Off the Beaten Path
Join Cush and Breezy as they explore the great outdoors and the Second Amendment with a blend of culture, comedy and conversation. All while Breezy is making beats.
Off the Beaten Path
Nick Chan: Taurus, Tribe, and the Price of Entry
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What happens when a young kid from Miami with no hunting background, no gun-owning family, and no real roadmap finds his way into the firearms industry anyway? Chan's story is one of hunger, mentorship, and the kind of loyalty that doesn't ask permission. From working security at a gun show to becoming Business Development Manager at Taurus USA — this one hits different.
We sat down with Chan on the last day of SHOT Show, recorded live at the Otis booth, and the conversation went everywhere — the cultural barriers that keep people out of 2A spaces, why owning a firearm is evidence of personal responsibility, and why gatekeeping our own industry makes zero sense. Chan also gave us an early look at the TX9 series, Taurus's next move in the duty gun space.
Plus — the reunion. If you've been riding with OTBP, you already know Chan was the first brother to put us on to the hunt.
Special point special shout out to the point. Shout out to the shot.
SPEAKER_03Shout out. Hey, I want to give a shout out to everybody who's listening to this. Um, this is this is our last day here at Shot Show. This season is kicking off really damn well for us. Special shout out to Otis for opening up the booth to us so we can pass shooter's choice as well. Um, and today, yo, this episode to me is very special. Um, it's it's been in the work.
SPEAKER_01What I feel like he's being too formal again. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_03My boy Chan's from the crib, bro.
SPEAKER_02We are so keep it right. Let's keep it right, all right.
SPEAKER_03We gotta keep it a little easier.
SPEAKER_01Shout out to everyone at the crib.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, shout out to the crib, Miami, South Florida, West Palm Beach. You know where y'all are. Yeah. Uh I wanna um I wanna I'm gonna introduce Chan to this one. Chan is a brother who I met a year ago. If y'all been following two years ago, two years ago. Two years ago. If y'all been following the journey, uh, he was the first brother to introduce us to like our hunt, the hunt. And so, and that was a real powerful moment for me for the whole experience because of what it meant. And uh, this is my brother right here. Chan, thank you for being on, bro.
SPEAKER_01Applause. We need some air horns too. Come on. One time.
SPEAKER_03All right, applause over. There it goes. There it is. We can't hear the sound effects because they're there, though. They're there.
SPEAKER_02We're gonna match the intensity.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yo, Chan. So um tell us how you got into the space, bro. Let's take it back.
SPEAKER_02So it was purely by accident. Like purely by accident. I was just a young kid from Little Havana trying to make it. Yep, nobody really knows what that means, but it sounds cool. Yeah, you know, like we were.
SPEAKER_03And if you're from where we're from, you know exactly where you're trying to make it.
SPEAKER_02So I was working as a security guard at a gun show, and I was really into guns, you know, and we're in Hispanic culture for the most part, especially like Central American culture. If you've got a gun, you're typically a bad guy.
SPEAKER_03A criminal facts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, and you're in the city, like we're in Miami. It's not like you have uncles that hunt or anything like that.
SPEAKER_03Like it was just They're like, Yeah, Mom, I actually am a criminal.
SPEAKER_02No, so it it's it's kind of hard to get into the culture in the space, right? So unless you have somebody that can really bring you in, it's it's extremely difficult. So I was lucky that I had a friend who special shout out to Sagara Gear, Juan Alonso. Um, he grew up in gun culture. His father had served multiple years in the army, just uh an incredible patriot. And um, he his family kind of took me in and you know, showed me the ropes when it came to guns, actually gave me my first gig on as a security guard. No way, and because they knew that they had taught me the ropes on how to deal with firearms and stuff, they put me as the front door security guard at a gun show down in South Florida, and um I just wanted to work at a gun shop, yeah. So I ended up working part-time at almost every gun shop in Miami, just every little hour I could get behind the counter, every little piece of knowledge I could get. Like I wanted it, you know? Yeah, yeah. Eventually, um I ran into, I was working at a store called Valor USA that's no longer open, and they were doing sales with sales direct with Taurus, yeah, right? There was an individual I met there who just recently passed away, you know. Rest in peace, David Holland.
SPEAKER_03R I P.
SPEAKER_02He was a great man, and that dude, fast forward a bunch of years later, ends up seeing me in the interview room at Taurus USA back in 2018, and he walks by and he's like, Hey man, what are you doing here? And I was like, Well, I'm here on a job interview. And he's like, Why didn't you call me? And I honestly hadn't seen him in like three years, so I never even considered calling him, you know? And I was just like, Well, you know, I didn't know I had to call you. And he was like, give me one second. Leaves, comes back, and he's like, You start on Monday.
SPEAKER_03Let's go. Yo, hold on, airborne.
SPEAKER_02Bro, he ended up uh kind of giving me the ropes because he he also grew up in Miami, also grew up outside of gun culture and kind of paved his own way, but he'd seed my potential behind a gun counter, something that to this day I didn't know that there were people looking for. You know, he saw that you know I was ambitious and hungry, and I just I just wanted it. He saw that I wanted it bad, and he knew that you know I was gonna do whatever it took to make it. Yeah. So how old were you then? Like I was 22. Okay. Wow. I was 22, and honestly, like before Taurus, I again I just did every odd job you can imagine. I'd done everything from making holsters to selling and helping international sales for like$9 an hour, just excited to be there with like, you know, these foreigners that are buying stuff that you know we're gonna go to work, you know? And just again, just a hungry kid trying to make it.
SPEAKER_03Man, and that's one thing I want to emphasize because, like, man, we've stressed that the last couple seasons is that the introduction to firearms looks different for everybody. And then when you find owning a firearm is one thing, but then when you find yourself working in the firearm space, it's a completely different animal, bro. Because not only one, does everybody want to pour into you so you feel like, yo, this is my new space, I want to be here. But two, it sets your soul on fire to tell other folks, hey, y'all need to come over this way, because yo, you you have a right to bear arms. And bro, like in the city, we don't come from the the hunting culture, the backgrounds, at least not as first generation Americans, right? Like my I know somewhere down the line, maybe that's that's in our background, but here, nah, we're completely removed from it. And that's actually a conversation we just had with uh Heather from MODIS. So that's really dope how you how you stumbled your way in. How long you been with Taurus now?
SPEAKER_02I've been at Taurus for seven years now.
SPEAKER_03Let's go. Shout out, shout out my mother.
SPEAKER_02Feels like I got in there yesterday. I actually started as a customer service agent. Then I went on to manage their repairs department. From repairs, I went to engineering and product development. Um, then I was in marketing, and now I just got moved over to sales as uh as a business development manager. Yeah, let's go a ton of opportunity, a ton of growth, just an incredible company to work for. I'm not just saying that because they're sending me money, yeah, right? Yeah, yeah. Shout out Taurus.
SPEAKER_03Yo, and I want to say something uh to the listeners. There's a lot of folks in this space who own a variation of firearms outside from the company they work at. We had a powerful conversation back in Texas earlier this year where he was talking about Taurus. Everyone in the in the industry knows Taurus gets flack, right? But my brother here, man, one thing we do is stand on all ten, and he said, Man, I just didn't like it when I don't remember the name or whatever, whoever, but someone said something, not even the Taurus guy shoots a Taurus. Yo, my brother sold everything he owned and only got all Taurus stuff. And he said, you know, it was like a couple years later I was driving and I realized, damn, bro, one thing, one of the guns that has never like needed much love from me was my Taurus. And it worked flawlessly.
SPEAKER_02So, and that was a fire story because I mean the biggest thing is like for one, the the the and the barrier of entry for most people is a price point, right? Yeah, facts. And I think every American should have the ability to be able to defend themselves and not have to spend a mortgage payment to do so. Facts.
SPEAKER_03Yo, I quoted you on that last season. Yeah, like that's hold on. T Dubs! Look, he can't even see us, he just can't walk in. We all know T Dubs. Original Florida man. Because who's the one who connected us? Chan. Chan, that's right. Yeah, he's in our neck of the woods.
SPEAKER_02He'll call our boy T Dubs. That's a fact. T Dubs is awesome, but yeah, no, the that price of entry is so low. And then the the problem is you have the the individual behind the counter, and again, we're all enthusiasts, right? Yep. So if you're an enthusiast, you're gonna want the Gucci of Gucci, right? If you're a car guy, you're looking at uh, you know, supercars. Yep. You know, even if you can never have a supercar, you're looking at a supercar, even though you've got a Honda Civic you've been working on for years in your garage. Everybody wants a Rolex. Yeah, everybody wants to wear a Rolex, you know, it's things like that. So once you get into that space and you get a little bit closer, you kind of start neglecting these other things and forget what it is, right? Yeah, not everybody's trying to nerd out and make this a whole career like us. Like some people just need, you know, right.
SPEAKER_01Just an everyday carry. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So that that's one of those things like we shouldn't be the gatekeepers of our own industry, especially when drop some horns for that. No, seriously. Yeah, when it's not a privilege, it's a right, right? It's it's our second amendment. Right after you being able to say whatever you want, you can stand on all ten and say whatever you want.
SPEAKER_03While you're clutching on something, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, I love that I know I think you touched on it, like our homie Chan was able to, we're able to connect with you in Texas. Yeah, right? On a ranch with dudes that straight up the city is the furthest uh thing away from these guys. Oh, yeah, but still their everyday looks like yo, they need weapons. Yeah, they need weapons, they need they need firearms for what they do on a day-to-day basis.
SPEAKER_03And they're not the guys that are looking like, oh man, you know, this is cool. I like it, but this is the reason they're gonna put forward. Does it work? Does it run? That's it, bro.
SPEAKER_01Is this thing gonna run every day for me?
SPEAKER_03Shout out to our boys Wade, Boom Howard, Boom Howard, and off in that field over there. We missed the deer hunting. We're just waiting for we're just waiting for an invite. Look, look at the colour. I know, I know. Deer season came and waited. That's unacceptable. There's a standing invite, folks. Yeah, we'll be able to do that.
SPEAKER_02Y'all don't know it, but yeah, they just had to show up. Yeah. Yeah, that's literally all we gotta do. And here we are. They're too big and busy. They're gonna put us not. Here we go. Stray's cut. They got their podcast going too made for the little guys. They can't deer.
SPEAKER_03I'm not mad at it because uh, yo, one thing is I said this in a post. Yo, we've done it's amazing how quick you can develop a brotherhood.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we found our tribe, bro. Instantly, we found our tribe.
SPEAKER_03We clapped that that hog. Oh man. Oh, bro. Yeah, so that's where I was going. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01So, bro, that meant a lot to us. You know, I had hunted as a kid, but it had been 40 years, bro, since I've been in the outdoor, you know, actually with a rifle in my hand, waiting to kill something at three in the morning of all times. But you know, that whole experience and to see that, because I do I I have an EDC. That's really as far as my reference to a firearm, that's it. I'm not hunting every weekend, I don't have a hunting lease, you know. We don't hunt like that. So to have that perspective of, yo, this is this is awesome, bro. There's so many different uh sections, demographics of people in the firearm space, and it's cool, bro. So I just want to say, you know, like we had an amazing time. That was an amazing experience.
SPEAKER_03Also, like talking to Wade, I didn't realize why it's important to harvest boars. Here you go, bro. I saw you looking at one. Here you go, Fatty.
SPEAKER_01How long have these been in your pocket, brother? Geez, okay. I got it like an hour ago, like things are smoothie later.
SPEAKER_03Man, but Wade, Wade, oh man, you throw that bad boy. Wade was like, it's important for us to manage the hogs because they are wild, they are invasive. Yeah, because I didn't think about this. He was telling me hogs will just dig in the holes. He goes, and depending on what where what ranch you're at, if they have cattle, livestock, whatever, yo, bro, those cows will break their ankle, and then it's like it they don't come back from that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then the other thing is where he's he's managing a thousand-acre high fence ranch, right? Yeah, and we're talking about tens of thousands of dollars in a singular animal. Yeah, right?
SPEAKER_03And then wipe it out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, hundreds of these animals in there, and these pigs can bring in disease, these big pigs end up consuming food that's on there, they pay a premium for because they're growing trophy animals, you know, whether it be deer, whether it be African exotics, like that's their business down there. Sure. You know what I mean? That's his livelihood. So every time these hogs go in there, they're they're directly taking food off his table by doing so.
SPEAKER_03We had to tell that to one of our British homies because I posted the picture and he sent me a message, and our group was like, like he called me like a waffle or something like that. And I was like, I'm like, bro, there was another word in front of it, but I don't want to say it on the podcast, but um, I gave him the same explanation. I'm like, he was mate, I didn't really think about it like that. I'm like, but why would you? I was like, you take in one sided story, and you think yeah this is just about trophy hunting. Yeah, we didn't even do nothing with those pigs, right? The idea is to manage them, make sure that they don't hurt them.
SPEAKER_02It's also hard to do the association. I was talking about this with someone the other day where like um he's hidden, and they're really big on, you know, not killing stuff and like worshiping the kill and all this other stuff, and that's the other thing in the hunting community. They like to use the word harvest and all this other PG crap that they want to like, you know, try to water down what it is. Killing an animal, it's like, no, we're killing animals, dude. And are we excited we killed this animal? 100%. Are we happy we killed this animal? Also, 100%. Yeah, why? Right? Is it like, do we feel like are we bloodthirsty, right? Is that is that the the conversation? It's like, no, the fact of the matter is, I remember the first time I harvested my first deer, and I harvested my first deer when I was 23 years old, and I moved to Georgia. Shout out to my boy Chan. Yeah, I ended up spending months. I mean, I literally probably spent easily 45 to 50 days of the year, like for that hunting season in a tree, not knowing what the heck I was doing because I was just trying to kill a deer, and the only thing I had was a bow at that time. Because I had a rifle, but I was really concerned with like the laws because every state has their laws and I'm reading it. I'm kind of like, is this is this by the letter of the law, right? Especially when you grow up in the city and you hear like legal legal jargon and how it works. It's like just because it says that doesn't mean the cop wants to identify it as that, you know. Fact. So I was concerned with that. So I was like, with a bow, this is the the safest way that I could be out there. And I was pretty proficient with it. And I end up, you know, killing my first deer. And I remember the first thing I did when I saw it was like I I was like, I for it was like I was scared, I was happy, I was sad. You know, I spent probably like 15 minutes just alone sitting next to this deer, just petting it, you know, like just thinking, like, I just I just took this animal's life and I felt sad. And at the same time, I felt like this degree of excitement that I'd never felt before. Like I was like, after 45 days, like freeding my freezing my butt off and just trying and trying and spending hours just there's a discipline there, yeah. You know, and then you get this and like you're happy, like and then you feel bad about being happy because you just killed this thing, you know? And then what ends up happening is if you're a successful hunter and you're able to do it often, you end up like you're talking about the tribe, right? Where you show up and you have your friends celebrate you, yeah, and it almost becomes like like a ritual where you know I kill a deer, and the first thing I'm doing is I'm driving to AJ's mama's house, we're hanging it up in the back of the house, all the boys are there, all the youngins are there, the wives are there, you know, we're lighting the grill on fire, we're skinning this buck, we're skinning this dough, whatever it is, and we're all just like, hey, what happened? Tell me the story. Yeah, you know, I want to live this moment through you as fresh as possible. Like, I want to know how to do it. That's original social media. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it's you literally like campfire stories. Yeah, and what happens is you do that enough times, then the kill becomes directly associated to that. So, of course, you're gonna look forward to the kill every single time.
SPEAKER_03You know what I mean? Well, it's like a television.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's really like primal if you think about it. I mean, that's what I was just about to say.
SPEAKER_03Two things can be true at once. I can feel sad and be like, damn, but I can also feel like I did it, right? Because at the end of the day, yo, I'm still a human, bro. I'm not like you said, I'm not blood. Yeah, yeah. I'm not out here bloodthirsty, but I want to feel my fridge.
SPEAKER_01I wasn't sure how I was, I was honestly wasn't sure how the only thing I had ever shot in my life was a dove, really, you know? And even that's a pretty hilarious story.
SPEAKER_03Well, well, new season. I don't think Chan has ever heard this story. Please tell the story because now we're here in person.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay, okay. I hold on. Before, are you 100% sure everything you did was legal before he came to the channel?
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01He was with his pops. Yeah, shout out to my dad. Shout out pops, R. P. Tennessee Tim, R.I.P. My dad. Um, he had a hunting lease in Okeechobee, anyone from Florida. It's just, I mean, it was hunt, it was massive. I mean, you could ride on this hunting lease for hours and not reach the end of the lease. Like, it was that big. So we're out there, it's dove season. I'm amped up, bro, because I'm with my pops. You know what I'm saying? Probably eight to ten, bro. You know what I mean? Somewhere in there, right? But I'm, you know, bro, my my pops is larger than life, bro. Like, he's a freaking marksman, hunts fishes, black belt. You know, he's just like this ninja, and I'm out there like, I'm gonna do this. You know what I mean? I'm gonna show him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01And I'm like, bro, he's telling everything he's telling me, right? It's just so almost like was in slow motion. You know, I'm sitting there with my shotgun. There's kind of we're at like a tree line for anyone that doesn't hunt, you know, and he's telling me, all right, listen for the shots, because then you know there's probably something coming our way, right? So sure enough, we're there for a few minutes, blom, blom. I hear some shots in the in the distance, and all right, and I and I see some flying, boom, and I and I see one dropping. I was like, you know, I'm gonna kid bro, um, and I'm like, let's go, right? So it kind of fell right into the tree line. You know what I'm saying? We had a we had a path, and bro, I mean, I'm booking over there, you know. My stack can see my dad's like, you know, just this, and we and we like we go into this clearing and I see the dove like on the slide, not dead, and I'm like, oh my god, maybe we can save it. My dad picks up the dove and goes, and I'm like, what's he saying? He goes, going back to the truck, boy. But you know, like, so bro, that's my literal last reference of killing an animal like that. So I didn't know, bro, when we're out in Texas with you, it's three o'clock. I'm tired, bro. These guys, like, I'm I'm about to fall asleep on the couch at midnight, and they're like, all right, let's pack up and go. I'm like, where are we going? We're going again. So I wasn't sure, bro. I didn't know what to expect. And I'm, you know, bro, I hit the hog and I walked up to it, and I'm just like, I had this sense of like accomplishment, you know? And it there wasn't, it was just like, man, we put time into this, bro. We were out there for hours and doing calls and you know, looking.
SPEAKER_03Oh, wait, hold on. Outside of that, shout out to our boy AJ. Brought fish from Georgia.
SPEAKER_01Jeez, bro. Deep fried to fish. Fish fry was unreal.
SPEAKER_03Yo, yes, AJ, how come we ain't got no other fish fry set up, bro?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man. We got free.
SPEAKER_02He's like, bro, he would have done it the second you showed up for deer hunting.
SPEAKER_01There it is. I gotta ask him why he hasn't invited us to eat the dinner. I guess I'll wrap that up with man, get outside. Get outdoors, bro. Don't don't let that barrier, whatever you think that barrier is to entry.
SPEAKER_03Not only that, but make sure you love who you go with because at that point, I think we we'd known you for a little over a year.
SPEAKER_01Feels like a decade though, bro.
SPEAKER_03Bro, that that experience solidified our brotherhood. Yeah, no one can say anything to me that's gonna make me question you. No, of course. I'll rock him and I can't, I don't, I can't say what I'm gonna say. But I'll rock, I'll rock them. Like, yo, this is this is weird this table. This is my brother. Yeah, this is my brother. Uh uh ain't nothing, brother. But um, yeah, bro, that was an amazing experience. I'm so grateful to you for it because, bro, like late last year we went pheasant hunting. Remember, I texted with him about it. Yo, he was sending me pictures. He's like, Look where I'm at right now. He's in, not a blind, but he's in the tree. Like he's yeah, it's like, yo, are you there right now? He goes, right now. I'm like, yo, that's dope. Yeah. So, bro, you really opened up my eyes to a lifestyle I want to continue living, bro.
SPEAKER_02Like hunting and there's no better living, man. Like, again, I'm from the city. The the clubbing's cool, the going out, the fancy dinners, all the other stuff. That thing's cool. But it's so like, it's so um, well, what's it called?
SPEAKER_01Empty almost. It's vanity. It's no fancy. It's vanity, there's no fulfillment. Yeah, not really.
SPEAKER_02It's cool, man. Like it's like it like a piece of steak tastes better when your boy threw it off the grill and put it on your than if a chef brought a table side to you. Like, that's just one of those things. No question, man. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Drop all the sounds we got for that one.
SPEAKER_02We got no question. It's it's just one of those things. Like, you're talking about that fish fry, right? Like, there's a lot of people that say like freshwater fish are trash fish, right? It's like especially catfish. Yeah, they'll turn their noses up at it or whatever. But man, you go to South Georgia, you sit in a circle, and you're out there with your boys, you spent all night with the youngins just on any device that floats. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Hey, polyps.
SPEAKER_02Get on that plywood over there over a bait bag, just you know, hooking them and dropping them in the and then the next day, next morning, everybody's hung over because obviously, yeah, yeah, yeah. You've been hitting the bottle a bit. Of course.
SPEAKER_01There's nothing like it.
SPEAKER_02And next day, spend the whole morning filleting them, and it's like, all right, Mount Tartar, next weekend, you guys want to do that fish fry? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hell yeah, we do that. Thursday, everyone's refreshed. Like, yo, don't forget. Yeah, yeah. Fish fry Friday night, we're going to AJ's. We're gonna play darts, yeah, we're gonna play some cards, we're gonna whatever. And it's like, when was the last time you played cards with your friends? Yep, man. You know, and that's that's one of those things that like coming back to like gun industry, right? The gun culture. It's um the the biggest thing about owning a gun is it's evidence of personal responsibility.
SPEAKER_03Facts. 100%. And that's a bar, by the way. Yeah, yeah. That is a bar. Say that again.
SPEAKER_02It's evidence of personal responsibility. Personal responsibility. You've decided to take the responsibility of you being responsible for your own life and your own well-being, the well-beings of those that you love in your own hands. Yeah. And then you've taken training, you've paid money, you've decked uh dictated time to it, dedicated time to it to make sure that you can be proficient enough so you can perform when necessary, right? So you do that, and then you tie that back to once you start getting into personal responsibility, you start realizing, like, man, I don't need to check chase empty, uh empty ventures. Yeah, right. Like, I don't have anything to prove to anybody. I don't need to, you know, post up myself at doing these other things, like just things that don't really matter. Yeah, but like events like you're talking about going hunting, like AJ put me on my first deer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like we're not my first deer, but my first buck.
SPEAKER_02Put me on my first butt. And it's something that we like, especially like I loved you, you know. Like I met you and a media I knew. Like, I love this dude. I love Breezy. Like, these are good people. And I want him to be able to experience what I experience and know how amazing it is.
SPEAKER_01Man, that's one thing I love about this industry as well, bro. Yo, people wanna. We when we're pheasant hunting, yeah. Brittany, shout out to Brittany. She's like, yo, I don't even want to, I wanna, because we're like, why aren't you hunting? You know, you hunt you talk about pheasant hunting all the time. She's like, I know this is y'all's first time. It's gonna mean more to me to be with y'all for your first time a pheasant hunting.
SPEAKER_03And I'm like, I had to think about that for a minute. I was like, it's very selfless.
SPEAKER_01Wow, I was like, yo, that's that's crazy to think about. You did it in Texas, yeah. Yo, that's right, they did. Yeah, that's why I say I love that about this industry.
SPEAKER_03I don't know what you call them, but there was a pot of hogs. Yeah, and they were like, all right, man.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they're called uh sounder.
SPEAKER_03Did you want to be all scientific and whatnot? Yeah, and whatnot. So we saw a pot of sounder. No, we saw sounder, we saw sounder hogs. Boy, it was like, all right now, all right now, be quiet now. Sneak up. Y'all want to put your science on one of these things and count of three at the same time.
SPEAKER_02Yo, the adrenaline that's going when you're and also let's talk about like plug and play, right? So I'm big on tell me who you're with and I'll tell you who you are. Yeah, right. If you don't like the friends that are around you, yo, that's a fire Spanish. I was like, dude, that's a you problem. It's not your friends, it's you. Right. Right? You need to better yourself in your life. Cool thing about this industry, it kind of what's it called? Such a niche to be a gun owner. But yet so small. And then it gets even smaller when you're a hunter.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So then like you bring like-minded people around. AJ had never met Wade.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Oh, that's right. That's right. AJ had never met Wade so that's right. And they were like long-lost cousins.
SPEAKER_02AJ or Wade, you know, like, or Ethan, his cousin. We keep we called him Boomhauer the whole trip because he talks like Boomhauer and looks like Boomhauer. So I'm sorry, Ethan, for calling you Boomhauer. Shout out Ethan. Um so we bring in AJ and Wade and them, and you we're like, hey, these guys have never, you know, killed anything before. We're gonna put them on pigs first. They're gonna they're gonna work, you know, the rest of the trip. Like, let's make let's make sure we can get them on it so they can, you know, they can you guys just send it off.
SPEAKER_00All these boys are on there with you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. But you could see that you could see that they they were like they didn't have to say anything. That's it. They knew what was up.
SPEAKER_02Like AJ grabbed you and he was like, hey, let's go. And everyone's just moving in sync, right? Because his lifestyle, like, it doesn't matter if you're in South Texas or Montana, like it doesn't matter. Country boy will survive. That's what it is.
SPEAKER_01That's a fact. Oh, listen, AJ is a different animal. We I don't know if we got time to tell AJ's story.
SPEAKER_03Well, we got six about six minutes left. So, real quick, I know you're you're here in the professional capacity. This isn't like Glory, man. This is crazy.
SPEAKER_01What do y'all talk about a four-hour podcast? Like, what's uh I don't know, what are y'all dropping this year? What's going on? What are you talking about at the moment?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so new for this year, we have the TX9 series, right? Let's go. And basically, we're we're moving into a new price point. It's that over 350 price point, sub-450. It's um it's an incredible firearm. It's it's uh it's kind of like the the bigger brother of the GX4. It's a full-size frame. We're gonna have in a subcompact, compact, and full size. It's uh optic ready, it passed natal testing. It's more of a real purpose-driven duty firearm, right? Which I know is odd to say from Taurus, but like you know, we evolve. We evolved as a brand. You've seen it with the TX22, that gun just performs and runs. Yeah, you know, and as a brand, we just could want to continue growing in that space. We we keep finding that these duty guns that had served the public for so many years just every year go up a hundred dollars.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And it's like their paychecks aren't going up that fast, right? You know, like these guys are still looking for performance guns that are pretty, and it's gonna take us a little bit to like, you know, make the splash and make the name, but we're gonna do it. And y'all keep performing.
SPEAKER_03If y'all ain't familiar, just go to Instagram and type in TX22. TX22 check the virality of it because they are incredibly remote. Yeah, they're sweet, yeah. And they're fun. Shout out to our boy doll. Yeah, he makes them even funner. But yeah, you know, like it's it's dope to see Taurus' uh getting behind that TX and making it making it one step better. So shout out to Taurus.
SPEAKER_02Even recently, like with the um, how do you call it with the virality of the TX-22? It it it kind of brought us into a new space where those people that typically turn their noses up at you know, Taurus because it's an entry-level entry-level firearm, they find themselves buying TX-22s. It's and I'm not saying this because I work for the brand, even though if you work for a brand, you should, right? Stand up for your brand. The TX22 is the standard for 22 pistols in the market. Yeah, it's the best semi-auto pet for the Wade had the best on the market. Yeah, Wade had them when we went out there, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we are going crazy with that thing.
SPEAKER_03Man, I love this thing, it's fun.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it just works, it just runs.
SPEAKER_03There's nothing I can tell people about.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I again it's hard for me to say because they're like, oh, you work for Torres, so you're gonna say that. Of course. It's like, no, this this gun will outperform any other player in the market.
SPEAKER_03Well, what's cool about us is that this is the communication arm of the business. Yeah, and so a lot of the people who listen to us are a lot of first timers or newcomers. So, you know, y'all go out there, get a TX-22 and make your own opinion. Don't listen to the noise on is there some truth to everything? Of course. Yeah, but I'm one of those people who's like, I'm gonna put my money where I want, and then I'll make my own decision because hey, I think that's how it should just be. And like uh Chan said, there shouldn't be a high price point of entry, especially when it it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, your life could depend on it.
SPEAKER_02It's funny because what you're talking about when that guy told me about that me not having a Taurus, I had been working at a Taurus for two weeks. Yeah, right? I carried a Smith and West an MP9. It's a fucking it's an incredible firearm. Yep. Sorry for that. Yeah, it's an incredible firearm. But um, I'm shooting a match, and one of the guys is like, look, even the Taurus guy doesn't carry a Taurus. I felt like I'd been caught with my pants down. I was like, why don't I have a Taurus? Yeah, you know what's wrong with that? I'd had one in my car, like you said. That I'd been every time I go to range, I'd bring it out, shoot it. I neglected it, never oiled, never did it. It just ran. Did it have an incredible trigger? Absolutely not. But it was also a third of the cost of my own. And reliable. And reliable. And also, you could be a gun owner and like more than one gun. Like it's one of those things, you know?
SPEAKER_00Like how there it is.
SPEAKER_02I went and bought the G3 and I made it a point to train so I could always perform with it. So when that guy comes out with that$3,000 pistol talking smack, I burn him down. Like that's all right. Let's go shoot. Let's go run a stage.
SPEAKER_03We'll see what's up. Shout out my boy Chan. Hey, we're we're gonna wrap this up here. You know, you can't. We gotta get part two with Chan now.
SPEAKER_02You gotta bring him back.
SPEAKER_03But um, I wanna uh where can people find y'all?
SPEAKER_02Uh at Taurus USA on Instagram, Facebook. Oh, all that, yeah. Yeah, massive.
SPEAKER_03Not at all. Um, and then of course, to all of y'all listening, follow, like, subscribe, share, get send it to your mama, your daddy, your brother, your sister, let them know they gotta go outside and just uh touch grass or something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, touch them out.
SPEAKER_03We appreciate y'all listening, and we couldn't do this without y'all. And one more time, shout out to Otis.
