America Turns 250: What Every Gun Owner Should Do About It

Happy Independence Day. America just turned 250, and this Fourth of July we're doing the show a little differently: one theme, start to finish. Freedom is never guaranteed, and it doesn't defend itself.

Michael opens with the history most people never learned: how it wasn't the Tea Party or "taxation without representation" that finally lit the Revolution, but British troops marching in to confiscate arms and powder. Then we sit down with two of the most effective activists in the country, both caught up with at the NRA Annual Meeting in Houston: Top Shot champion Chris Cheng on being a gun advocate in the heart of San Francisco, and Dianna Muller of Women for Gun Rights on turning ordinary gun owners into a political force. Alisha Curtin, our own California firearms instructor, shares why the 250th hits home for a wife and mom raising the next generation of free citizens. Dakota and Sam round it out with what the Declaration really asks of us.

Chapters: 0:00 - Welcome + happy Fourth: why this episode is different, and what's on (Young Washington movie night, Massad Ayoob MAG20, Know Your Gun cleaning class) 9:28 - The history they skipped: how confiscating guns and powder, not tea, actually started the Revolution 27:24 - Chris Cheng (Top Shot): activism, the NRA's new welcome, and being a gun advocate in San Francisco's Castro 56:53 - Dakota: 250 years on, rights come from your Creator, not a king 1:13:51 - Dianna Muller (Women for Gun Rights): the NRA ARC Challenge, three-gun, and turning gun owners into activists 1:38:51 - Alisha Curtin: a Fourth-of-July reflection on the 250th, personal responsibility, and passing freedom to the next generation 1:46:24 - Sam (Stump My Nephew): a Fourth-of-July message on the Declaration, the unfinished work, and getting off the couch