Episode 53
From Aircraft Mechanics to EDC Innovators: The Blue Alpha Story
Join us as we delve into the inspiring journey of Kurt from Blue Alpha Gear, a company that has revolutionized concealed carry and everyday carry (EDC) gear since its inception in 2016. Kurt shares the story of how he and his business partner transitioned from aircraft mechanics to entrepreneurs, driven by a desire to create high-quality, affordable, and customer-friendly products. The discussion highlights the importance of innovative customer service practices, such as free sizing exchanges and returns, which have fostered a loyal customer base. As the conversation unfolds, Kurt emphasizes the growing trend of off-body carry options, particularly the rise of stylish and functional fanny packs designed for concealed carry. The episode also touches on the broader implications of the Second Amendment, urging listeners to stay engaged at both local and national levels to advocate for their rights and foster a supportive community.
Join John and Kailey this week as they chat with Kurt Sills of Blue Alpha Gear about the company's garage origins, their belt designs, policies, and a new approach to concealed carry.
Learn more about Blue Alpha Gear: https://www.bluealphabelts.com/
Show Notes:
Kurt's captivating narrative about the inception of Blue Alpha Gear illustrates the entrepreneurial journey's challenges and triumphs within the concealed carry and EDC gear market. Starting as aircraft mechanics, Kurt and his partner Jesse identified a gap in the market after experiencing frustration with overpriced belts. This dissatisfaction ignited their passion, leading them to create their own high-quality concealed carry belts, which has since evolved into a successful brand renowned for its innovative products and exceptional customer service. Their hybrid EDC belt set a new standard in the industry, showcasing their commitment to solving real customer problems through thoughtful design.
During the podcast, Kurt emphasizes the importance of customer service in the firearms industry, where many companies may neglect this crucial aspect. He describes how Blue Alpha Gear’s customer-centric policies—such as free shipping and hassle-free exchanges—have fostered loyalty and repeat business. This focus on customer experience has not only distinguished their brand but has also addressed the common pitfalls in the industry, where quality can sometimes be overshadowed by profit. The discussion also highlights the collaborative spirit of the firearms community, showcasing how Kurt actively engages with other industry players and content creators, promoting a culture of support rather than competition.
As the conversation shifts towards the evolving landscape of concealed carry, Kurt shares insights into the growing acceptance of off-body carry methods, particularly fanny packs. He advocates for the practicality and comfort these options provide, especially during everyday activities like road trips. By discussing the advantages of fanny packs for concealed carry, Kurt underscores the importance of adapting to changing societal norms and preferences. His enthusiasm for innovation in concealed carry methods reflects a broader trend towards inclusivity and flexibility in the firearms community, encouraging listeners to explore diverse carrying options that suit their lifestyles. Ultimately, this episode highlights not only Kurt's personal and professional journey but also serves as a thoughtful exploration of the future of concealed carry.
Takeaways:
- Kurt and Jesse started Blue Alpha Gear in 2016, driven by a desire to improve concealed carry products like belts.
- They focused on exceptional customer service, offering free shipping, sizing exchanges, and returns to enhance customer satisfaction.
- The transition from a garage operation to a successful company involved several moves and learning experiences.
- Kurt emphasizes the importance of building relationships within the firearms industry for mutual support and growth.
- Fanny packs for concealed carry are gaining popularity, providing comfort and versatility for everyday carry.
- Kurt's experience highlights the need for community engagement and local activism to protect Second Amendment rights.
Transcript
Welcome to Geoace, state of the second podcast.
John:I'm John.
Kaylee:And I'm Kaylee.
John:And today we're joined by Kurt from Blue Alpha Gear.
John:Kurt, how are you today, my friend?
Kurt:I'm great.
Kurt:I'm great.
Kurt:Happy to be here.
Kurt:Thank you guys so much for having me on.
John:Well, we appreciate you being on.
John:Let's go ahead and start with your backstory and how Blue Alpha gear kind of evolved into this cool, awesome concealed carry EDC company.
Kurt:Yeah.
Kurt: So Blue Alpha started back in: Kurt:My business partner, Jesse and I, we were looking to start a little side business, and we worked together.
Kurt:We actually were aircraft mechanics together.
Kurt:And I was complaining to him about a belt that I had bought and that I felt like it was kind of expensive.
Kurt:And the shipping, they way overcharged for shipping.
Kurt:And there were no, like, sizing exchanges if the size was.
Kurt:Was wrong.
Kurt:And I was complaining about the fact that, like, this is considered to be one of, like, the.
Kurt:The best belts you can buy from a top name brand manufacturer.
Kurt:And so we kind of discussed that and figured out that there might be opportunity there.
Kurt:And so we bought a used sewing machine, and Jesse learned how to sew in his garage, and we made some, you know, some not great belts for a month or two while we were figuring it out, gave those to our friends, and then got kind of good at it.
Kurt:And we were able to kind of grow from the garage.
Kurt:And we did a kick starter and kind of innovated a little bit with our hybrid EDC belt, which is a concealed carry belt that has a cobra buckle, but the cobra buckle actually fits through your belt loops.
Kurt: the first to do that back in: Kurt:And we moved out of the garage, and we ended up moving five times in the first three years of our business as we grew out of every single thing that we moved into in a frustrating and hilariously fast pace.
Kurt:If I never move another sewing machine in my life, I will be a happy man.
Kurt:So, you know, a lot of the typical small business, growing pain type stuff, working two jobs and trying to make really good products, but also bringing really good customer service with it.
Kurt:And I think that's actually where we.
Kurt:Where Blue Alpha kind of built its brand was through customer service, because at the time, and it's still kind of true today when the firearms industry thrives and it was thriving at the time.
Kurt:Some companies don't.
Kurt:It seems like they're not.
Kurt:They don't have to try very hard, especially with customer service, like, when everyone's busy and times are good.
Kurt:Like, the emails get answered a little less frequently and the policies are not as customer friendly.
Kurt:So we decided to do free shipping on everything, free sizing exchanges on everything, free returns.
Kurt:And we just thought of, like, what would I want if I was a customer?
Kurt:And those are the policies that we enacted.
Kurt:And, like, even our free sizing exchange program is they fill out a form on our website, we send them a new belt with a return mailer for their original belt.
Kurt:And so the customer actually has two belts at one point, and they just take their old belt, put it in the return mailer that we sent them with their new belt, and they put it back in the mailbox and send it back.
Kurt:And it's kind of, we're trusting the customer to do, you know, to do the right thing, and they do, and it makes it so much easier for them versus, like, having to find a box, print out their own mailer, drop it off at the UPS store, all that.
Kurt:We just make it easy for them.
Kurt:So that's how we would want to be treated.
Kurt:So we try to treat our customers the same way.
Kurt:And then as we grew, we got.
Kurt:Did more stuff in the concealed carry world, but then we got into more tactical gear as well, and battle belts, duty belts, magazine pouches, tourniquet holders, and a lot of stuff that's belt related as well is what we're into now.
Kurt:And, yeah, it's been a kind of a wild ride.
Kurt:And we started with one sewing machine and I garage, and some bad ideas.
Kaylee:Seems like some fairly good ideas.
Kurt:We weren't sure at the time.
Kurt:You know, you have to do a lot of stuff wrong before you figure out how to do stuff right.
Kurt:And you just kind of got to persevere through all of the doing stuff wrong.
Kurt:But, yeah, that's the very abbreviated history of blue alpha.
Kaylee:I love this because so oftentimes the firearms industry is kind of in this constant state of, you know, make do with what you have, adapt and overcome when it comes to the accessory side.
Kaylee:And I think a lot of people are fearful of taking that first step into entrepreneurship.
Kaylee:That was a fast growing pain period.
Kaylee:I mean, if you're talking about moving five different times in three years, you basically didn't have time to negotiate your next lease by the time you were ready for the next one.
Kaylee:And so it just shows that the market wants one, it wants new stuff, it wants to be treated well.
Kaylee:And I would dare say that that's caused a ton of repeat business for you guys.
Kaylee:I don't think you have very many one and done customers with those sort of policies.
Kurt:Yeah.
Kaylee:And so that's super exciting to see.
Kurt:Yeah, yeah.
Kurt:It's, um, you know, we try to make really high quality stuff, and sometimes that doesn't help us because the stuff lasts a pretty long time.
Kurt:But those customers are so happy that they tell their friends and family about us, and that's how we grow our business, is through word of mouth.
Kurt:And then, you know, like, they love their belt so much, they got to get into a different color.
John:So now, early on, you adapted this kind of partnership mentality with the social media guys, the content creators and things like that.
John:Why did you go into those in your early.
John:I mean, I know, like Sean from, we like shooting, and a bunch of other guys just rave and talk highly of your products.
John:So what made you go into that aspect with all these different content creators right off the bat?
Kurt:So, I mean, I went after people that I thought were funny, first of all, because we have a very strong sense of humor, and then I genuinely built friendships with all of these people, and that was kind of what it was.
Kurt:I actually like these people.
Kurt:We can be friends, and then we can have this mutually beneficial friendship with content creators and.
Kurt:And in even other businesses, and we're actually really close friends with some of our direct competitors, and, you know, we talk trash to each other, and then we take each other out to eat when we're in the same town and give each other big hugs.
Kurt:And I think that, that, you know, that's the best part about being a business owner, is I get to choose who's around me, and so I get to choose who I interact with, and I I go out and I choose people that I want to be friends with.
Kurt:And there's a lot of awesome people in the firearms industry that have.
Kurt:They're really fun people to be around.
Kurt:They're hard workers, and you can create these awesome, lifelong, mutually beneficial relationships with.
Kurt:And it's kind of silly that more people don't do that because it's like everybody wins, and we all have fun and have a good time and have fun stories to tell, you know, give each other big hugs when we see each other.
Kurt:Why wouldn't you want to do that?
John:No, I can agree.
John:See, the misnomer with the firearms industry that I found is a lot of people think that there's a lot of infighting.
John:Like, oh, you work for this company, so you don't like this company.
John:But at the end of the day, we are all friends.
John:Like, and there's so much movement of personnel and things throughout the year that you just become, ending up friends with your competitors and things like that.
John:And you just, like you said, go up and give them hugs and build these relationships and hang around the people who are like minded like you and are funny to a point.
John:Depends on who you talk to.
Kurt:Yeah.
Kurt:Yeah.
Kurt:I just think it's a great way to do business, and it's made my job so much more enjoyable.
Kaylee:I definitely also feel like it's one of those situations of iron sharpens iron because you have a great relationship with your competitors, because you see where the industry is and where it's going and where the, the political winds, you know, also kind of guide, unfortunately guide the firearms industry.
Kaylee:It's allowed you guys to be a lot stronger, especially on the console carry side.
Kaylee:It wasn't very long ago that we were like, man, I can't wait until we hit 20 constitutional carry states.
Kaylee:And then now we're seeing more and more states being added until we're over 50% of the way now.
Kaylee:And you see the bills and you see people, not only are they getting permitless, Kerry, but the legislatures are going back and they're fixing the bills and making them stronger.
Kaylee:And so, you know, I'm very hopeful that we're going to see more people adopting this everyday carry mentality.
Kaylee:What would our society look like if we stopped sitting on the fence and, you know, stop being that casual gun owner who, you know, has a gun for home defense?
Kaylee:That's great.
Kaylee:But think about all of the time that you can be practicing and training and being better equipped to take care of yourself and your family.
Kaylee:And I think as we're seeing that, that tidal wave really take effect at the state and local level, it's going to impact things on the national level in a positive way, too.
Kaylee:If not in Congress, then in the courts, as they recognize more and more states becoming constitutional carry.
Kurt:Yep.
Kurt:Yeah, I agree that the sense of community amongst the firearms industry is, you know, we can display that to the firearms industry customers and try to encourage them to have that same sense of community so that we can all work together towards these shared goals that we have of, you know, of freedom and protecting the Constitution and the Second Amendment specifically.
Kurt:It's an important thing that we can all work together on.
John:No, I can agree more.
John:So with concealed carry, you know, expanding, and a lot of, first off, where you have all the states have a sort of a license that people can get in constitutional carry expanding, we're also seeing an expansion in different ways of carrying.
John:And you guys have the fanny pack, you know, what other aspects, or what's the next step in concealed carry?
John:Because a lot of people are jumping on the fanny pack stuff, the off body carry stuff, and it used to be it was all, you know, inside the waistband, then it went to appendix, and then we.
John:Now we're seeing a lot off.
John:So what's the next trend that you can see that's going to happen in that.
John:That realm?
Kurt:Well, I would say the fanny pack thing is it's still kind of in kind of its beginning stages.
Kurt:I think there's a lot more that can happen with that.
Kurt:It's.
Kurt:It's.
Kurt:I'm a big proponent of it.
Kurt:Obviously, we make one, and we made a fanny pack for concealed carry, that its main purpose was to look like a normal fanny pack for any casual observer, but it is specifically designed for concealed carry.
Kurt:So there's these.
Kurt:You get kind of the.
Kurt:There's some specific benefits that come from doing it that way, because fanny packs are becoming more and more common.
Kurt:I think that trend is still happening wherever you know, that that hybrid on body, off body carry, where it's technically off body, but it's physically attached to you, I think that's becoming more and more common.
Kurt:Whether it's just someone carrying, you know, chapstick and their cell phone to the beach or it's someone carrying a subcompact pistol.
Kurt:The beauty is that no one really knows what you're carrying in there.
Kurt:And I.
Kurt:As it becomes more and more of a common thing, it becomes less and less of a strange thing to see, and it becomes more and more normal inside the firearms industry as well.
Kurt:I think there's some major, major benefits to concealed carry in a fanny pack, that this is where I start to preach what my experience is, because I was like, oh, yeah, let's mess around with one and see whether we like it or nothing.
Kurt:A few weeks later, I was like, whoa, this is, like, this is kind of a big deal.
Kurt:So the main thing is driving, for me, road trips, especially long road trips, instead of carrying appendix inside the waistband, which is still a great option, but carrying in a fanny pack, you're effectively carrying appendix inside the waistband, functionally, but you get significantly enhanced comfort.
Kurt:And what I.
Kurt:What I think happens to a lot of people is they'll be like, I'm gonna.
Kurt:Okay, I'm gonna carry on this road trip.
Kurt:They start doing it, and then, like, an hour and a half into the road trip, they're like, and then next thing you know, it comes out, and it goes into the glove box or goes into the door panel, and then they stop for gas.
Kurt:They go into the gas station.
Kurt:They're in the bathroom in the gas station, and they're like, oh, I left my gun in my car.
Kurt:So not only did I leave my gun exposed, you know, in a spot where it shouldn't be, I left me exposed.
Kurt:In the one spot where I'm probably at the highest risk of something happening is in some gas station you've never been in before, in a place you've never been before.
Kurt:And that is, I found, significantly more preventable if you're comfortable while you're carrying, and so that fanny pack can stay on you while you're driving, and it can go into the gas station with you, and it can be transitioned from around the waist to across the body.
Kurt:Let's say if you need to sit down in the gas station.
Kurt:That is another safety issue that people tend to fall prey to, is let me set this on the toilet paper holder, and then they leave the thing that they should not leave in the gas station that they've never been to before.
Kurt:So a fanny pack, I think, is worth it just for that situation alone.
Kurt:And then people will probably find other ways to integrate it into their life, whether it is the beach or lightweight clothing.
Kurt:I've also found, because our fanny pack is thin, I.
Kurt:It doesn't stick out very far, that, like, when I have a hoodie on, my hoodie completely covers the fanny pack, and so it actually becomes functionally concealed at that point as well.
Kurt:So there's lots of little advantages and ways to use it.
Kurt:I think it is a tool for concealed carry, not the tool.
Kurt:It's not a replacement for anything else.
Kurt:And to talk about, like, what you said about what's next, I think it's just going to be an enhanced amount of options for people.
Kurt:Appendix inside the waistband.
Kurt:Like what's happened in the past ten years with holster technology and comfort, and the amount of subcompact pistols that are now available, and then the ammo capacity of those subcompact pistols that make them way more viable, and then red dots making smaller red dots for subcompact pistols, those are all great things that have happened for concealed carry.
Kurt:And I think I.
Kurt:Different methods to.
Kurt:To carry are giving people options for different scenarios is.
Kurt:Is, I think probably what's going to continue to happen.
Kurt:And I think that's great.
Kurt:I think that's great.
Kurt:As long as people practice with their gear and they know what to do and they're ready, then nothing wrong with that, yeah.
John:I started caring with a fanny pack about three, four months ago, and I love it just for the same reason you do now.
John:I get made fun of by my wife.
John:Cause she's like, why are you wearing a fanny pack?
John:You're 30 years old.
John:You should be wearing a fanny pack.
John:And I'm like, it's cool.
John:It's the hip new thing now.
John:And she's like, nineties called, they want their technology back.
John:Like, who cares?
John:It's fun.
Kurt:Yeah.
John:But I find the same thing where, you know, appendix in the car.
John:After a while, you're just like, no, I don't want to wear this anymore.
John:Then the fanny pack, I can just let it sit there and.
John:Or I'll throw it across the body when I go check the mail or anything.
John:And I think that's that.
John:It is a new aspect of kind of that on body off body carry.
John:I think that's a trend that we're going to see with other stuff.
John:I mean, there's backpacks now with holsters in it.
John:We've seen things like that.
John:But I was trying to see, like, what else would there be?
John:Because fanny packs kind of like the it thing right now.
Kurt:Yeah.
John:If there was any other, you know.
John:But you're right, the holster technology itself has just gone through the roof over the last 510 years.
Kurt:Yeah.
Kurt:I think the fashion industry, for better or worse, is going to be kind of a driver for this, because whatever becomes common and popular amongst the majority of people, the firearms industry is going to have to follow along if the goal is to blend in.
Kurt:So if you want to blend in with what everyone else is wearing, you have to find a way to adapt concealed carry to what everyone else is wearing.
Kurt:And, you know, like, yoga pants have become really popular in the past five or six years, and now there's companies dedicated to providing options for that.
Kurt:And women, concealed carrying is becoming more and more popular, which is awesome.
Kurt:And there's more and more options wherever.
Kurt:I mean, like, it's free market.
Kurt:Wherever there's demand, the firearms industry should follow and provide solutions for that demand.
Kaylee:Absolutely.
Kaylee:I'm thinking that, you know, every year or so, we.
Kaylee:We've been doing women's range days all across the country for a while now.
Kaylee:We just had our national women's range Day, which was our first full fledged concealed carry fashion show for women.
Kaylee:And it's nice to see the men start innovating this space, too.
Kurt:Yeah.
Kaylee:Because you guys have been behind us.
Kaylee:We've had fanny packs and diaper bag carry and purse carry.
Kaylee:We've had that for a while.
Kaylee:We're getting into more of the can still carry leggings and all of those sort of things.
Kaylee:And part of that's because our body type is so different.
Kaylee:Shocker.
Kaylee:At five foot tall, there's not a ton of places to conceal carry.
Kaylee:And so we've had to become very creative in our journey of can still carry.
Kaylee:And so I love seeing guys kind of get on the bandwagon for multiple different reasons.
Kaylee:One, think about the advantage that you have when you have both a husband and wife able to go to the range and share tips and tricks because they're carrying in the same manner, whether it is with a fanny pack or just off body in general, those sort of things allow us to train better, to think of situations better.
Kaylee:And, you know, one kind of helps lead the other in those ways.
Kaylee:And so I'm very excited that you guys are kind of jumping on the.
Kurt:Long time and it's time spent together with your spouse, too, which is another wonderful byproduct of it, so.
Kaylee:Absolutely.
Kurt:Yeah.
Kurt:Yeah, I think, yeah, I think the fashion industry will kind of lead the way a little bit.
Kurt:I think fanny packs are going to be around for quite a while because they're just so useful.
Kurt:And I think as people kind of understand the utility of them, they'll just continue to become more popular and they're just, it's good to have, for people to have options.
Kaylee:So you, we've talked about where the trends kind of go as far as with fashion, but when you guys look at the a market that is changing as rapidly as the second Amendment community is changing with all of the new gun owners, the demographics of gun owners changing, you know, more and more we're seeing people that are living in the cities or living in the suburbs looking at the crime and deciding for themselves that they're going to take that step of personal responsibility.
Kaylee:How do you guys communicate the necessity of your alls products to a group that doesn't fit the traditional gun owner mold?
Kurt:That's a good question.
Kurt:I think a lot of that is going to come from content creators who are putting stuff on the Internet that is searchable because there are people out there who they are interested in this, but they do not have a family member or a friend to go to to ask, hey, what should I do?
Kurt:So they're just going to have to go and type it in and try to find content that's available that'll help them.
Kurt:And thankfully, that's one of the good things that the Internet has provided is the ability for people to find information really quickly.
Kurt:Plenty of bad things, but that's one of the good things.
Kurt:And then for most people, I think it probably will come from a family member or a friend.
Kurt:I think, like, if I were to put myself in that position, which I kind of can, because there was a time in my life where I was not, you know, a gun guy.
Kurt:I was, you know, younger, and I came to a point more where I, like, was like, hey, I think I'm interested in these.
Kurt:What do you do?
Kurt:You go find the person, you know, who you think knows the most about guns, and hopefully that person actually does know good bit.
Kurt:And you go from there.
Kurt:And then the people who are more, I guess, don't have a family or history with firearms who are, like, the, you know, the person living in the city who's like, you know, I'm sick of this.
Kurt:I'm sick of feeling unsafe.
Kurt:Thankfully, the good news is I think they will be able to find content and find help.
Kurt:But, yeah, it's a community thing.
Kurt:We all have to be out there trying to help everyone out.
Kurt:As soon as someone even hints at the idea that they might be opened up to the world of the second amendment, it's our job to jump in there and try and help them figure out, like, hey, here's.
Kurt:Here's where to start.
Kurt:Here's some things not to do.
Kurt:You know, lessons that I learned the hard way and money I spent the wrong way.
Kurt:And then obviously, like, here are the organizations that are helping us, and these are the organizations that you can support, and here's how to get involved politically, even just on a local level.
Kurt:So it is our job in the firearms and Second Amendment community to be a positive influence on anyone that we can have a chance to talk to.
Kurt:And it's just a responsibility that we all have.
Kaylee:Absolutely.
Kaylee:I think that the best person that we can be when it comes to what is a gun rights activist?
Kaylee:Someone who takes personal responsibility not only in the use of their firearms, but in the defense of their right to own them.
Kaylee:Okay, great.
Kaylee:It's a lovely definition, but what does it mean in a practical sense?
Kaylee:For me, it is inviting someone to the range and just say, hey, would you like to come hang out?
Kaylee:I don't care that you haven't shot before.
Kaylee:I can teach you.
Kaylee:We can go through this at a pace that you're comfortable with.
Kaylee:If you're interested.
Kaylee:It's having conversations about policies that might not necessarily impact a non gun owner, but from a logical standpoint, they can see hey, that's probably not a great idea.
Kaylee:It's having conversations and bringing people into the fold at a speed in which they're comfortable with.
Kaylee:You are not going to save the world in one YouTube video.
Kaylee:It's just not possible.
Kurt:Yep.
Kaylee:It's going to take that personal communication that you have with the people already in your sphere of influence.
Kaylee:Cause we all watch these kind of videos and we watch all of the content creators, and we're cheering them on.
Kaylee:Right.
Kaylee:We're excited to see what they're reviewing.
Kaylee:We're excited to see what they're doing.
Kaylee:But that is probably not how we came into the Second Amendment community.
Kaylee:We most likely came into the second Amendment community.
Kaylee:Community from, hey, my uncle taught me how to hunt, or, you know, my best friend took me shooting once.
Kaylee:And so the more that we can be that on ramp for somebody else, the stronger the community becomes.
Kurt:Yeah.
Kurt:And I agree.
Kurt:And on tv, we see, you know, the two extremes of society.
Kurt:No matter where you look on tv, anything political, you just see the extremes.
Kurt:But the reality is that a lot of Americans are more centrally located, and there's a lot of people out there who, they're not necessarily anti gun.
Kurt:They just haven't been exposed to it in the proper way, and they haven't had that range day with a friend that makes them go like, oh, I see you guys are actually doing this pretty safe.
Kurt:And the amount of times I've shot with people who've never fired a gun before, and you start them off with like, a suppressed 22 pistol or a suppressed 22 bolt action gun, and like, they immediately, like, oh, like, the fear is gone.
Kurt:Like, you, as soon as you remove, like, the big concussion and the noise, like, suddenly they're like, locked in.
Kurt:They're like, oh, this is cool.
Kurt:I heard that bullet, like, hit the steel target.
Kurt:Now there's something about that that I want to do again.
Kurt:And they're comfortable, and then you can just start working their way up, and the next thing you know, they're, they're shooting ar fifteen s and they go home with an appreciation for it.
Kurt:Even if it's not something that they are going to immediately, you know, put into their life forever, they go home with appreciation and understanding for it.
Kurt:Because when they see the news saying like, well, all these people over here are bad for this reason, they'll be like, you know what?
Kurt:I hung out with one of those people, and he didn't seem that bad.
Kurt:They were, they were actually pretty safe.
Kurt:And a lot of the stuff he said made sense.
Kurt:And I had fun.
Kurt:So that's definitely a huge way that people can get involved and bring people shooting, have some fun, speak kindly to them, and people, you know, will open their ears and be more understanding and appreciative of it.
John:I think you said it best, you know, be kind and, you know, walk them through the process slowly.
John:I mean, I just taught a class a few weeks ago with a bunch of people from, I think, let's see, I.
John:Scotland, England, Jamaica, and some people from the US, and we were teaching, and a lot of them were new to this.
John:And by the end, they're the smile on their face and, like, I get this now.
John:Yeah, I get it.
Kurt:I had a guy from my church who had just moved from Africa and had never shot a gun before, and he came to one of our, like, church shooting hangouts, and I let him shoot my, like, fancy suppressed Ar 15, and he had it slung over him.
Kurt:And he's like, this is mine now.
Kurt:He's like, I like this.
Kurt:He just, like, walked around the rest of the day because he's like, this is.
Kurt:This thing is awesome.
Kurt:Uh, so he was instantly changed that day, and, uh, he'll never forget that.
John:What was the.
John:What was the driving force into you getting into the firearms?
John:Like, what was your, like, aha moment?
Kurt:Yeah.
Kurt:So, uh, I can, like, I can now look back on it and kind of see what it was.
Kurt:It starts off like, kid who likes history, kid who likes history gets access to video games, starts playing history based war video games, and next thing you know, you know, battlefields and call of Duty's come out.
Kurt:And then I got my first big boy job, and there's, like, there's this one moment where it clicked in my head, like, oh, I could buy these now.
Kurt:Like, you could just go.
Kurt:You could just go buy them.
Kurt:Like, they can't stop you.
Kurt:And, you know, I I did what most people did at that time, which is you go out and you buy a $100 mosin nagat bolt action rifle, and I cleaned it in the bathtub of the.
Kurt:All the cosmoline off of it in the bathtub of our apartment, and, like, ruined the bathtub and then refinished it.
Kurt:And it kind of, like, it was an obsession from there, because every cool piece of, like, military history, like, I'm like, I can.
Kurt:I can buy one of those.
Kurt:I can buy one of those.
Kurt:I can have this collection of all these things that, like, it's the real thing.
Kurt:It's not a fake.
Kurt:It's not in a video game.
Kurt:It's the real thing.
Kurt:And then it just.
Kurt:It went from there, and then it was like, okay, now I actually should, like, get good at, like, shooting stuff.
Kurt:And then you get into concealed carry and.
Kurt:Yeah, the rest is history, where it becomes all encompassing and something that I was.
Kurt:Been wildly passionate about for a long time.
John:So I wasn't the only one who ruined a bathtub with my mos in a gun.
John:Okay, good one.
John:Who did the same thing in my apartment.
Kurt:I think it's a tale as old as time at this point.
John:So you've gotten to go, I've seen you at the iv 88 shoot.
John:You've gone to all these shoots.
John:What is the bucket list that you haven't shot yet?
John:Or what have you shot that was on the bucket list at these shoots?
John:And you're just like, okay, cool.
John:I've got this.
John:This driving factor.
Kurt:Uh, so I would say a mini gun, a 134, is.
Kurt:Is something that I haven't shot yet.
Kurt:So, I mean, that's.
Kurt:That's on the to do list.
Kurt:But I will say last summer, I'm friends with Kyle from.
Kurt:From KGM.
Kurt:They are a suppressor company based out of.
Kurt:Out of Atlanta.
Kurt:We had Kyle at our range to film a video for the Blue Alpha YouTube channel.
Kurt:And Kyle has a m 250 cal machine gun that has a suppressor on it.
Kurt:And it's not just like a novelty item.
Kurt:Like, this is an actual product that governments are going to be using to suppress their 50 cals, whether they're an aviation based 50 cal, like, out.
Kurt:I think occasionally they get used on.
Kurt:On helicopters, but also on other vehicles.
Kurt:And, you know, the main purpose of this suppressed 50 cal is because a lot of times the guy shooting the gun is slightly behind the driver and, you know, co driver or whatever vehicle they're in.
Kurt:And so there's these huge concussion issues that happen in the military because, you know, unsuppressed fifties.
Kurt:Like, even if there's metal between you, like, you're in a hummer, like, the metal is not thick enough to keep you from getting.
Kurt:Potentially getting tbis and all kinds of bad stuff happening.
Kurt:So that's the intent.
Kurt:And I think it's a really cool thing.
Kurt:But shooting it, well, that was.
Kurt:So Kyle brought in some armor piercing incendiary tracers is what we were shooting.
Kurt:And we actually took this 50 cal, and we had a Kia Sorento that we turned into an El Camino by cutting the roof off of it behind the passenger and driver's seat.
Kurt:And then we mounted it rear facing like a technical.
Kurt:So we made a Kia technical.
Kurt:And so we had the suppress 50 sticking out the back of a Kia and shooting that.
Kurt:Shooting tracer 50 cals suppress out of the back of the Kia.
Kurt:Technical is, I guess it's a high point of my life, as it would be for most people.
Kurt:What?
Kurt:Really good time.
Kurt:There's a video on our YouTube channel of us shooting that and the blue Alpha YouTube channel.
Kurt:It's worth a watch, but that's my highlight so far.
John:If that doesn't scream freedom.
Kurt:Yeah.
John:And just.
Kurt:Yeah, yeah.
John:Now I want to shoot a 50 cal out of a Kia.
John:Can we rate this?
Kurt:This is America, man.
Kurt:Nothing stopping you.
Kurt:I want you to.
Kurt:I want you to achieve that dream.
Kaylee:I mean, that's awesome.
John:I have really big dreams now.
John:You've just added one that I didn't think was a thing.
Kurt:Yeah.
John:Now I want to do this.
Kurt:Yep.
John:Kaylee, you're in, right?
Kaylee:I mean, that's a lifetime.
Kurt:Take turns driving and shooting.
Kaylee:That's awesome.
Kaylee:I mean, that's really something.
Kurt:Yep.
Kaylee:I know that we've talked about the, you know, the high points of the shooting world that you've had to experience, but you're also an activist in your own right when it comes to advocating for the second amendment.
Kaylee:Kind of walk us through that journey briefly and where it's landed you at different points of your career.
Kurt:Yeah.
Kurt:So, you know, you start off being interested in something, and then, you know, if you have a freedom mindset, you don't.
Kurt:It doesn't take very long until you run into the government.
Kurt:And the government, you know, they tend to cause.
Kurt:Cause issues for people who believe in the second Amendment at times.
Kurt:And I became more and more passionate about that.
Kurt:The more and more you kind of.
Kurt:You deal with that, the more you're like, you know what?
Kurt:This stuff does need to change.
Kurt:Someone needs to do something about that.
Kurt:How do we.
Kurt:How do we fix this?
Kurt:And a few years ago, we were actually, we were going to be at the NRA convention, and the NRA had basically, I think this was the.
Kurt:This might have been the bump stock ban or something.
Kurt:It was something regarding that, where they had made some decisions, where they were not doing what I would have wanted them to do in regards to protecting the Second Amendment.
Kurt:And what we did is we decided that we were going to not go to the trade show, and we were going to take the rest of our deposit and donate it to another gun rights organization.
Kurt:And the media caught wind of that.
Kurt:And so then it.
Kurt:This is part I was not expecting.
Kurt:We ended up getting contacted by the Wall Street Journal, and we ended up being on the page three of the Wall Street Journal.
Kurt: is January of late January of: Kurt:We want that organization to follow through and actually protect our gun rights.
Kurt:It was kind of.
Kurt:I wasn't expecting to end up on, like, the picture of me half page Wall Street Journal, but it goes to show that standing up for something, and, you know, it wasn't, the intention wasn't self promotion, but it was trying to encourage other companies to kind of participate in holding people accountable.
Kurt:And it goes to show that, like, when you hold people accountable, like, you can actually make something happen, you can get the word out a little more.
Kurt:And we were, thankfully, had a lot of support behind us during that time and have since.
Kurt:We participate, not super overtly, all the time in the Second Amendment stuff, but we definitely participate in pro second amendment activities.
Kurt:And we're very constitutionalist as a business.
Kurt:Like, we believe in freedom of speech.
Kurt:We believe in the Second Amendment.
Kurt:We want people to be free people who are peaceable.
Kurt:They should be allowed to do whatever they want to protect their.
Kurt:Their families, their friends, their communities.
Kurt:And, you know, if need be, to be able to do whatever it takes to change the government.
Kurt:I believe that that's what the Second Amendment is for, so it is not for deer hunting.
Kurt:And I think we all need to make sure people know that.
Kaylee:Absolutely.
Kaylee:I could not agree with you more.
Kaylee:And I think it's important that we all remember that this isn't a radical ideology.
Kaylee:Right.
Kaylee:This is something that is common sense.
Kaylee:It is enshrined and protected in our constitution that we have not only our second amendment rights, but we have these rights that were not granted to us by the government, but our founders put in place in the constitution because they were like, hey, you know, we're gonna.
Kaylee:We're gonna really lay this out in a very clear fashion, because we don't want to see what happens in other countries happen to us.
Kaylee:We don't want you to be subjects.
Kaylee:We want you to be free people.
Kaylee:And those are qualities that make America unique and allow us to be able to protect and defend our constitutionally protected rights so that we're not the last generation to enjoy those freedoms, but that we can continue to pass those down and hopefully restore those that have been weakened over the years by a political class that would rather us nothing have the liberties.
Kurt:And, you know, since the Internet and people's ability to communicate over greater distances more regularly, it's kind of been a fantastic thing for the Second Amendment and the First Amendment, because it's given a chance for people to see where it goes wrong and see where it goes right.
Kurt:But also all these ideas are exchanged.
Kurt:And I think what I'm excited to see is that there's a lot of youth that are very interested in the Second Amendment.
Kurt:And I think that they understand, like, the specifics of what it is, what it is intended.
Kurt:They've had plenty of time to argue about it on the Internet and dial in what, what their true beliefs are.
Kurt:I have hope for the future because of that.
Kurt:I think it's an important thing that we need to keep, keep communicating about and we need to stay involved, and staying involved could mean many, many different things.
Kurt:And one of the things that I usually kind of passionately preach about to people is that I think people need to stay involved locally as well.
Kurt:I think the Internet, media, we tend to always go to the top, and all of our solutions and all of our problems are all at the top.
Kurt:But I believe that the reality is, in your day to day life, the best bang for your buck is going to be staying involved on a local level in your community, in your county, your city.
Kurt:And I think the most important one is probably your sheriff.
Kurt:I think sheriffs are underappreciated in their ability to change your quality of life directly because they're an elected official.
Kurt:You as the community get to decide who that person is, what's important to them and how they behave.
Kurt:And you can actually have a dramatic influence locally because a lot of people don't bother locally.
Kurt:So, for example, our county has 150,000 people in it.
Kurt:And when there's an election on a county level for sheriff, only like seven to 10,000 people vote in it.
Kurt:Well, you have an enhanced ability to have an influence there.
Kurt:Also, if you are in, there's a, there's a good chance that in your county you can actually talk to your sheriff.
Kurt:You might even be able to have lunch with him.
Kurt:And, you know, you're not going to be able to have that much influence all the way at the top that you can at a local level.
Kurt:So I've had talks with our sheriff.
Kurt:I've had lunch with him, and we've talked Second Amendment.
Kurt:And we are actually now Mark County, Coweda county in Georgia that blue Alpha is based in is now a second amendment sanctuary county.
Kurt:And he's made it known that he will not be enforcing new federal gun laws in our county.
Kurt:And it is the kind of this umbrella that can help protect our community.
Kurt:And we can all, as a community, both support him in that decision.
Kurt:So that even if, you know, some weird stuff happens federally, we can still fight it on a federal level, but it is less likely to trickle down to us personally.
Kurt:And so I would encourage people to stay involved federally and at a state level, but do not forget to get involved at a local community level.
Kurt:I think it's an important thing.
Kaylee:Yeah, I think that that's a key piece that a lot of people forget.
Kaylee:You know, we tend to have a very short memory bank.
Kaylee:And so if we go back and we look at, you know, when the ground swell of constitutional carry states started happening and when the push back to a lot of the just overwhelming gun controls started happening, it was the say so's the second amendment sanctuary ordinances that started in Virginia and we've been pushing them all across the country, but it started in Virginia as a result to the massive amount of gun control that was trying to be enforced there.
Kaylee:And it caught on like wildfire.
Kaylee:And then we started pushing it throughout the entire us.
Kaylee:Well, it wasn't very long that not only did we start seeing those say so's take the country by storm, but it showed state legislatures all across the country that people want action on the second amendment.
Kaylee:They want constitutional carry.
Kaylee:And so it's a stepping stone.
Kaylee:And I completely agree with you.
Kaylee:And I want everyone to encourage each other to, hey, let's go to a county commission meeting.
Kaylee:Let's go talk to the sheriff.
Kaylee:Let's see what we can do on a local level, whether that's passing an ordinance, whether that's renewing, if yours had a sunset like those sort of things require grassroots involvement and individuals to take a sacrifice of time to not only secure the second amendment, but in many cases allow a very clear, a very clear line in the sand to be drawn that says, hey, we are going to protect our constitutionally protected rights.
Kaylee:Kurt, thank you so much for joining us.
Kaylee:Tell everyone where to find you on social media, on the web, all of the things that they need to know to connect to you guys.
Kurt:Yeah, thank you guys for having me on.
Kurt:This is fun and important stuff to talk about.
Kurt:They can find blue alpha@bluealphabelts.com and then Facebook and Blue Alpha on Instagram and a few other places.
Kurt:Come check us out.
Kurt:We've got a lot of cool stuff to help equip people who are interested in the second amendment.
Kaylee:Awesome.
Kaylee:Thank you again so much for joining us.
Kaylee:If you like this episode, please feel free to, like, share and subscribe.
Kaylee:Leave a comment down below and if you are listening on a podcasting platform, please give us a five star review and we will see you next week.
Kaylee:Bye, guys.
