On this episode of Firebrand Live, host Brandon stirs the pot with a report from CNN's John Avloneweek and an interview with Chris Smith of Gulf Coast Guns about gun control and the deep state's campaign to smear Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-GA) as a "domestic terrorist" and an "extremist." They also discuss how big tech and big media influence the way we think about guns, what we see on social media, and how the Deep State is trying to delegitimize the MAGA movement. Firebrand is produced by Brandon and the crew at The Firebrand Project, a production of Native Creative Podcasts. Please consider pledging a small monthly support by clicking the link below and we'll get you an ad-free version of the show on your favorite streaming platform. Thank you! -Brandon and the Firebrand crew and Brandon's new book, "Out of the Box" is out now! If you like what you hear, please HIT SUBSCRIBE and tell a friend about this podcast and/or share it on your social media platforms. We'll be looking out for the next episode of "Out Of The Box" on Tuesday, February 20th! - Brandon and Brandon are working on a new podcast called "Out From the Box". Subscribe to our new podcast, Firebrand: The Podcast! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts! Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Download MP3" Subscribe on Podcoin.fm Connect with a podcast you get 20% off the best listening experience, unlimited access to Brandon's newest episode on the newest episode, unlimited ad-only podcast on the future episodes, and more! FREE Training & access to the latest releases, unlimited personalized training courses, unlimited personal development opportunities, and access to all the latest podcasts on the best vlogs, social media perks, and so much more. FREE PROMETTEURED WORLDWEEPS, including personal training and more. FREE MONEY, PODCAST, including VIP membership, and much more! Subscribe to Brandon s newest episodes, plus a chance to compete against other VIP memberships, worldwide FREE SHIPPY, TO BUYEROS, AVAILABLE worldwide Learn more than 40 other ways to access the best deals on the most powerful podcast in the world, FREE PRODUCED WORLD AND MORE! FREE PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTERS worldwide!
00:04:56.000Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.
00:05:03.000Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem in the Democratic Party.
00:05:06.000He can cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.
00:05:09.000So we're going to keep running the stories to get hurt again.
00:05:12.000If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer, if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots!
00:05:49.000We are in 1721 in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. And I will leave this report and go right to the floor of the House of Representatives voting against the procedural mechanism that allows Democrats to bring their gun control bills to the floor.
00:06:06.000And then I will be debating against those gun control bills, measures that Have the federal government literally regulating your gun locker that raised the age to purchase certain firearms that sort of create this ghost gun regulatory structure that makes no sense.
00:06:24.000And later on in Firebrand, I have an explosive interview with Chris Smith of Gulf Coast Guns.
00:06:32.000And what you're really going to see there is an attack on...
00:06:37.000The arguments we see from the left about red flag laws, that people can just walk into a gun shop and buy a gun in five minutes with no review over how dangerous they may be.
00:06:49.000And I think we're also going to have a real discussion about the ways that big tech and big media influence how we think about guns, what we see, the commercial activity The viewpoint discrimination.
00:07:03.000We're going to get into all of it with Chris Smith of Gulf Coast Guns in just a moment.
00:07:08.000But first, it's very important you understand that the national security apparatus puts out a series of terrorism bulletins.
00:07:18.000And traditionally, those gave us information about the entities abroad that might want to radicalize people in our country, might want to do harm to our country.
00:07:28.000But as you'll see in this report from CNN's Whitney Wild, who's their national security correspondent, it's starting to take a turn.
00:07:36.000And I want you to wonder, as you're watching this, how long until Joe Biden and the people in his government think that you are a domestic extremist?
00:07:48.000One part of the bulletin reads, threat actors have recently mobilized to violence due to factors such as personal grievances, reactions to current events, and adherence to violent extremist ideologies, including racially or ethnically motivated or anti-government, anti-authority violent extremism.
00:08:06.000This is the sixth time since January 6, 2021, that DHS has issued this terrorism bulletin that makes very clear that the terrorism threat comes from within the United States.
00:08:19.000John, a year and a half ago, before that event ever happened, these advisories focused on terrorism that originated from foreign groups or people beyond the U.S., Who were seeking to use foreign influence to inspire radicalism here in the United States.
00:08:34.000And again, it's just this stark warning that right now we are in this heightened threat environment that really hasn't changed that much since January 6th, 2021. This is now the whole game for them.
00:08:52.000And everything they do to keep people locked up who shouldn't be locked up, to use these exquisite Anti-terrorism authorities against our people.
00:09:01.000It's all to maintain this construct of fear.
00:09:05.000People ask me all the time why there's still folks locked up in the D.C. jail over the January 6th attack who might be facing minor charges.
00:09:13.000And the answer is, they have to make you believe that Some coup could just emerge and erupt at any moment, and that's what justifies their tracking of the MAGA political movement, their targeting of people like Peter Navarro who, I mean, are you sleeping any better because an economist was hauled off in shackles?
00:09:35.000Just totally, totally unacceptable abuses of government power.
00:09:40.000But what you just saw there I think gives you the signal that they're going to try to label any group that poses a threat to the prevailing thinking of the regime as somehow an extremist group, a terrorist group.
00:09:56.000We are now in a true zenith of whistleblowers in some of these various agencies who do not like the fact that they're becoming too political.
00:10:07.000There are a lot of good people who sign up to serve in our federal government who don't want the law enforcement, national security, intelligence community to just be an apparatus, an enforcement wing of the political left.
00:10:22.000They want those entities to Not to be deconstructed or demolished, but to be used for their true purpose.
00:10:28.000And it is typical that we will get occasional whistleblowers in the Congress who will bring information forward to us, but we right now are seeing so many of them.
00:10:38.000I covered on Firebrand earlier the whistleblower who gave us the information that allowed us to subsequently confirm that The FBI is operating a secret workspace inside the law firm of the Democratic Party.
00:10:53.000And we're still figuring out what political dirt moved through those channels and ended up being an attack on the presidency, on Donald Trump, and on the tens of millions of Americans who voted for him multiple times.
00:11:06.000But now We have whistleblowers who are alleging even more serious uses of politics as a potential purge.
00:11:16.000Take a listen to Jim Jordan breaking the news on Laura Ingraham's program on Fox News last evening.
00:11:23.000Now, this specific FBI employee I mentioned, what can you tell us more about him or her?
00:11:33.000Decorated Iraqi war veteran being run out of the FBI. His allegiance to the country is being questioned because he had the gall to say something that offended the FBI leadership about the January 6th investigation.
00:11:47.000The other one is also having the same thing happen to them Simply because on an anonymous questionnaire, they said something that the leadership disagreed with them about January 6th.
00:11:57.000And I would point out, Laura, that we now have had six agents come forward as whistleblowers.
00:12:03.000Two on the school board's narrative, on the school board's issue, and four now regarding January 6th.
00:12:10.000That is a concern to us, but we've had literally half a dozen FBI agents come to our committee.
00:12:18.000Effective congressional oversight requires that when people see corrupt, politically motivated activity that's not proper in our agencies, that they report that activity.
00:12:29.000And Jim Jordan and I, we take incredibly seriously The trust that's been placed in us by those who have already come forward.
00:12:39.000And if there are others, we will be here to receive your story, to evaluate it, and to certainly see that we ask the tough questions that are necessary so that we do not fall into a tyranny in this country.
00:12:51.000There is really important protection against that tyranny, and it's our Second Amendment.
00:12:57.000A lot of people misconstrue the Second Amendment, and in Northwest Florida, we fundamentally understand what it is about.
00:13:04.000One of our most successful gun shop owners is Chris Smith, who owns Gulf Coast Guns, and we spoke with him earlier about some of the challenges that customers are facing, gun owners, and even gun shop owners.
00:13:18.000The controversy that brought Chris to our office originally dealt with advertising.
00:13:23.000He had submitted a couple of television ads to be run on a local news station, and they rejected these ads.
00:13:30.000Take a look at one of them right here.
00:13:33.000Are you tired of going into FUD stores and asking some disgruntled associate for permission just to look at their firearms?
00:14:15.000Biden just called gun dealers merchants of death.
00:14:17.000Well, if you believe the dumbest president in U.S. history, that makes me the biggest M.O.D. in the Florida Panhandle.
00:14:23.000Hi, I'm Chris Smith, owner of Gulf Coast Gun.
00:14:26.000And if you believe it's up to ourselves to ensure the safety of our families and that the Second Amendment is there to protect us against tyranny, you should come check us out.
00:14:33.000With the largest selection of firearms and ammo in the Panhandle, we believe it's not only our right to own guns, but also our duty as Americans.
00:15:30.000We also service Pensacola as well, Fort Walton, Navarre, Gulf Breeze and This is a strong community, and if you have an issue in this community, these people will get behind you.
00:15:43.000We have a lot of volunteers that do a lot of community service around here, and I can't stress how much this community in this area will get behind local business owners, local people, and just anyone in the community.
00:16:00.000I bet you got a lot of current and former military, probably a lot of current and former law enforcement too, right?
00:16:29.000Officers as well and this is one of the best communities I've ever been in.
00:16:34.000And you know I think there's a lot of folks who might be familiar with Northwest Florida who don't understand that for a lot of military and law enforcement getting some firearms and going out for some Hunting, sports shooting, that's a great way to blow off steam.
00:16:49.000Do you ever hear stories about how your customers are able to have a firearms experience that helps their mental health, that helps them recreate and just do the things that we enjoy as Americans?
00:17:02.000That's why we have repeat customers selling ammunition and buying more firearms.
00:17:08.000If you've never went out and shot For your mental stability, shooting sports is one of the best ways to relieve stress.
00:17:20.000It's a lot of fun, and as long as you're doing it in a safe manner, in my opinion, there's nothing else out there that makes you feel as good as going out and target shooting.
00:18:02.000For folks who might be familiar, walk us through what a gun purchase looks like in your store, the background check you run, the different government agencies that you have to be responsive to for reporting and the like.
00:18:15.000One of the highest regulated industries in the world.
00:18:22.000If you come in to purchase a firearm, first off, you pick out your firearm.
00:18:26.000And then we start on a background check with a 4473. So they take a 4473, they fill out the form, and we put this background check into a system.
00:18:36.000In the state of Florida, it goes to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
00:18:41.000Now, they use the FBI NICS system as well, which is a national system that's used by a Every state in the United States, but they use that system to help them get the background checks done.
00:18:59.000Now, in the state of Florida, there are a few more regulations than there are in a lot of other states.
00:19:06.000Florida has a three business day hold period if you purchase a firearm and you don't have a Florida concealed weapons permit.
00:19:14.000You still have to wait for this background check to come back.
00:19:18.000Once you wait for this background check to come back, Your waiting period starts then, and then you can come pick your firearm up after this three business day hold period.
00:19:28.000Now, if you have the concealed weapons permit, once your background check comes back, then you can leave with the firearm as soon as your background check comes back.
00:19:36.000Sometimes those background checks take a while.
00:19:40.000You know, yesterday we were seeing three, four hour waiting times on background checks.
00:19:44.000So like some of the liberal media says, you don't just...
00:19:49.000You don't just walk in to a gun store and walk right out in five minutes with a firearm.
00:20:00.000You've been serving our local military community, our veteran community, our law enforcement community.
00:20:05.000You're complying with all of these layers of regulations to meet the needs of the state, but also the needs of your customers.
00:20:13.000And you create an advertisement to As just about any business would do, whether you're selling firearms or paper clips, I guess you need advertising, right?
00:20:23.000And tell us about the challenges you've had in placing that advertising in our community.
00:20:29.000We have a big Facebook following already.
00:20:33.000I've gained that Facebook following through lots and lots of promos, through lots of giveaways, through lots of things we've done for the community.
00:20:42.000But First off, Facebook is censoring us hard now.
00:21:02.000We're spending good money on television ads.
00:21:07.000And that's been fine until recently and they shut us down on Channel 3 on Monday.
00:21:16.000So the email that I received said that they were following guidelines from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
00:21:26.000Anybody that's ever checked out this non-profit organization, this is not a federal organization, It is a non-profit.
00:21:37.000It is a far-left anti-gun lobbyist group.
00:21:41.000And the fact that they were using their guidelines for their publications is absurd.
00:21:48.000I mean, I asked them as well, why not just use the NRA or Gun Owners of America's guidelines?
00:21:57.000Because it's the same scenario, but it's a completely opposite end of the spectrum.
00:22:03.000Well, and whether it's big tech, you know, farming out the ability to give shadow banning authorities to far left-wing groups or even A local TV station.
00:22:15.000The local TV station doesn't own the airwaves.
00:22:19.000The public, the American people, own the airwaves.
00:22:22.000They simply have the right to transmit content on those airwaves in exchange for them providing the public service of being a network that people are able to access.
00:22:35.000You know, the airwaves that are owned by the public are now controlled by the Brady lobby and they get to filter what the public sees as far as advertising.
00:22:44.000Oh, I'm very upset about it, of course.
00:22:47.000You know, if you watch any of Gulf Coast Gun's Facebook spots or anything that we've done in the local community, we're very vocal about the Second Amendment.
00:22:59.000We're very vocal about the First Amendment as well.
00:23:03.000And the fact that they're censoring anything, and like you said, they don't own the airwaves.
00:23:09.000The fact that they're censoring any of us, especially when it has something to do with the Constitution, is, I mean, it's ridiculous, and we're just not going to stand for it.
00:23:30.000I mean, you guys elected me to this job after I was a lawyer, you know, and I spent a good amount of time in law school studying how you're able to discriminate against different perspectives under the First Amendment, and you're not if someone is engaged in, like, viewpoint, you know, sharing, and it's just crazy to me that they would hold this view.
00:23:53.000Have you ever experienced anything like this before where someone wouldn't take your advertisement?
00:24:41.000We're talking with Chris Smith from Gulf Coast Guns in Florida's 1st Congressional District, Milton, Florida.
00:24:46.000And, you know, businesses ought to be able to advertise, especially if they're lawful businesses complying with every regulation and And meeting the needs of a patriotic community that loves the Constitution and loves our country.
00:24:59.000And, you know, do you think that some of the messaging that we get out of Washington and the White House emboldens entities closer to home and even out in Silicon Valley to restrict what is otherwise entirely protected speech?
00:25:22.000They're taking an inch here and an inch there and it's emboldening them every step of the way.
00:25:29.000They're getting braver and braver and they're not even trying to hide it anymore.
00:25:32.000They're just straight up coming after us and they're trying to hit us in our wallets and that's why I took this action with Channel 3. I don't know if you saw Our Facebook post, but we're asking people not to watch Channel 3. If they want to pull us from there, they're trying to hit us in our wallet, so let's hit them right back where it hurts.
00:25:55.000You know, Chris, here in Washington, there's a lot of talk of red flag laws, and since I've got you here, and since I know this could affect some of your customers, I want to ask you about it.
00:26:05.000The argument we get from the left is, well, you know, When we identify someone who's problematic, we need to be able to go into a courtroom without that person present and get a judgment that allows us to go take that person's firearms away.
00:26:21.000Just as someone who's familiar with firearms, familiar with the people that are buying firearms in your store, would you want me to vote for more red flag laws in our country as your congressman?
00:26:36.000I had a customer not too long ago that's become a good friend of mine who got into a family argument.
00:26:46.000Nothing happened, no violence or anything, but one of her family members said that she was crazy and had firearms in the house.
00:26:55.000They came and confiscated her firearms in her house And now she's having to petition to get them back.
00:27:03.000I think this is going to be a part of every contentious divorce now.
00:27:08.000I think that when people are getting divorced, this is just going to be a thing that's used to create leverage for custody or alimony or whatever.
00:27:16.000And our rights shouldn't be subjected to that.
00:27:19.000In addition to the Facebook post that you made that we're going to share with our audience here, what's your strategy now?
00:27:28.000For dealing with this coordinated effort from big tech and big media to silence the existence of your law-abiding business?
00:27:37.000So, you know, we're looking at every avenue.
00:27:39.000There's other social media platforms out there that we are trying to get a following on as well.
00:28:35.000They're wanting to be reached by text message.
00:28:37.000They're wanting to be reached through email.
00:28:42.000We're just getting out there any possible way we can just to keep our name relevant because they are Making it as hard as humanly possible on us to advertise.
00:28:53.000My prediction is that this spasm into more gun control in Washington, D.C. is actually going to create a whole lot of customer interest in Northwest Florida for your business.
00:29:05.000Because I think people are going to see this and they're going to say, wait a second, are certain firearms going to just be banned capriciously?
00:29:12.000And that's what they're talking about, just banning the AR-15.
00:29:16.000You know, with Without really a whole lot of thought behind it or really an understanding of how people use AR-15s.
00:29:48.000If it looks scary, then they want to ban it.
00:29:52.000But there's no real substance to what they're trying to do.
00:29:56.000So yesterday in the House Rules Committee, one of our Republican colleagues asked Jerry Nadler, the Democrat chairman of the Judiciary Committee, pushing a lot of these gun control bills, what does the AR stand for, an AR-15?
00:30:11.000uh chairman and i don't want to put you on the spot but do you know what the ar and ar-15 stands for it's a rifle so that's not um mr massey you know what it stands for armalite is original manufacturer
00:30:29.000there's a certain arrogance that comes from a lot of these politicians from new york or california or chicago who don't really know anything about firearms and safe storage and appropriate care and appropriate training for firearms
00:30:45.000but they think that they have a right to limit use Limit advertising, limit transfers, purchases all throughout our country where really I think people appreciate the opportunity that America is special in giving the people the ability to exercise those rights.
00:31:06.000I am personally going to contact the president of Sinclair Media to talk about this matter.
00:31:12.000I am personally going to send correspondence to the FCC. There may be some violation of federal law for them just outsourcing their control over advertising review to a private entity, a lobbyist entity.
00:31:42.000And what is it about to the people who come in your store that you're able to serve?
00:31:46.000Well, the Second Amendment, Matt, says shall not be infringed.
00:31:51.000And it's been infringed every single day since they've written it.
00:31:56.000They've taken an inch here and an inch there.
00:31:59.000But the Second Amendment is to stand up against a tyrannical government.
00:32:04.000If we didn't have arms to be able to stand up against tyrannical government, eventually our government would become so tyrannical that we would just be servants to them.
00:32:16.000Without the Second Amendment, you're not going to have a First Amendment because if they take away the Second Amendment, you're going to have nothing to defend yourself against them taking away the First Amendment.
00:32:30.000It has nothing to do with keeping a gun in your home for self-defense.
00:32:37.000It was put there by our founding fathers to make sure that our government did not become tyrannical.
00:32:44.000What you just said is a clearer crystallization of the Second Amendment Than I think almost any member of the Democratic Party here in Washington, D.C. could offer.
00:32:56.000I have the smartest constituents in all of America.
00:32:59.000And the left goes crazy when I say this, like we want to hurt people, which we absolutely don't.
00:33:04.000The Second Amendment's not about self-defense.
00:33:06.000The Second Amendment is not about hunting.
00:33:08.000The Second Amendment is about curating a balance in our country where the people reserve the ability to resist tyranny.
00:33:17.000And that they maintain the means to do so.
00:33:19.000And if people don't like that, then they need to have a clear conversation about repealing the Second Amendment.
00:33:25.000If they want to repeal the Second Amendment, there's a process that they can go about and we can have that debate and discussion.
00:33:31.000And I, of course, will be against repealing the Second Amendment.
00:33:34.000But when they want to recast the Second Amendment as this moving target or this thing that is an inkblot test that everyone can stare at and see their own thing...
00:33:44.000It just totally misunderstands the point.
00:33:46.000But the Second Amendment does require access to firearms.
00:33:50.000It does require people knowing where they can go and vindicate their rights by utilizing those rights.
00:33:56.000And I'm glad that in Northwest Florida, we have places like Gulf Coast Gun.
00:34:00.000We got people like Chris Smith who are meeting that need and are following the law and who are, I would say, helping on the mental health front.
00:34:09.000You know, people are always talking about mental health up here, and I'm glad you referenced the fact that Getting outdoors, doing some shooting, enjoying a gun safely, properly, that can actually help people live better lives and relax and deal with PTSD. And so I'm very grateful to you for what you do, and I appreciate the homework you've given me today to go to work fighting for you, Chris.
00:35:23.000As I committed in my discussion with Chris, I spoke with the senior leadership at Sinclair, which is the parent company that owns WEAR Channel 3, that did not run these particular ads that I showed you earlier in the program based on their adherence to the Brady standards.
00:35:38.000And here is the feedback that I got back from Sinclair.
00:35:42.000First of all, they want to reiterate, They are pro-Constitution and they are pro-Second Amendment.
00:35:48.000They said that there are many networks, there are many news organizations, there are many cable channels that will not accept any advertising at all under any circumstance for firearms or ammunition or gun stores, even things like body armor.
00:36:08.000And frankly, that paradigm is pretty anti-American from my standpoint.
00:36:12.000They also agreed that the Brady organization should not participate in any way in the review of the content that they allow through their advertising platforms.
00:36:24.000I believe that that policy is going to change now at Sinclair Media, and I believe that Chris Smith at Gulf Coast Guns Being involved, being active, putting a story out there is one reason why this positive change is happening.
00:36:41.000And I think that when we criticize bad decisions or bad employment of the rules, we also ought to congratulate and be, I think, appropriately laudatory when people see the error of prior ways.
00:36:56.000And it is true that the Brady organization has become increasingly more of a lobbying organization, more of a political organization, more of a leftist organization now than probably they were today.
00:37:11.000And so it's good to see Sinclair make that realization.
00:37:14.000And it's my hope that with Sinclair realizing that the greater organization shouldn't be involved in the decision making, taking another look at kind of the theme and tone and context of these ads that we'll see them on TV or a version very similar to them in Northwest Florida.
00:37:33.000But I am grateful to Sinclair for seeing that this was a sort of a flaw in their Regulation on content and that that flaw is going to change.
00:37:42.000Keep in mind, Sinclair, they get called alt-right about every other day because they typically don't filter as much as some of the other organizations that own local news.
00:37:53.000I mean, in my experience with Sinclair, A lot of times they give you the microphone and what you say is what you say and that's the news that they want to report and that's a healthy thing for our democracy to not have entities like MSNBC and CNN or ABC or CBS News that...
00:38:11.000Want to act like they're neutral and unbiased, but in fact, it's quite the opposite.
00:38:17.000They are but the communications wing of the political left in many cases.
00:38:22.000The same cannot be said of Sinclair, and so I'm hopeful that we're able to get this resolved, and it sounds like there's a policy change coming.
00:38:28.000Thank you guys so much for tuning in to Firebrand.
00:38:31.000I'm going to get down to the floor, vote against this gun control, debate against this gun control, and hopefully show a brighter path ahead for America.
00:38:42.000And you know, red flag law is one of the things we're going to be talking about soon in the Congress, and I think persistently over the next few weeks.
00:38:48.000So if you've got good arguments on the red flag issue, why don't you leave that in the comments section, either on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Whatever your viewing or listening platform is of choice.