Riding Shotgun With Charlie

#087

Beth AlcazarPacifiers & Peacemakers

USCCAThe DC Project

 

I met Beth Alcazar at SHOT Show 2017. The following month, I saw her again at a concealed carry fashion show I was emceeing in Cleveland.  And I’ve seen her at every GPRC since 2017 and even in Washington DC at a DC Project event. That isn’t just how she’s everywhere.  She writes a blog for the USCCA called Pacifiers & Peacemakers, and she teaches the teachers for the USCCA as well.  She’s also a board member of BamaCarry.  She’s one of the busiest women in the gun community and I was able to catch up with her in Birmingham, AL, during the RSWC Southern Tour 2020.  She did start off with some Southern Hospitality and a number of gifts from local businesses and trivia of Alabama. You can check that out on the RSWC Facebook page from August 23, 2020. She also brought her 2A blanket, Twizzlers, and a book for me. 

 

Beth got her start as a writer in the shooting/hunting/outdoor industry, but wanted to learn how the business and marketing worked. She was able to make a lot of connections in the industry, which ends up helping her later in life. She is a real ‘word nerd’ and that helps with her writings. When she found out she was being let go from a job, she reached out to someone with the USCCA and they enjoyed her writing as a ‘mom with a gun’ and that gave her a different perspective than others. She loves what they do, with educating gun owners and she pursued writing, making videos, and working with them.  She blends the importance of gun safety and the fundamentals, but keeps the fun of shooting throughout her courses. 

 

We move from using firearms to knives to other tools for self defense.  We talk about how the mind is the weapon and everything else is a tool, which leads into DGUs (defensive gun uses) and the possibility of a presence of a gun gives many the ‘psychological stop’ to a bad guy. 

 

She’s the Alabama State Director of The DC Project.  She’s looking for and trying to get more women active at the state level to talk to politicians and share their stories about whey they own firearms.  And she’s involved with BamaCarry and testified for both groups.  We also talked about Alabama gun laws, about open carry and how she helped things move forward before ‘the virus’ happened. 

 

We also drove near a local shopping center and the location where several people decided to use a firearm over the protests over some goings on. It’s made her and others reconsider shopping in this area. She also tells us that there are ‘vapor dogs’ at the center which are trained to sniff out gunpowder.

 

Beth is really a wonderful person and so much fun to be around. Every time we see each other, there’s plenty of laughing and smiling. I’m sure you’ll pick up on this from watching this episode. You can find her blog, Facebook page, and all the groups she’s involved with below. She really is on top of all things that are beneficial for the female shooters in the world! And her wordsmith background brings out an elegance and imagery that others aren’t able to do. 

Favorite quotes

“All the industry people are great and I think that’s what spoke to me.”

“Women usually get into guns for a specific reason, self defense. We’re still the more victimized gender.”

“I still go back to teach the end user class over and over again. They give me joy for such different reasons.”

“The DC Project has really inspired me to do a lot of things I never would have imagined I would do.”

 

 

Women’s Handgun Self Defense and Fundamentals

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/store/education/books/womens-handgun-self-defense-fundamentals-ecb0720004/

 

Alabama Carry

https://www.bamacarry.us/

 

Pacifiers & Peacemakers Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/pacifiersandpeacemakers/

 

USCCA 

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/

 

The DC Project

https://www.dcproject.info/

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