Gun Owners Radio

Democrats won the House and the Senate. So how bad is that for gun owners, and what can you actually do about it?

You'll learn who showed up and why, why the courts and the Supreme Court now matter more than ever, why the next two years depend on who shows up at hearings, and what the numbers say about San Diego County.

Michael Schwartz, Alisha Curtin and Dakota Adelphia go through the 2026 midterms from a Second Amendment point of view: the turnout, Texas electing a Democrat governor, Harmeet Dhillon leaving the Justice Department, Steve...

Malcolm Gladwell told Oprah the Second Amendment was written to protect slavery. Was it? The founding record says no, and this episode walks through it.

You'll learn where the right to bear arms actually came from, which states demanded it first and why, how slave patrols differed from militias, and how armed Black Americans protected their own communities through the Jim Crow era.

Michael Schwartz talks with Stephen P. Halbrook, attorney, historian and author of The Founders' Second Amendment and America's Rifle: The Case for the AR-15, a book that matters more than ever with...

A dad with a carry permit stopped the Bend, Oregon school shooting minutes after it started, and the story left the national news almost as fast. What does that say about gun-free zones, and what would it cost to protect every school?

You'll learn how the attack unfolded minute by minute, how a teacher and an armed parent ended it, and why two armed officers at every K-12 school would cost each taxpayer about $254 a year.

Michael Schwartz walks through the Silver Rail Elementary attack, which killed three children and a teacher, with Brian Hill...

The Supreme Court hears Viramontes, the assault weapons ban case, on December 2. So what does the other side actually argue? Michael plays an interview with Everytown Law's top Second Amendment litigator and answers her point by point: "weapons of war," the six appeals courts that upheld bans, history and tradition, and a common-use argument that ends up making our case for us.

Then Navy veteran Tate Adamiak, sentenced to 20 years after the ATF called his inert replicas and movie props machine guns, on the Sten replica the ATF lab rigged to fire one round, the raid with...

At a Nebraska rally, President Trump said "let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego," and Governor Newsom called him deranged and dangerous. We read the full quote line by line. Michael says it was about gas prices and the media knows it. Dakota agrees on the meaning but says he still owes San Diego an apology. You decide.

Then Lee Williams, the Second Amendment Foundation's investigative reporter, on Navy sailor Tate Adamiak. Tate was serving 20 years when Lee took his first call. Lee says he knew in two minutes Tate was innocent...

Gun control groups spent years saying the best gun data didn't count. So a Georgetown professor ran his survey again, addressed the complaints they made, and the numbers came back even worse for them. Amy Swearer of Advancing American Freedom joins us to explain what the 2026 National Firearms Survey found, what was done to the man who ran it, and why 26.4 million Americans owning an AR-15 matters to the Supreme Court in December.

Also this week: a Glock is back on the California roster, the ten gun bills Newsom just signed, what it actually costs to carry...

Dick Heller's name is on the case and he would rather you called it something else.

He gave Dakota two hours in a hotel lobby in Washington and told the parts nobody prints. The tenant who turned out to have a trunk full of guns in a city where that was a felony. The postcard sitting in an otherwise empty desk drawer. The form he talked a police officer into signing, which is the only reason he had standing at all. And the four hundred cough drops he handed out on a freezing sidewalk the night before...

Can they ban your gun? Michael drew a four question chart that walks you through it, and
question three is the one the Second Amendment community has had backwards for twenty
years. If your argument is that your AR is not a weapon of war, you have just conceded it
can be banned, because that is exactly what the Supreme Court said about short barreled
shotguns in 1939. The honest answer is better than the comfortable one.

Also this week: the man who got the $200 suppressor tax killed explains what the Texas
ruling...

If your California CCW expires in the next year, the renewal you did last time is gone. As of September 1, every renewal needs a fresh set of Live Scan fingerprints, a passport-style photo, and another $25.

Michael and Dakota walk through what AB 1078 actually changed, why the author of the bill matters more than the bill does, and the piece almost nobody has explained: the new rule runs your renewal on two separate clocks, and the one that finishes last is the one that decides when you get your permit back.

Also this week: two dozen...

The Supreme Court just took a case about assault weapon bans, and the whole fight turns
on four words from Heller: dangerous and unusual. Attorney Alan Beck, who won Wolford at
the Supreme Court, wrote an amicus brief arguing that courts have had those words
backwards for years. Unusual never meant rare. It meant carrying a weapon in a way meant
to terrify people, and the distinction goes back to English common law in 1328.

Also this week: a retired Navy SEAL says 18 year olds cannot be trusted with a firearm off
duty...

We graded every city council in San Diego County on your Second Amendment rights, a decade of record for all 18 of them, A through F. Exactly one earned an A, and the reason why goes back to the fight to get CCWs issued in San Diego at all.

Then: Indiana three gunner Adam Wilcox sits in the studio while Dakota walks him through California gun law one statute at a time, and watches his face. Plus the SDCGO voter guide is finally here, Judge Benitez joins us for dinner on September 9, and Bill from North C...

AOC now says "Woke 1 was crazy." She never said she was wrong.

This week Michael and Dakota walk through what a movement looks like on the way down:
the rebrand, the platform almost nobody reads out loud, and a DSA representative who
could not answer a simple question about who investigates a rape. Then Charlie Cook on
AMCON, San Diego County kicking ICE and Border Patrol off the sheriff's range, and Black
gun owners in Chicago charged with felonies while holding valid licenses.

00:00 Welcome: Michael and Dakota, and where Alisha...

The Army told Paul Benfield he was colorblind. That left him two job options: mortician, or truck driver.

So he enlisted as a human resources clerk instead. On purpose. Because the human resources clerk is the person who files the transfer paperwork.

Retired US Army Major Paul Benfield served 21 years, from a broke peacetime Army in 1997 to the Pentagon in 2018. He enlisted, went to war, came back, commissioned as an officer, and did it all again. He was in a hangar in Hungary on September 11th, 2001, five days after his first daughter was born. He...

Executive Order 9066 put roughly 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent behind barbed wire with the machine gun posts pointed inward. No charges, no trial. Many of the men in those camps volunteered for the US Army anyway, and the unit they formed became the most decorated in American military history for its size and length of service.

Chris Cheng spent six years researching them. He joins us to talk about his new novel, The Purple Heart Battalion, why "internment" is the wrong word, and why the president who signed that order still gets a pass. Also this week: where...

A gun shop in Fallbrook got an email offering them money to give away lockboxes to active duty military. Their first reaction was the same one you are having right now: this smells like a Moms Demand Action front. So Jason Martin and his crew did the sensible thing. They dug into it before saying yes.

What they found is a suicide prevention program called Pause to Protect, run through the University of Colorado and funded by the Department of War. A Marine walks in, shows an active duty ID, and walks out with a lockbox. No...

People keep saying the same thing about the Charlie Kirk shooting: there is no way a 30-06 rifle round leaves no exit wound, so something does not add up. Michael and Dakota take that claim apart with something most of the internet skipped over, the actual ammunition. It was a common Remington soft-point hunting round, designed to expand and stop inside the target instead of punching straight through. And there is a piece of history almost nobody remembers: Martin Luther King Jr. was killed the same way, a single 30-06, no exit wound. This is the calm, informed breakdown...

Did you know Eleanor Roosevelt carried her own revolver, and once faced down Klan death threats without Secret Service protection, telling them she would drive her own car and carry her own gun? Massad Ayoob joins Gun Owners Radio in San Diego with a history most people never learned: nearly every American president, and more than a few first ladies, was a gun owner. From Lincoln shooting Spencer rifles on the White House grounds to Eisenhower carrying a .38 in New York City, the stories keep coming.

He is also optimistic about the fight ahead. After Wolford, he...

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...

The Supreme Court just struck down the "vampire rule," and we sat down with the attorney who beat it. Alan Beck argued Wolford and won, and in a rare appearance on the show he walks us through exactly what it changes for concealed carriers.

This is the conversation you will not get anywhere else: the lawyer who took this case to the Supreme Court, in his own words. Mike and Alan break down what Wolford means for California's SB2, why it makes the fight over sensitive places and signage much easier from here, and the one thing...

Concealed Carry Magazine's executive editor Kevin Michalowski sits down with Michael and Alisha for a straight conversation most gun owners need to hear: marksmanship is the easy part. The hard part — mindset, the law, and what actually happens after you use a firearm — is where most people are undertrained. He also breaks down how everyday people are protecting their houses of worship after the Michigan church attack, and why a "safety team" beats doing nothing.

Then it's a packed news week: California's AB 1948 (your CCW could go from a 2-year to a 3-year permit), a 9-0 Supreme Cour...

Yellow flag laws, competition shooting gone off the rails, and a "Stump My Nephew" question that finally landed — Michael and Sam are coming to you from Virginia with a stacked show.

SAF's Bill Sack breaks down what "yellow flag" laws actually are and how they differ from red flag / ERPO laws. Michael Ware of the Iowa Firearms Coalition shares a 15-year grassroots playbook for winning on the Second Amendment. Then trainer Paul Markel (Student of the Gun) joins to defend his article on competition shooting, aftermarket triggers, and why reliability beats speed every time.

⏱ CHAPTERS

California picked its candidates for governor, and if you own a gun, the top of the ticket is hard to look at. But the governor's race isn't where this fight gets won — and the biggest wins on Tuesday happened a lot closer to home.

Mike and Dakota break down the full primary picture, then the episode opens up: a KPBS reporter defends a controversial mosque-attack article, Dakota digs into the data behind "mass shooting" headlines, and the 2A movement plants a flag in New England.

If you care about the Second Amendment, California gun laws, se...

What's REALLY happening inside the NRA?

NRA Board Member Anthony Colandro joins Gun Owners Radio to discuss the NRA reform movement, the ongoing battle with the NRA Foundation, Wayne LaPierre's departure, and why he believes the organization is finally moving in the right direction.

If you've been wondering what's happening behind the scenes at the NRA, this interview delivers an insider's perspective you won't hear in mainstream media.

🎯 FEATURED INTERVIEW: Anthony Colandro (Gun For Hire Radio / NRA Board of Directors)

In this conversation:

The NRA reform movement explained

...

California's governor race is shaping up to be one of the most important political battles in the country — but can a Republican actually win statewide in California anymore?

Political analyst Barry Jantz joins Gun Owners Radio to break down the hard numbers behind California voter registration, Republican turnout, independent voters, and why the GOP keeps falling short in statewide elections. The conversation dives into Steve Hilton, Chad Bianco, Eric Swalwell's collapse, Democrat strategy, and the reality behind the 2026 governor race.

Also in this episode:

13:53 California governor race math and why Republicans struggle statewide wi...

Why are major Second Amendment cases still dragging through the courts after Bruen? Adam Kraut from the Second Amendment Foundation and attorney Costas Moros break down the real status of Duncan, assault weapon bans, sensitive places litigation, California's handgun roster, and why Supreme Court "hardware cases" could reshape the future of gun rights nationwide.

The conversation also explores why lawsuits move so slowly, whether courts are deliberately delaying gun cases, the future of carry rights, DOJ and ATF policy changes, and why restoring constitutional rights is a long-term fight rather than an overnight victory.

Later...

What happens when a state attorney general pulls back the curtain on federal gun policy, ATF rulemaking, and the political fights shaping the future of gun rights? Austin Knudsen joins the conversation with a blunt look at state sovereignty, federal overreach, and why gun owners cannot afford to get complacent.

San Diego CCW fees were nearly increased, local election fights are getting serious, and California's handgun roster keeps creating unequal rules for lawful gun owners. This conversation breaks down where those fights stand and what matters most right now.

Use the SDCGO Voter Guide & Vote...

California gun owners are facing major legal changes, and the timeline matters. The deadline for Glock-pattern handgun sales under AB 1127 is now clear, and the fallout reaches far beyond one brand. Dealer inventory, private party transfers, CCW implications, and enforcement realities are changing fast.

John Dillon's analysis breaks down how California's red flag laws are being used, how temporary restraining orders can trigger CCW loss, and why getting firearms returned after legal clearance can still become a major fight.

The show also examines NRA reform, Supreme Court leak ethics, the Southern Poverty Law Center indictment...

NFA changes are finally happening, but the bigger fight is just getting started.
Jared from Guns & Gadgets breaks down what changed, why it matters, and what comes next.

Jared explains the real impact of the NFA tax reduction, why it opens the door to major legal challenges, and how incremental wins shape long-term Second Amendment strategy. The conversation expands into political realities, activism, and what gun owners should actually be paying attention to moving forward. Additional interviews cover NRA strategy, media engagement, and the continued growth of new gun owners across the country.

In...

NRA leadership details a financial turnaround and internal reset while activists, media voices, and legal efforts show where gun rights strategy is heading next. Elections, lawsuits, and grassroots coordination are all converging into a new phase of Second Amendment advocacy.

From high-level leadership decisions to on-the-ground legal fights and cultural shifts, the conversation tracks how influence is being rebuilt and why new gun owners are reshaping the landscape.

In this episode:

00:00 NRA annual meeting Houston Media Row setup and format overview
05:39 NRA leadership interview on financial recovery and organizational direction
17:06 Charlie...

San Diego officials say crime is down, but daily experience tells a different story. Reported statistics don't reflect what residents are seeing with homelessness, mental illness, and underreported incidents across the city.

A closer look at how crime is measured, what gets excluded, and why perception and reality are drifting further apart. Additional discussion covers media narratives around firearm policy, concealed carry access, and the reliability of national gun violence data.

Also in this episode:

First Aid

Glock Switches

Interview with Mark Skoglund of the Warrior's Way Podcast on...

Pam Bondi is out as Attorney General, raising serious questions about the direction of federal gun policy and how the next appointment could reshape Second Amendment enforcement. Her tenure delivered a mixed record, balancing institutional defense of federal law with moments that signaled a shift toward recognizing gun rights as civil rights.

This breaks down what her departure actually means, how to evaluate attorneys versus politicians, and why expectations for the next Attorney General should be grounded in how the job really works. Additional analysis covers military base carry policy changes, California CCW reform efforts, and how...

A California election dispute is raising serious questions about ballot counting, transparency, and public trust. A county sheriff has seized hundreds of thousands of ballots as part of an investigation into a reported vote discrepancy—triggering legal pushback and a broader debate about election oversight.

This breakdown covers what actually happened, what's being claimed, and why the response from state officials is drawing attention. The discussion also expands into training, self-defense readiness, and the evolving relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

Like, subscribe, and share to help restore the Second Ame...

Chad Bianco is running for governor. What he does on gun policy will directly drastically affect every gun owner in California.

This is a full analysis of his positions, track record, and what his leadership would actually mean for CCWs, gun laws, and enforcement across the state, based on his interview on the Warrior's Way podcast with Mark Skoglund.

Bianco's record in Riverside County is used as the baseline to evaluate what scales statewide, what changes, and what runs into legislative limits. The focus stays on execution, not rhetoric, including where policy meets reality in...

Pepper spray may be the most overlooked self-defense tool available to responsible citizens. Trainer Chuck Haggard explains why less-lethal force often prevents situations from escalating and why many defensive encounters fall into a gap where deadly force is not justified but action is still necessary.

The discussion covers de-escalation strategy, real-world threat patterns, women's defensive considerations, low-light myths, and the legal risks gun owners face after mistakes.

Join NotMeSD at one of April's educational events for Sexual Assault Awareness month: https://notmeca.org/sexual-assault-awareness-month-events/

The right to self-defense is a basic h...

Local elections are where gun policy is decided — and several San Diego races just changed in a major way.

A congressional retirement, candidates switching races, and a brand-new voter guide from San Diego County Gun Owners could reshape multiple elections this year. The conversation breaks down what changed, why it matters, and how gun owners can influence the outcome.

Gun ownership is not a spectator sport. If you care about the Second Amendment, engagement matters — locally and nationally.

Get involved: SDCGO.org

The right to self-defense is a basic human right. Gun o...

Virginia is moving a sweeping package of gun control bills that mirrors California's most restrictive laws — permit-to-purchase schemes, magazine bans, excise taxes, expanded red flag laws, under-21 prohibitions, and industry liability attacks. This is not isolated legislation. It's a coordinated anti-gun surge spreading state to state.

We break down what's happening, what it means nationally, and why culture and activism matter as much as lawsuits. Plus: a real-world defensive scenario, Glock armorer insights, California carry-at-protest legal gray areas, and two fan-favorite segments.

Gun ownership is not a spectator sport. If you care about the...

Sheriff Mark Lamb joins to explain why constitutional sheriffs matter in national politics. ICE enforcement, Congress competency, gun rights skepticism, and California's governor race are all on the table.

Plus: SB2 carry updates, defensive mindset training, local political shakeups, CCRKBA's national strategy, Stump My Nephew, and how to properly vet candidates.

Subscribe for weekly analysis on:

California gun law

National Second Amendment politics

Constitutional governance

Local election strategy

For updated CCW guidance: CCW Resource Portal - Gun Owners Radio
For Split-Second Decision Drills registration...

Steve Hilton joins the show for a blunt, unscripted confrontation over whether Republicans can actually win California—and whether attacking Chad Bianco helps or destroys that effort. What begins as a strategy discussion turns into a direct challenge over political math, character, turnout, and the future of the California GOP.

Santee Council member Rob McNellis and 2A attorney Alan Beck also join for exclusive interviews.

Sign up for the LGRGC Benefit Match & Range Day: https://gunownersradio.com/lgrgc-benefit

Register for the Deadly Force Instructor class with Massad Ayoob: https://gunownersradio.ticketspice.com...

A class action lawsuit involving Glock is raising serious questions for gun owners nationwide. Attorney Gary Gibson breaks down what the notice means, what the allegations actually claim, and how to think about your options from a legal and consumer standpoint.

The crew also covers NRA leadership addresses Friends of NRA concerns, a Packers player's airport arrest sparks a reciprocity debate, and California moves forward with SB 948's 11% firearm excise tax.

Like, subscribe, and share to help restore the Second Amendment in California! Join this channel to get access to perks:

 ht...

Fear-based gun ownership, protest politics, and a Border Patrol shooting in Minnesota collide with media spin and political hypocrisy. The discussion breaks down what actually mattered, what didn't, and how lawful carry gets distorted when it becomes politically inconvenient.

Along the way, the episode covers California election strategy, real-world consequences of protest behavior while armed, failures in federal and local coordination, and the business fallout hitting gun companies and dealers nationwide.