Have you ever wondered what it’s like to swap the bright lights of North Jersey for the serene calm of North Carolina? Buckle up as we travel with our special guest, Bill from Fully Loaded Fence, on his intriguing journey over a glass of our favorite, Woodford Reserve Double-Oaked. As we traverse from one whiskey spot to another, we'll uncover why North Carolina has a unique charm that attracted Bill and us alike.
Things soon get a bit more serious as we navigate the often-underestimated realm of firearm training, safety, and awareness. We share insights into the significance of constantly refining your skills, navigating the delicate task of educating children about firearms, and the fundamental role of safety measures. Let’s join forces to demystify the four basic rules of firearm safety and weigh in on the potential aftermath of introducing firearms to children.
As we wrap up, we walk through the crucial steps to take after a self-defense discharge and the necessity of legal protection. We spare no detail as we break down the need for preparedness, the average attack distance and time, and the strategies to employ when faced with danger. We end on a high note - discussing the aspiration of Fully Loaded Defense to be the largest firearm academy on the East Coast of North Carolina, and how they aim to train people, not just issue certificates. So, join us for this enlightening episode, and let's shake up the conversation on firearms, safety, and self-defense.
Thank you all for listening to this week's podcast! If you enjoy listening please consider rating, following, and reviewing the show.
Want to support the show further? Consider subscribing to the show, HERE
How to find us:
Whiskey & Wisdom: @whiskey.and.wisdom
Chris Kellum: @ctkellum
LinkedIn: Christopher Kellum
Tyler Yaw: @tyler_yaw_
LinkedIn: Tyler Yaw
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to swap the bright lights of North Jersey for the serene calm of North Carolina? Buckle up as we travel with our special guest, Bill from Fully Loaded Fence, on his intriguing journey over a glass of our favorite, Woodford Reserve Double-Oaked. As we traverse from one whiskey spot to another, we'll uncover why North Carolina has a unique charm that attracted Bill and us alike.
Things soon get a bit more serious as we navigate the often-underestimated realm of firearm training, safety, and awareness. We share insights into the significance of constantly refining your skills, navigating the delicate task of educating children about firearms, and the fundamental role of safety measures. Let’s join forces to demystify the four basic rules of firearm safety and weigh in on the potential aftermath of introducing firearms to children.
As we wrap up, we walk through the crucial steps to take after a self-defense discharge and the necessity of legal protection. We spare no detail as we break down the need for preparedness, the average attack distance and time, and the strategies to employ when faced with danger. We end on a high note - discussing the aspiration of Fully Loaded Defense to be the largest firearm academy on the East Coast of North Carolina, and how they aim to train people, not just issue certificates. So, join us for this enlightening episode, and let's shake up the conversation on firearms, safety, and self-defense.
Thank you all for listening to this week's podcast! If you enjoy listening please consider rating, following, and reviewing the show.
Want to support the show further? Consider subscribing to the show, HERE
How to find us:
Whiskey & Wisdom: @whiskey.and.wisdom
Chris Kellum: @ctkellum
LinkedIn: Christopher Kellum
Tyler Yaw: @tyler_yaw_
LinkedIn: Tyler Yaw
Welcome back to the whiskey and wisdom podcast everyone. This is your co-host, tyler y'all and Chris Kellum, and today our special guest is bill with fully loaded the fence. Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on, bill, and a little bit of me that, before we get into too much of your story, we're gonna have Chris talk about the whiskey we're sipping on today, so we brought back a classic. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:We got the woodford reserve double-oaked. Yeah, one of my favorites.
Speaker 1:It's definitely on my top five list as well top three.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so pretty much what they do is they make a, make the whole batch and then they drain it out and then they put it back into a fresh barrel and that's how you get the double-oaked name. So anytime you see something that's like double-oaked, that's what they're doing is so that way it'll infuse more of the flavor, because after so much time sitting in a barrel, that flavor kind of goes away. This abates. Well, it doesn't go away, but you don't get that fullness, mm-hmm, after so much time sitting in there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sounds about right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the last time we had this, we had HP on yeah, that's my one too. So so long ago.
Speaker 1:I know it's thinking back of like when we had other whiskies before. It's like it feels like forever ago and some of them were like two weeks ago.
Speaker 3:But it's so smooth, like, just in general, I'm like mmm and this is why this is the one that typically sits at my house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it has such a good full body flavor to it as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah, how do you like it?
Speaker 2:I, I love it. I'm a bullet.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a little bit spicier.
Speaker 2:Fantastic. And then a favorite is a basil Hayden.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah the classic classic.
Speaker 3:Very good smooth.
Speaker 1:Over at. Have you been over to rounds and Mayfair yet?
Speaker 2:No, but I saw it the other day. I was like I gotta go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they have a good selection over there. They have a bunch of the different basil Hayden's over there. They have the toast they have a Added, a new one recently. Yeah, there's like a wine cast one over there. Yeah, that's the new one that I saw, and there was another one they had at one point, but I'm not sure if they still have it. But that's typically where I've been trying on my basil Hayden's at.
Speaker 3:See, he tries this stuff at rounds and I it's like one way or the other. He'll either go to rounds and like catch up and out. Anytime I'm at rounds I'm like, oh hey, what's up? And I don't drink cuz I'm going back to work. So I try all my stuff at Starling. So it's I.
Speaker 2:Try all my stuff at home In a camp with a campfire Out in the country. George straight huh See.
Speaker 3:I just don't want to like the bottles. I see I'm like, oh, that looks nice, but do I want to spend a hundred and sixty dollars or ninety dollars on a bottle? I'm like not gonna finish.
Speaker 2:That's why I tried at the boat. I mean it's not too expensive, it's like sixty five dollars a bottle. But ABC they only get like five in every two months. It's called Blanton's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I always want to, I want to, I want to call.
Speaker 2:I well the one in Rocky point. She's got my number she's like when I get it in, I'll shoot you a text.
Speaker 1:Oh sick, but I like the horses.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because if you collect it looks like a yeah horse race. I think there's what like.
Speaker 1:I think there's seven, right yeah?
Speaker 3:seven or eight of them spells Blanton's. Yeah, so there's eight, eight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like.
Speaker 3:Sesame.
Speaker 2:Street.
Speaker 3:Well, I did it and I was like wait, I can't see through the microphone.
Speaker 1:So nothing about whiskey, and I know you mentioned that you live out in the country now, but that is not where you came from no, sir, originally from New Jersey. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the armpit in the nation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sorry.
Speaker 3:So I'm not that stupid of a southerner. What part of Jersey are you from? North Jersey, okay.
Speaker 2:It's a little different. More than a little well, put it this way, new Jersey is split up between two sections. Mm-hmm. You have North Jersey, you have South Jersey. They might as well be two different countries in a whole, or even just two different states. I'm right. The, the lingo, the accents, the food. Yes, is two completely different places. And so I grew up in North Jersey my whole life. I was only about 15 minutes from New York City, so I get to see. You know everywhere I went. You drive down a street. You see the New York skyline right. So after about, I want to say about 15 years of doing that, completely sick of it, yeah. I see all these people. New York City is the greatest place in the world. It's, it's the greatest city ever, you know. You see, all these tourists are just coming here and just like. Looking up at skyscrapers. I'm like all I see. All I see is traffic and garbage. Get me out of here. I was like I don't want this. So then we, back in 2000 and About a year and a half ago, we decided to make the move down to beautiful North Carolina. And the biggest regret I have moving here should have did this 10 years ago right. Yeah, I love it down here. I think it's the greatest place on earth.
Speaker 1:So how'd you find willing to North Carolina out of all places?
Speaker 2:So my full-time job that. I have is outside of the firearms. You know, industry is. I work for a staffing firm okay on target staffing and we were looking at different places. We originally went to Texas. We made the mistake. We went to Texas, in Austin, in July. Yeah, it was 116 in the shade, you know, as we were drinking beers, they were just coming out of our pores, it wasn't even like refreshing. We were dying of heat exhaustion. And then my job said, hey, listen, I know you're looking to move. Have you ever thought of North Carolina? And I was just like no, I haven't. But my sister lives here. She lives about like 45 minutes away in Richlands, oh yeah, and so she's been down here like 13, 14 years, always loves. It tells me all about it. All the time I came to visit her came back, we scoped out Wilmington because that's where the office is, even though I work from home. Yeah and Fell in love with it, just said you know I got the beach. And then surrounding Wilmington is the country you know, five hours from here's the mountains. You know, top three beaches in the United on the East Coast is Right here in North Carolina. You know my fiance, jamie. She loves the beach, everything about it. I love the country and and I was getting real tired of the cold yeah, it gets real cold. Oh no, it's a different thing. And you know my fiance, she's funny. She says oh my god, I miss the snow all the time. Yeah, well, you weren't the one shoveling, yeah.
Speaker 3:I was the one out there.
Speaker 2:Snow shoveling it with my snow Joe, cleaning everything off, and I moved here. The movers saw my snow shovel and they're like what are you doing with that?
Speaker 1:You're giving that away.
Speaker 2:Well, they're just like. I was like I don't know. They're like oh well, you're living in Rocky Point. That's your fly swatter now, because the bugs out in Rocky Point are dinosaurs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you look.
Speaker 2:Oh, my god, you have no idea between those and the frogs, yeah, inundated. When you go in my house at nine o'clock in night there's hundreds of frogs, kate on the walls.
Speaker 3:That's everywhere. Yeah, I've lived in Rocky Point for six or seven years and I loved it because it is. I was in high school, didn't deal with people that much and I was like, all right, live out here, do our thing. The problem was anytime I had to walk my dog. She needed to go out at dusk and and or in dead middle of the day. So I'm like I hate you because summertime hits. And it was just the yellow flies were out and just ate me up and then they had like the biggest spy or Ants I'd ever seen in my life, yes, and I'm like, why are these things as big as my fingernail? And then I'd step on it to just keep going and I'd come back and it's still following me. I'm like, no, no, no, no. So I moved back quote-unquote into town Because I didn't want to deal with more bugs.
Speaker 1:Don't blame you. So when did you get started with fully loaded?
Speaker 2:So when I came down here, the first thing I did before I even got a hard copy of my license- Mm-hmm. I got my concealed carry. Yeah, and it was a funny story is that I called the sheriff's department before I came down here and I said what do I have all these guns? I said, well, what do I do? Yeah, and he was like just bring them. I said, no, no, I know I'm gonna, I get it, I'm bringing them. He's like, no, just bring them. I said, no, I get it. Like, do I bring them to you, do I register them? He's like, no, you just bring the guns in your car, put them in your house and you don't have to do nothing else. I was like, oh, okay. So I was like that's cool. And I was like, finally a free a free state right. Because in New Jersey you have guns and they sit in your closet. Mm-hmm. Can't do nothing with them. You can't. You can't go anywhere besides an indoor range and shoot them right. So I got my concealed carry and I was actually with the instructor that got me my certification and he, you know, we got friendly and we went to the range a couple times. He said, hey, listen, like I'm really trying to build out this business. Mm-hmm. And I think you'll be great. Like you, you have the passion for you think you should be great. So I went and got the certifications after one or two classes. The partnership just didn't work out. Yeah, I was more about business and growing and expanding and he was just a little bit more conservative and and that's great. But I appreciate it because I never knew I could even be a firearms instructor. Yeah. I never. That was never a plan. I was taking my real estate exam. You know I was going to sell homes and now and Then yeah, about a year ago got the certification, started it up and then I went out on my own, started fully loaded the fence, and ever since then it's just been a blessing and it took off and Now I hold about just over 60% of the business here in Wilmington. Wow and doing classes every other weekend. We already serviced over a hundred and fifty students. We partnered with some of the biggest gun rangers and gun shops here in Wilmington. We are, you know, we're just building out this network More and more and we're expanding to Leland Castle, hain, pender County, now Jacksonville and yeah, that's where we're at. It's just, it's just been, it's been so. It's been a journey. I have to say that it's just a blessing that we were able to go from you know nothing, having absolutely nothing. Now we're holding classes of 20 to 25 people every other week and now we're partnered up with, you know, mostly every shop here in Wilmington.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's crazy. So how'd you get, how do you get growing so fast?
Speaker 2:so I'm a salesman at heart. Yeah, and even meeting you it was taking your shot. So everywhere I go, everything I do, first walking in the door, first thing I asked you was hey, how you doing you have your concealed carry. Yeah and that's what it is. I just go in and I just, you know, I just present myself and I take my shot. Everywhere I go, I, every single person I meet, it's it's a networking opportunity right. So I don't let anybody cross my path that I don't talk to and find out. Okay, who are you, what do you do and what can we do together? Right, so that's the approach I took, and I knew that if I wanted to be the biggest firearms consulting company in an academy here in Wilmington, I have to hit the main places first. Yeah, so I went out and I went to every owner. I went to every gun range. I hung outside in parking lots like a creep and I would, you know, chasing people down. You know we go to me and her would print out flyers old-school style. Yeah and hitting the street, you know, shower cars with flyers, go to all these festivals, meet people and, just you know, made the right partnerships and again it exploded into something that I Never even imagined so far, and it's just getting bigger and bigger and bigger and more and more partnerships are coming. Oh yeah, so I just gonna keep, as long as I stay me, yeah, and I keep, you know, continuing the conversations and chase. Then I think we'll be all right.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. So my question when you I Feel like this might be silly what kind of like courses or things that you have to do to become a firearms instructor, and then what are you doing to maintain it?
Speaker 2:So I had to take a course with the Department of Justice. Okay, it's, it's about a five-hour course over in Salemburg. So we go there. They teach you basically what you can and cannot do as an instructor and the laws on how to you know, process your paperwork, you know what you do with your certificates. And then I got certified by the USCC I there, an organization that has firearms insurance, and they're the only ones out there that offer training on top of Insurance. People don't think that when you have a firearm you need insurance, but there's legal, and just because you don't get convicted, you can get sued and they cover all Incidentals criminal and civil fees. And then they offer, when you're a member, they offer a ton of training on top of that video and live training. So I got certified through the USCC a and they and then they made me a partner. So now, well, I'm actually in line to be an account executive for the USCC a, going out to different classes and pitching the memberships to newly certified Permittees cool. What I need to do to keep my certificate I need to take I need to be recertified every year with the USCC a. So there's other organizations that do this, but they don't require you to be recertified every year. The laws are changing, not if not every week, sometimes even every day. I mean, you see what the ATF is doing, right, you know? People don't know what's going on. You can't have a pistol brace. You can have a pistol brace. This is illegal. That's not illegal. So they make you get recertified every year. Go, I take a 16-hour course. I have to do a live shooting qualifier and then in my instructor portal that I have on Online, I have to take continuous online courses and there's always three every quarter. There's three levels of qualifications that I have to re qualify. So it's about, it's about 40 hours of qualifying Online courses that I have to maintain. Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I ask that because people always Not always, but in my line of work I assume that, like people, if you know your stuff, you're always trying to get better, and I'd much rather go and ask questions and learn from someone who's trying to better themselves. Then they just be like oh hey, like that person has a cert, let me do like the quick little thing, but they're not like the top tier. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, speaking in the top tier, somebody I train with his name is Tony Cowden. Yeah and I'm sure, you got so you guys know he's the owner of capable ink and Listen. They're like the 92 dream team.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you want to train with the best, go to capable, link, calm, and I don't care if it's a plug or not. Yeah, go to these guys and you'll know you'll walk out of there a higher caliber person. Yeah, and that's who I train with. I go, I'm a member at their range, I'm an intern with them, I have partnerships with them. Tony, dustin and Marcy, the instructors there, they are phenomenal, they are a force to be reckoned with. But those are the types of people that you train with. And I tell people at a time getting your concealed carry, that's just, that's just a piece of paper saying you could, you could carry a gun, right, that's not. That's not even the first step into training. The first step is in. People think like, oh well, for the gram, you know, I'm gonna go to an indoor range and I'm gonna put a target out five, ten yards away and I'm gonna unleash a hundred rounds and I'm gonna put it. You know a hole in it Smaller, smaller than a pancake, and I'm the greatest. Well, no, that's target practice. That's not training, right, and there's difference between. There's difference in training as well. There's development, and then there's maintenance, right, no matter If you ever tell yourself that you're out of a maintenance period. You shouldn't hold the gun right. You're should always be fine tuning these, these attributes that you have as a shooter you could always be faster, you can always be more accurate, you could always be more confident Mm-hmm, you could always do more in this training. That's my mentality. So I constantly get recertified and other things recently just certified in children and firearm fundamentals teaching kids how to handle firearms and I went to an NRA banquet that I was invited to and Mr Ray Campbell the the head of the chair for the NRA. Here he he started a program called take kids shooting. So all these instructors get together and we put our time in to take kids shooting right. And try and help them out, and you know we want to. It's important that these families and people that have guns in the household they need to Introduce the firearm To their children immediately. So when you were little, you knew not. You knew not to talk to strangers. You knew to look left and right when Carson Street, not to touch the boiling water or run with scissors or stick the screwdriver in a socket. Yeah, you know, I think some of us, but we knew so. There's no different with a firearm the people that shield their kids from the firearm and and Distilled fear in them. That brings you right back to those commercials in the 90s. It's like oh hey, jimmy, you know, look at my dad's gun. Boom, don't play with firearms, you know. But if you introduce them early, it it's subdues the curiosity of the child, because when kids are curious they will find out, they will do anything. Especially when you say no, no, don't do that, it's bad. They're like, uh, I'm gonna check it out. You know, I'm gonna check it out. But so we do stuff like that and there are so many different levels of Different certifications that I don't even know if I have enough time in the lifetime To actually be certified in everything. You have AR platforms. You have inside the home defense, outside the home defense you have basic pistol, intermediate pistol, advanced pistol. You have school shooting, mass shooting, church shooting, real estate, mini classes, how to push a stroller and carry a firearm, stop the bleed courses. So there are so many that you can go through and just keep evolving, evolving, evolving. It just depends on where do you want to stop and do you want to limit yourself of what you want to know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and something I know that's really big for you, and then Tony as well, is just safety with firearms and making sure that's. That's the groundwork for it as well. Can you touch on that a little bit more too?
Speaker 2:So pretty much there's four rules in safety Treat every gun as if they are loaded Right. Always keep your finger off the trigger until you make the decision to fire, point the muzzle in a safe direction at all times and know your target and what's beyond it. Yeah, as long as you have those four principles, anytime you handle a firearm, you shouldn't have any accidents. Right, and knowing your target and what's beyond it is very important, especially when you're in a concealed manner. People just think that fight between you is here, it's face to face in there, but once you draw a weapon, you're already escalating the situation. Bullets pass through people and bullets pass through car doors. So when you see in Hollywood where they're getting shot out by AK47s behind a car door, that's not realistic. Right, you need to know exactly what's beyond you, because if you're putting something that travels, you know 12, 14, 1500 per feet per second. You know that eight feet that's going to go through you and keep traveling. So you really need to know those principles, especially and it applies anytime you touch a firearm. And that's what we pride ourselves on and that's why, outside of Conceal Carry, I've developed partnerships and contracts in the recent days that myself and Tony Cowden, are really pushing for these shops and instructors to really start promoting these basic pistol courses. Now I don't care if they even come to me. The point is is that if you're going to get a firearm, go train, because the firearm is completely useless unless you know how to do it. Like when we're teenagers and we're kids, we see our parents driving a car all the time, right, yep, but same thing with a firearm. You've seen movies, you've seen people shoot, but once you get behind the wheel of that car, do you really know what you're doing? You know how many times you see people slamming on the brake or you know they're flipping the blinker instead of you know putting in drive on the old school cars. Same thing with a firearm. I mean, you got to realize in a high adrenaline situation you have to not only pull the gun out with proper grip, make sure your fingers off the trigger so you're not shooting yourself. Do you have one in the chamber? Does my gun have a safety? And then, do I even have the right at this point in time to fire my weapon? Right, a lot of people don't understand the law. They just think that you know there's signs out in North Carolina that say trespassers will be shot. Well, I'm sorry to tell all of you, you just incriminate it yourself because that is against the law. Yeah, you can't shoot a trespasser unless they cross the threshold of your home. You know you could only use deadly force when protecting life, not property.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, those are a lot of things that people don't realize and understand, and one of my favorite things like if you're scrolling on Twitter or X, now, I guess so you can tell who the real firearm experts and like enthusiasts are, because if there's ever someone that posts a picture of them, like trying to get cloud or whatever, like holding a gun, usually if you're doing that you have your finger on the trigger because you don't know any better. But all of the actual people that know anything about a firearm are jumping all over that. They're like what are you doing? And so like I think that proves to the point that you're talking about kids too is like it's just so ingrained in you, like you need to start early and often teaching about how to hold a firearm, knowing the safety mechanisms of it, and there shouldn't be any accidents when you do all the right things.
Speaker 2:Well, when you look at it as kids, you have to see what they're. I mean, you look at cartoons. Cartoons have guns now you look at call of duty, you look at all these action movies, marvel movies. People are holding guns and they're like that's what I want to do. Halloween costumes come with guns and then every time you get one of those fake guns, as a kid all you did was smash that trigger constantly. I mean even think at the old drug stores back in the day they used to sell cap guns. Yep, you know. So you're introduced to firearms, whether you like it or not, as a child, but especially when you live in a state like North Carolina, texas, tennessee any one of those states are Florida there are more, there's more, there's opportunity for more guns to be in the home and around the child, where I think parents forget that. Oh well, you know. This is something that they have to learn about, because not only subconsciously, they're growing up around the firearm. Now, whether they touch it or not, great fine if they don't touch it, you know, I respect that. But when they get 16, 17, and they say, oh well, you know, I've been around firearms the whole life and they never hurt nobody, and then it's that one time you know where. You know you get that we're something as a teenager, especially a boy, when we get teenage, we think we're invincible and we think we're Superman, and then you get a gun and that's when the accident has happened. So to anybody out there, you, if you have a child, don't be afraid, introduce your, your kids to firearms. You don't have to have them shoot. But I think it's important that you let them know what they can do and how to handle them properly, because that's how you prevent the accidents.
Speaker 1:Right, that was one thing like even when I was growing up to, we didn't have a lot of guns in the house, but there was like there was a shotgun and my parents like locked back of their closet. And then there was another handgun and was also locked up. So the odds of me getting to it were very slim. But even still, like when I got to that age where, like my dad knew that he could possibly find one of these one day, or whatever, or even outside of more importantly, outside of the house like oh hey, my dad has these things locked up, like your dad doesn't. He was like I want you to know what these do, how the like, what they're capable of, how to hold it and use it and understand it safely, and everything too. And that was when I was like six and I still remember that conversation and what we went through, and how to hold a gun and not to put your finger on the trigger and make sure that muzzle is pointed away from people, and all of that too. So just the point that you can do that and it does work, just to whatever you're scared of you tend to make mistakes with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And I tell everybody panic is is the secret to death. Fear is good for you Feed to this to have fear, that's okay. But parents, they panic a lot, especially when it comes to their kid. Maybe with the first born, the second born. It's like yeah, you know, but no but seriously, like when you panic, that's when it happens. So if there is an accident, what are kids first instinct to do? Instinct is panic. Yeah. And that's when more and more accidents happen. So it's okay to educate them, it's okay for them to be a little scared. It is something to be scared of Because it you know you can't take back any, any bullet that is shot out of that gun. There's no tasty vaccines. You can't do it. But to have to have people panic around that and say oh my God, absolutely not, and like, have that, you know, adrenaline through them, like oh my God, oh my God, that's, it's a recipe for disaster, yep.
Speaker 3:I learned that the hard way. At basic training, half, probably 70%, of us had never manipulated a weapon whatsoever, and so people were like walking around pointing the gun in the wrong spot. And even in basic they spend weeks before they hand you live ammo. Okay, here's how you take it apart, here's how you use it, here's practicing, making sure you get your aim right. And I'm like See, that makes plenty of sense. So I'm comfortable, but I'm still still fearful when I point it, Cause you know if you point it, someone might point one back at you. I'm like, but having respect for something, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And again, speaking of like having a gun pointed at you, to get into more of the, the real life scenario of having a firearm carrying and somebody pointing at it, do you know the approximate distance? The average attack happens between two people, six feet, eight feet, so you're close. And do you know how long the average attack lasts from beginning of attack to end with the firearm?
Speaker 1:Two seconds three seconds.
Speaker 2:So this is where it comes into play that you have to have, when you carry a firearm and anybody you have to have that situational awareness, and that's what I teach in my classes. I teach avoidance and situational awareness. Now, what's the number one gunfight that you're guaranteed to win? When you're not in you must, you must have been, you must have attended one of the classes this guy's doing research over here, you know.
Speaker 1:I have my concealed carry so I've gone through a lot of the classes and like heard a lot of the terms and stuff like that. But yeah, all right, so I just packed this up, I go. No, you know a lot more than I do, I just know the quick terms.
Speaker 2:So basically, it's the one you're not in. But you know, one of the biggest things that we have on our person at any given time is a cell phone and that keeps you within a three inch bubble. You should really have a six foot bubble around you with your head on a swivel to prevent that. So an average human could cover, you know, 10 yards in a couple of seconds and between anything less than 30 seconds. You that's not. That's not escape or avoid completely, that's defend yourself. So that's where it comes to, like you said, having a gun pointed at you. I rather not no you know I rather not. You know, nobody woke up in the morning carrying a gun. Say you know what, today's the day I hope somebody attacks me, right, yeah, no, because a lot of people, you know you get your concealed carry. You go through the training. You're shooting targets. You're hitting steel, you're shooting paper. Great, we don't train shooting people. We don't train shooting people. Right, you know, can you actually live with that? You know people in the military. That's why they have PTSD. It's because they're seeing another human life being taken. That's where the real trauma is. We're not, we were never developed to be that way. It's just a society as a whole. Now that it's so accepted because the news articles always put the dramatic, deathly and horrifying things on TV. They don't put the you know the hero on TV ever, unless it's you know somebody that's under 18. That saved the kid from well and lassie came running and barking and it was just like perfect situation, but so that's what they put on TV and that's. Are you ready to live with that? And it's not always the same thing, and I told you before you know you may be convicted, you may not be convicted, you may be justified and you saved yourself. But you also can be sued. Now you have to go through a legal system because anytime, even if you're right or wrong in the firearm world society, it's, you know, in real life, it's innocent until proven guilty. As soon as you discharge that firearm in an, even in a self-defense situation, you're guilty until you're proven innocent and you're going to get locked up. You're going to go through the system, you're going to spend time in jail, and I think it's important that people know you know what to do not only during the event of the attack and how to defend yourself. I think that's a training, but you have to be smart enough and quick enough to know what to do after, and that is one thing that is a huge section in my class and with I've seen a lot of other instructors starting to adopt that. You need to know what to do when the cops show up, and I teach a mini class with that. So to touch on that a little more, is that when you're a USCCA member, specifically, they give you a USCCA membership card. On the back of the card it tells you what to say verbatim to the cops when you're on the phone. Say, hey, you're going to give minimum detail when the cops show up here, host your weapon, keep your hands up at all times.
Speaker 3:You don't you know.
Speaker 2:you let them know the detail. Listen, I had to use self defense. Please see, please send EMS and police. I had to use self defense and I'm wearing X, Y and Z, my name is so, and so when the cops show up, so they know, you're the one that had the gun but, not the point of gun at you. You're going to answer all their questions, but you're going to tell the cops, respectfully, I will answer all your questions, but I would like to and cooperate, but I would only like to do so in presence of my attorney, Right, Just because you think that you're completely in the right and you were justified, even if somebody kicked down your front door, came in with the gun and you shoot, it's not up to the cops to determine whether you're innocent or not. That's up to your peers, because you're going to go to court. You're going to go through the system, no matter what. Also, another thing is is that when you discharge a weapon I don't know if you ever have have you ever discharged a weapon without your pro on?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, lovely it's the most satisfying noise on the face of the earth, no it absolutely sucks.
Speaker 1:It's horrible.
Speaker 2:It's deafening and especially when you're, adrenaline is through the roof. Anxiety is pouring through your body, your hands are shaking and once that adrenaline dies down now it's just anxiety. It's an anxiety roller coaster at that point. So, with that being said, they're going to ask you are you hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital? This isn't time to be macho. This isn't time to be a hero. You just got concussed by a gunshot, maybe even multiple gunshot sounds. You just experienced something traumatic. You go to the hospital. Do we know why we go to the hospital?
Speaker 1:Multiple reasons, I guess, but one of them is you don't know what could have happened to you too, because the adrenaline's going.
Speaker 2:That's one. But the main thing is is that if you know you're not hurt, the cops cannot question you under medical attention. So that gives you time to get back in your body, understand what happened, because you have like 46% of like delusion that you don't even recall part of the event you have. This is this association of sound. You know things that you may have felt were five minutes long, but really only 30 seconds. So your story better be straight. You just took somebody's life, whether you were in the right or wrong. Your story better add up could, because, no matter where you are, I would say there's a lot of people out here that now have security systems. And what do security systems come with? Cameras. You're on your big brothers watching you, so that camera is not going to lie, but that's going to be evidence and then everything you say is going to be used against you in the court of law. So you need time. So go to the hospital, listen. They pay the bill, because when the cops call the, when the cops call the ambulance and send you to the hospital, guess who funds the bill? The county. Your insurance doesn't get a bill, nothing, they take care of it because it's all part of the investigation. So it's important to really know what to do after the police show up, because I could tell you story after story after story where people left out a minor detail and they didn't get to go home in a couple of days. They spent five months in jail. And there's a. There's a story that you know comes from the USCCA. There's a guy named Brian I'm going to shorten this, but I'm going to really get to the point is that Brian, brian's ex-girlfriend, was getting beat by her current boyfriend, let her trailer on fire, she hid in the woods until he left and then she ran over to Brian's house. Okay, brian, and this is on their website as well Brian answers the door, so he does his ex-girlfriend beaten and battered and he has an eight year old daughter. So he drives back to the trailer to see if they could salvage anything in from the fire. While they're there, new boyfriend shows up kicking and screaming you know I'm going to kill you this, this and that. And then Brian's like listen, guy, we don't want to call the cops, we don't want any problems, just get out of here. He. He walks away. Brian goes in and he this guy's still making threatened remarks he goes into a center console and starts to get his phone. His daughter's in the back seat and this guy comes running after Brian with a metal pipe and Brian takes a revolver out of his center console, points at him, says stop, stop, stop. Puts a couple rounds in the new boyfriend's chest because he got a little too close with the pipe and if he hits him he doesn't know what's going to happen to his daughter. Now Brian after that Brian being ex-military as well calls 911, tells him everything, send the ambulance and then even tries to render aid to the person he just shot. Now Brian gets locked up. He thinks it's just going to be a half hour. This is a clear, cut and dry case of self-defense. So Brian gets locked up, goes to jail, doesn't think he needs an attorney, he's going to be out in a little bit. And then he realized he's not going home that night. Calls his mom up. His mom goes to the USCCA card, calls the emergency hotline. They get a lawyer to him immediately. Now, the next day, when Brian was speaking to the lawyer because they come within 24 hours the next day Brian included a detail, that he included everything he needed to do until after he talked to the police. What happened was his truck was blocking the only entrance for emergency vehicles to get in. He moved the truck a couple hundred yards away, but his story was I was in my truck. And he came now. He came running after me. Now the body is here. The truck is a couple hundred yards away. He goes well. First of all, how did you make the shot with the revolver from 200 yards out and you told me that? You know this was that. That's not a threat, that's first degree murder. So Brian didn't get to fight his case immediately from his home like anybody else. That would be justified. He fought his case five months in prison, no job. He was lined up for a job, didn't get the job. Didn't get to see his daughter, hadn't you know, after that that changes your life. I mean you look at the, you know the case of. Like Kyle Rittenhouse, he had to move out of where he was. Your life's not the same, you know. You look at George Zimmerman, even though that's a touchy subject, and you know, right or wrong doesn't matter. The point is, is that your life changes when you make a headline. The life changes when you take a life and people know about it and when that, just because you were, you were innocent, doesn't mean people can't find that. Oh, they Google your name, oh, you're the guy that shot that guy. Now it depends on you know. Are you in a two-way friendly county? Is the job that you're going for? Are they gun-friendly? Do they like people with guns Changes your life immediately. So you need to really know what to do. The training is not always and that's why I started and came up with the name fully loaded defense. It's not just having a gun, a fully loaded magazine, it's having the full round of training and the knowledge. Knowledge is the greatest power you could have. I could have 10 guns on me, but again, if I don't have knowledge and know what to do with them, then I'm not. I'm not protecting anybody, I'm not protecting myself, I'm a danger at that point. So fully loaded defense is having the knowledge, having the training and, obviously, having the guns and ammo to be out there and protecting yourself and knowing what to do before, after and during each situation.
Speaker 3:So my question to you because you're I think you wrapped up like the name of fully loaded and kind of what you've been doing so my question is what does success for you with fully loaded look like?
Speaker 2:So for me it's branching out, obviously, and I plan to be the biggest firearm academy on the East coast of North Carolina and to me it's it's really like I touched before. It's training people. Anybody could earn a certificate, you know. I mean you get ordained in 24 hours. You know what? I mean it was less than 24 hours.
Speaker 3:It actually only took me 20 minutes. Yeah, are you kidding?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're kidding or you're not kidding, no.
Speaker 3:I'm being so serious, I did it. My friend got engaged.
Speaker 2:We were sitting at dinner I Googled how to before the day came, he was just like on nomadassan.
Speaker 3:I straight up looked it up, I paid like 20 bucks. Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 2:So that's the point. Anybody could get a certificate. Anybody could do that. My goal is is I touched on it before is my success is knowing that every person that has a gun here is coming to fully loaded defense for training, either coming to me, going to a local instructor, and I'm building these partnerships now and I'm where I need to be right now in within success. I have everything I want. I have my own business, I have great partners, I have good people behind me. I mean I'm being invited to awesome podcasts. I'm where I need to be Now. I just need to again. I talked about maintenance and development. I'm always in maintenance when it comes to firearms, but now I'm in my development stage when it comes to my business, and my development is really promoting these pistol courses and getting more into the training and branching out and having multiple instructors with me, which we currently have two. Starting in September, I have a woman instructor. She's fantastic. We're gonna be doing women's only classes as well, because who do criminals prey on the most? In dark parking lots and they feel that women are the easy target. Well, I promise you, women, if you come, take a class with me and my instructors, you will no longer be the easy target. We will make you a dangerous human being. I promise you that. But that's where I'm at. I wanna promote training. I just wanna help people. I wanna connect the dots. And nobody started a concealed carry business and said, listen, I'm gonna go retire. You know what I mean? I have a full-time job, like I'm okay. This isn't about the money. For me, this is just the passion of helping people and I've always been there to help people. And this is educating people and I don't mind spending my time or money knowing that, listen, I gave somebody something that's useful, that doesn't just end in a day, in a week. It's something they carry with them for the lifetime.
Speaker 1:Something too, just to give you a shout out as well is because I know you haven't been to an all-women's class. That you've done, but I can already imagine and correct me if I'm wrong that it's more than just how to shoot a firearm and get a piece of paper. It's gonna be knowing your surroundings, know what to look for, knowing what to do before you're pulling that trigger. Did I pretty much sum that up for you?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, think about it. The concealed carry world is just recently getting developed to have clothing and holsters for women. I mean, obviously, women's clothing is a lot harder to conceal the weapon than men, unless they plan on dressing like us all the time Possible. But the thing is is that it's just now being introduced For 2023, firearms been around hundreds of years. Conceal carry has been around in North Carolina for a very long time, but it's just getting popular now and women are really starting to really take on the industry more and more. So you're absolutely right, it is they carry in their purse a lot. You have certain holsters that go in the purse. But if somebody's mugging you at an ATM, try and get your hand on the firearm and throw the purse. If somebody's mugging you, they're there for a reason. So everybody thinks that all these criminals are there to hurt people. I mean, they're not. Some people are just desperate and they just want to rob you. Fine, it's a materialistic item, it's money, it's a wallet. Everything in that purse can be replaced, regardless if it's a family heirloom or something that you have in there. It's not worth it. But you get your hand on the firearm. At least try and do that and throw the purse. Get their attention, then you could drill down on them. But at the end of the day, it's about not being in that situation. Avoidance being in the gunfight that you're guaranteed in is obviously the one you're not in. But not looking like a target anymore, not being in that three inch bubble, being in that six inch bubble, walking faster or slower, not walking right against the wall, walking three feet off the wall so you don't have any blind spots. Not parking in the darkest depths of hell in the parking garage. We're like, oh well, nobody's gonna scratch mine. Brand new BMW over there, but yeah, well, nobody can see or hear you. And then, knowing what you can do and I think it's important as well as much as I and I'll give another shout out to Port City, crop McGaw. They offer classes Tuesday and Thursday at 5.30, and your first class is free what do you? A lot of people, I have a gun, nothing's gonna happen. Well, what do you have to do with somebody's wrestling you for that gun? You have to know how to handle yourself in a fully loaded manner. That it's not just about firearms. You have to know how to handle yourself and, as a woman, the first thing people try to do is tack you from behind. Now, if somebody grabs your arms from behind, how do you get out of that and get your firearm? Whether it's in your bag, whether it's in a belly band, whether it's appendix carry, what do you do? And what do you do if they know where your firearm is? So it's important, especially for women, to really take this training seriously and really go after. Now, listen, these trainings are not cheap, it's not time-friendly. This is something that you really need to care about and really want and go excel into this, because if you just take it as, oh, I'm just gonna take a class. It's like wine and painting. We're just here. You're putting yourself in a real bad situation. So in today's age, all the tools are there. It's laid out for you. You just need the time and put the money where things are important. We see what's happening in the world. Things aren't always flowers and candy. It's different out there now. It's a different aspect for people. So I think people really need to start taking the training seriously, especially in a state where you are allowed to carry firearms openly or without a permit. And that's where I think women need to really step up, especially now that the firearm industry is really expanding with women. Some really great women are coming out of this and they are showing up a lot of men in shooting competitions. They are faster, they're stronger, they're moving, they're taking it by storm. But I think they should use that as an example, saying that to do this, you do not need to be tactical. I'm not military, I'm not law enforcement. I met up with the right people, I spent the right money, I took the right time and I developed my skills accordingly. As an average American, a salesman from New Jersey. Nobody's special, trust me, but you can be the same way and that's what I want average people to know around here is that you don't need to be tactical. Don't be intimidated. People should be intimidated by you. Don't be intimidated by other people.
Speaker 1:I love it. Well, that being said too. So my last question, since you're running out of time here today, is if you were to tell your younger self one thing, what would it?
Speaker 2:be so many things. If I had to tell myself, I would have said be more patient, be more patient and listen to the world around you. I was too busy listening to other people when I was younger. You should do this, you should do that. You'd be great at that. If I sat back and just listened to the world and what it was saying to me, I would have been in a 10 times better place. But then again it got me to where I am today. But my younger self just take your time, be a little bit more patient and then things will come to you. And that's what happened here is that things don't happen overnight. I mean, you guys built this awesome podcast. This didn't happen overnight. You know things. You know you hear saying Rome was built in seven days, the yada, yada, yada. Not listen. Good things take time, like whiskey, you know it takes good time. So be patient, take time, listen, because when you listen you find out so many more things that you never knew. When you're just constantly talking, it's just just listen to yourself and everything will be all right. You'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:I love that. I tell it to my wife all the time when you listen, I hope you like the couch, because that's gonna be when you're happy, that's yeah, yeah, it happens sometimes.
Speaker 3:So do you have anything you wanna shout out?
Speaker 2:You've got social media any, so you guys can follow me on fully loaded defense LLC at fully loaded defense LLC. Again, I want everybody to check out capable link for more training. If you do own a firearm, please check out the USCCA for their insurance. If you have any questions on it, you can reach me on my website, fully loaded defense LLCcom. And just everybody stay safe. God bless and you know, keep doing what you're doing. Wilmington, you're, you know you're. You're offering a lot and you brought a lot to me and I plan on giving it back. Awesome.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks guys.
Speaker 3:Appreciate it. So I just wanna say thank you everybody for showing up today. It was fun. It was a last minute little thing that we threw together. Yeah yeah, Thank you guys. Everybody for listening, following, showing up podcast like follow, share, subscribe and technically, none of this was legal advice, it was just advice, Correct.
Speaker 1:Also, too, always our shout out to the Sway Creations that makes us look amazing on our Instagram and social medias, and also the cargo district studios that we also have over here in the cargo district. All of their social media is run by Sway as well.
Speaker 3:Yes, they make it look really nice and put together and definitely keep an eye out for any promotions for those who want to start their own podcast. Absolutely or just record voiceovers.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Or if you're looking to limit your Instagram better too, we have a special that's out. It's $60 for one hour in the studio with video and you get three clips. That's professionally edited.
Speaker 2:What.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:And then, guys, it's all because of them, is I'm not this pretty. They made me look this way, you know.
Speaker 1:Brought the makeup kits and everything. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Thank you guys, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you so much for coming on, and this is what I noticed, too.
Speaker 3:Appreciate it Awesome, perfect, cheers.
Speaker 1:Cheers.