Episode 67
Carrying on Campus: Rights or Risks? (ft. Cheryl Todd)
This week, join John and Kailey as they sit down with Cheryl Todd, to discuss the polka-dots are my camo movement, carrying on college campuses, and apathy on all levels of government.
Transcript
Welcome to Gun Owners of America, State of the second podcast.
Kayleigh:I'm Kayleigh.
John:And I'm John.
John:And today we're joined by the wearer of many hats, a great speaker in the 2Amovement, Cheryl Todd.
John:How are you today?
Cheryl Todd:Well, thank you for that.
Cheryl Todd:And I am extra good for being here with you two.
Cheryl Todd:This is such an honor.
Cheryl Todd:Thank you for asking me.
John:Well, we appreciate you making the trip out.
John:Let's start out.
John:Tell people who you are and what you do and we'll start with that and go from there.
Cheryl Todd:Well, that could be the whole podcast because as you said, I do we lot of hats.
Cheryl Todd:I'm a wife, a mom and a grandma and that's really the core of everything I do and where it all stems from.
Cheryl Todd:I'm a business owner.
Cheryl Todd:My husband and I host a podcast called, and you have to pronounce it correctly, Gun Freedom Radio.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:I am the Arizona State Director to Women for Gun Rights.
Cheryl Todd:I'm the vice president of the azcdl, which is the legislative arm, the watchmen on the wall, the guard dogs in the legislature.
Cheryl Todd:And I'm the president of the AZCDL foundation, which is the C3, which is the Education and safety arm of the work we do there.
Cheryl Todd:I also am on the board of the Second Amendment Institute, which has the component of being on campus is my real driver there because, you know, we're arbitrarily disarmed on our college campuses for no good reason.
Cheryl Todd:And SAI is very tapped into bringing that concealed carry and just safety issue to college campuses.
John:It is a topic that I love and is near and dear to me.
John:That was my senior thesis at school, was writing about carry on campus because where I went to college it was very weird because the universities are public owned.
John:Anybody who is not at university could carry on campus.
John:But if you were a student or going to a university function, you were not allowed to carry on campus.
John:So that is something that is near and dear to me.
John:And I want all college campuses to be armed.
John:Those little blue lights don't do much.
Cheryl Todd:They don't.
Cheryl Todd:And the other side always talks about, well, college kids.
Cheryl Todd:Well, I was an adult, married, parent, business owner before I ever went to college.
Cheryl Todd:I was like 24 or something like that.
Cheryl Todd:So I was not a college kid.
Cheryl Todd:But I took night classes and you know, we were in sometimes a urban area, ASU campuses, sometimes a rural area out where I live with like Estrella Mountain Community College.
Cheryl Todd:And you know, danger can strike anywhere.
Cheryl Todd:And so to be arbitrarily disarmed and unable to Fully protect myself.
Cheryl Todd:Makes zero sense.
Cheryl Todd:So thank you for making that, you know, a push for your thesis.
Cheryl Todd:That must have been interesting with your professors.
John:Yes, my professor, I got my first.
John:Sent off my first draft.
John:I got it back and it's.
John:He was in Texas.
John:We, where I grew up.
John:We left the guns in the vestibule and went into church.
John:And I was like, that's dangerous.
Cheryl Todd:Yes.
John:Why?
John:Right there by the front door.
Cheryl Todd:Yes.
John:But I think I swayed him by the end.
John:He did.
John:I did have a couple professors call me after the fact and were like, thank you for talking about this.
John:Thank you for bringing this up.
John:I want to go to the range.
John:So it was a interesting thesis and wrote a big thing on it.
John:There was a big movement on my campus when I was there and it was a good time to write about it because we were talking about it.
John:We just had the.
John:Now I can't remember her name.
John:She graduated, she had the AR15 across her back.
Cheryl Todd:Oh, and she was being given a bunch of garbage about taking her prom picture with her AR15 or her grad picture with their AR15.
Cheryl Todd:And yeah, I don't remember her name either.
John:But we.
John:That was my Caitlyn.
Cheryl Todd:Yes, nice.
Kayleigh:It's back there.
Kayleigh:All of the information it gets stored, it's like a little buffering.
John:But that was the big movement while I was there.
John:We were trying to get campus carry because it was a safe campus, but not a safe campus at the same time.
John:And we had gone to two anywhere, right.
John:Yeah.
Cheryl Todd:Because you don't know.
Kayleigh:And thankfully we are seeing some movement on this issue.
Kayleigh:I mean this year campus carry was enacted in West Virginia.
Kayleigh:It finally went into effect.
Kayleigh:It was, I think it's a July 1st effective.
Kayleigh:And so it's fantastic that we're seeing this push because guess what?
Kayleigh:Gun free zones not safe.
Kayleigh:Mass murders happen by and large on gun free zones.
Kayleigh:And so why would we want to send young adults to a place where they can be potentially harmed at a greater scale?
John:And everybody go, well, there's a sign and I've got a great example of this and I wish I got a picture.
John:My wife was, was home.
John:I was with you.
John:We were traveling.
John:We have a no soliciting sign on our door.
John:No soliciting.
John:Somebody came up with a political ad, put it right behind the sign.
John:I was like, see, signs clearly don't work.
Cheryl Todd:Yeah.
Cheryl Todd:I'm always like, are we going to paper cut somebody with this sign?
Cheryl Todd:How is this going to protect me exactly?
Cheryl Todd:Give me the specifics.
Cheryl Todd:And the specifics are really in the stats that you just alluded to that, you know, predators look for the path of least resistance.
Cheryl Todd:And if they know that there is a 0% likelihood or a very low likelihood that anybody is going to be able to meet them force for force, if you're a predator, where are you going to go?
Cheryl Todd:Exactly right.
Cheryl Todd:So anyway, and let me just say this.
Cheryl Todd:Antonia Okaforkova, who is part of your goa's empowered women's.
Cheryl Todd:When I first met her back in the day, one of her main things was campus safety and campus carry.
Cheryl Todd:And so that was really one of the things that just made me run to meet her and interview her and then get to know her.
Kayleigh:And you know, we appreciate at GOF, so the sister organization at GOA, our C3 side, has two A defenders, which is our college campus program and any students that may be listening to this.
Kayleigh:We have a whole list of speakers that you can invite on your campus for free and cover a wide range of topics.
Kayleigh:Because we have to fight the echo chambers on campus.
Kayleigh:They own that space and they're comfortable with their dominance there.
Kayleigh:And so now is the time for us to get on campus to educate your peers and to be a little bit rebellious with the ability to let people know that there is a different way to think.
Kayleigh:You know, you don't have to be rude, you don't have to cuss, you don't have to make a big scene, but you do have to fight against the echo chamber and get that information on campus because they own the territory unless we start fighting back.
John:Yeah, and we did a movement at the first college I went to.
John:We did a empty holster protest at one point and that was interesting how many people showed up to that.
John:It got the administration interested, but also ultimately they were like, nah.
John:So you can only do so much.
John:And starting off with things like that, it's always a good stepping point.
John:At least get their minds open and at least get the conversation going.
John:Well, we are at that time we're going to jump into our first segment which is a rapid fire.
John:We're going to ask you five questions.
Cheryl Todd:Brace myself.
John:I'm going to ask you five questions.
John:You answer them as quickly or as shortly as you are longly as you'd like.
John:It's just going to go real quick.
John:So question number one.
John:Who is your favorite content creator?
Cheryl Todd:How can I have a favorite?
Cheryl Todd:I can't have a favorite.
Cheryl Todd:I'm not.
Cheryl Todd:I am not answering that question.
Cheryl Todd:I'm not answering that question.
Cheryl Todd:I love them all.
Cheryl Todd:As long as they're working in this Space.
Cheryl Todd:I love them all.
John:All right, what was your last impulse buy?
Cheryl Todd:Does it have to be gun related?
John:Doesn't.
Cheryl Todd:Books?
Cheryl Todd:I am constantly.
Cheryl Todd:On the way here, I was in the airport and passed by one of those little mini bookstores and should have purchased from that bookstore.
Cheryl Todd:My apologies, but where am I going to carry it in an airport?
Cheryl Todd:So hopped onto Amazon and purchased two of them actually.
Cheryl Todd:So, yeah, books.
John:What is on the bucket list of guns for you?
Cheryl Todd:Oh my gosh.
Cheryl Todd:I've had pretty much everything.
Cheryl Todd:My husband and I had the retail store for like 20 years, AZ Firearms.
Cheryl Todd:And honestly, I mean, we had a 105, we had two 105 howitzers.
Cheryl Todd:We've had Gatling guns.
Cheryl Todd:I'm a spoiled girl.
Cheryl Todd:I've pretty much had anything that I've wanted.
Cheryl Todd:So.
Kayleigh:As you should be.
Kayleigh:As you should be.
Cheryl Todd:I mean, you said it.
Cheryl Todd:I'm just nodding my head in agreement.
John:I want Gatling guns.
John:That sounds like fun.
John:If there could be any trainer in the world that you haven't trained with that you want to train with, you have the opportunity.
John:Who would it be?
Cheryl Todd:Lanny Barnes.
John:And then the last one is Top three Guns for the Zombie Apocalypse.
Cheryl Todd:See, I'm equipment.
Cheryl Todd:Even though I've had like every gun.
Cheryl Todd:My husband is the one that could probably rattle these off at the top of his head easily.
Cheryl Todd:But.
Cheryl Todd:So of course you want long range, mid range and close quarters.
Cheryl Todd:So long range, I'm probably going to go with maybe I can have my howitzer back.
Cheryl Todd:We did sell those things when we liquidated the store, but you know, that can do some serious damage way out.
Cheryl Todd:A mile out.
Cheryl Todd:Right, that mid range.
Cheryl Todd:Of course you're going to want a good AR and then close quarters.
Cheryl Todd:My.
Cheryl Todd:My handy edc, which I don't like to name.
Cheryl Todd:And I'll briefly tell you why.
Cheryl Todd:A friend of mine was wrongly accused of pulling his firearm on somebody.
Cheryl Todd:And he had a podcast and he talked about his gun all the time.
Cheryl Todd:And so when it first happened, I thought, well, this person's gonna name, you know, down to the serial number what you carry, because you've been talking about it incessantly and the person didn't, which is how we knew for sure the person was lying because they completely misidentified the firearm.
Cheryl Todd:My friend didn't even own this kind of firearm, so I don't like to say what my specific carry gun is, but I'm well trained with it and I'm effective with it.
Cheryl Todd:So there you go.
John:That's awesome.
Kayleigh:That's a good thing to remember.
Kayleigh:Yeah, and that's smart.
Kayleigh:I actually think that's a good tactic for a lot of people.
Kayleigh:It always.
Kayleigh:It always, I guess, stresses me out when I see new gun owners posting a picture of their firearm.
Kayleigh:And you can, like, clearly see the serial number.
Kayleigh:And I'm like, you might want to take that down.
Kayleigh:I'm not sure that needs to be public information.
Kayleigh:Yeah, a little, you know, a little secrecy.
Kayleigh:Privacy.
Cheryl Todd:Privacy.
Kayleigh:Never, never hurt anybody.
Cheryl Todd:Yeah.
John:Don't go looking on my Instagram.
Kayleigh:I mean, that's just.
Kayleigh:I mean, it's just.
Kayleigh:I don't know, it's always just kind of sat weird with me.
Kayleigh:And I've always been like, I don't know that I would do that.
Cheryl Todd:Well, and then there's another thing, is that.
Cheryl Todd:And I don't think I ever did, but I could have.
Cheryl Todd:You know how there's the cigar and the bourbon and the handgun pictures.
Cheryl Todd:And because I work with so many people who are brand new to this space, I just started thinking about, so are we trying to say that we pair these things together?
Cheryl Todd:The scar and the gun, fine.
Cheryl Todd:But the liquor and the firearm, they don't mix.
Cheryl Todd:And so I think that I have not posted any of those, but if I did, after my realization came that I'm not sure that I could back that up.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:Like, I always consider, what if I, God forbid, have to defend myself?
Cheryl Todd:You know, I'm ending up in court.
Cheryl Todd:They're going to dig through every thing I have ever posted anywhere and try to come up with, you know, my mindset.
Cheryl Todd:Was I an aggressive person?
Cheryl Todd:Am I irresponsible person?
Cheryl Todd:And so, you know, I.
Cheryl Todd:I really need to go to Overthinkers Anonymous, if there is such a thing.
Cheryl Todd:But.
Cheryl Todd:But I kind of came to this place where I'm like, that's for me, that's not a good idea.
Cheryl Todd:And maybe for our community, it might be something we want to give a second thought to.
Cheryl Todd:I don't know.
Cheryl Todd:What do you guys think about it?
John:I agree.
John:I used to do it.
John:I'm not going to lie.
John:I'm a big cigar smoker, so I've always done guns and cigars.
John:It's been my thing.
John:And then I got into bourbon, and so I was like, pairing them.
John:Like, hey, look, this is the new bourbon I've got.
John:This is the new cool thing I got.
John:And this is a new cigar.
John:And then I stopped because I was like this.
John:Even I feel uncomfortable combining liquor and firearms together.
John:Even though atf, like, that's the big thing.
Kayleigh:It is a rare photo.
John:Yeah.
Kayleigh:But I'll give it to you.
Kayleigh:It can be a cool photo, but.
John:At the same time, like, it may, even watching people do it made me cringe on the inside.
John:And then I was like, yeah, I'm gonna stop doing this.
John:This is not.
Kayleigh:Well, I think for at least the three of us that are at this table, we spend a lot of our day thinking about, how do I build a bigger, better, stronger, faster on ramp for people to be able to join this community?
Kayleigh:How do we make education easier to access?
Kayleigh:How do we get into those places, like a college campus, that are considered unreachable by many people's standards?
Kayleigh:And so when you have that mindset and you do this for a living, a lot of times I want the content that I put out there to be easy to consume.
Kayleigh:For somebody who is on the fence, my favorite thing is to take someone who's never been to the range before, never shot a gun before, for that first time experience.
Kayleigh:It is the best dopamine you could ever have.
Kayleigh:And no one can change my mind.
Kayleigh:And if you haven't done it, do it because you get to see someone's walls come down and then be open to the second amendment community.
Kayleigh:And I want that kind of reaction of taking someone to the range for the first time to also be something that can be seen on LinkedIn or Instagram or any social media that I have, because I think it's a valuable tool that we have to reach people that may be on the fence.
Kayleigh:And you may only have one chance with the algorithm to change their mind.
John:I mean, you should do chicken and guns.
John:I'm just saying, chickens and guns.
Cheryl Todd:Fried chicken.
John:I know.
Kayleigh:I don't know.
Cheryl Todd:So there is this meme with, what does an American breakfast look like?
Cheryl Todd:Something like that.
Cheryl Todd:And it's this pile of bacon, right?
Cheryl Todd:A couple of eggs, and then a, you know, a firearm.
Cheryl Todd:I'm like, I can totally get behind that.
Cheryl Todd:Yeah, I'm like the Betty Crocker of guns.
Cheryl Todd:I can have like a plate of muffins and, you know, things like that with my gun.
Kayleigh:I love it.
John:So, burning question.
Cheryl Todd:Yes.
John:Polka dots.
Cheryl Todd:Yes.
John:What's.
John:What's the polka dots?
Cheryl Todd:Well, it just kind of happened naturally and accidentally.
Cheryl Todd:So I think you guys all know Charlie Cook riding shotgun with Charlie.
Cheryl Todd:He's been a friend since I.
Cheryl Todd:I don't even know when he first kind of got into the space.
Cheryl Todd:And he was dating a woman at the time.
Cheryl Todd:We were at some event together.
Cheryl Todd:I was getting ready to give a speech, and he said something about, hey, my My girlfriend calls you the polka dot lady.
Cheryl Todd:And I'm like, polka dot lady?
Cheryl Todd:Why is that?
Cheryl Todd:I look down, I'm wearing polka dots.
Cheryl Todd:I'm like, oh, well, I never really thought about it.
Cheryl Todd:And he goes, matter of fact, he gets out his phone, he's like scrolling through all the selfies we've taken together of each other.
Cheryl Todd:And I'm like, polka dots, polka dots.
Cheryl Todd:I'm like, that is so odd.
Cheryl Todd:I just didn't even think about it.
Cheryl Todd:And I said, well, you know, I guess polka dots are my camo.
Cheryl Todd:And I went off and I gave the talk I was going to give and it was so fresh in my mind that I kind of tossed it in there and it resonated with the audience.
Cheryl Todd:And I realized, you know, so much of what I am trying to do with the advocacy is to normalize gun ownership, right?
Cheryl Todd:Just, you know, take things down to what is the most familiar, the most ordinary things about me and kind of tie that into.
Cheryl Todd:And by the way, I'm passionate about this, right?
Cheryl Todd:And I do own and carry and train with this particular tool.
Cheryl Todd:And so I felt like that just really, it just flows.
Cheryl Todd:Polka dots are my camo.
Cheryl Todd:And then when I first started using it, people like, they didn't realize that I was trying to like really make it a connecting piece.
Cheryl Todd:And.
Cheryl Todd:And they were like, no, actually, polka dots are a good pattern for camo.
Cheryl Todd:Okay.
Cheryl Todd:It works out both ways.
John:But it's a good point you're making is that a lot of people see gun owners in, they see the tactical, like you gotta wear high speed pants.
John:I mean, Amy Langdon put it best when she was on, you know, the gun ownership doesn't have to be the high speed, low drag, you know, plate carrier, AR, sling across your chest.
John:It could be the everyday American just wearing their normal clothes, carrying every day in a number of options, as we've talked about, from fanny packs to shoulder holsters to inside outside usa.
John:But it is, it's, it's one of those things that how many we talk about the on ramp, how many people have been turned off because, oh, I gotta, I gotta have the latest and greatest high speed tactics.
John: have the Latest and greatest: John:I mean, that's a mortgage and it's.
Cheryl Todd:A budget line item.
Cheryl Todd:And to that point, which was kind of a funny thing, is that, I mean, I just dress as I dress, right?
Cheryl Todd:I love to wear dresses.
Cheryl Todd:And I was taking A specific training.
Cheryl Todd:I was signed up for it.
Cheryl Todd:I was excited about it.
Cheryl Todd:And then I thought, oh, I always conceal carry.
Cheryl Todd:I don't even own a holster or a belt that I can draw from.
Cheryl Todd:And that was part of the training was, you know, drawing from holster.
Cheryl Todd:And so I was like, do I even have pants?
Cheryl Todd:Let me think.
Cheryl Todd:Do I have pants with belt loops?
Cheryl Todd:Are the belt loops big enough for the belt that I need?
Cheryl Todd:I mean, it was this whole process.
Cheryl Todd:And so I shared that with the person putting on the classes.
Cheryl Todd:And I said, you might actually.
Cheryl Todd:If we are trying to reach people who are brand new to this.
Cheryl Todd:I'm not even brand new to this, but I just don't train that way.
Cheryl Todd:I don't carry that way.
Cheryl Todd:You don't want them to be a day before the class and then realize, ew, I got to go to the 501 store or something, you know, or 511 store.
Cheryl Todd:See, I don't even know the things.
Cheryl Todd:And that is what I did is I ran down and it was like.
Cheryl Todd:And even those, the clothing was not really made for a curvy girl.
Cheryl Todd:And so I'm like, right.
Cheryl Todd:And so I'm like, grabbing the sizes I normally wear, and I go in the.
Cheryl Todd:The dressing room, and it's like, it, okay.
Cheryl Todd:I can't even get the buttons together.
Cheryl Todd:All right, well, let's go back out there and leave my pride at the door.
Cheryl Todd:And by the time I got up to the size that would actually, you know, fit in all the different places, it was not a lot of fun for me.
Cheryl Todd:It was.
Cheryl Todd:It was not fun, but I think I got the job done and I had a great training.
Kayleigh:Yeah.
Kayleigh:I think that they're starting.
Kayleigh:We're starting to see some improvement in the female space when it comes to clothing options for concealed carry.
Kayleigh:We are very far from where we need to be.
Kayleigh:I think I will give some love to the people over at Vertex for making a pair of comfortable jeans that will work for most people.
Kayleigh:I would encourage you to look at petite for those of us who are short, because spending significant money on jeans and then having to drop another $50 to have someone cut off half of them is a little disheartening.
Cheryl Todd:Well, and barriers like that for some people who are like, I'm just a little curious about this.
Cheryl Todd:That might just be the bar.
Cheryl Todd:That's too high.
Kayleigh:Yeah, right.
Cheryl Todd:And then they're like, I don't.
Cheryl Todd:I don't look good in these clothes.
Cheryl Todd:I don't feel good in these clothes.
Cheryl Todd:I just bought nine sizes bigger than what I'm supposed to be buying.
Cheryl Todd:No, thank you.
Cheryl Todd:I'm completely uncomfortable now before I ever even get to the range and put this tool in my hand that I've also never held, you know, so we really should be thinking about these things.
Kayleigh:I totally agree.
Kayleigh:And thankfully, again, we are making progress there.
Kayleigh:But there's gotta be so much more because, you know, we look at gun ownership and we look about at female gun ownership growing at a tremendous rate, and we never want the barrier to entry to be.
Kayleigh:It doesn't stylistically work.
Cheryl Todd:Yeah.
Kayleigh:And, you know, I also think the people behind the gun counter have a tremendous responsibility to make sure that the firearms that you're showing work.
Kayleigh:I've used this example a couple of times, so people who have listened to the show multiple times are probably like, oh, here we go again.
Kayleigh:But.
Kayleigh:But I was in one of the very first classes that I had the ability to take, and the instructor unknowingly gets up and starts talking about the purpose of the class.
Kayleigh:And it's concealed carrying, and, you know, you need to be worried about printing and, you know, all of the things that, you know, go into it.
Kayleigh:And this.
Kayleigh:I start seeing this woman that's sitting kind of diagonal to me start shrinking.
Kayleigh:And she's realizing that she bought her gun with the intentions of she felt uncomfortable running.
Kayleigh:And he's talking about, you know, if your shirt's coming up, you know, the concealability.
Kayleigh:And she's looking at a Tiffany blue gun with a glitter slide.
Kayleigh:And you could just see all of.
Kayleigh:She spent all of this money.
Kayleigh:She's purchased something that she thinks she's gonna love that's gonna work perfectly for her.
Kayleigh:And then she finds out it's not the right gun for the application that she wanted to use it for.
Kayleigh:The instructor taught nothing wrong, but you could tell that if she would have asked a few more questions at the gun store, she would have probably picked something completely different.
Kayleigh:And we can love those Tiffany blue guns and we can own them and shoot them, and they work just as well as anything else.
Kayleigh:But at the same time, you know, application matters too, and it's all gotta be a part of the conversation.
Cheryl Todd:Exactly.
Cheryl Todd:You know, my guns are tools of self defense.
Cheryl Todd:I'm really not a hunter.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:I'm really.
Cheryl Todd:I'm definitely not a competitor, you know, not even so much of a plinker.
Cheryl Todd:I am thinking if and when I ever need to unsheathe this firearm, I want to be as concealed right as, you know, protected as.
Cheryl Todd:As sneaky as I possibly can.
Cheryl Todd:And if I've got something that's shiny.
Cheryl Todd:It's going to possibly glint and give away my position.
Cheryl Todd:If I've got some fancy color, then that could work against me.
Cheryl Todd:And so, I mean, I definitely do double takes at some of those really fun colors.
Cheryl Todd:And my daughter loves all the really fun colors.
Cheryl Todd:But for me, it truly is just a tool.
Cheryl Todd:And so what do I want this tool to do and not do really is on the top of my mind when I'm.
Kayleigh:And you want to be confident and you want to know that you've got the right tool for the job.
Kayleigh:And I just, my heart broke for her because I knew exactly what she was feeling and her body language told everybody in the class.
Kayleigh:I regret this.
Kayleigh:And she walked in with the I'm confident.
Kayleigh:And that's not the conversation that you want when somebody's taking training, you want them to leave more confident, not staring at the face of potentially another, you know, four, five, $600 purchase.
John:It's funny, you talk about not just that, but you talked about Vertex and the way women have carried.
John:I'm going to admit it on the podcast, Lena's fanny pack is better than the men's fanny pack.
John:And I love it.
John:And I carry with it every day because it is so slim and designed perfectly.
Cheryl Todd:It's fantastic.
Kayleigh:You go, girl.
Cheryl Todd:You go.
Kayleigh:You got it.
Kayleigh:Yes.
John:But now that's.
John:And we've seen again, this, this transition of, like, the way the options for when I started in the gun industry, I'm a date myself, is going to be old.
John:Like, the options for women carry were shrink it and pink it.
John:J frame revolvers.
John:Everybody was pushing.
John:And then your carry, your holster options were the, The.
John:Was it the can.
John:Cans, you remember those, they were like spandex that had lace on the back and they were there.
John:Or maybe a thigh holster here and there.
John:And seeing how much the industry has shifted a lot of that now, is it the best?
John:I think there's still room for a lot of room for improvement, but I.
Cheryl Todd:Definitely think so too, because what we just talked about with, like, the clothing options and how, you know, the different body types and shapes that comes up more often than the people that are making these products would care to know or care to admit and.
Cheryl Todd:Or they should lean in and really research with the women that are like, I hate everything that's available right now.
Cheryl Todd:Yeah, right.
Kayleigh:Yeah.
Kayleigh:I mean, I think that there's so much improvement.
Kayleigh:And yet despite that, we see women coming more and more into the firearms industry.
Kayleigh:So imagine the kind of explosion of growth that can happen when we start meeting more of these needs.
Cheryl Todd:Amen.
Kayleigh:And I think from the advocacy side of things, that's what really excites me is when the industry starts making improvements and that goes hand in hand to attracting more women into the community.
Cheryl Todd:Yeah.
Kayleigh:Let me tell you something.
Kayleigh:The reason that we spend so much time talking about moms demand action is because women getting together, they're organized and they are doing everything that they can to destroy our rights.
Kayleigh:Imagine if the females got together and the community was opening up more and more and meeting the needs that women have.
Cheryl Todd:Absolutely.
Kayleigh:The firepower of response would be overwhelming to the anti gunners because what are you telling a mom when you empower her with a firearm to be able to protect her kids is completely different.
Kayleigh:Where you are the victor versus when you disarm them and they're the victim.
Kayleigh:And that is a message that I think we can completely kind of tear the roof off of the place and unleash a firepower like we've never seen before.
Kayleigh:And a lot of that is going to be by reaching out to these previous minorities in the firearms communities and just bring them into the fold.
John:Feel bad for the other side if this happens.
Cheryl Todd:It's true.
Cheryl Todd:I mean, but some, some of it I think is that the other side, as you mentioned the mom's demand, they really have candy for the ear.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:That's really the substance of what they are delivering in messaging is it's very emotional.
Cheryl Todd:They don't have to really understand history.
Cheryl Todd:They don't have to understand how life really works in gun free zones.
Cheryl Todd:They don't have to really know what the stats are.
Cheryl Todd:So they.
Cheryl Todd:I think that's why it's, you know, the easy open road.
Cheryl Todd:The narrower gate is ours with the truth and the facts on our side.
Cheryl Todd:And for us to speak intelligently about why we believe what we believe, we really kind of have to know these things.
Cheryl Todd:And you've got to have people that are hungry.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:And just always looking for information and then can articulate it well.
Cheryl Todd:So I do think that our bar is a little bit higher.
Cheryl Todd:But the hat I wear with women for gun rights we wear teal.
Cheryl Todd:We're teal for 2A.
Cheryl Todd:Our slogan is education not legislation is the key to safety.
Cheryl Todd:We want to be the counter visual and the counter voice to the moms demand who show up in droves in their red shirts with their little cue cards that they have their five talking points that they don't know really what they're even saying but what they're advocating for is if we could get legislation based on their little feel good talking points, we're actually endangering ourselves and endangering our children and our children's children.
Cheryl Todd:And so we do the best we can with women for gun rights.
Cheryl Todd:That when we find ourselves in a space where we've got our teal shirted ladies and there's some of the ladies in the red shirt, we really do try to be very open handed, engage as we can, just in a very friendly manner and a very relational manner.
Cheryl Todd:And there have been times when there's been enough cognitive dissonance, right.
Cheryl Todd:That it's not like the red shirted lady takes off her red shirt and instantly puts on a teal or says, you know what, you're absolutely right and I'm going to go vote the next time I can to protect my rights instead of endanger my rights and vote to actually take not only my rights away, but your rights away.
Cheryl Todd:But you can see that they're being, they're experiencing and they're being exposed to something that's completely foreign to them.
Cheryl Todd:They've never in their lives.
Cheryl Todd:Some of these ladies experienced somebody like me who we, we really, at the core, believe the same things.
Cheryl Todd:We all want to protect what we love.
Cheryl Todd:That's at the core of it.
Cheryl Todd:It's our therefore that takes us in different directions.
Cheryl Todd:We all want to protect what we love.
Cheryl Todd:Therefore, the people with the red shirts think we need somebody out there, some policeman, some politician, some law to protect us.
Cheryl Todd:And the women for gun rights say we all want to protect what we love.
Cheryl Todd:Therefore, we need to train, we need to educate ourselves, we need to open the door to education for others.
Cheryl Todd:And we know that we are our own first responders.
Cheryl Todd:We are responding to what's happening to us in a dangerous situation.
Cheryl Todd:And we want to be empowered and prepared.
Cheryl Todd:And so it's that split right there.
Cheryl Todd:We all grieve when there's a horrible shooting, a horrible mass murder.
Cheryl Todd:We all grieve when one person is wrongfully, wrongly harmed or killed.
Cheryl Todd:So yes, we can agree here.
Cheryl Todd:Let's try to expand the place where we can find common ground.
Cheryl Todd:And that is what we do with women for gun rights.
Cheryl Todd:I mentor women in the state of Arizona to find their voice and use their voice and learn our history and our civics.
Cheryl Todd:And then when bills come down the line in our state, I mentor these women to show up at our state capitol and offer testimony.
Cheryl Todd:Ooh, that sounds like a big word, right?
Cheryl Todd:I'm going to testify at the Arizona state capitol.
Cheryl Todd:Ooh, it's so scary.
Cheryl Todd:It's not.
Cheryl Todd:It's 60 seconds.
Cheryl Todd:Generally, they give us to basically say, this is me.
Cheryl Todd:I'm Cheryl Todd.
Cheryl Todd:I'm a wife, a mom, a grandma.
Cheryl Todd:I'm the Arizona State director to women for Gun rights.
Cheryl Todd:And this bill either improves my life, and this is how.
Cheryl Todd:Or makes my life worse.
Cheryl Todd:And this is how.
Cheryl Todd:Thank you for your time.
Cheryl Todd:Please support or please vote against this bill.
Cheryl Todd:Done.
Cheryl Todd:That's it.
Cheryl Todd:That's testifying.
Cheryl Todd:Why don't we do more of that?
Kayleigh:Yeah.
Kayleigh:And first of all, two things.
Kayleigh:One, I am personally jealous of Arizona and how easy it is to sign up.
Kayleigh:Up to testify in the state of Arizona.
Kayleigh:I live in Tennessee.
Kayleigh:It is much harder to get on the docket.
Kayleigh:To testify.
Kayleigh:You have to be technically almost invited.
Kayleigh:So you have to email your representative or email the committee and say, hey, I'd like to offer testimony and for or against.
Kayleigh:And you have to get all.
Kayleigh:It's a lot.
Kayleigh:It's actually a little bit more complicated.
Kayleigh:There are a few more steps in Tennessee versus Arizona.
Kayleigh:My understanding, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, I've never lived in your state, but you basically can just sign up almost right before to testify.
Cheryl Todd:Which is, I think, as it should.
Kayleigh:Be crazy to me because that's not how it is in my state.
Kayleigh:And so I'm like, if I lived in Arizona, they'd be so tired of me.
Cheryl Todd:And they should be.
Cheryl Todd:I say we should know who all of our elected officials are.
Cheryl Todd:But as important, maybe more important, they should know who you are.
Cheryl Todd:When I walk in the building, you know, there's a lot of, hey, hey, Ms.
Cheryl Todd:Todd.
Cheryl Todd:Hey, Cheryl.
Cheryl Todd:And some of it's, hey, they come over and they give me a hug.
Cheryl Todd:And some of it's like, oh, look at the time.
Cheryl Todd:I don't really want to engage with this young lady.
Cheryl Todd:But we also have the RTS system request to speak.
Cheryl Todd:And so you can sign up for that and sit home in your jammies and engage in the legislative process.
Cheryl Todd:Here's the bill.
Cheryl Todd:You can say, it's a little green thumbs up click.
Cheryl Todd:It's a little red thumbs down click.
Cheryl Todd:And then there's a space.
Cheryl Todd:Would you like to say anything?
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:And so you don't want to go on and on.
Cheryl Todd:Give it that, you know, brief.
Cheryl Todd:This is who I am.
Cheryl Todd:This is where I live.
Cheryl Todd:So they know who their constituents are.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:And this is how I feel about this particular bill.
Cheryl Todd:And here's why.
Cheryl Todd:And then there is a button that says, would you like to speak?
Cheryl Todd:Like, actually speak and, you know, generally I say yes.
Cheryl Todd:And as much as my calendar will allow, I go down there so that I can be available.
Cheryl Todd:Now, they do play games.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:Even in Arizona.
Cheryl Todd:And so the bill that.
Cheryl Todd:That I would like to speak on, it's gun rights.
Cheryl Todd:You know, depending on who is the chairperson of the room I'm in, they might just keep, oh, well, we're gonna.
Cheryl Todd:We're gonna hear these other people first.
Cheryl Todd:And they bump it down.
Cheryl Todd:And they bump it down.
Cheryl Todd:They bump it down.
Cheryl Todd:You're sitting there for three hours, and then it's, you know, oh, I gotta go pick up the grandkids from school.
Cheryl Todd:It's, you know, time is starting to get on.
Cheryl Todd:And then they might even say, you know what?
Cheryl Todd:We're gonna go ahead and postpone this to another time, another day.
Cheryl Todd:And so these things do happen, and it does get discouraging to those of us who have jobs and we have family responsibilities.
Cheryl Todd:But again, if it goes to.
Cheryl Todd:If we have more people available to us, then somebody's schedule is going to work and somebody's schedule is going to line up.
Cheryl Todd:So more.
Cheryl Todd:We need more people.
Kayleigh:Yeah.
Kayleigh:So I do want to touch on this one thing really fast, and then we'll move on to our next segment.
Kayleigh:But Morton Blackwell of the Leadership Institute, which is a great conservative organization, you know, he always talks about, you have to read to lead, because you've got to have a depth of argument.
Kayleigh:You've got to have a strong foundation.
Kayleigh:And you brought some books with you, and you're also an avid reader.
Kayleigh:It was your impulse buy.
Kayleigh:So what can you kind of tell.
Kayleigh:Tell us?
Kayleigh:And what would be some advice and some books that you would recommend for people who are just starting out in their advocacy journey?
Cheryl Todd:Absolutely.
Cheryl Todd:Well, I think these three that I brought with me really do apply.
Cheryl Todd:And I've given a few speeches where I use, actually, these two, and I use that kind of phrase that's out there right now is this is how it started and this is how it's going.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:And so the Second Amendment Manifesto by John Payne, and I've interviewed both of these authors on my show, as well as David Yamani, which I'll get to his book Gun Curious.
Cheryl Todd:But John Payne takes us not just through American history, and I think so often that's where our brains start, is, well, we had the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and that's all we need.
Cheryl Todd:And.
Cheryl Todd:And I mean, in fairness, it should be all we need.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:Because every single elected official swears the same oath to protect the same documents.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:The same values.
Cheryl Todd:But he takes us all the way through world history.
Cheryl Todd:And not until I read this book did I realize that England actually had a revolutionary war over firearms or civil war over firearms.
Cheryl Todd:England, who then showed up on our shores, right.
Cheryl Todd:That weren't quite ours yet at Lexington and Concord to take what?
Cheryl Todd:Our guns and our ammo.
Cheryl Todd:And if you look at where England is now, I think they're not even allowed to have like pointy forks.
Cheryl Todd:So, you know, they didn't learn the lesson of history.
Cheryl Todd:But we should.
Cheryl Todd:And I think this book was.
Cheryl Todd:Is brilliant to give people that overall scope of why did our founders end up being so passionate about this particular issue?
Cheryl Todd:And then this is how it's going.
Cheryl Todd:Mao's A Survivor's Warning by Xi Van Fleet.
Cheryl Todd:Xi grew up in China during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Cheryl Todd:And she says in her book that we are experiencing almost like cookie cutter, the exact same things in the United States as a Cultural Revolution.
Cheryl Todd:That they used the young people, the college age and younger in China to turn against their own parents and turn against anybody who didn't agree with their leader, Mao Zedong.
Cheryl Todd:And the very first murders created by the Red Guard.
Cheryl Todd:Actually, the Red Guard I didn't even realize were young people.
Cheryl Todd:I thought the Red Guard was part of their military.
Cheryl Todd:I knew very, very little about the Chinese Cultural Revolution until I read this.
Cheryl Todd:But they were like junior high girls who murdered their principal because he wouldn't espouse these beliefs of Mao's and that they were.
Cheryl Todd:The young people were taught to reject the 5 olds.
Cheryl Todd:And of course right now I'm not going to get them.
Cheryl Todd:All right?
Cheryl Todd:But it was anything that was traditional.
Cheryl Todd:So, you know, family traditions, historical traditions, cultural traditions, any of those sort of things if you.
Cheryl Todd:It was the ultimate cancel culture at the end of guns, right?
Cheryl Todd:And they would have these things called shaming sessions where they'd put people in a town square and they would wear these really tall white dunce caps with words written on them explaining the.
Cheryl Todd:The thought crimes that these people had.
Cheryl Todd:And there were instances of the children being in those crowds spitting on and yelling at and encouraging the beatings and even in prison and death of their own parents because this whole ideology got a hold of their minds.
Cheryl Todd:So it's terrifying to think how far Marxism and Maoism and communism and socialism has seeped into our culture.
Cheryl Todd:Because where culture is downstream, you end up electing people who agree with the culture.
Cheryl Todd:And then those people, once they're elected, downstream from there, they enact laws that agree with the culture.
Cheryl Todd:Not necessarily with what is good or right or what actually protects people.
Cheryl Todd:So it's these two books I cannot recommend high enough to people to just educate ourselves.
Cheryl Todd:And then gun Curious.
Cheryl Todd:David Yamani has been on my show as well.
Cheryl Todd:And the subtitle is A Liberal.
Cheryl Todd:A liberal right.
Cheryl Todd:You don't often hear people from the more left or liberal side even talk about gun ownership or value of gun ownership.
Cheryl Todd:And so he does A liberal professor's surprising journey inside of America's gun culture.
Cheryl Todd:And he is able with.
Cheryl Todd:He teaches college courses and he.
Cheryl Todd:One of the prerequisites for one of his courses is his class has to go out on the range, on a live firing range and experience in safe conditions firing a firearm at the beginning of the course.
Cheryl Todd:And then as they're writing papers and debating and doing all the things, they at least have that level of experience.
Cheryl Todd:And I think it's brilliant what he's doing.
Cheryl Todd:I wish more college professors would do it.
Cheryl Todd:And one of the big distinctions that Professor Yamani made on my show was, you know, how I said we agree on certain things, the left and the right, the pro firearms, the anti firearms groups.
Cheryl Todd:And he said, well, many people our side says we want to be safe with the gun.
Cheryl Todd:And many people on the left think, well, the only way to be safe is without guns.
Cheryl Todd:And that just really is one of those things that I mentally chew on when I'm trying to talk to somebody who I know is probably looking at me like I have a third eye because possibly somewhere strapped to my body is that particular tool that they have been encouraged to have a phobic response to.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:And so how do I, how do I take the sting out of all of that?
Cheryl Todd:Well, knowing that their idea of safety is that tool can't even be part of the any equation.
Cheryl Todd:Just helps me with my approach and my methodology and my language and things like that.
Cheryl Todd:So thank you for asking me about my books.
Kayleigh:Absolutely.
Kayleigh:So we are halfway, well over halfway for this show.
Kayleigh:So it's time for our final segment, which is from the Soapbox, where we delve into an issue that is generally political in nature and talk about, you know, what your hot take is with it.
Kayleigh:And so because of your work in advocacy, especially on the state level, I wanted to get into apathy at the state level.
Kayleigh:National topics, you know, the pistol brace ban, some of those major challenges that we've had to overcome as a community.
Kayleigh:Community seem to get all of the airtime.
Kayleigh:You're really big on the state advocacy.
Kayleigh:So how do we battle apathy?
Kayleigh:Within gun ownership at the state level.
Cheryl Todd:That is such a great question.
Cheryl Todd:And truly I believe that apathy is so such a big issue, such a big problem, that truly, if the other side didn't have their mom's demand, we would undo ourselves eventually.
Cheryl Todd:Because apathy is that rampant and that dangerous because people just.
Cheryl Todd:They're busy living their lives, right?
Cheryl Todd:You're not a villain if you're apathetic to the whole second amendment issue, but you're not preparing yourself and your children and your children's children for the future.
Cheryl Todd:So when I first got into this, I would say that it's because whatever I do or don't do in my lifetime, the fact that that will have reverberating impact on the future, that's why I have to do everything I possibly can.
Cheryl Todd:I don't honestly know how to recreate more people who think that way other than to continually speak to, you know, any, anyone.
Cheryl Todd:I can take any opportunity I can to open myself to conversations.
Cheryl Todd:I'm not one that likes to have conversations on airplanes, but on the.
Cheryl Todd:The last flight I took before I came here, it came up in conversation because of the book I was reading.
Cheryl Todd:The person next to me waited till we were actually landing and then asked me so that it wouldn't be a long conversation.
Cheryl Todd:And I caused a little cognitive dissonance.
Cheryl Todd:So whatever we can do as advocates, I think it's important.
Cheryl Todd:But at our state level, Arizona, we are a state of 7 million plus people.
Cheryl Todd:The, the key organization, the AZCDL, the Watchmen on the wall, the guard dogs in the state legislature that I'm the vice president of, we have all of 20, some thousand members.
Cheryl Todd:That's a problem, right?
Cheryl Todd:Because not only could we be doing so much more if we had bigger numbers, because membership, the Women for Gun Rights, I mentioned earlier, that's a free membership.
Cheryl Todd:The azcdl, we do charge for a membership, but it's like the cost of a cup of coffee over the course of a couple of weeks.
Cheryl Todd:It's very, very inexpensive.
Cheryl Todd:We could do so much more.
Cheryl Todd:And when we walk into a legislator's office, what do they want to know?
Cheryl Todd:When I'm talking to you, Cheryl, how many people am I really talking to?
Cheryl Todd:They want to know about our membership.
Cheryl Todd:They want to know how big of an issue, how many people are involved in this.
Cheryl Todd:And when we know that from national statistics that at least half of every household has at least one gun, then truly who they are talking to is at least 35,000 or I mean 350,000 to 400,000, sorry, million.
Cheryl Todd:4 million people.
Cheryl Todd:Because if there's 7 million people, half of them own guns.
Cheryl Todd:Math is not my strong suit, then that's going to make a much larger impact than we have 20 some thousand people.
Cheryl Todd:We do speak on behalf of every single person in the United States as well as Arizona, because we want to preserve all of your rights.
Cheryl Todd:We want to preserve the rights of people who would give their rights away in a minute, who want to reach into my personal life and take my rights away.
Cheryl Todd:I'm still fighting for your rights.
Cheryl Todd:So apathy is horrible.
Cheryl Todd:And I really wish that we could figure out what is the key to causing people to be more involved.
Cheryl Todd:Usually if they're afraid, if there's some legislation that's coming up, which right now, with the executive orders that just got handed down, and we've got one of our major political candidates out there advocating.
Cheryl Todd:Well, on one hand, she says, oh, no, I'm one of you, right?
Cheryl Todd:I own a gun.
Cheryl Todd:It's a Glock.
Cheryl Todd:Like, we believe you, right, that you own a gun.
Cheryl Todd:But then out of the other side of her mouth, she says she wants to support this executive order and do all of these things that are only going to make us less safe.
Cheryl Todd:How does that not create that atmosphere where people say, yes, my gun rights are under threat?
Cheryl Todd:And we do have so many people on the left who have come into gun ownership.
Cheryl Todd:Just because you own a gun doesn't mean you automatically understand all the responsibilities and rights that come with that.
Cheryl Todd:But at least it's a step.
Cheryl Todd:And when my husband and I had our gun shop, we felt that it was really a huge privilege for us to be able to serve people in that way.
Cheryl Todd:Not only am I helping them find the tool that fits their life and their needs the best, but I can also introduce them to not only the Arizona state constitution, but also the federal Constitution.
Cheryl Todd:And, oh, by the way, here's some business cards of some trainers, right?
Cheryl Todd:So we were doing what we could do.
Cheryl Todd:But, you know, I wish I knew the answer.
Cheryl Todd:I wish I had that magic ingredient that would say, this is what's going to cause people to wake up and realize that our Second Amendment, our state in Arizona is Article 2, Section 26.
Cheryl Todd:And instead of shall not be infringed, ours is written even a little bit more strong, and it shall not be impaired.
Cheryl Todd:Anything that is less than absolutely perfect is necessarily impaired.
Cheryl Todd:And so our founder said, shall not be impaired.
Cheryl Todd:I was just talking to Maj Ture, who's in Philadelphia.
Cheryl Todd:He was teaching a class in Arizona, and he said, In Pennsylvania, it shall not be questioned.
Cheryl Todd:I like that.
Cheryl Todd:Shall not be even questioned.
Cheryl Todd:But people have to know, they have to understand that, you know, this is a real.
Cheryl Todd:It's a real thing that our Constitution could end up being put in the shredder in many multiple ways.
Cheryl Todd:It already is culturally.
Cheryl Todd:And so I think that one of the tools that we have to create community, which is important and excitement and connectivity, is the rally that comes to Arizona or is put on in Arizona every single year.
Cheryl Todd:I've been a part of it for the past several years.
Cheryl Todd:We called it the celebrate and protect your Second Amendment, even though in Arizona it's not really the Second Amendment, but that's the shorter way.
Cheryl Todd:Celebrate your Article 2, Section 26.
Cheryl Todd:You know, that's a little bit hard, but that we've boasted thousands upon thousands of people who come together.
Cheryl Todd:And you know, one of the things I say as the MC is, you know, one of your marching orders today is to make two new friends.
Cheryl Todd:Right.
Cheryl Todd:Connect with people, get to know who your fellow firearms owner is and your fellow advocate is so that you can grow those relationships.
Cheryl Todd: e for this, the first time in: Cheryl Todd:And I believe it's called the Arizona Freedom Festival, which I love, because our gun rights do protect our freedom.
Cheryl Todd:So it's kind of the or else of everything else.
Cheryl Todd:And so I'm very excited about that, working with Synlad, Arizona State Director to Gun Owners of America, putting that on.
Cheryl Todd:And I just think it's going to be bigger and better than ever.
Kayleigh:Yes.
Kayleigh:And mark your calendars if you are in Arizona, even if you're not a resident of Arizona, you know, tourism, you know, it's peaceful, you know, especially for those people who kind of use Arizona as their tourism for freedom from states like California that have very oppressive gun laws, your neighbors on the left coast in more ways than one.
Kayleigh:Yes, that's true.
Kayleigh:But you know, please come out.
Kayleigh:It is March 1st.
Kayleigh:I believe it kicks off at 10am yes.
Kayleigh:And so, you know, come and celebrate your rights.
Kayleigh:The thing that I think is so incredible about the Second Amendment community is we still have cause for celebration every day that we're able to push for greater innovation.
Kayleigh:Every day that we're able to be gun owners is a day we're celebrating.
Kayleigh:And let's build that momentum and that celebration so that we can even better attack the issues at hand so that we can restore sections of the Second Amendment that need to be restored and defend those that need to be defended.
Kayleigh:Because this is a fight that is winnable.
Kayleigh:And for everybody who looks at the federal level and sees the pistol brace ban and all of these things, lead ammo bans and the Safer Communities act and the bipartisan gun control that just passed, with that, it's easy to get discouraged.
Kayleigh:But let's take note that now over 50% of the country has some form of constitutional or permitless carry.
Kayleigh:And we need the momentum of everyday gun owners to be able to continue that trend, to be able to fight in the courts and to be able to take the fight to the federal level and to our state level.
Kayleigh:But it all comes down to the individual.
Cheryl Todd:It does.
Kayleigh:And that is why GOA was founded and we've been a grassroots army from the beginning.
Kayleigh:And I really encourage everyone and I know we mentioned this a lot on the podcast, but if you're not dialed in, if you're not a member, if you're not members of your state groups, all of those things matter tremendously.
Kayleigh:Constantly check to make sure that your inbox isn't playing tricks and it's hiding the emails because they don't want you to see the infringements.
Kayleigh:You know, we talk about shadow banning and things like that.
Kayleigh:Education is how we're going to win and advocacy only can happen when we're well educated.
John:And I'll be there.
Cheryl Todd:Awesome.
Cheryl Todd:That's the reason to come right there.
John:Yeah, I'll be there.
Cheryl Todd:Come out and see.
Cheryl Todd:John.
John:Yeah.
John:As an Arizona state resident.
Cheryl Todd:Yes.
John:I want to say representative, but I don't represent the state as a resident.
John:I'm so excited that we are taking this over.
John:I went last year for the first time.
John:It was a blast.
John:As a new resident of the state, I had a great time.
John:I think it's a great event.
John:And if you are in the state of Arizona, go.
John:It's worth it.
John:It's a good.
Kayleigh:It's free.
Kayleigh:Free grid.
Kayleigh:It's free.
Kayleigh:It's family friendly.
Kayleigh:There'll be activities for the kiddos.
John:Food is great.
Kayleigh:Yeah.
John:The weather's better.
Cheryl Todd:The MC is kind of fun.
John:Yeah.
Kayleigh:So, absolutely.
Kayleigh:And so it's really.
Kayleigh:GOA really does a fantastic job of making sure that all of our events are family friendly.
Kayleigh:And for those that made it out to goals, they know that we've got lots of, lots of things for the kiddos and we even have some nice resources through our foundation so that you can start that training and that supplementary education at home.
Kayleigh:But it's gonna be a blast.
Kayleigh:And I highly encourage you all to mark your calendars.
Kayleigh:Now if you're traveling from like Flagstaff or someplace that's a little further away, go ahead and book your hotel.
Kayleigh:Hotel.
Kayleigh:And March is fastly approaching.
John:Go down to the Capitol, hang out.
John:Then you go drive an hour or so.
John:Go to Tortilla Flats, get yourself a great steak.
Cheryl Todd:Nice.
John:And then go to the Overlook and go see the beauty of Arizona.
John:And go.
John:Then go or stay.
Cheryl Todd:It's amazing.
Cheryl Todd:So we've traditionally we've held it the second weekend of February, which kind of tied into Arizona's birthday.
Cheryl Todd:February 14th is Arizona's birthday.
Cheryl Todd:And so that's kind of where that celebrate piece came into.
Cheryl Todd:But also when you are enacting your rights, you're celebrating them, right?
Cheryl Todd:And so moving it to March.
Cheryl Todd:This weather is still going to be gorgeous and blue skies and there's lots.
Cheryl Todd:I am not a golfer, but there's a lot of golfing.
Cheryl Todd:Sometimes in the February months we were competing with I think the pga, you know, so that'll be all done.
Cheryl Todd:So there's every reason in the world to come to Arizona.
John:Go golfing, go overlanding, go see all the cool things.
John:The Arizona, I found this out.
John:I think it's the one in Tucson.
John:Don't correct me.
John:The Arizona Museum has Sitting Bull's gun.
John:Go check out cool historical stuff.
John:Drive down the tombstone.
John:Go see cool historical stuff.
Cheryl Todd:I love our state and Ben Avery shooting range, I believe I'm quoting this correctly, is the largest outdoor shooting complex in the United States.
Cheryl Todd:So it's not far from the capital.
Cheryl Todd:So I think there's every reason to come and if you don't, you're just being apathetic.
Cheryl Todd:Don't, don't do that.
Kayleigh:Well, we are so excited and thank you so much for joining us on this podcast.
Kayleigh:Where can everyone find you, give us social links and where they can listen to your podcast.
Cheryl Todd:Thank you so much again for having me and for allowing me to kind of invite people to watch and listen.
Cheryl Todd:Gun Freedom Radio, really if you just go to our website, gunfreedomradio.com you click the on demand tab and binge listen to your heart's content.
Cheryl Todd:And this is where my co host would say darling for me and you know you can also see photos and bios and to all of the guests that we've ever had on all of the subject matter experts on the guest tab.
Cheryl Todd:And John was one.
Cheryl Todd:So you know that I've got high quality people on, on my interview based show and if you just look up Gun Freedom Radio on X, on YouTube, on Facebook, on Instagram.
Cheryl Todd:You will find our work there.
Cheryl Todd:And from there, you know, if you are interested in the Arizona Citizens Defense League, which you don't have to be a resident of the state of Arizona to join, it's azcdl.org Women for Gun Rights.
Cheryl Todd:The teal for 2A I was talking about, that is womenforgunrights.org and something we didn't get to talk about too much.
Cheryl Todd:But the work that I do with the AZCDL foundation, we are bringing Faster Saves Lives.
Cheryl Todd:It's an emergency preparedness program for schools and it is state of the art.
Cheryl Todd:It is amazing.
Cheryl Todd:Check them out at faster saves lives.org awesome.
Kayleigh:Well, thank you so much.
Kayleigh:Be sure to like, share and subscribe to this episode.
Kayleigh:If you're listening on a podcasting platform, go ahead and give us a five star review and we will see you next week.
