Episode Details

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.

Links

• palmettostatearmory.com

Questions this episode answers

How did Palmetto State Armory get started, and what was its first product?

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.

Why did Jamin McCallum leave his career as a CPA to start a gun company?

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.

How did the "you lie" lower tied to Congressman Joe Wilson change PSA's web traffic?

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.

How did PSA's barrel deal with FN and the timing of Sandy Hook launch its AR-15 line?

PSA struck a deal with FN in Columbia to take over barrel production, which left the company swimming in barrel