Episode Details

Shawn Herrin from We Like Shooting joins State of the Second hosts John and Kaylee for a wide-ranging conversation that opens with old friendship stories and turns into a serious look at how gun rights are won and lost. Shawn lives in Colorado Springs and walks through how a state most people still picture as frontier and cowboy country has swung anti-gun over the last decade. He points to gerrymandering and redistricting around Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins, people moving in from California and bringing their politics, and a quieter problem: most gun owners do not even realize what passed. He shares living with Colorado's magazine restrictions since July 1, 2013, sitting 13 hours to speak for 60 seconds against an assault weapons ban, and the long, costly climb of fighting through the courts after a loss.

Shawn tells the story of how We Like Shooting started by accident about 11 years ago. He was a software engineer who built a website to post pictures of his guns with his buddy Aaron, then recruited co-hosts off Reddit by looking for people with strong opinions. The show became the number one downloaded program on the Firearms Radio Network, and when owner Jake had had enough of running it, Shawn bought the network mostly because he did not want anyone bossing him around. He talks about being deplatformed across YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon, including a YouTube rule against touching a gun on a live stream, and the move to Rumble that took the show from dozens of YouTube viewers to tens of thousands. He also explains why podcasting works for advertisers: people listen alone, with earbuds in, at the gym or in the car, and that intimacy makes the recommendations stick.

The back half is the soapbox segment on gun owner and hunter apathy, recorded before the election. Shawn argues that people who do not vote should not complain later, and shares messages from listeners who voted after he called them out. John ties it to the slippery slope: when they came for bump stocks, hunters sat it out, and now out-of-state activists are pushing a Colorado proposition to ban mountain lion hunting. Both land on the same point. If it shoots a projectile, fight for it. John connects it to GOA's no-compromise philosophy, the 27 words of the Second Amendment, Second Amendment sanctuary ordinances spreading after Virginia's Lobby Day, and constitutional carry now covering over half the country. Shawn closes with his motto: choose dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.

Links

• firearmsradio.net

Questions this episode answers

Why has Colorado, a traditionally pro-gun state, swung anti-gun over the last decade?

Shawn Herrin points to gerrymandering and redistricting around Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins, along with people moving in from California and bringing their politics. He adds that most gun owners do not even realize what laws have passed.

How did the We Like Shooting podcast get started, and how did the co-hosts find each other?

Shawn Herrin started We Like Shooting about 11 years ago as a software engineer who built a website to post pictures of his guns with his friend Aaron. He then recruited co-hosts off Reddit by looking for people with strong opinions.

Why did Shawn Herrin buy the Firearms Radio Network from its previous owner?

After We Like Shooting became the number one downloaded program on the Firearms Radio Network, its owner Jake had had enough of running it. Shawn bought the network mostly because he did not want anyone bossing him around.

What happened when We Like Shooting got deplatformed from YouTube, and why did they move to Rumble?

We Like Shooting was deplatformed across YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon, including a YouTube rule against touching a gun on a live stream. The move to Rumble took the show from dozens of YouT