Firearms Nation Podcast

I had Joel Park on the show last year after he and World Champion Ben Stoeger wrote their first book together “Match Mentality”. Now the duo teamed up again to write “Practical Shooting Training”. This new book is divided into four different shooting levels, from beginner training to someone who wants to be a National Champion. Not only does it give you a guide to follow but also has diagrams of what the targets will look like based on many different shooting problems. Joel competes and is also part of the Practical Shooting Training Group with Ben and Hwansik Kim. Recently, Joel also started a new podcast called Training Group Live. Links mentioned on the show: Joel’s Training Company Midwest Competitive Shooting Shop at Bear Creek Arsenal with code Nation5 for 5% off your first order. Download the Chapter “Why You Suck” from Joel’s New Book. Buy “Practical Shooting Training”

Scott Jedlinski or “Jedi” to those that know him, is the owner of Modern Samurai Project. MSP is Jedi’s training company and he travels throughout the year teaching shooting handgun primarily with a red dot. Red dots on handguns has become a tool that is invaluable and both civilians and law enforcement are changing over to them. Scott is an interesting person who does not have a police or military background but made it to Master class in USPSA and came up with a terrific training program. Scott talks about his past as well as working with Walther Arms to release their new pistol. Links mentioned on the show: Modern Samurai Project Walther Arms Our new advertiser (use code Nation5 for 5% off your order) Bear Creek Arsenal  

Shannon Smith served in the US Army and was in the Ranger’s Regiment. Shannon also got into competitive shooting and worked his way up to currently being on Team USA for the upcoming World Shoot. Shannon has worked at the Universal Shooting Academy in Frostproof, FL for the past decade and is now heading off on his own. I’ve had Shannon on the show years ago and he was on the Shooter’s Summit. Shannon is as no-nonsense as they come and we definitely have an interesting conversation. Link mentioned on the show: http://www.shannonsmithshooting.com/  

It’s 2021 and to begin the year I’m bringing on Steve Anderson, shooting coach and host of “That Shooting Show”. Steve is the only practical shooting instructor who has been certified in Lanny Bassham’s “Mental Management Systems”. This is the program Lanny teaches and coaches. Lanny wrote the book “With Winning in Mind” which a lot of competitors as well as tactical teams have used for success. I took the program with Steve and wanted to ask him questions that help explain why people would want to learn it. Links mentioned in the show: Steve’s Website

Well, we made it to the end of 2020! And now we hope and pray that 2021 will be a much better year. At least I hope so. Anyway, I wanted to end the year with a “Best Of’ podcast with the top three episodes from 2020. The clips are from Eric Grauffel, Mike Wood and Pat McNamara. I’ll link below the individual shows if you have listen to them before. I want to thank you, the listener and wish you a Happy New Year! Eric Grauffel, World Champion Mike Wood Understanding Antifa Pat McNamara Competition and Fundamentals

Thom Shea is a retired Navy SEAL with 23 years of service in the US Navy. Thom served in Kosova, Iraq, and Afghanistan where he earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star with Valor as well as numerous other medals for leadership and courage. Thom also is an author and leadership coach. He wrote the book “Unbreakable: A Navy SEAL’s Way of Life” and recently, “Three Simple Things: Leading During Chaos”. Thom coaches businesses and other people on being their best and has a system he teaches to help folks be successful. You can learn more about Thom and his company here: Unbreakable Leadership (Thom’s website)

Mason Lane has worked hard at shooting from a young age. I met him years ago when I was shooting on Team SIG and he continued to excel each year. Mason was also a previous guest on this podcast and was on the Shooter’s Summit. This past USPSA National Championship, Mason was able to bag his first win in the Limited Division. He came close in Production but decided to shoot the Limited match and won. And, he got engaged right after! Links from the show: Mason’s Instagram

Jay Beal is an up and coming USPSA competitor. Jay started out with practical carry for self-defense and quickly realized that competition would only make him a better shooter. Jay dove into USPSA and devoted a ton of time and practice to get better. Once Jay made grandmaster he went this year to the 2020 USPSA Carry Optics National Championship and took 5th place. Jay has some great training tips in this episode. Links mentioned: Jim Zubiena in Miami Vice Jay’s Facebook Page

This is the third part of an ongoing theme on the current unrest in this country. Mike Wood joins me again to bring the history around the left’s revolution they so desire. This isn’t anything new. We’ve been here before but now it seems with all the 24-hour coverage, we might be on the brink. Mike is a historian and tactician who brings a much-needed perspective and a good dose of history to understand what we are seeing. Links mentioned: Mike’s column on PoliceOne.com  

Caleb Giddings is back on the show. Caleb was last on three years ago and since then he has grown as a writer and instructor. Caleb is in the Air Force as an instructor for firearms and continues to write for different blogs and magazines. He wrote an article on the current state of ammunition sales and the shortage we are facing. Where and why did this happen? Caleb and I also discuss new guns and his fascination with running revolvers with optics on them… Links mentioned in the show: Caleb’s blog on Target Barn Caleb’s article on Recoil Magazine about ammo  

This is a replay of an interview I did with Chuck Rossi back in 2018. With all the problems with social media these days, I thought it would be a good idea to bring this interview back. How many of you have had issues with Facebook when it came to one of the ads you were running?  Or maybe your page, group or even your profile was banned for violating the firearms policy?  Wouldn’t it be nice to talk to someone on the inside of Facebook to know what is the correct practice when it comes to posting firearms content? Well, funny you should ask since my guest today was that guy.  Chuck Rossi was the director of release engineering at Facebook and also worked on fixing the firearms policies.  After 11 years at Facebook, chuck retired and I was able to get him on the podcast. Chuck is one of us.  He enjoys shooting from a young age and helped shed light on the good of firearms when the media only focused on the bad.  Lots of value here today. Links mentioned in the podcast: Facebook Ad Policy with Age Facebook pol

Yong Lee is a former police officer, SWAT team leader and 4-time grandmaster shooter in USPSA. He recently retired and now teaches shooting classes for other law enforcement officers, specifically on how to run the dot on their pistols. Red dot sights on handguns are extremely popular. Understanding how to shoot them properly is an important skill that too many people don’t invest the time to learn. In this podcast you’ll hear interesting concepts that will help you shoot the dot regardless if it’s for competition or defensive shooting. Yong’s Facebook page

Yousef Badou served in the Marine Corps with an interesting twist. Yousef was born in Kuwait and is half Arabic. That benefited him when he was deployed to Iraq and helped his command as a tactical interpreter. Yousef went on to assist in forming the Combat Hunter program and teaching it to Marines. Combat Hunter taught them how to better their situational awareness and develop behavior analysis. Once he left the Marines, he wanted to continue teaching this program and formed his own company called Emergence. Now in addition to teaching law enforcement and military, Yousef is helping religious institutions and everyday folks. Links mentioned: Emergence Emergence Facebook

Andrew Branca is the man behind the Law of Self-Defense. It’s not only a great book to read and have in your range bag, but it’s also a website with tons of information that will keep you up to date on case law and opinions related to people like you who carry a gun. There have been several recent cases that I wanted to discuss with Andrew: The first was an LAPD cop who was involved in a shooting where the suspect ended up dying. The attorney for the plaintiff suggested the officer was liable since she was a “competitive shooter” and gunslinger. Second, the case of Ahmed Arbury in GA who was killed after being stopped by two citizens who now are facing murder charges. Finally, we talk about the McCloskey’s in St. Louis where the husband and wife defended their home outside with firearms while a mob walked by and threatened them. Listen and let me know your opinions on Facebook or Instagram (Firearms Nation). Links mentioned in the show: Law of Self Defense 1st interview with Andrew Episode 14 2nd Interview wi

Raul Martinez works for Fieldcraft Survival as the Training Director and head combatives coach. Raul spent time in Iraq serving in the US Army after growing up in the South Side of Chicago. He eventually returned to Chi-town and became a police officer. During his time in Chicago PD, Raul worked undercover in narcotics as well as an instructor at their Academy. Raul recently took a class with my friend, Tim Herron, who is a grandmaster shooter in USPSA. We talk about that experience, Raul’s time in the military and what it’s like to run on the mean streets of the city. Links mentioned on the show: Fieldcraft Survival Raul’s Instagram page

I was happy to bring back on the show Christian Sailer who has gone ahead and become a National Champion since the last time we spoke. Christian is still in college but has switched guns and shooting teams and now shoots for Team Infinity. Christian is now also a firearms instructor and teaches mostly on the West Coast. He told me a lot has changed with his training program and we discuss what’s new and where he’s going. Links mentioned in the show: Christian’s Instagram page

Brian Conley has been working in the vision care world for a very long time. During his tenure, Brian figured out what sunglasses worked well for hunting. A side effect of those glasses was that they worked extremely well for competitive shooting. All types of competitive shooting, pistol, rifle, and shotgun. Hunters HD Gold are the sunglasses that have become the official sunglasses for the USPSA. A lot of top competitors have made the switch so I wanted to find out more about Brian and his process. The best thing about his company is his commitment to customer service. Links mentioned in the show: Hunters HD Gold  

Keith Garcia is one of the top 3-Gun competitors. He won the 3-Nation Championship back in 2014 and took home over $55k for his trouble. That kind of pressure is hard to overlook. Even today, Keith works hard at competing in 3-Gun although the sport has seen its share of problems. Keith just released his 4 hour full 3-Gun DVD up on Panteao Productions. The link down below will take you to the page to either buy it or sign up for Panteao’s full line up of instructors. The video covers everything you need to know to shoot and compete in 3-Gun including drills and dryfire practice. Links mentioned on the show: Panteao Productions with Keith Garcia Keith’s Instagram page

Mike Foley is President of the USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association). USPSA is one of the largest organizations in action pistol. Recently, all of the matches had to stop because of COVID19 and now we are able to get out there again and compete. I caught up with Mike as two National Championships were taking off. We talk about how USPSA has grown, the increase in the weight of guns, and where the organization goes next. Links mentioned in the episode: USPSA website Link to the FREE Shooter’s Summits Enter the coupon code: COVID19SUCKS to get all the Summits (Be sure to click Add 2016-2017 Summits).

I have to say, 2020 has been the opposite in terms of being a great start to the decade. We are halfway through the year and it seems that life as we know it is changing. I thought COVID was horrible until I started seeing riots in the street and attacks on cops. Of course, this reminded me of a podcast episode I did with Mike Wood talking about the lessons we can learn from the 60s and 70s law enforcement officers. So I brought Mike back on the show to help explain what we are dealing with and how to respond. Mike Wood is the son of a 30 year veteran of California Highway Patrol and Mike wrote the book “Newhall Shooting-A Tactical Analysis”. This book breaks down the horrific shooting of four CHP officers and what was learned. Mike also is a firearms instructor, teaches at the NTOA (National Tactical Officers Association) and s columnist for PoliceOne.com. His column is called Tactical Analysis and provides insight on how officers can better protect themselves out on the streets. Links mentioned on the show: