Can We Prevent Suicide Without Compromising the Second Amendment? | Mike Sodini

Can you advocate for the Second Amendment while also leading the conversation around mental health?

Mike Sodini believes you can—and you should.

As the founder of Walk the Talk America, Mike has spent years building bridges between the firearms community and mental health professionals without compromising constitutional rights.

In this episode of Off the Beaten Path, we discuss:

• Mental health in the firearms community
• Suicide prevention and responsible gun ownership
• Walk the Talk America's mission
• Breaking the stigma around asking for help
• Youth education through Kids to Kings
• Finding common ground without compromising the Second Amendment

This conversation isn't about politics. It's about protecting lives while preserving freedom.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

There it is. America. We are back. America. Hello, America. Today is day two. Day two. NRA 2026.

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Houston. Houston. H town.

SPEAKER_03 0:09

H Town.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

The beautiful town of Houston. Where everything goes down. And today we have an amazing guest. We actually met, was it last year at uh the Mercury?

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Yeah, the NSL leadership conference. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Uh Mike, I wouldn't introduce you, but I think the work you're doing is impactful, and I don't have enough words to sum up what you do.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

No, dude, I appreciate that, man. Thank you. Thank you. It's good to see you guys. I'm glad to see you, man. So uh I run Walk to Talk America. I started in 2018. Basically, what we do is look for innovative ways to get gunner's help, but also educate the masses about 2A culture. So there's a little bit of you know advocacy work, there's a little bit of you know getting people help when they're in crisis work. Um, and then there's also grassroots programs that we think are the key to reducing negative outcomes of firearms. Um, we're only funded by the firearms industry. We take no money from government agencies, anything like that. And um we have no enemies, which is kind of like different, right? Like, you know how everybody a lot of people hate us, right? But uh in terms of this, the two A community, but we actually don't have any natural enemies out there. Even even Brady in every town love what we do, which is I it's crazy because everything we stand on is super pro 2A and no compromise. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Well, and and man, I really have because because because your work is so meaningful, and I think a lot of people in our space stray away from this conversation, and you're like, nah, we need to address this head on. And the reason why it's so meaningful to me is because I've had mental health battles. I know Rob has everyone does. Yeah, right now my wife is a mental health professional. What what inspired you to start Walk the Talk America?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

So one of the things I noticed when I got in the industry, I got into the industry through nepotism. Like I didn't I didn't know anything about guns, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like literally nothing about guns when I got in. They were just like, you're coming to work for the family business. Like, uh, but that actually helped me. It helped me like kind of just observe like what was going on in this industry. First of all, like the people, I loved them. I fell in love immediately. And I didn't grow up hunting or shooting or anything like that. So just like the love that I got from the firearms industry um was enough for me to say like what people think about us is wrong. It's wrong, right? Like it's wrong. So um, you know, I I did notice that we did not lean into the negative outcomes of firearms, right? And it's because we knew that they was going to be used against us, right? Right. So there was a time, like in the mid-2000s, because I got in in 97 was my first shot show.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Oh wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

So it's been a minute, but there was a time when every shot show there was one less person that used to come hang out at the booth. So I noticed that suicide was a huge issue. Yeah. And then in 2009, one of my best friends who was the president of my gun company took his own life with one of our firearms. So we bury him and just kept it moving, right? And his funeral was like a who's who. Like there was no articles written about it, you know. And I noticed that that would happen a lot. Yeah. So I I it's something that stuck in my mind. But in 2018, I was having a random dinner with a stranger who was like gun neutral. She knew gun ignorant, she didn't know anything, but yeah, yeah. You know, she's asking me because there was some mass shooting that happened. She's like, What happens when a mass shooting happens? I said, Everybody blames us, yeah, we blame mental health, and nothing ever gets done. And she's like, Well, why does nothing ever get done? We start talking about that, right? Um, I said, Because we just disagree on on what will actually stop these things. And she's like, Well, what do you like? How do you work with them on the things you can agree upon? And that's what kind of started Walk Talk America. Because I was like, okay, that makes sense to me, right? Like, if it makes if it saves people's lives, it saves our customers' lives, yeah. Like, let's make it make sense. So I love go.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Yeah, go no, no, no. I just love that you thought that let like let's have the conversation and bring both sides together. And I love how you got into the industry because it's always unique to hear everyone's story on what their introduction was to the firearm industry, right? And fast forward now to what you're doing. And I just like I know this probably be a lot to unpack, but what like what was that initial conversation? Like, what was it? What was the first step to making that a reality?

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Uh well, first I did I had to find out if there was an organization like mine that existed in this you know, and there were some smaller organizations that kind of touched on suicide prevention, but there was nothing that did like everything. I wanted to solve everything. So in the beginning, you know, I was making phone calls to people that I had probably no business getting a hold of.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Like if you're like, hey, I want to learn how to play basketball, I'm just gonna call this dude Michael Jordan. Ask him about free throw. So I was getting I was getting a hold of like these really um you know high-level doctors and people in epidemiology and things like that. And I was basically saying, look, I I I want to stop mass shootings, and they kept pushing me to suicide. And um then I kind of realized what they're why, right? Because he's like finding the next mass shooter is like finding a needle in a haystack, right? You can get 10 people that have schizophrenia, a gun. I'm getting to my point too.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

No, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

I I'm just kind of taking along with you.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

Yeah, I got you.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Uh, you can have 10 people that have bipolar disorder, yeah, give them a gun, they'll never hurt anybody. Yeah, I can come home, catch my wife in bed with my best friend, yeah. Snap. Yeah, right? No mental health diagnosis ever. Right, yeah, right. So it's hard to pinpoint future violence. Sure. So it was like taking this message back here was very difficult in the beginning because we're so used to okay, all mental health and behavioral health is thinly veiled gun control.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Right? Like the whole narrative is like everything's gonna be. I had to do the very first program that I came up with was our free and anonymous mental health screenings. So we have free and anonymous mental health screenings that we put in the boxes of firearms, like Ruger does it, Arms Corps does it, Bursa does it, right? Like it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah, no, I need to give you a meetup. Yeah, you can scare them, but we we got them going on, and it's appropriate because our boy is wearing a woo-tank. We were gonna get to that thing, yeah. Chill cat.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

No, so um, I remember, you know, because I used to own a gun company, obviously. This is my family's gun company, but I became the the owner one day, and I literally walked in. I was like, I want to put these free and anonymous mental health screenings in the boxes of guns, but I didn't know what was gonna happen. So I remember having a meeting with like my employees, and I was like, look, I want to do this. I'm not sure if we're gonna get in trouble with the NRA, I'm not sure if NSSF is gonna get mad because no one or even the customer, like, wow, buying a firearm, like why are you doing that? Yeah, right, right. Or are you just sending me in down the river to the gun control?

SPEAKER_03 7:09

You know, answer this thing right, like, yeah, dude, I'm having some struggles.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Yeah, what's that look like? It was crazy because um, after about like four months, we started getting the feedback coming in, right? And people were calling the office, and they're like, Hey, I just bought a Bursa. And they're like, I saw this card in there, I just want to thank you. People were calling the office. We were not even ready for like the level of I want to talk to Bursa because Bursa's addressing this. So we had people like sharing suicide loss stories, people talking about their own personal stories. It was all positive. So after about like six months, I knew I was gonna get in trouble. I was like, all right, let's step up to the next line. And I was like walking around. I remember um Charlie Brown from High Point and uh Martin Tuas on Rest in Peace. He just recently passed away. I remember walking up and I was like, hey man, I need you guys to put this card in a box. They're like, What is it? I'm like, uh, free and anonymous mental health screenings, right? I was like, we want to keep our customers, you know, mentally right, right? Like, we we don't want to lose customers and we want to address these things. And both of them were like, Yeah, I could do that. I remember thinking, damn, it was that easy. Yeah, like all I had to do is ask, you know, and then it just started to snowball from there, right? And then all these other programs started to be developed, and you know that's awesome. Now here we are today.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

So like you guys have anything in place for like teenagers?

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, I'm glad you brought that up. We have a program called Kids the Kings, it's the first and only one of its kind, right? So it's basically a program for underprivileged, underserved communities. We bring these kids through the system and then show them firearms ownership in a healthy manner. We introduced it in a healthy manner, so they're not just getting it from video games, yeah, they're not just getting it from history or whatever it is, right? And I'm not here to judge that. Like I grew up, I grew up listening to Wu-Tang and we have conversation.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

I love this theme of our guests saying that because it's gonna happen, right? Right. I I would I grew up way different than him. He grew up, but we have similar stories of firearms in the streets, seeing our you know, I was hunting as a kid, but I still found my way into the streets and saw firearms, and no one had training or you know, it was just like that. Was a street gun. Oh man, he's got a gun. So I love that we have these conversations, super important.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

So I just wonder like just so the listeners know though, there's we're not just like, hey, let's go out and shoot. Like there's a financial, you know, literacy component to this. We actually introduce like life skills to these kids, yeah. And take them on field trips. We if you if you screw up in school or you're getting, you know, you you're you're stepping out of pocket, like you're not shooting, right? So like the yeah, that's the reward. Yeah, and last year at the NRA show, we had the kids because it was in Atlanta, our pilot programs in Atlanta. We had the kids at the NRA show, and we we're I'm taking the kid, the kids to every major manufacturer, right? I want to introduce them to the president, I want to introduce them to the engineer, I want to introduce them to any competition shooter that's walking around. Yeah, and dude, do you know how powerful it is to have these kids because let's face it, where we failed and and with minorities as a whole, it's getting a lot better. Yeah, but you know, when I first got to this industry, it it just looked like a whole white person party, right? Like it was 100%, right? Like there was no diversity at all. It's getting a lot better. But if these kids or these communities feel like they're not welcome here, we got to do something to change that, right? So having the president of Ruger, yeah, or having the lead engineer at Bursa, who's talking to one of the kids with an engineering mind, saying, You could come work here one day, or you could be the next gun shop owner in your community, or you could be the next firearms instructor, or you want to be a competition shooter, right? That's impactful and it's inviting, and it's like where we need to start with the industry so the shooting sports don't die out. Yeah, right. Like that's it. Let's let's go find different demographics. Um, let's let's keep our customers healthy, let's get them started at a young age so they're not doing dumb stuff with a firearm.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Like that was me. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

Right, but like put yourself in the shoes of the kids, you know, if you have been exposed to that in a different manner, yeah, you know, like normal.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

The reason I asked that is because when I was 12 or 13, I know uh school shootings are more highlighted now, right, to highlight the negativity of guns, but when I was 12 or 13, my group of friends, we were directly impacted because there was one of our homies got killed on on the school campus, and I don't ever remember there being any mental health services like once it happened. And then on top of that, we are inner city youth, so it's like, uh just go back home and it's like no, we grew numb to it. You know, so after and that was the first one, because then from there it was like back to back to back, like neighborhood shit too, you know. But it's just like one of those things like okay, we're being reactive, we're not we're not trying to be proactive about it. And I that's what I like about, yeah, you can get a firearm, but if you get a mental health, a free anonymous mental health checkup, and obviously this is now talking about adults, right? But even at even at the You do it with the kids though, yeah. And see, that's that's what I like.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Every time there's a shooting or something that happens, we pro we process it, we talk about it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 12:22

So I was gonna ask, are you guys like as far as the outreach like that, what that looks like? Do you guys like actively if something does happen in schools or yeah, do you are you guys no?

SPEAKER_00 12:32

We I mean we really run the program. It's all based on volunteer work. All like Kevin Dixie, all those guys, yeah, all Devin Perkins, like they all volunteer their time for this. So we have our circle. If parents find us and say, hey, I want my kid to come through this system, like we'll take it in. So we just don't have the we we need, and and one of the cool things, I got University of Buffalo like doing a research study on the program to see its effectiveness, which I've been begging for for years because I'm just like, I want you to see my kids come through. Yeah, but at this time, like we don't really have outreach for you know when something happens, we just discuss it amongst the group, we let the kids process it, uh, whatever lessons they can take from it, you know, like that type of thing. So it's it's a good program, man. And you know, last year it was great because I would walk up the kids to all these booths, yeah, and I wouldn't say anything, right? And then here's like white dude with a suit with like seven or eight black kids, right? And everybody's like, as soon as they saw them like the way that they handled the guns, you know something is different, yeah, yeah, right? And like I remember like somebody saying, like, these kids handle the guns better than 90% of the people in here. I'm like, yeah, because everything dude no muzzle flashing, no, you know, the trigger discipline on point, everything. And I would always joke around because, like, what is I'm like, these are my children. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they are, yeah, no, but they are right. I just want them to be like, wait, my brain's broken. But no, then I would tell them what it is, and that people are like, damn, like, why didn't why didn't we have this when I was a kid? Or why you know this should have been around a lot sooner. Once again, who knows what you can't stop anybody from doing anything, but I want my kids to be able to know about one in the chamber. You know, if somebody is using a gun for whatever the reason, even if it's irresponsibly, I want them to correct that. Yeah, right. It's illegal. Like, I don't, I'm not here to judge that. I'm here to make sure that everybody's safe. Yeah, and nobody catches unnecessary charges and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

You know what they remember?

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Arm them with that knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

That went viral of Will Smith. Remember the dude who just picks it up and he slaps it down because I think people think of entertainers and celebrities as their that's it, that's their monolith. That's all I am is an entertainer, but yeah, he actually went to the city.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

He clearly had some training, training, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, knew he was mishandling firearm and corrected me.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

And it speaks home to me because the first time I ever shot a firearm was a negligent discharge, and I didn't understand one in the chamber. Oh, I blew a hole in the lawn. You know, thank you, thank God we were smart enough to take it out of the house, but you know, we found a gun that wasn't locked up and we brought it outside. And uh, you know, I could have used Kids the Kings.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Where is Kids the Kings based out? In Atlanta right now.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Okay, we're about to open up St. Louis. Oh let's go. We need Kings hometown.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Yeah, we need to have Katie on yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

So Katie's amazing. Yeah, he's a great dude.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

My brother's putting in growth. Yeah, he is you're putting in groundwork.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, yeah. So you know, it's a you gotta keep looking for innovative ways to educate. And I think one of the biggest issues that we've had as the firearms industry is we never really had solutions, right? So people say to us, hey, we want to legislate you, and then we say, No, that's not gonna work. And then a lot of people, you know, are like, Well, okay, what's your solution? And we've always been like Second Amendment prior from cold dead hands. Yeah, right. I want to be like, this is what we're the firearms industry is doing. Like this is you know, this is what these are what we agree you think are the best ways to solve these issues.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

Well, I was gonna ask you because you touched on that. You want to No, no, no, we're good. Go ahead. Okay. Um, because it is very because it is a hard line, right? We can't give an inch in a lot of places because it it turns into more. So I wonder like how you do, you know, how well you counter that and like what that counter is from you guys to like Okay, so like let's let's use the example of like red flag laws or ERPAs, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Um a lot of people believe that red flag laws save lives, and I'm not here to say that sometimes they don't. Like there's plenty of anecdotal stories, right? You look okay, but overall, so when I speak at a uh at an event that's behavioral health or research, I pretty much know that 90% of the crowd in there is thinking red flag laws are the greatest thing on the planet, probably more, right? You know what I mean? But I always like to say something controversial. Like I could get up there and I'm like, in my world, red flag laws get people killed. And then I could see the audience being like, okay, where is he gonna go with this? Yeah. Most of them probably think I'm gonna be like, cops show up and then there's a shootout. No, I'm like, no, no, no. It's worse than that. Yeah, it's what happens is you create laws that scare people from getting help, and they're ready to get help at stage two, and then they're, you know, they don't want to lose their gun, so they're like, I'm not gonna, you know, there's a red flag law in my state, I'm gonna white knuckle it through, I can't even chance it. Then they get to stage three, then they get to stage four.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

So, how many people have taken their life because they were afraid to get help? How many people have just avoided care and lived miserably and their marriage failed it or whatever? Like now they have a cocaine issue, or right? Like, it looks so different, yeah, but everyone might be struggling with that. But so it it's great because most time most of the time people will come up to me after I speak at these events and say, like, I never hey gun, dude, like I never thought about that. I thought you guys just wanted to arm everybody, you know, like those things, and you're like, No, that's not it. I just want you to look down the field and see like we could we might think it's a good idea. It may sound like a good idea in theory, but if we're if we're making barriers to access to care, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

Yeah, and practicality, then it's not really I love that because I'm yeah, go ahead. I just you mentioned because you know, I did struggle with mental health. I, you know, COVID almost took me out. I was hospitalized for three months, ended up in a recovery hospital, everything kind of collapsed my bubble in this world, you know. And I I remember finally one day, because as a man, you know, we tend to isolate and like I'm gonna push through this, right? You know what I mean? And uh thank God I have some good brothers like this and and around me that could see it, I think. And one day I just finally called for help. Yeah, and the lady's like, man, this is what we call the thousand-pound phone call, right? Right because that phone feels like a thousand pounds when you need to pick it up and and call out. So I just want to you know touch on that for a minute. Like, man, if you are struggling out there listening to this, watching us, like please reach out to someone, man. We all go through dark times, reach out to and it's temporary, yeah. Like that's the most important thing. Man, that's a fact. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Yeah, it's serious, yeah, it's and nothing lasts forever. No, that's a fact. An expression my father used to say when we were boys Man, if you're having a rough day, go lay down, fall asleep, sleep, wake up in the morning, and you'll be like, That's it, it's a new day. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

I made this thing a thousand-pound gorilla, and really it was like there's another expression, fear makes the wolf look bigger, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Yeah, so it's kind of the same thing, but with anxiety or mental health. You're stressing if you're so focused on that one thing, you're just inflating it.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

It takes up all the room in your life.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Uh it reminds me of something my my grandmother said to me one time. She I remember she was like floating in her pool, and uh, I was stressing over something, and um it always sticks with me, and I always say it like to people, and she's like, Don't worry, it'll work out. And I was like, What do you mean? And she's like, It may not go the way you want it to, but it'll work out. Yeah, that's it. Shout out to that's a bar. I'm just like, wow, like she made it so simple. I was like thinking about it, but it's like, yeah, you gotta get there, you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Isn't it awesome how old folks have a lot of wisdom because they've already lived the life we're going through?

SPEAKER_03 20:00

They've had those days, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:01

It is it really is that simple. Just it'll all work out, even if it's not in your favor.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

That's it. It all pain and suffering are temporary. Yeah, you have to figure out a way to center yourself and see, and like shooting makes people happy, right? Like therapy, like that's a real thing. It is however it is you center yourself, you gotta find that when you're there, and understand that you may have to take precautions that go against your poor belief system at the time, right? Like maybe it's a good time to get the gun over to your friend's house while you're going through this three-day crisis, right? Like, or the local gun shop that does safe storage, like maybe take it in there, you know. Like, just you know, uh understand that you're better off here, you know what I mean? And and the gun community, yeah, yeah, the two-way community is such a welcoming community. You just don't need to lose anymore, you know what I mean? Like it truly is. Yeah, so it's been it's been it's gotten a lot easier, like circling back to what you're saying, like 2018 to now. Yeah, uh, I feel like there's been a nice culture shift, yeah. You know, and I think in the beginning people were kind of looking at me like, okay, what is he doing? And now they're starting to get it. Like, and I want to be able to give gun owners the opportunity to stand on their belief system without compromising anything, but also be able to be involved with the conversation of suicide prevention and mental health.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Yeah, yeah. That's cool. Man, yeah, you mean um so let's switch spaces a little bit. Well, where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going? Well, I want to take hands tie.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

Of course, we're gonna talk some music.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

We gotta talk some music, but what you got another question?

SPEAKER_03 21:35

No, no, no. I just want to make sure um I think we hit most of the the talking points because I think that's super important. I just want to make sure, I know we'll wrap up at the end. I want to make sure people know how to like get in contact with you and if there's any you know what I mean? We'll touch on that. Yeah, we'll touch on that because I know you said volunteers, and um I'd love to like get people involved in this and and get in contact with you. But switching gears real quick. Um Man, where do we start with Wu Tang with the Wu Tang question?

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Who's your top five artists of all time?

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Of all times.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Any genre. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

General Live doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

So new edition is some curtain. I see new edition every way. I've seen them in a county fair. I've seen them in big arenas. I've seen them in small venues. So I get, you know, you think about all the people that came out of that group, too. Oh yeah. Right? So uh God, man, this is a tough question. Yeah, I'm trying, I'm breaking it down into different genres. There's a group called Chevelle. I mean, Chevelle speaks to my heart. I don't know. Like you know, I've heard of them. Yeah, that's right. I would say, I would put NWA up there. Uh so much, you know, my childhood listening. That was like a bomb that went off.

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Yeah, it was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

It just changed music, you know, and people were afraid. And like I was kind of like, wow.

SPEAKER_03 22:56

What is this?

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

I told you I have my boy, my boys in the hood memory of like hearing that song for the first time. Yeah, seared in my memory, like what'd you tell your mom? Yeah, hey, I want to go buy some rap music, mom.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

She's like, come on, Bob. I'm gonna get to the last two and think about this, but I always tell this funny story. So my daughters are 18 and 20. Yeah, and one of my daughters, huge hip hop hip, it's huge. And it's cute because she doesn't realize like there's certain things that I know. Like I remember one day she's like, Have you ever heard of 50 Cent? And I was like, You know what I mean? Yeah, but it's funny, like one day we're sitting in a car and um I was playing uh N2D, back to the hotel. Remember, remember that song? And uh my daughter's like, play that again, play that again. And I played it again. She's like, play it one more time, one more time, right? Like she's like, Why don't they make music like this anymore? I'm like, I have no idea.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

You know what I mean? I wasn't talking about that for 30 years. Seems like that's a wrap. If you would have paid me a trillion dollars to think we would get a reference to that song on the podcast today, that was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I grew up in the bay. So like I grew up with Mac Dre, yeah, that 40 and the click, yeah, Spice One, yeah. The whole bag area, yeah. Yeah. Well, for you guys, like where where do you go with your hip hop? Like what East Coast?

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Well, I'm from the South. Well, that's interesting though, right? Because if you know South Florida, yeah, it's a melting pot. We had dudes from the west, we had East Coast guys, we had Atlanta guys.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

So And honestly, I didn't get into like East Coast hip hop until I was already in my 20s. Because it's so culturally, yeah, we're like, we have our own.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Well, it was that's why we are a little irritating about like the way the East Coast treated everybody else, right?

SPEAKER_03 24:41

Oh, yeah, there was a huge bias for sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

But uh growing up like it lit, you know, I listened to everything. I so I grew up listening to like ghetto boys, uh college boys, like all these groups from Texas, and then um, you know, thinking of like Florida, I grew up listening to Poison Clan, Two Live Pooh.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Shout out to JT Money, man.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Come on. Shout out our boy Raylo. Shout out Raylo, Raylo, yeah. Raylo's our homie. He's one of the he's probably the one of the most popular DJs in South Florida for breaking some of those guys that you did the dogs.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

I remember the dogs. Oh my disco rick.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Disco Rick, shout out Disco Rick.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Yo, I have a funny story with that. I sent my boy with a bunch of music. He was moving to Washington State, and one of his homies out there that he met, he said, Disco Rick and the dogs? He's like, Who is that? And his name is Richard. So he's now disco rick in Washington State. But it was cool because we got so many influences in South Florida. I had friends from New York, from Philly, from Atlanta, and so it was cool because we had like the fast Miami-bass booty music, also JT Money and the Poison Clan. But I also was bumping New York mixtapes. It was this wasn't like this is pre-internet. You don't just dudes in New York had stuff like years, it felt like sometimes before we didn't something. Oh, yeah. They'd come down with dubs, a hot 97, and we're like, what is this?

SPEAKER_01 26:00

This is my brother had a homie who would go to New York all the time for midstage. Before 50 Cent was 50 Cent, like to the mainstream, right? I was like, bro, listen to this.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Yeah, we were like, those early 50 cent mixtape days, forget it.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

I remember like how to rob when that came out. That was the best. I was like, oh my god, he's going after everybody.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Yeah, traveling.

SPEAKER_03 26:22

That is so real quick, then we'll get back to. I know we we hijacked the list uh countdown, but man, I never forget uh one of our our homies brought the single of Protect Your Neck and Method Man. It was a white cassette. Yo, we played that until there was no even writing, you couldn't tell what it was. It was just a white cassette at the end, and I think it just finally popped, and we're like, we can't wait to get this album. And then it was it was a rap. I have a Wu-Tang tattoo on my legs. Yeah, I mean, they've done a hell of a job too. At least the tour. I mean, they can come through Vegas all the time. They'll always have a call fucking. There's no liking Wu Tang.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Remember the uh the meme the other day and says a white guy's married to a black woman, he's got a Wu-Tang.

SPEAKER_03 27:02

He's got a Wu Tang. He's got a Wu Tang.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

I was like, accurate, accurate, yeah. I've so I would say DJ Quick is up there. DJ Quick is San Antonio is just like content. Uh yeah. I mean, he's definitely up there. I almost put Mac Dre up there in the top five. Man, there's so much Mac Dream.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

We had a Devin the Dude reference. I think uh KD dropped the Devin the Dude.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

I think, yeah, yeah, Devin dropped the Devin the Dude reference. Yeah. I mean, but uh Texas has I mean MGK and his own industry. It does. I mean its own culture. Oh yeah, uh what uh what's it not M G K? U G U G no but uh but who's the other one too? Um A ball MJG ball MKG, yeah. R I P Pimp C.

SPEAKER_03 27:46

R I P.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

What a wave of music. Man, all right now let's get back to the who are your top two?

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Uh well, I was going first new edition, right? That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

I'm working on four or five.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Is this no particular order? This is okay. This is no particular order, but man, look I anyone from the bay, I was I'm a huge fan of like rapping forte. And um, but I also grew up like listening to second to none DJ Quick, and I remember high-see and all those that conglomerate AMG 50. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.

SPEAKER_03 28:22

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

We are looking at 57. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

I'm heard of 57.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

No, no.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

You guys can't see it, but my man's actually kind of trusting.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

Well, that's why we argue. So this is the age gap. He's a still matic guy, Nas, and I'm an illmatic guy. Okay. Because that was his, so we go back and forth on both classics, but still matic, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

I I forgot Pac. Yeah, I mean, I was a huge Pac fan. Yeah, you know, so I I don't know. I I it's crazy. I I become like an old guy with my kids, like they play music now. That's trash. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 28:57

Yeah, yeah. Sure, that bumble jumping.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

Also get it. Like my my youngest daughter, thank God, she loves listening to like Who Writers and things like that, like different, you know, but my oldest daughter listens to trash. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

It's really bad. Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

And I just know I'm getting old, you know what I mean? 20 year olds too, and I'm just like, remember this, some of this is actually damn good.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Right. That they listen to, but they're you know, they're they're younger, the younger generation.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

So it's like just some of it, like like Big X to plug, like there's like certain rappers that I like like I I can like I like it, I like what they're talking about, but then there's others just like I said, I I hate to be that guy. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

I I mean we've had a really good conversation. I think we hit a lot of talking points. How your work is is powerful. How can people find you, man?

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Do you go to WTTA.org or walktalkamerica.org or on social media, we're on X, uh, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. It's at walkthroughs. And uh, you know, people always say, like, okay, like if I go there and I want to help, but I don't have any money, that's that's cool. There's so many ways that you can help walk the talk America by sharing our messages on social media and getting the word out there, letting other gun owners or letting other people outside of the industry know that this exists. Um, however, however, people want to help or chip in and things like that.

SPEAKER_03 30:17

Because that's really how we've positioned ourselves. Like we want this to be public facing. Yeah, it's cool for people in the industry, but people that aren't, you know, we want to spread this word.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

We're bringing people into the space and then letting them find their way because there's so many text trums. We're not the guns.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

I didn't know. I was ignorant to this, you know. I think we all were. I didn't realize how much we'd be embraced. Yeah, like you're right, man, that this is the most welcoming. We're music heads in the music industry. Not that that wasn't welcoming, but I don't think I've seen any other industry that, man, people just will embrace you here and and pour their knowledge into you for the most part. You know, it was always gatekeepers and people, but yeah, but I mean they're just like, dude, this industry was rock solid, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Everything's gonna splinter off and things like that. But for the most part, if you're pro to A, like it's like come on in.

SPEAKER_03 31:04

That's it, that's how it should be, too. Yeah, for sure. Is there anything we didn't hit that you wanted to get out to the people?

SPEAKER_00 31:10

No, man, I think I think you guys hit it. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to come on here. And like I said, if you're pro 2A and you don't want to compromise on your belief system, and you still want to be involved in mental health and and promote suicide prevention, like Walk Talk America is a perfect place because there's nothing else like it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 31:26

For those of you watching, go ahead. Or listening, no, go ahead or listening, make sure you like, share, comment, subscribe, share it with a friend, go get you a firearm, go outside, empower yourself, empower yourself, and more importantly, with brother Mike here, take care of your mental health.

SPEAKER_03 31:41

That's it. And one quick question on the way out what's your EDC?

SPEAKER_00 31:45

Ooh, um you probably never heard of it. It's Grand Power Q1.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Never heard of it.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Okay. All right, Grand Power is a Slovakian company that's brought in by global ordinance. Now I used to bring them in when I own my importer. Um so like the any bursa, I love Bursa. Bursa is such a quality gun. Now that I'm out, yeah, I can like speak freely about certain things. But Grand Power is such a good gun. The way it's built, the way it's made, it has a rotating barrel that works. It's it's really unique. They have a stribog, that's what they're known for. Okay, okay. Uh, but yeah, like that's that would be that would be the one I'm going with every day, you know.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

So Mike, thanks for watching. Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

I love that this took a turn or two. We got to talk about some music. Yeah, yeah, it's it's it. You rolled up with the Wu Tang tie, and we're like, oh yeah, we're talking music. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

All right, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Yes, to the next episode, America.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

Let's go.