Riding Shotgun With Charlie

RSWC Pit Stop Jacob Paulson Concealed Carry Concealed Carry https://www.concealedcarry.com/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/concealedcarryinc Instagram https://www.instagram.com/concealedcarryinc YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@concealedcarry   US Law Shield Legal Defense for Self Defense. Use "RSWC" as the discount code and get 2 months for free! https://www.uslawshield.com/ Patriot Mobile Use this link and get one month for free! https://patriotmobile.com/partners/rswc  

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #231 Ryan Muller Competitive Shooter   I’ve had a few chances to meet Ryan Muller. He’s the husband of Dianna Muller from Women for Gun Rights. He’s a great shooter on his own. When I got to NRA AM in Atlanta, Di called me and said I needed to do a show with Ryan since I had a car and we were both there. I picked him up at the aquarium and we drove around the ATL. When a friend set them up, they really hit it off. She took him to a competition and he did really well. They’ve had the chance to travel the world as a couple and individually doing competitions.    Ryan grew up shooting pellet guns and moved into a Ruger 10/22 when he turned 13. He said living in a rural area, he got to shoot just about everything a boy would want to shoot. He was athletic and played sports, but never went to a range until Di took him to one. On his first match, she made him shoot first. They rotated the line up and he would go last the next time. This worked to his advantage as the first stage was stat

RSWC Pit Stop Lisa Paris Instructors Dash Instructor Dash website https://instructorsdash.com/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/instructorsdash/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@UCstWeQEEl0XC1HLfCD60OmQ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/instructorsdash/   US Law Shield Legal Defense for Self Defense. Use "RSWC" as the discount code and get 2 months for free! https://www.uslawshield.com/ Patriot Mobile Use this link and get one month for free! https://patriotmobile.com/partners/rswc

Riding Shotgun With Charlie  Pit Stop Brandon Maddox I was able to get some time with Brandon Maddox from  ⁨@SilencerCentral⁩  at  ⁨@NRA⁩  Annual Meeting's Voices of the Second Amendment. Check it out! Silencer Central Website https://www.silencercentral.com/ X https://x.com/Silencercentral Instagram https://www.instagram.com/silencercentral Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SilencerCentral/ US Law Shield Legal Defense for Self Defense. Use "RSWC" as the discount code and get 2 months for free! https://www.uslawshield.com/ Patriot Mobile Use this link and get one month for free! https://patriotmobile.com/partners/rswc  

Riding Shotgun With Charlie Pit Stop Hickok45 Hickok45 stopped by the booth at NRA AM's Voices of the Second Amendment and talked with Charlie a little. Hickok45  YouTube https://www.youtube.com/hickok45 Hickok45 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/p/Hickok45-100044290096493/ Hickok45 X https://x.com/hickok45 Hickok45 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealhickok45 US Law Shield Legal Defense for Self Defense. Use "RSWC" as the discount code and get 2 months for free! https://www.uslawshield.com/ Patriot Mobile Use this link and get one month for free! https://patriotmobile.com/partners/rswc  

Riding Shotgun WIth Charlie Pit Stop Alex Shay From GOA! I got to catch up with Alex at the 250th Anniversary dinner that was hosted by Gun Owners Action League on April 19, 2025. Gun Owners of America https://www.gunowners.org/ GOA's G.O.A.L.S https://events.goa.org/goals/ GOA YouTube https://www.youtube.com/GunOwnersofAmerica GOA Instagram https://www.instagram.com/gunownersofamerica GOA X https://x.com/GunOwners GOA Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GunOwners/ US Law Shield Legal Defense for Self Defense. Use "RSWC" as the discount code and get 2 months for free! https://www.uslawshield.com/ Patriot Mobile Use this link and get one month for free!  https://patriotmobile.com/partners/rswc

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #230 Denise Arcieri Armed Princess   I connected with Denise Arcieri through Yehuda Remer, The Pew Pew Jew (RSWC #012) a few years ago. We talked about doing a show but when I reached out recently, she said she had some exciting news and this was a perfect time! She works at Pioneer Arms LLC in Whitinsville, MA. They make their own fixed magazine ARs, which are Mass legal. They did a special run of them with her Armed Princess logo! And we spent some time and got a few photos of those in the show.    Denise grew up in a pro gun family and used to shoot with her father. Then her kids started shooting with her father. He encouraged her to come to a women's event and give it a try again. She found out that she was good at it and she enjoyed it. The instructor saw that she was competent and familiar and asked her to help run the line. She saw that some women were more responsive to her than to the male instructors. One of the women there was a DV survivor. She really attached herself t

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #229 John Turrell Armed Lifestyle Magazine   There are some nice perks about going to SHOT Show as media and having more than one media gig. After I was asked to write for Armed Lifestyle Magazine, I got to meet the other contributors at SHOT. One of the ALM writers is John Turrell. John, as you’ll hear, is from England. This is my second international passenger! I’m glad we were able to connect with a crazy busy SHOT schedule. Not just mine, he keeps busy in Vegas, too. And not with the night life. With writing! He and his team put out daily reviews from SHOT.   Like many folks, John started shooting as a young child, around 10 years old, with his father. He’s worked his way up to competitive shooting in UKPSA and IPSC. UKPSA is the United Kingdom Practical Shooting Association. He enjoys shooting pistols competitively and even went up against Jerry Miculek, who got him into shooting revolvers.    He is currently the sales manager at a gun range, where he offers a shooting experie

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #228 Jay Grazio Executive Editor, Shooting Illustrated   I was down in Fairfax, VA, filming shows with the NRA staff. One of the folks who I had lunch with was Jay Grazio. He’s originally from Massachusetts, a funny guy, and we hit it off well. So we filmed a show!    One of the perks of his position is that he gets to train. When we did the show, he’d recently visited Gunstie in Arizona. It also sounds like the NRA has the employees do training together, which he says he did with one of the other staff members.    As a Bay Stater, it’s hard to be a gun person, with all the limitations (infringements) and laws (more infringements) that we have. As much as he loved growing up in small town New England, it wasn’t good as a gun activist and writer. When he took the position at Shooting Illustrated, he made the move to free America in Virginia.    At a young age, the shooting bug hit him. His father was a Mass State Police police officer and his grandfather was a town police officer. F

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #227  Jonathan Goldstein NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate   This is a small first, but a first nonetheless. Jonathan Goldstein flew up from Philadelphia to Boston just to film a show with me! Yes, I’m beyond honored! He’s also working that hard to get elected for the NRA Board of Directors. And in his home state of Pennsylvania for their gun owners. It’s always fun to meet someone new and widen my circle of friends. I picked up Jonathan at the airport and we drove for a bit to get to know each other.  We kick things off quickly and jump in deep, talking about Bruen, open carry v concealed, and why some laws aren’t conducive to logic. He’s got a great line, borrowed from Chris Conte from the NRA ILA, about “New Jersey being the North Korea of gun ownership.” I knew things were going to be fun after that.    Jonathan didn’t really grow up as a gun guy. He owned IT businesses and sold them before going to law school. Besides that, he was a newlywed and applied for law school, and was on th

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #226 Jim Wallace NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate GOAL, Executive Director   I’ve known Jim Wallace and Gun Owners Action League as long as I’ve been a gun owner. I took a class with GOAL in 2002 before I even owned a gun. I became an instructor though GOAL, volunteered teaching with them, and even sat in their booth at the local outdoor expo. Having Jim on the show was a long time coming. And since he’s an NRA 2.0 candidate, now was the perfect time.    Jim was a letter carrier with the postal system when he joined the Georgetown Fish & Game Club. He got  involved in the League of Essex County Sportsmen’s Club. After doing some searching around, he found out that the people doing the licensing for hunting and fishing were going to be online and it was going to be most costly. At the time, he wasn’t much of a speaker or activist, he was just looking to see where the money was going and why it was going up. This got the attention of the folks at Gun Owners Action League. They invited

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #225 Charlie Hiltunen III NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate   Here’s another great interview with one of the NRA Board of Director members and NRA 2.0 Reform Candidate, Charlie Hiltunen III. At the Great American Outdoor Show, I got to meet several of the NRA 2.0 Candidates and set up to film some shows with a few of them. He had some commitments on the morning we filmed and asked if I could get him back so he was able to get to the airport. I told him I could do him one better and take him there. Currently, he’s finishing his first term on the board.    Hiltunen was born and raised in Indiana. He grew up shooting and hunting as part of the midwest family life. He grew up in a time where high schoolers would bring a .22 rifle to school to hunt on the way home. This was a tradition with his father and he wanted to pass it along to his own children. When his kids were old enough, he was instructing and coaching them in the Scholastic Clay Target Program and Scholastic Action Program. With a

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #224 Philip Gray NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate   It was a busy weekend at the Great American Outdoor Show earlier this month. I was able to film three episodes with NRA Board of Director candidates who are on the reform ticket. This is a slate of 28 people who are up to reforming the way the NRA has been conducting business and some of the shenanigans that have been going on. Everyone I talked to was excited about the future of the NRA.   One of the passengers I got to spend some time with was Philip Gray. He’s from Ohio and grew up shooting and hunting like so many Americans. It really was an integral part of his youth and family time. Shooting clays is still a treasured time for Philip and his family, which they do on the family farm with the kids and grandkids. His family got a land grant years ago. The family has been there with a farm  since the mid-1800’s for five generations.   Philip has a lifetime hunting license. I think he said it was like $2 when he got it at eight years o

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #223 Al Hammond NRA BOD, NRA 2.0 Candidate   I get to travel the country and film RSWC episodes. I take the cameras just about every time I hit the road. Recently, I went down to the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pa. On the eve of the beginning, I went to a Friends of the NRA dinner. There were several of the NRA BOD reform candidates at the dinner. I was able to connect with them and arrange to film shows over the weekend.    First I had Al Hammond. He’s one of the newer board members, having only served one three-year term. However, he has worked as NRA staff for 28 years. One of the reasons he ran for the BOD is that he saw things that didn’t sit well for him while he was on staff. He wanted to make some changes and he’s with the 28 who are being billed as the ‘reformers.’   Al was raised in a shooting family in Florida. He’s spent much of his career and life in the agriculture business. Shooting and hunting has always been a part of his life. It’s a cultural

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #222 Ed Monk Last Resort Firearm Training   Ed Monk is a name I’ve heard several times over the years. In October 2024, Matt Mallory and I did a live show with Ed and I was able to talk him into letting me drive him around Boston. Last fall, I had a chance to film a show with him before he was presenting at a conference for law enforcement officers. His area of expertise is analyzing the aftermath of school shootings. As a teacher for over 3 decades, this is a topic that hits home for me.    Monk grew up in Arkansas with a family with firearms, mostly for hunting. Around 1999, he connected with Jim Higginbothom who taught Ed that there’s a whole new world with defensive gun fighting and shooting. His training resume is beyond impressive. He’s taken classes at Front Sight, Tactical Defense Institute, and Rangemaster with Tom Givens. He also had training in the Army, where he spent 24 years. He’s been teaching for about 15 years. His brother built a range on the family property. Thei

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #221 Mark Oliva NSSF,  Managing Director of Public Affairs   Heading down to Virginia for a few other shows, I was able to connect with Mark Oliva. He’s been on my radar as a potential passenger for sometime. I met him last year at SHOT. You can’t miss him. He wears a big cowboy hat. Many others do, too. But he has an NSSF badge that says “All Access.” We were able to meet at an “undisclosed location” in Northern Virginia. His job at NSSF takes him into DC regularly.    We start off with some Range Day benefits, like Mark being able to figure out what he wants on his Christmas list. Then we cover talking about taking new folks shooting and shopping for their first gun. And why it’s important for ranges to have family friendly facilities and not just a five gallon bucket for a portable bathroom. If we want to get more people into the shooting sports, then we need to make it more comfortable and enjoyable for them. If places aren’t welcoming to women, he calls it the “hey, little lad

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #220 Matthias Quellenberg San Diego Firearms Academy   In 2022, I went to GunProm, hosted by San Diego Gun Owners. It was a huge event with over 750 attendees, the biggest 2A dinner I’ve attended. I was there with John Petrolino and we didn’t really know many folks. We were put at the table with Matthais. We talked all night and exchanged contact info. The next day, he messaged me via Instagram and said he’s seen the show, but didn’t put it together after seeing me. The next week, Petrolinio messages me and says he’s been messaging Matthias. I asked who and he replied “The German.” The name stuck.    In 2024, GRPC was held in San Diego, where he lives. We were able to film a show at the end of GRPC. Everyone was talking about “the wall” and I thought it was some sort of Pink Floyd tribute. Alas, it was the border wall. When he asked where we were driving, I replied “the wall.” We had to make sure we didn’t cross into Mexico. I don’t have a passport. He was packing.    Matthias grew

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #219 Liz Bush Deputy Executive Director,  NRA General Operations   I had a chance to film some shows with the NRA staff at the NRA HQ in Fairfax, VA. With time in my schedule, I asked a friend on the BOD who else I could have. She suggested Liz Bush. I wasn’t familiar with her name, but she’s got her hands on many things going on at NRA. It was great to have some time with her. I was in need of some NRA teaching materials, but wasn’t able to get those from HQ on this trip. They come from a warehouse somewhere else.    Liz’s position at NRA is the Deputy Executive Director of General Operations. It covers everything that isn’t political. She works with everything from Community Engagement Departments to Women On Target to Friends of the NRA. She tends to the community outreach, clubs and range associations, education and training, law enforcement training division, competitive shooting, NRA Museum, the NRA range, shows and exhibits department, and even the Eddie Eagle program. Like

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #218 Jacek Waliszewki Code Name: Spike, Author   Sometimes the planets all line up for me. I was in Knoxville, TN, for the Gun Owners of America’s G.O.A.L.S event. I was talking with Kirk Whatley from Samson Mfg. Kirk has been a friend for a long time. He was RSWC #005 back when I was learning how to edit video. Samson’s booth was across from Liberty Mfg’s booth. They have a pen gun. And at their booth was Jacek Waliszewski, author of Code Name: Spike.    Jacek was born in Poland but he was raised in a revolution. His father co-founded the Solidarity Movement there and they kicked communism out of Poland. As an infant, his mother would put propaganda papers in his diapers that he would take to his father while he was locked up. It all had to be done before he soiled the diaper! He was muling documents for his father to read and sign. The family eventually came to the United States as political refugees during the Reagan years.   After moving around the country with his father’s job

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #217 Desi Bergman Not Me SD   I met Desi Bergman at GunProm held by San Diego County Gun Owners back in June of 2022. I met a lot of people that weekend. I may have been “over self-served.” But at Gun Rights Policy Conference in 2024, we got to meet again. And I’ll remember it this time. (Gulp!) I always plan on filming shows while I’m on a trip, and GPRC 2024 was no different. But I had to make changes to my plans. Desi and I caught up on the Friday evening social. I asked if she was interested in doing the show and she agreed to it. We headed to Coronado Island and got a selfie at Dog Beach.   As a young child, guns were always around for her and her family. Her grandparents owned a farm in central California. While her dad was out checking the property, she was the girl who was shooting at rabbits from the truck with a BB gun. Her father was a sheriff reserve and taught the kids to respect firearms, how to be safe, and how to shoot. One of her prized possessions is her father’s