State of the Second

State of the Second sits down with Kevin from GSL Technology, a Michigan suppressor maker that has been building cans since 1985. Before suppressors, GSL did aerospace machining with titanium and inconel, and Kevin says a couple of components the company built are still on the moon. From its Jackson, Michigan facility west of Ann Arbor, GSL handled all the production for GemTech before Smith and Wesson bought GemTech in 2016. Kevin came to the company from an IT and military background, turned down the sales role twice, then flew up, shot the line, and got hooked.

Most of the episode clears up what suppressors actually are and how you legally get one. Suppressors are completely legal in most states and only slightly harder to buy than a handgun. The process runs through an FFL that holds the Special Occupational Tax, a background check, fingerprints, a passport photo, a $200 tax stamp, and an ATF wait Kevin puts at two to thirteen months, followed by a second 4473 to take it home. He walks through the long list of myths he hears at shows: that the government can inspect your house unannounced, that suppressors have a short lifespan, that they lower velocity or accuracy, that one can only fits one gun, and that they are outright illegal. He points listeners to the 10 Most Common Suppressor Myths article at the bottom of gsltechnology.com.

Kaylee takes the legislative side, tracing the path from the Hearing Protection Act to the new Shush Act introduced by Senator Mike Lee, and explaining why GOA backs these bills even when they will not pass right away. The argument is the long game: get good people to put their names on the bill, build a coalition, and create a record that the American people want suppressors out of the NFA. She and John tie it to the cultural fight too, from how Hollywood portrays firearms to attacks on hunter education in schools, and they push listeners to contact their representatives through gunowners.org, which takes about 45 seconds. Kevin closes with a tease of new suppressors using new baffle design technology that GSL may release at SHOT Show.

• gsltechnology.com

Suppressors are completely legal in most states and have always been legal. Kevin says buying one is only slightly harder than buying a handgun, mostly paperwork and a wait rather than a ban.

You buy through an FFL that holds the Special Occupational Tax, then complete a background check, fingerprints, a passport photo, and a $200 tax stamp. After the ATF wait, you fill out a second 4473 to take the suppressor home.

Kevin puts the ATF wait at roughly two to thirteen months. The $200 tax stamp is the federal National Firearms Act tax required to legally transfer the suppressor.

Kevin debunks claims that the government can inspect your house unannounced, that suppressors wear out quickly, that they lower velocity or accuracy, that one can fits only one gun, and that they are illegal. He points listeners to the 10 Most Common Suppressor Myths article at the bottom of gsltechnology.com.

Yes. Kevin names the belief that a suppressor only fits one gun as one of the common myths he corrects, so a single can is not locked to a single firearm.

Both aim to ease suppressor restrictions. Kaylee traces the path from the earlier Hearing Protection Act to the newer Shush Act, introduced by Senator Mike Lee.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) plays the long game: getting good lawmakers to put their names on a bill, building a coalition, and creating a record that Americans want suppressors out of the National Firearms Act. Kaylee adds that compromising only weakens the position.

Kaylee and John point listeners to gunowners.org, where contacting your representative takes about 45 seconds.

Kevin is a sales representative for GSL Technology, a suppressor manufacturer based in Jackson, Michigan, just west of Ann Arbor. He grew up in Auburn and Fort Wayne, Indiana, joined the military at 17, and has been enlisted since 2005. He has lived in Augusta, Georgia since 2014, doing telecommunications and IT work, including Cisco work, with the military. He came to GSL from an IT background after his advisor connected him to a sales role, and he published the company's 10 Most Common Suppressor Myths article on gsltechnology.com.

Langdon Tactical's vice president Amy Langdon joins John and Kaylee to talk about the part of gun ownership that does not get enough airtime: the on-ramp. Millions of people have become new gun owners over the last several years, and Amy's view is that the community keeps losing them at the door. She breaks down what inhibited her own concealed carry journey, from being handed a heavy revolver to being told she had to dress a certain way, and makes the case that you can be a responsible, proficient firearm owner without living at an extreme tactical perfection level. The conversation keeps returning to one question she likes to ask: who is responsible for your safety?

A large stretch of the episode is about raising kids around firearms. Amy argues against the instinct to hide guns and refuse to discuss them, comparing it to how we teach kids about fire and knives. She shares two real moments with her young son, a deliberate test with an unloaded gun on the bathroom counter and an unplanned encounter with a guest's holstered gun on a dresser, where he stopped, did not touch it, and told an adult exactly as he had been taught at age four. The hosts and Amy connect this to fear: there is healthy fear and there is bad fear, and education is what separates the two. They also dig into the realities of carrying as a mom, including off-body carry, accessibility, situational awareness, de-escalation, and the mindset shift that comes with choosing to carry.

The back half turns to choosing a gun and the culture around it. Amy lays out simple criteria, what fits your hand and what the gun is for, and pushes back on the older guys who tell every woman she needs a .40 caliber revolver. Both Kaylee and Amy talk about their inexpensive first guns and argue hard against shaming new owners over budget firearms, because telling someone they are wasting their money tells them their life is not worth defending. They cover training, competition as stress inoculation, the value of gun stores and the people behind the counter, paralysis by analysis, and the importance of being a supportive spouse rather than your partner's instructor. The throughline ties back to GOA's member-focused philosophy: a gun owner is a law-abiding American exercising a constitutionally protected right, and a welcoming, positive community is where the next generation of gun owners will come from.

• langdontactical.com

The on-ramp is how millions of new gun owners first enter the community, and Amy Langdon argues the community keeps losing them at the door by forcing an extreme tactical standard and dictating how they carry or dress. You can be a responsible, proficient firearm owner without living at that level of perfection.

Amy Langdon argues against hiding guns and refusing to discuss them, comparing firearms education to how we teach kids about fire and knives. Meeting kids at their maturity level and showing them what a gun does and what to do if they see one means they generally will not touch it.

Much of what inhibited Amy Langdon's own concealed carry journey came from being handed a heavy revolver and told she had to dress a certain way, a different on-ramp than men typically face. The throughline is the question she likes to ask: who is responsible for your safety?

Carrying as a mom brings real tradeoffs around accessibility, situational awareness, de-escalation, and a mindset shift, and off-body carry is part of that practical conversation. The episode treats it as a legitimate choice rather than something to dismiss.

Amy Langdon keeps it simple: pick what fits your hand and what the gun is actually for, and ignore the old advice that every woman needs a .40 caliber revolver. If you have never shot before, handle and shoot guns at a range or store first to feel how they operate in your hand.

Both Kaylee and Amy Langdon started with inexpensive guns and push back hard on shaming new owners over budget firearms. Telling someone they are wasting their money tells them their life is not worth defending, the opposite of a welcoming community.

Amy Langdon practices and competes, including tactical games, and treats competition as stress inoculation that prepares you to perform under pressure. It is one piece of the training picture alongside situational awareness and de-escalation.

The episode makes the case for being a supportive spouse rather than your partner's instructor, since you do not have to fill that role yourself. Bringing in an instructor protects both the relationship and the learning.

Amy Langdon is the Vice President of Langdon Tactical. The business has two sections: a product side that does custom gun work, sells firearms, and makes custom accessories and parts that go on guns, and LTT Discover, an educational site that meets gun owners where they are with tips, information, and training on becoming a more proficient firearms owner. She runs the company alongside her husband, a firearms instructor, and they have a son. She practices and competes, including tactical games, and carries a Glock 43X with a Langdon Tactical trigger job and stipple, a Hellcat, and a 92 compact with a red dot. She can be found on Instagram at @amy_hike.lift.shoot.

Jamin McCallum, co-founder of Palmetto State Armory, joins State of the Second hosts John and Kaylee to trace PSA from a garage idea into what he calls the number one firearms and accessories website in the world. A CPA by training, Jamin came home from his second deployment with a traumatic brain injury that left him unable to focus on tax work. He quit, told his wife they were going to start a gun company, and pulled his brother out of a shoe store to join him. The first plan was to make 6.8 ammo and compete with Silver State Armory, but the licensing and equipment were too complex. They pivoted to selling Magpul PMAGs on a website they built in a sandwich shop, did $221 in their first month in April 2008, and were doing about a million dollars a month by that November.

Jamin walks through the moments that pushed the company to each new level: a "you lie" engraved lower tied to Congressman Joe Wilson that the New York Times and Huffington Post linked to, which re-indexed the whole site; a deal with FN in Columbia to take over barrel production that left them swimming in barrels right before Sandy Hook, which launched their AR-15 line; and the shift from assembling parts to making their own. PSA now runs about 2,000 uppers and 1,000 handguns a day, makes roughly a million bolt carrier groups and 1.2 million barrels a year, employs 50 full-time engineers, and built its own ammo plant in West Columbia after repeated ammo scares left it unable to get rounds even to test-fire guns. The company also picked up AAC suppressors and the H&R brand out of the Remington bankruptcy.

The back half turns to policy. Jamin frames PSA's whole mission as spreading freedom, keeping guns affordable so more people get into the hobby before any future ban can take hold. He and Kaylee dig into the ATF redefining rules by edict, the bump stock ban, the pistol brace ban, and the new rule targeting private sales, arguing bureaucrats are writing what amounts to law without going through the House, Senate, and the President. They make the case that comment periods matter, that lawsuits run hundreds of thousands of dollars and are funded by taxpayers on both sides, and that gun owners have to stay tenacious because the government has unlimited funds to wear them down. Kaylee highlights GOA's round-up-at-checkout partnership with PSA feeding its Second Amendment preservation fund and the group's growing campus presence, and both close convinced the culture is shifting toward seeing the right to self-defense as a civil right.

Jamin McCallum and his brother formed Palmetto State Armory in 2008 after an early plan to make 6.8 ammunition proved too complex. They pivoted to selling Magpul PMAGs on a website built in a sandwich shop, doing $221 their first month in April 2008 and about a million dollars a month by that November.

A CPA by training, Jamin came home from his second deployment with a traumatic brain injury that left him unable to focus on tax work. He quit, told his wife they were starting a gun company, and pulled his brother out of a shoe store to join him.

PSA made a "you lie" engraved lower tied to Congressman Joe Wilson that the New York Times and Huffington Post linked to. Those links re-indexed the whole site and pushed it to a new level of visibility.

PSA struck a deal with FN in Columbia to take over barrel production, which left the company swimming in barrels right before Sandy Hook. That timing and supply launched its AR-15 line.

PSA runs about 2,000 uppers and 1,000 handguns a day, and makes roughly a million bolt carrier groups and 1.2 million barrels a year. It also employs about 50 full-time engineers.

Repeated ammo scares left PSA unable to get rounds even to test-fire its guns, so it built its own ammunition plant in West Columbia. The move secured its own supply instead of depending on outside sources.

PSA picked up the AAC suppressor line and the H&R brand out of the Remington bankruptcy, adding them to a lineup that grew from assembling parts to making its own products.

Jamin argues the ATF redefines rules by edict on bump stocks, pistol braces, and private sales, writing what amounts to law without Congress. He says comment periods matter and lawsuits cost hundreds of thousands, so gun owners must stay tenacious against a government with unlimited funds.

Jamin McCallum is a co-founder of Palmetto State Armory, which he describes as the number one firearms and accessories website in the world. He is a CPA by education and trade. He served in the Army, deployed twice, and took IED blasts on his second deployment that left him with a traumatic brain injury. He started the company with his brother Josiah, forming it in February 2008. He later joined with Julian Wilson (Congressman Joe Wilson's son) and Ed LaRocque to form JJE, the ownership group behind PSA. He taught at the University of South Carolina in the evenings and served in the National Guard as a company commander. He grew up outside Philadelphia.

Banks and card networks now have a way to flag who is buying from a gun store. In episode 18 of State of the Second, hosts John and Kaylee sit down with Greg from 2A Commerce to walk through how that happens and what it means for gun owners and gun businesses. Greg traces the pressure back to Operation Choke Point under the Obama administration, when banks began reclassifying firearm transactions as high risk and cutting off processing. The newer threat is the firearms-specific MCC, the merchant category code the card brands rolled out, which Greg explains effectively creates a private gun buyer list. The networks still cannot see exactly what you bought, but they can see that you spent a large amount at a gun store, and the probability says it was a firearm.

From there the conversation moves into the daily reality of running a firearms business online. Greg's company is platform agnostic and builds custom e-commerce, payment processing, and inventory integrations for the gun space. He explains why search engine optimization matters so much when Google AdWords, Facebook, and Instagram block firearms advertising, why most SEO firms do not understand the industry's vernacular, and how a new banking survey for FFLs lands on underwriters who often do not understand or do not like firearms. He also covers the crypto payment gateway his team built using USDC, the SEC lawsuit that stalled it, and why crypto's pseudo-anonymous nature protects buyer privacy. On the marketing side he ties together content, email, social, search, and affiliate marketing into one connected customer journey.

The back half turns to action. Greg argues the real fix is not reacting to each new rule but building an alternate banking infrastructure that does not depend on the federal government, the same bet he and his partner made entering the gun space in 2019. Kaylee frames the gun owner's leverage as three votes: the ballot box, the dollar, and the feet, and points to the Second Amendment sanctuary movement and Second Amendment Preservation Acts spreading from Virginia outward as proof the groundswell works. John closes with a challenge: take a new person to the range on the second of every month. Greg plugs 2A Commerce and his tacticalfresh.com marketing platform, and invites anyone serious about building the alternative to reach out.

Banks and card networks cannot see the specific item purchased, but they can see a large charge at a gun store and infer it was likely a firearm. Combined with the firearms merchant category code, this effectively flags who is buying from gun retailers.

The firearms merchant category code (MCC) is a designation the card brands rolled out for gun-store transactions. Greg explains it effectively creates a private gun buyer list, since processors can identify spending at firearms retailers even without seeing the exact product.

Greg traces it to Operation Choke Point under the Obama administration, when banks began reclassifying firearm transactions as high risk and cutting off payment processing for gun businesses.

Google AdWords, Facebook, and Instagram block firearms advertising, so search engine optimization becomes one of the few ways gun businesses get found. Greg notes most SEO firms struggle here because they do not understand the industry's vernacular.

Greg's team built a crypto payment gateway on USDC whose pseudo-anonymous nature shields buyer privacy, keeping purchases off the bank-and-card-network tracking system. He notes an SEC lawsuit stalled the project.

Greg ties content, email, social, search, and affiliate marketing into one connected customer journey rather than treating them as separate tactics, so each channel feeds the same path to purchase.

Co-host Kaylee frames the gun owner's leverage as three votes: the ballot box, the dollar, and the feet. Beyond voting, owners can spend with pro-gun businesses and take a new person to the range, which host John challenges listeners to do on the second of every month.

Kaylee points to the Second Amendment sanctuary movement and Second Amendment Preservation Acts spreading from Virginia outward as proof a grassroots groundswell works to push back on restrictive gun laws.

Greg is a co-founder of 2A Commerce, a firearms-industry technology and marketing company that builds custom e-commerce, payment processing, and point-of-sale and inventory integrations. He has been developing software for about 20 years after leaving the Navy, and he is a Navy submarine veteran who grew up with guns. He holds an MBA in marketing. He and his business partner entered the gun space in 2019 after Shopify shut down a legal firearms store. He lives in St. Johns County, Florida, a Second Amendment sanctuary county. He also runs a marketing platform called tacticalfresh.com.

Mike O'Dell from CMMG joins John and Kaylee for a long-form conversation that runs from the company's roots to the front lines of the fight over gun rights. Mike has been with the CMMG companies for a little over 11 years, with a hire date he never forgets because it landed on 9/11/12. He walks through his path into the industry: a local gun shop where he became assistant manager and then manager, becoming a firearms instructor through the University of Missouri's Law Enforcement Training Institute, a stint at Midway USA, and a chance reconnection with one of CMMG's owners at an MMA fight, owners he had known from church for more than 30 years. He traces CMMG from its 2002 start on the owner's land in Fayette, Missouri, to the 2016 move into an abandoned factory in Boonville, and a recent 30,000 square foot expansion that split the building into machining and production.

On product, Mike covers the company's habit of thinking outside the box: the early 22 conversion for the AR, the Mark 47 (the AK-magazine-fed "Mutant" built on a beefed-up 308 bolt), the radial delay blowback action that started in 45 ACP and carried over to calibers like 5.7, the bufferless Descent, and the Mark 57. He tells the legend of the range-day cooler, which started as his food cooler for the drive and became the tool the team uses to quench a full-auto Mark 47 between shooters. He explains why CMMG stepped back from big shows like SHOT and the NRA Annual Meeting, where return on investment is hard to judge, and put that money into the Outpost, their own range and clubhouse where guests get hands-on time with CMMG product and a captive audience.

The back half turns to policy. Mike and Kaylee dig into the ATF as a non-lawmaking body that regulates firearms, the "war on plastic" around bump stocks and pistol braces, and the disinformation around AR-15s. They discuss soft targets, campus carry, and carry in churches, including stories of changing a pastor's and a professor's minds through tactful conversation rather than argument. Mike addresses the criticism that CMMG "bends the knee" by complying with ATF rules, explaining that the company's license to do business is issued by that same agency, so it has to tread carefully while still putting its money where its mouth is by joining a Texas lawsuit over the pistol brace ban. Kaylee lays out GOA's strategy of amicus briefs and lawsuits, and the core point that if they kill the industry, they have killed the Second Amendment. They also get into marketing in a censored, algorithm-driven environment and the industry's vaporware problem versus CMMG's build-to-order approach.

Mike O'Dell started around 2007 at a local gun shop, rising to manager and becoming a firearms instructor through the University of Missouri's Law Enforcement Training Institute, then worked at Midway USA. He reconnected with a CMMG owner he had known from church for over 30 years, and was hired on 9/11/12.

CMMG began in 2002 on the owner's land in Fayette, Missouri. In 2016 the company moved into an abandoned factory in Boonville and later added a 30,000 square foot expansion that split the building into separate machining and production areas.

The cooler started as Mike's personal food cooler for the drive to range days. The team filled it with water and began dunking the full-auto Mark 47 to quench and cool the barrel between shooters, then dropped a fresh magazine in so guests could keep firing.

CMMG found the return on investment at big shows like SHOT Show and the NRA Annual Meeting hard to judge, so it redirected that money into the Outpost, its own range and clubhouse. There, guests get hands-on time with CMMG products in front of a captive audience.

The Mark 47 "Mutant" is one of CMMG's outside-the-box designs, an AK-magazine-fed rifle built on a beefed-up 308 bolt. It reflects the same inventive streak behind the company's early 22 conversion, the radial delay blowback action, the bufferless Descent, and the Mark 57.

Mike explains that CMMG's license to do business is issued by the same agency that writes those rules, so the company has to tread carefully to stay operating. CMMG still put money behind the cause by joining a Texas lawsuit over the pistol brace ban.

Kaylee describes Gun Owners of America's strategy of amicus briefs and lawsuits against ATF overreach on issues like bump stocks and pistol braces. Her core point is that if regulators kill the industry, they have killed the Second Amendment.

The episode contrasts the industry's vaporware problem, where products are announced but not delivered, with CMMG's build-to-order approach. That model means the company makes what it has actually committed to producing.

Mike O'Dell is the PR and Strategic Partners Manager at CMMG, where he has worked for a little over 11 years with a hire date of 9/11/12. He has been in the firearms industry since around 2007, starting at a local gun shop where he rose to assistant manager and then manager. He became a local firearms instructor and went through the University of Missouri's Law Enforcement Training Institute instructor program. Before CMMG he worked at Midway USA. He coordinates CMMG's events behind the scenes, including SHOT Show, NRA shows, range days, and the Iraq Vet shoot.

State of the Second hosts John and Kaylee sit down with Rapid Fire Rachel, one of the original female gun influencers, for a conversation that runs from machine guns to motherhood. Rachel explains that her social presence started almost by accident. She was against getting an Instagram at first, then posted her family's Mother's Day at the range tradition and woke up to a phone full of notifications. She grew up around firearms and her dad has held an FFL for over 30 years. Her name came from her dad after she skipped college classes to go to Knob Creek with him, tried the jungle walk side competition, and won it her first year, walking away with prize money and a T. Rex from Dinosaur World that now hangs over her fireplace.

Much of the episode centers on machine gun culture and the events that hold it together. Rachel describes Knob Creek as its own beast, an event that ran for 50 years before its finale, and the family-like community of vendors and shooters that formed around it. After it ended, she and her team hosted the All American Machine Gun Shoot in South Carolina, opening it to the public with vendors like Barrett, LMT Defense, Rugged Suppressors, and Glock so people could get hands on rather than just spectate. Kaylee ties this to GOA's no-compromise position, noting the organization sends teams to shoots because they keep the community together. The hosts dig into the cost barrier to legally owning machine guns since the 1986 ban, the difference between criminal Glock switches and lawfully owned full-auto firearms, and the ATF redefining items like bump stocks and FRT triggers.

The back half turns personal. Rachel, six months pregnant, says she could find almost no information on carrying while pregnant and plans to keep carrying throughout because she now has something extra to protect. Kaylee, a mother of twins who is five feet tall, shares how she switched to a crossbody bag when on-body carry stopped working. Both stress educating kids early, treating guns like any other dangerous thing rather than a mystery, and they react to a six-year-old in Alabama suspended and flagged as potentially dangerous over finger guns at recess. The episode closes on firearms as living history, an upcoming International Women's Day range day in Dallas on March 8, and a promise of a part two.

She grew up around firearms and was reluctant to even join Instagram, then posted about her family's Mother's Day at the range tradition and woke up to a flood of notifications. That post launched her social presence almost by accident.

Her dad gave her the name after she skipped college classes to go to Knob Creek with him, entered the jungle walk side competition, and won it on her first visit. She walked away with prize money and a T. Rex from Dinosaur World that now hangs over her fireplace.

Knob Creek was a machine gun shoot that ran for 50 years before its finale, building a family-like community of vendors and shooters around it. Rachel describes it as its own beast, unlike anything else in machine gun culture.

After Knob Creek ended, Rachel and her team hosted the All American Machine Gun Shoot in South Carolina and opened it to the public. Vendors like Barrett, LMT Defense, Rugged Suppressors, and Glock let attendees get hands on rather than just spectate.

The 1986 ban froze the supply of legally transferable machine guns, so the few that can be owned carry a steep cost barrier. The episode digs into how that limited pool drives the price of lawful full-auto ownership.

A Glock switch is an illegal device used by criminals, which Rachel and the hosts separate from lawfully owned full-auto firearms held by law-abiding owners. As Rachel notes, new legislation tends to affect only the law-abiding.

Six months pregnant at recording, Rachel found almost no information on carrying while pregnant and plans to carry throughout because she now has something extra to protect. Kaylee, a five-foot mother of twins, switched to a crossbody bag when on-body carry stopped working.

Both hosts stress educating kids early and treating guns like any other dangerous thing rather than a mystery. They react to a six-year-old in Alabama who was suspended and flagged as potentially dangerous over finger guns at recess.

Rapid Fire Rachel is one of the original female gun influencers. She grew up around firearms and started shooting at age three. Her father has held an FFL and run a small business for over 30 years and is a machine gun collector. Rachel got her nickname from her dad after she won the jungle walk competition at Knob Creek on her first visit. She and her team hosted the All American Machine Gun Shoot in South Carolina. At the time of recording she was six months pregnant. She can be found on Instagram as Rachel B333 and across Facebook, X, and TikTok as Rapid Fire Rachel.

John and Kaylee sit down with Ryan from Rix Optics for a conversation that runs in two directions: the politics squeezing hunters and the technology changing how they hunt at night. Rix is a brand under the parent company Visor, which used to be a US distributor for a thermal and night vision manufacturer. The team set that aside to build its own line, launching thermal binoculars about two years ago as its first product and now adding digital daytime night vision and two thermal scopes, the Leap series L3 and L6. Ryan's pitch for the scopes centers on what he calls the world's first continuous optical zoom, which magnifies the whole image without the resolution loss that comes from digital zoom on most thermals.

Most of the episode is about why hunting is under pressure and why that matters even to people who don't hunt. Kaylee walks through the proposed lead ammo ban on BLM and public land from the Biden administration, arguing the science doesn't back up the claim and that the rule would hit not only hunters feeding their families but anyone who shoots or trains on that land. The group connects attacks on hunter education in schools, state trail-camera bans in Utah and Arizona, and broader gun restrictions, making the case that each step is a small encroachment people ignore until it reaches them. Ryan ties it to wildlife management: hog damage in Texas runs into the billions, invasive species like Florida's pythons and iguanas kill native wildlife, and predators overrun northern farms when no one hunts them. License and tag dollars, John notes, fund the lands and protect species.

On the product side, Ryan gets specific. The Leap scopes carry 384 and 640 sensors, picture-in-picture, eight reticles, six colors, four color palettes, recoil-activated video, run on swappable 18650 batteries, and hold an IP67 waterproof and dustproof rating. Detection range runs to 2,600 yards on the 640 and 1,800 on the 384, weather depending. He pushes back on the biggest myth he hears, that buying a thermal turns a field into easy kills, with a plain reminder that thermal hunting is still hunting. He closes on his own son, who he plans to teach using the T20 digital daytime night vision scope linked to his phone so he can coach a shot in real time. Rix has a rangefinder coming by year's end and more optics by February, plus a dealer locator coming to the website.

Rix Optics is a thermal and night vision brand built under the parent company Visor. Visor was previously a US distributor for a thermal and night vision manufacturer before the team set that aside to build its own Rix line.

The Leap series scopes use what Ryan calls the world's first continuous optical zoom, which magnifies the entire image without the resolution loss that comes from the digital zoom used on most thermal scopes.

It is a Biden administration proposal to ban lead ammunition on BLM and public land. Gun Owners of America (GOA) argues the science doesn't support the claim, and that the rule would hit not just hunters feeding their families but anyone who shoots or trains on that land.

The episode argues that while the Second Amendment isn't about hunting, hunting is very much about the 2A. Attacks on hunter education, trail-camera bans, and an ammo ban are framed as small encroachments that lead to broader gun restrictions.

The group makes the case that each restriction is a small encroachment people ignore until it reaches them, the same pattern behind feral hog damage, state trail-camera bans in Utah and Arizona, and broader gun limits.

Ryan pushes back on the idea that buying a thermal turns a field into easy kills. His plain reminder is that thermal hunting is still hunting, since you still have to go out and find the animals.

The Leap scopes carry 384 and 640 sensors, with detection range up to 2,600 yards on the 640 and 1,800 on the 384, weather depending. They add picture-in-picture, eight reticles, recoil-activated video, swappable 18650 batteries, and an IP67 waterproof and dustproof rating.

Rix is found at its website and on Instagram, with a dealer locator coming to the site. Ryan says a rangefinder is due by year's end and more optics by February.

Ryan represents Rix Optics, a thermal and night vision brand under the parent company Visor. Visor was previously one of the US distributors for a thermal and night vision manufacturer before the team shifted focus to building the Rix brand. Rix launched its thermal binoculars about two years ago as its first product and has since added digital daytime night vision and the Leap series thermal scopes (L3 and L6). Ryan is from Texas and hunts with his kids. Rix can be found at its website and on Instagram.

State of the Second hosts John and Kaylee sit down with Alex Brodsky, a marketing professional who has spent about eight years across the firearms industry, including time working for an 80% company. Born in the former Soviet Union and now living in California, Alex brings a perspective most guests don't. He left right before the Iron Wall came down, and he uses that history to explain what life looks like when citizens rely entirely on the government for protection and have no real voice. The conversation centers on the ATF and its habit of changing definitions, with Alex drawing a direct line between that pattern and the month-to-month rule changes he watched under communism.

Much of the episode digs into 80% receivers and pistol braces, products the ATF once reviewed and approved, then later moved to ban or re-regulate. Alex talks about the pride and ownership people felt building their own firearms, often as a weekend project with a son, and how those moments carry a generational weight. Kaylee ties it back to text, history and tradition, the Bruin decision, and Gun Owners Foundation's video laying out the long history of braced handguns. They cover the real cost to the industry: confusion, a chilling effect on sales, and companies getting hit in the pocketbooks because consumers think a gray area means they should stop buying.

The back half turns to action and education. They cover GOA's preliminary national injunction that covers members on the brace issue, the David Chipman nomination fight, the lead ammo and green tip ammo comment battles, New Mexico's carry suspension, the proposed rule redefining who counts as a firearms dealer, banking surveillance and a de facto registry, red flag laws, and the Liberty Safes incident. Alex's recurring message is that your voice matters and the reason it isn't heard is that people aren't using it right. Change is a grassroots effort that starts with educating friends and family. Both hosts share personal stories, a college conversation that turned a skeptic into a range partner and Alex's aunt who bought a Glock 19 after being mugged, as proof that personal experience and education move people. The episode closes with a reminder to join GOA for $25 a year at gunowners.org.

Alex Brodsky argues the ATF reviews and approves products like 80% receivers and pistol braces, then later moves to ban or re-regulate them, which shifts lawmaking power away from Congress to the executive branch. He compares the month-to-month pattern to the arbitrary rule changes he saw living in the Soviet Union.

80% receivers are unfinished components people use to build their own firearms, often as a weekend project. Brodsky describes the pride and ownership owners feel completing a build, sometimes alongside a son, and the generational weight those moments carry.

Born in the former Soviet Union and leaving right before the Iron Wall fell, Brodsky watched citizens rely entirely on the government with no real voice. He uses that history to argue why holding government accountable matters, since it works for the people, not the other way around.

Brodsky's recurring message is that your voice matters and the reason it goes unheard is that people aren't using it correctly. The episode points to the David Chipman nomination fight and the lead and green tip ammo comment battles as places where public pressure mattered.

The hosts cover Gun Owners of America's preliminary national injunction that covers GOA members on the pistol brace issue. They tie the brace fight to text, history and tradition, the Bruen decision, and Gun Owners Foundation's video laying out the long history of braced handguns.

Brodsky points to confusion and a chilling effect on sales, with companies taking a financial hit because consumers treat a gray area as a reason to stop buying. The episode frames this confusion as a real cost the industry absorbs every time definitions shift.

The episode covers a proposed rule that redefines who counts as a firearms dealer, discussed alongside banking surveillance and a de facto registry. These changes are framed as part of a broader pattern of regulatory overreach affecting ordinary owners and private transactions.

Brodsky frames change as a grassroots effort that starts with educating friends and family. The hosts share stories, a college skeptic turned range partner and an aunt who bought a Glock 19 after being mugged, as proof that personal experience and education move people more than terminology fights.

Alex Brodsky has worked in the firearms industry for about eight years, on the industry side, the regulation side, and everything in between, including time working for an 80% company. He now does marketing consulting in the industry. He is a naturalized US citizen who was born in the former Soviet Union and left right before the fall of the Iron Wall. He lives in California and is an avid firearms collector and enthusiast.

In this episode of Gun Owners of America's State of the Second, hosts Kaylee and John sit down with Mike from Sylvan Arms, a South Carolina manufacturer of firearm parts and accessories. Sylvan is best known for its folding stock adapter, now in its fourth generation, but Mike walks through a much wider catalog: a tool-free QD Picatinny-to-M-LOK rail adapter, a full suppressor line, and new Glock slides. He shares the suppressor lineup in detail, including a direct-thread 22, a direct-thread 9mm for handguns or long guns, two QD rifle cans in 5.56 and 30 caliber, and a 45 caliber direct thread on the way. The 5.56 QD suppressor carries an MSRP right around 550 and ships with the muzzle device, which the hosts frame as an on-ramp for people getting into suppressors for the first time.

Much of the conversation centers on policy. Kaylee makes the case for getting suppressors out of the NFA through the SHUSH Act and the Shall Not Be Infringed Act, and points to GOA's work through Second Amendment Hunters to allow suppressors for hunting, which is not legal in all 50 states. Mike, a Marine Corps veteran who suffers hearing loss and tinnitus and wears VA-issued hearing aids, grounds the argument in his own experience: suppressed weapons would have let troops communicate on the battlefield. The group walks through the long wait times for tax stamps, the 1930s origins of the NFA, the pistol brace ban and its hit to a billion-dollar part of the industry, the 80 percent lower and frame-and-receiver rule change, and the Texas suppressor freedom bill that gave the state AG standing to sue on behalf of suppressor owners.

The episode also covers the business side. Mike explains Sylvan's customer-driven design philosophy and its goal of keeping products affordable for the average buyer, the current industry-wide summer slump, and how accessory sales tend to track firearm sales. He clears up two common suppressor myths: they cut roughly 30 decibels to a hearing-safe level rather than going silent like in the movies, and they are not illegal, they are sold through a dealer who handles the tax stamp. Mike closes by teasing new products ahead of SHOT Show, including a motorcycle saddlebag mount and a possible aluminum Glock lower that could become Sylvan's first full firearm. GOA membership is 25 dollars a year.

Sylvan Arms is a South Carolina manufacturer of firearm parts and accessories, best known for its folding stock adapter, now in its fourth generation. Its catalog also includes a tool-free QD Picatinny-to-M-LOK rail adapter, a full suppressor line, and new Glock slides.

The lineup includes a direct-thread 22, a direct-thread 9mm for handguns or long guns, two QD rifle cans in 5.56 and 30 caliber, and a 45 caliber direct thread on the way. The 5.56 QD suppressor has an MSRP right around 550 and ships with the muzzle device.

On the show, Kaylee points to both bills as ways to get suppressors out of the National Firearms Act (NFA). Removing suppressors from the NFA would end the long tax-stamp wait owners currently face when buying one.

Mike is a Marine Corps veteran who suffers hearing loss and tinnitus from his service and wears VA-issued hearing aids. He argues that suppressed weapons would have let troops communicate on the battlefield.

A suppressor does not go silent like in the movies. It cuts roughly 30 decibels, bringing the report down to a hearing-safe level rather than eliminating the sound.

Suppressors are not illegal. They are sold through a dealer who handles the tax stamp.

The pistol brace ban hit a billion-dollar part of the industry, and the 80 percent lower came under a frame-and-receiver rule change. Mike notes that accessory sales tend to track firearm sales, so shifts like these ripple through the business.

The Texas suppressor freedom bill gave the state attorney general standing to sue on behalf of suppressor owners.

Mike handles sales for Sylvan Arms, a South Carolina firearm parts and accessories manufacturer, and has been with the company for about three years. He is a Marine Corps veteran who suffers hearing loss and tinnitus from his service and wears hearing aids provided by the Veterans Administration. He also spent 27 years in law enforcement before entering the firearms industry. Surname "Baldasarre" is from the episode title [VERIFY].

State of the Second goes off the legislative beat for a Thanksgiving roundtable. Hosts Kaylee and John sit down with two of GOA's own media people: Tiffany, the videographer behind the Minuteman Moment and host of One in the Chamber, and Ben, a federal affairs lobbyist who now fronts the Minuteman Moment. The episode is built around gratitude, the team's favorite moments from the year, and a steady stream of good-natured roasting aimed mostly at Ben. It's a look at the people behind GOA's content rather than a deep policy breakdown.

The conversation moves through the year's events and wins. The team talks about ShotShow, where members were surprised and happy to find GOA across the aisle from the ATF's booth, and a string of other outings including Lethal Weapons Texas, the Guns Out John Wick experience, and Naughty After Dark with Opie and the Smokies. On the policy side, Kaylee walks through the six coalition letters GOA assembled for the House joint resolution condemning the pistol brace rule, covering hunters, 2A influencers, industry, gun stores and ranges, sheriffs and police, and veterans. Ben pulls back the curtain on what reviewing bills like the NDAA actually looks like, including anti-gun staffers splitting the word gun so a control-F search misses it, and tracking statutes like 922 across stacked House reports.

The back half turns to the shows themselves and the mission. Tiffany frames One in the Chamber around activism and education, including how to talk to the relative who hates guns at Thanksgiving, while Ben describes the Minuteman Moment as the place for breaking news and legislative action. Both make the case for normalizing what a gun owner looks like and for GOA's no compromise position. They share favorite guns from the year, including Kaylee shooting a Barrett .50 cal, John firing a full-auto P90, and Ben on the Barrett and the Radian Ramjet. The episode closes with each person naming what they're thankful for, shout-outs to GOA's federal affairs, state and local, legal, and comms teams, and a reminder about members-only Black Friday deals.

Tiffany frames One in the Chamber around activism and education, including how to talk to relatives who hate guns. Ben describes the Minuteman Moment as the place for breaking news and legislative action.

Ben explains that reviewing bills means tracking statutes like 922 across stacked House reports and watching for anti-gun staffers who split the word gun so a control-F search misses it.

Kaylee says Gun Owners of America assembled six coalition letters for the House joint resolution condemning the pistol brace rule, covering hunters, Second Amendment influencers, industry, gun stores and ranges, sheriffs and police, and veterans.

Tiffany makes this a focus of One in the Chamber, approaching the anti-gun relative at Thanksgiving through education and activism rather than confrontation.

The team makes the case for normalizing what a gun owner looks like and holding Gun Owners of America's no-compromise position. As Ben puts it, they are a bunch of gun nuts who all look like normal people.

The team recaps ShotShow, where members were happy to find Gun Owners of America set up across the aisle from the ATF's booth, plus Lethal Weapons Texas, the Guns Out John Wick experience, and Naughty After Dark with Opie and the Smokies.

At ShotShow, members came up happy to see the team and to talk with GOA's lawyers about current legal fights, all while the ATF's booth sat right across the aisle.

Kaylee shot a Barrett .50 cal, John fired a full-auto P90, and Ben named the Barrett and the Radian Ramjet as his favorites from the year.

The GOA team featured in this episode includes Tiffany and Ben, both part of Gun Owners of America's media operation. Tiffany is GOA's videographer, who started filming the Minuteman Moment in 2021 and now hosts her own show, One in the Chamber; she also does set design and script coaching. Ben hosts the Minuteman Moment and is a federal affairs lobbyist who started as an intern in GOA's Federal Affairs Department before moving up to a full-time role. They join hosts Kaylee and John for the episode.