Do you have a group of guys that you sit around with, and talk guns, crack jokes, and quote action movies? If so, you’ll feel right at home with the Gun Dudes podcast.
A lighthearted, actually fun approach to discussing firearms, the Gun Dudes are a group of guys that cover topics from concealed carry to IDPA shooting with a liberal helping of humor thrown in to keep the conversation interesting.
While each show will have some specific topics (also known as toe-picks), the Dudes also start each program with a bit of news that highlights citizens using firearms to defend themselves and their families. A regular segment, the Misfire Award, discusses a criminal act that stands out from the crowd due to its over-achieving level of stupidity.
The Gun Dudes podcast is a member of the Gun Rights Radio Network (GRRN), which includes a wide range of gun and shooting related podcasts.
The Gun Dudes are Carl, (Tactical) Tom, and Stan with frequent guests dropping in to add to the conversation. Though we have never met, listening to these guys is like sitting around with my own friends. It is a great program, and I highly recommend it.
Carl was kind enough to answer a few questions via e-mail about the program:
GHG: How did the Gun Dudes come into being? Why start a podcast?
Carl: I listen to around 45 to 50 different podcasts about a wide range of topics. From technology, and reading, to games, and sports. Because I am a UPS driver I am by myself 10 to 11 hours of the day and my route has only 1 business, so I NEED to be entertained. (us little fellas get lonely by ourselves, and my route is next to a mountain. No radio reception.)
At the time I was hearing nothing but negative from nearly all radio shows and I had not heard of the GRRN yet, so I started trying to find a lighthearted show that would make me laugh or at least entertain me but still talk about guns. I know the negative stuff is important because it keeps us aware, but it wears you out after a few episodes. I wasn’t able to find a show like that so I went to Tom and Stan (who are also UPS drivers, and friends), and explained my idea. I figured it would work because the way we talk to each other in real life is very similar to the way we talk on the show. (we tone it down for the show… no kidding). We love to mock one another, and poke fun. We love to quote movies and show lines to each other to see if the others can guess the show, etc…I wanted to hear a show about guns where the people made me remember how much fun shooting is. The competition with each other, the down talk about the other guns. Talk to me like my friends do.
I convinced them to try it out for 5 episodes and see how it went. They were great. Tom and Stan really do have great wits and I think all our personalities mesh well together. We had so much fun even though we sucked and know nothing about computers or radio and the feedback has (almost) always been great. We don’t make any money from the podcast and we don’t really care if we ever do, because the show has become our hobby.
GHG: What are the goals of the Gun Dudes podcast?
Carl: I guess our goal is to remind others to have fun. Negative talk wears people out. I think it makes their minds tired. We wanted to be a “break” for them. Yet still, keep them up on why it’s important (the News) the stupid criminals (Misfire Awards) and keep it light.
Our honest feeling is if someone else put out a better show and everyone else told us to quit, we would. Because then we could listen to their show while we drive our UPS trucks. That’s why we love to mention other podcasts that we listen to. They are better than us and they inform us. Especially the ones from the GRRN. They really are the shows we listen to, along with a few others. We are very simple people. We just want to be entertained while we work.
GHG: Where do you see the podcast going?
Carl: We put ourselves on iTunes in the video games and hobbies section for a reason. There are a ton of young gamers that play games with guns and they know all about the best guns to have and how to equip them, but they have never seen one. Or they are told guns are evil and “a gun will kill”. We hope they will find our podcast and be entertained enough to listen to why we love our guns, and why we need them sometimes for protection. Also, we hope to make them spray cola out their nose sometimes. We do that to each other in the UPS break room, why not to them as well.
If we go no further than that, I don’t think we did too bad. Anything further than that we don’t know. We just want to “do something” to help our hobby survive.