show called Trigger Con.
Speaker B:It all started in our parking lot where we just.
Speaker B:It was kind of a grand opening, but it was so popular, like we would have, you know, maybe 1,000, almost 2,000 people come to this little parking lot out in Auburn, Washington, to the point where Auburn City was like, yo, you guys gotta pull a permit or something because you got people crossing the street parking in businesses.
Speaker B:And we were like, whoa, well maybe we'll do this again next year.
Speaker B:And when some of our partners said we had worked with, heard that, they're like, well, we want to come out there and support you guys.
Speaker B:I think the second year we had like well over 20 something people that wanted to attend and quickly realized our venue space is not going to cut it.
Speaker B:Then we started thinking a little bit bigger.
Speaker B:We rented the Tacoma Convention Center.
Speaker B:Back then we called it Northwest Shooting Sport Expo.
Speaker B:It was something very specific.
Speaker B:It was a shooting expo back then.
Speaker B:I think we were just starting to crack the mold of what we want it to be as, as a show.
Speaker B:And then that's when I was like, well, why don't we just say consistent with the character of what we've built at Rainier Arms, which is high end innovation products.
Speaker B:So we started working with some of the top manufacturers of the show.
Speaker B:It was very slow at first, right?
Speaker B:I think our first official show was like 60 some odd people.
Speaker B:And although it looked great on paper, when we saw it lay out, we're like, oh, there's a lot of empty spaces.
Speaker B:How do we deal with this?
Speaker B:How do we give the experience to our end users or customers that are unable to attend shot show, give them that sort of glimpse of what a convention show looks like.
Speaker B:And back then there's not a single show that catered to the Northwest or even within that timeline.
Speaker B:And that's when I said, this is our identity, this is how we're going to do it.
Speaker B:And every year we continue to grow it.
Speaker B:We implemented different aspects of the show like the VIP party and then we started working with groups like the PTSD Foundation.
Speaker B:So a little background about me.
Speaker B:I come from a very military family.
Speaker B:All of my brothers I'm very proud of all went to the military.
Speaker B:Because I didn't complete high school, I didn't qualify for that.
Speaker B:That was instantly one of the things I wanted to do, but I couldn't.
Speaker B:So you Know, a lot of them have served and even my older brother still is a police officer for Island County.
Speaker B:And so, you know, that was always like a very soft spot for me.
Speaker B:And I always found that the most rewarding part of the job is to give back to that community.
Speaker B:And I almost felt selfish doing it because it was something that mostly, you know, what I really wanted to do, but I felt like would be good for our companies to be a part of.
Speaker B:And so we started working with different organizations on giving back to that community.
Speaker B:And it was the fulfilling part of my position and role.
Speaker B:We raised.
Speaker B:We did a great job of raising a lot of money for different organizations.
Speaker B:But anyhow, so that was another segment of the rainy arms journey, if you.
Speaker B:If you will.
Speaker B:You know, spent 12, 13 years there and I was approached by a company called Aero Precision.
Speaker B:So I was.
Speaker B:I came on board as their strategic or director of strategy, you know, basically kind of working on programs, working on some of the E commerce stuff, and spent a little bit of time there and then was laid off.
Speaker B:And so it was a very tough year for me.
Speaker B:Obviously I lost my mother only a few weeks before that.
Speaker B:And in fact, I was actually going on vacation to spread her ashes.
Speaker B:And I was given the unfortunate news and that was very difficult.
Speaker B:But something inside was like, son, you're going to be all right.
Speaker B:And when I came back from vacation, I had several offers.
Speaker B:And one of the offers came from a gentleman named Nate Treadaway, and he had recently acquired Primary Weapons.
Speaker B:By recently, I think they had owned it for about a year and a half or maybe two years.
Speaker B:And that's where I am today.
Speaker B:I am the senior director of marketing for their several brands, which is Lone Wolf and Primary Weapons.
Speaker B:We also got another brand called Bullet Vault that we're starting up and we've got other projects on its way.
Speaker B:So I think everything that I had gone through, through my pathway or my career in the industry had certainly prepared me for it.
Speaker B:I got a good understanding of how to buy things, how to sell things on that side of fence, as well as helping run the marketing of probably one of the largest AR manufacturers in the country.
Speaker B:So it was.
Speaker B:It was, it was.
Speaker B:Although was a little bitter at the same time, I definitely thank them for that opportunity because it wasn't.
Speaker B:I always found the things that maybe are the most challenging or the most like.
Speaker B:Man, that's very defeating.
Speaker B:Are oftentimes the things that build you up.
Speaker B:I don't think, you know, you're at.
Speaker B:During the time it happens, you're often very Ignorant of it.
Speaker B:And now I realize it was a blessing, you know, and this.
Speaker B:I'm in a great position now with some really good people, and I'm really excited to, you know, really do some things that I had learned.
Speaker B:And it's very kind of a unique path in a sense that.
Speaker B:But, yeah, here I am now.
Speaker A:Here you are now, Ari.
Speaker A:You know, first off, thank you for sharing that story.
Speaker A:It's an amazing, inspirational story.
Speaker A:I've known your name for almost seven years.
Speaker A:I used to work at Faxon, used to work with my good friend Kurt and Alex Broski, who was previously on this podcast.
Speaker A:I would say that you are the godfather of cross promotion.
Speaker A:I mean, you have innovated that segment of the industry because nobody was doing it at the time.
Speaker A:You really went out there and found these companies.
Speaker A:And I applaud you for finding the companies in the dungeon or basement of Shot Show.
Speaker A:For people who may know, Shot show has grown tremendous, really big over the last two, three years with the opening of the Caesars Forum.
Speaker A:But the basement is really where people really got their start because you couldn't get on the main floor and find those small companies and boost them up.
Speaker A:I applaud you for doing that.
Speaker B:Oh, thank you.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, like I said, it was.
Speaker B:It was very natural to me.
Speaker B:I felt I didn't sympathize for them because I know that, you know, they were out there doing their best.
Speaker B:But those are guys that are using their mortgages, they're using their savings.
Speaker B:And, you know, I wanted to work with them because I knew that they were, you know, hungry.
Speaker B:They want to get out there.
Speaker B:They don't have huge capital to fall back on if this doesn't work.
Speaker B:Like, for many of them, it's like, what do you do?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So I came from a small outfit.
Speaker B:They're small outfit.
Speaker B:I love the scrappiness of that business owner, especially when they're bringing to market these products that probably are not going to get picked up by most, you know, retailers or whatever, you know, but not to say that they weren't incredible products, but I was kind of had a little bit of an eye for that and knew, hey, I think this company is going to go somewhere because they have great people.
Speaker B:You know, that's.
Speaker B:To me, you know, the big part of my job was like reading people.
Speaker B:You know, there's times.
Speaker B:And that's what I learned, you know, growing up, you know, working the business and.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So, yeah, I mean, everyone who has kind of understood business or been around business their whole life Kind of understands that there's three main categories for success.
Speaker C:People, product, and process.
Speaker C:If your people are right and your product is great and you have a good process to bring it to market, you're going to succeed if given that opportunity.
Speaker C:So it's great to see people who took a chance and made something fantastic.
Speaker C:Because, you know, that's where innovation lies.
Speaker C:That's where the growth in the Second Amendment lies, is by innovating and making things more accessible to people.
Speaker C:And adding competition to the market is so vital long term to the overall community.
Speaker C:Because if there was no competition, then the prices would go unchecked and you would unfortunately leave a lot of people without the means to maybe even get their first firearm to begin with.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:I think that's where I started to build a better relationship because it was that loyalty that I had to them.
Speaker B:Where many of these businesses, when they only had single product, now become these much bigger entities and they remember that hand up that we had.
Speaker B:And there have been grateful and loyal and they've, you know, those are guys I really consider, you know, good friends.
Speaker B:You know, even when my mother passed away, a lot of them called my phone personally and they would send flowers like they really cared.
Speaker B:And so I'm always grateful for the fact that.
Speaker B:And, you know, I always tell people like, what I do, you know, if I do something good for somebody, that transaction ends right there, meaning I don't expect anything back.
Speaker B:If you want to give back to me, great.
Speaker B:But I always felt good just serving others.
Speaker B:I realized in my path that because I was so persistent, because I was trying to serve my mom, I was trying to serve other people.
Speaker B:And somehow, some way, this universe found a way to reward me.
Speaker B:And so, you know, one of the questions I remember Nate asked me was like, what gets you up?
Speaker B:Actually, it was Jason Kearns.
Speaker B:He's like, what gets you up in the morning?
Speaker B:I said, I think of the people I love, I think of the people I serve, and I lose myself in that service.
Speaker B:And somehow, some way, things work out for me.
Speaker B:And I can't explain it.
Speaker B:You know, you could say it's my faith, but, you know, when I don't think about myself and I think about what I can do for other people, it just comes back.
Speaker B:So I think that's a big part of why I think people like me and have that respect for me.
Speaker B:It's been my story since I started in this industry, and it's still my story now.
Speaker C:So, as you have seen, so many companies start from ground Zero.
Speaker C:What do you think is the biggest challenge administratively in that startup phase for gun companies?
Speaker B:It's you know, as you know starting a business is very difficult, but starting a firearms business is even more difficult because you know the states, they're pretty ruthless.
Speaker B:They'll text you to the point where it makes it very difficult to turn a profit.
Speaker B:Certain commerce, certain payment processing places, once they find out that you're firearms related will drop you.
Speaker B:We don't have access to conventional means of marketing like say a soda company or a clothing company has.
Speaker B:They do.
Speaker B:They make it very difficult for business.
Speaker B:So we really had to use the power of our community, the power of social media to find these like minded individuals in order to get our products out in front of people.
Speaker B:They obviously have cracked down on that with these algorithms and have made it even more difficult.
Speaker B:So that's why it was even more important to have events, shows giving people access to see converse with these companies because we didn't have that opportunity to have commercials or to do anything.
Speaker B:Traditionally from a marketing standpoint, it's the most difficult thing from a business standpoint to do.
Speaker B:That's the biggest hurdle.
Speaker B:Second, most companies are not going to or banks are not going to want to lend to what they consider dangerous products.
Speaker B:Oftentimes you were blacklisted.
Speaker B:So getting capital, getting loans are often the biggest barriers for some of these businesses.
Speaker B:You can't pay machines with love and likes.
Speaker B:You have to have hard cash and capital and then you got to continue to keep it growing.
Speaker B:So that in itself its inability to properly market products to its consumers, companies, payment centers that don't want to work with you, even websites.
Speaker B:I remember watching companies go down left and right when they realized they were selling goods on their e commerce platform.
Speaker B:There's a lot of people that lost their website, a lot of people that would lose their channels on their Facebook and it would just kill their momentum.
Speaker B:We try to bridge that gap by social media, by events, by getting to where our customers are.
Speaker B:So I love the trend now of and I'd like to think that we semi started that with the trigon effect.
Speaker B:Now you got Goncon, you got Cancon, you got all these other events and it honestly puts a big smile in my heart.
Speaker B:I hope more people do it because it's very difficult for us to get our voice out there.
Speaker B:So the more people that see that, the more people are able to attend these events that don't have an FFL so they can't go to shot show the better because they're bringing Their families, they bring their friends, they make a day out of it.
Speaker B:Part of the aspect of Trigger Con that we try to do was make it inclusive to all family members.
Speaker B:So one year at TriggerCon, I had this shooting, this virtual shooting event.
Speaker B:I got Sig Sauer to sponsor me and they gave out pistols and optics to winners that played this virtual game.
Speaker B:I had a very good friend that helped develop this game.
Speaker B:He was also a fellow shooter.
Speaker B:And I think that's where we started to get that momentum a little bit.
Speaker B:It was very difficult to host these type of events at certain cities.
Speaker B:So I would meet with the city council of Bellevue and just try to beg and convince them that, hey, we're not who you maybe think we are.
Speaker B:We're not just mouth breeding, knuckle dragging.
Speaker B:And tell you what, when we first hosted our show in Bellevue, we hosted it, the Maiden Bow Made in Bauer Center.
Speaker B:And for those who are not familiar with the area, this was in a very ritzy part of town.
Speaker B:Microsoft was right down the street.
Speaker B:You had Gucci right around the corner, Mont Blanc, just a very posh area.
Speaker B:But the response that I got from Main Bower center, the people that were allowing us to host there was you guys had some of the most well mannered, you know, best type of consumers coming through there.
Speaker B:There was zero issues.
Speaker B:And it's like, yeah, you know, we're normal folks, you know, we're, you know, it's not what you think we are.
Speaker B:We're just dragging our AKs around.
Speaker B:No, you got doctors, lawyers, you got, you know, fathers, mothers, sisters, like it's, you would not be able to differentiate from the streets.
Speaker B:And so it was great.
Speaker B:That to me was like a win to demonstrate to that city of Bellevue that, hey, we're regular responsible Americans just out there with this want and need to control our security for our family.
Speaker B:Because that's another thing growing up that I was taught very early on was being accountable for your own safety.
Speaker B:Don't rely on others, don't rely on police or whatever, right?
Speaker B:You have to be responsible for your own self.
Speaker B:And the more that we are able to demonstrate that to the society, to the communities, the better.
Speaker B:In fact, another story I want to share is my children are both very involved in dance and gymnastics.
Speaker B:And as a father, I always wanted to be there.
Speaker B:I was a gym dad.
Speaker B:In fact, I was the, their vice president for their booster club.
Speaker B:And you know, I don't believe in hiding anything that you're not ashamed of.
Speaker B:Like, you shouldn't have to.
Speaker B:So although I Wasn't always, like, walking around with a gun shirt on.
Speaker B:Eventually, some of the parents and even some of the coaches found out my industry.
Speaker B:I work in the firearms space.
Speaker B:And even then, it just seemed weird and taboo because they would come over to me as if they were, like, buying drugs.
Speaker B:They would whisper, so I hear you're selling guns.
Speaker B:And I was like, yes.
Speaker B:Why are we whispering?
Speaker B:And in fact.
Speaker B:So I had met with many different parents, and, in fact, they were all concerned for their safety, but they were vastly ignorant to how to purchase a gun, how to shoot a gun.
Speaker B:So I volunteered myself.
Speaker B:I said, you come to my shop.
Speaker B:I'm gonna sell you a gun that's gonna fit your needs, and we're gonna go to the range and shoot it.
Speaker B:I started taking parents out there, and next thing you know, the coaches were like, hey, would you help me out?
Speaker B:I was like, absolutely.
Speaker B:I took two coaches out, sold them guns through Rainier Arms, and then brought them out to the range, and they're like, you think we should bring the kids?
Speaker B:I was like, absolutely.
Speaker B:And so the kids got out there, and I would bring my little 22 buc with a suppressor and a red dot, simply because I wanted to instill with them proper mechanics of how to shoot.
Speaker B:And my heart was full right at that point.
Speaker B:People realize, hey, they learned at first who I was as a father.
Speaker B:I was a very caring and involved father.
Speaker B:And look at me.
Speaker B:I also sell guns and advocate for firearm safety.
Speaker C:Yeah, well, it's advocating for the entire Second Amendment community.
Speaker C:And I think that we often forget that activism starts at home.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:And it's not.
Speaker C:If you're waiting for, you know, someone on the Internet to change someone's mind, you're going to be waiting a really long time.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker C:And so it's so important that we, as individuals, take that personal responsibility and educate the people around us and.
Speaker C:And allow ourselves to be opening, open, and inviting and let them ask questions and bring them into the community and into the fold.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, that's.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:I think all of us has that responsibility to demonstrate and be good ambassadors for shooting sports and be open to have those type of conversations with the people that surround us.
Speaker B:I think oftentimes people really want to find a way to make a big splash and get out to as many people.
Speaker B:But I advocate.
Speaker B:Let's start with our own communities and friends.
Speaker B:Let's start with the people that you converse with.
Speaker B:Your school, your community, whatever things that your children are involved in.
Speaker B:If everyone just took the time to just Take care of their own surroundings and their communities.
Speaker B:I think we would all have a really good start for educating these type of people.
Speaker B:And I don't necessarily blame them.
Speaker B:I blame media and some of the things that they try to paint pictures of who we are, which is very false.
Speaker B:People were very shocked at first that I sold guns.
Speaker B:They're like, you seem like such a nice guy.
Speaker B:I was like, what do you expect?
Speaker B:I was going to go out and start spitting guns out on my fingers?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:I love my children.
Speaker B:I believe in God.
Speaker B:I believe in service of our country.
Speaker B:I believe in all these things.
Speaker B:And guess what?
Speaker B:I also believe in firearms.
Speaker B:And if you're willing to open your mind, if you're willing to take some time, I will make time to be there.
Speaker C:Yeah, well, there's a saying that says that talking heads are only good for instilling fear, not instilling trust.
Speaker B:That's a good one.
Speaker C:And I think that we find that in society a lot where there's a fear of firearms and no one is out there saying, wait, why is it that the government is the only one that's supposed to be able to have this?
Speaker C:And when you start asking questions, it's amazing how quickly that unravels.
Speaker B:Yeah, very true, very true.
Speaker B:But until they start to really see where the rubber meets the road and see that, hey, this is only as dangerous as your mentality or your ability allows, then they start asking those questions, because until then, they believe, I don't need that.
Speaker B:That would associate me with a bad person.
Speaker B:Whereas I grew up in a family where my brother served using those dangerous weapons that everyone wants to villainize.
Speaker A:So I think there's a hundred.
Speaker A:We could do 100 more podcasts with you.
Speaker A:You have such a great, fantastic story, and you really show the human side of this industry, which is normally, we are vilified by everybody, and I applaud you for sharing that story.
Speaker A:We're going to wrap this up.
Speaker A:Go ahead and plug anything you want to plug.
Speaker A:Socials, websites, for everything.
Speaker A:Go ahead.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Most definitely.
Speaker B:Make sure you check us out@PrimaryWeapons.com that's www.PrimaryWeapons.com as well as Lone Wolf Arms.
Speaker B:So we've got all of our social media channels.
Speaker B:Like I said, it's very difficult to get content out because algorithm.
Speaker B:So make sure you come to our channels and, like, comment, subscribe, just like anything else, because everything's working against us and we got to stick together.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So like I already said, make sure to, like, comment and subscribe, hit the little bell for notification on YouTube.
Speaker A:Leave a five star review on all the podcasting hosts and have a great rest of your day.
