Episode Details

Ari from Primary Weapon Systems and Lone Wolf joins State of the Second for a wide-ranging conversation about the human side of the firearms industry. Ari opens with a backstory he says he was once too ashamed to share. He dropped out of high school at 16 to help his family after his stepfather left and his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. He ran the family business importing goods from the Philippines, including garden gnomes and incense, sold around downtown Seattle, and built an early website on GeoCities. He rebounded and sold that business, then spent 11 years in technology and telecommunications, finishing as a senior business development manager who led teams of engineers building databases.

His path into firearms started with shooting sports. A fishing friend introduced him to IDPA, he fell in love with it, won a state championship in his first year, became a club president and safety officer, and sat on a council board representing the shooting sports. He left a nearly six-figure tech salary to take a $10-an-hour job at Rainier Arms under owner John Huang, starting by cleaning toilets and answering customer emails at midnight. Over 12 to 13 years he became the company's buyer, worked with more than 400 brands, and built a reputation for cross promotion and for finding small up-and-coming companies in the dungeon, or basement, of SHOT Show. He helped launch TriggerCon, which grew from a parking-lot grand opening to a full convention, added a VIP party, and partnered with the PTSD Foundation. After a stint as director of strategy at Aero Precision and a layoff that came a few weeks after losing his mother, he was hired by Nate Treadaway to run marketing for Primary Weapons and Lone Wolf.

The back half of the episode turns to humanizing gun owners. Ari talks about taking gymnastics parents and coaches to the range, teaching their kids proper mechanics with a suppressed .22, and proving to the City of Bellevue that firearms consumers are doctors, lawyers, fathers and mothers, not the caricature the media paints. He and the hosts agree that activism starts at home, that real change comes from educating the people around you rather than waiting for someone online to change minds, and that competition and innovation keep firearms accessible to first-time buyers. Ari also lays out the structural challenges of running a firearms business, from payment processors that drop you and banks that won't lend, to social media algorithms that bury your content, and why events and community have become the way the industry reaches its customers.

Links

• www.primaryweapons.com

Questions this episode answers

How did Ari get his start in business before entering the firearms industry?

At 16 he dropped out of high school to run his family's import business after his stepfather left and his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, bringing in goods like garden gnomes and incense from the Philippines. He later sold it and spent 11 years in technology and telecommunications.

Why did Ari leave a nearly six-figure tech career to take a $10-an-hour job at Rainier Arms?

He had fallen in love with the shooting sports through IDPA and followed that passion into the industry, starting at the bottom under Rainier Arms owner John Huang by cleaning toilets and answering emails at midnight. Over 12 to 13 years he became the company's buyer and worked with more than 400 brands.

How did TriggerCon begin, and how did it grow from a parking lot into a convention?

Ari helped launch TriggerCon at Rainier Arms, where it started as a parking-lot grand opening and grew into a full convention. It later added a VIP party and partnered with the PTSD Foundation.

What makes starting and marketing a firearms business harder than other businesses?

Firearms com