When I first got interested in guns and gun culture, I tried to learn as much as possible, as fast as possible. Looking for podcasts about guns, I came across a few that I liked right away for their substance-to-time value. These included Michael Bane’s Down Range Radio, Bob Mayne’s Handgun World Podcast, and the podcast version of Tom Gresham’s GunTalk radio program.
The GunTalk podcast is the entirety of Gresham’s 3 hour Sunday radio broadcast, plus a recently added “after show” segment. Busy-ness has made me fall away from listening to GunTalk regularly. So I’m thankful that John Richardson of the No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money blog and The Polite Society Podcast (who I met through the blog-o-sphere) mentioned that GunTalk had its celebratory 20th anniversary broadcast recently (on March 22nd).
The podcast is available through a variety of channels including iTunes and Stitcher, as well as through YouTube or directly from the GunTalk website.
The show had as guests a who’s who of contemporary gun culture, many of whom have appeared also in this blog, as the links below indicate. With Gresham, these guests reflected on how the world of guns has changed from 1995 to today:
- NRA culture warrior Ted Nugent and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre
- Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation and Gene Hoffman of the Calguns Foundation
- Larry Keane of the National Shooting Sports Foundation
- Kent Thomas of Crimson Trace
- Rob Leatham a long-time, world-class competition shooter
- And a few individuals with media expertise: Jim Shepherd of the Shooting Wire and Tactical Wire, radio consultant Holland Cooke, and Doug Painter, who was influential in getting shooting sports on TV in the early days.
I have only been involved in gun culture for 4 years, and it is interesting to see what things I take for granted now that did not exist then. Like the Heller and McDonald decisions. And shall-issue or permitless concealed carry in over 80 percent of the American states. And 9mm pistols that can fit in your pants pocket. And Rob Leatham’s celebrity as a professional shooter.
Hanging out with champion shooter Rob Leatham
It’s also interesting to hear about things that existed then that do not exist now. Like the 1994 “assault weapon” ban and lawsuits that threatened to destroy the gun industry as a whole.
The anniversary show was ostensibly a celebration of Gresham’s 20 years of radio broadcasting, but it was even more so a celebration of the winning streak that pro-gun rights activists have been on for the past 20 years.
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