The Weekly Reload Podcast

The Weekly Reload Podcast

A podcast from The Reload that offers sober, serious firearms reporting and analysis. It focuses on gun policy, politics, and culture. Tune in to hear from Reload Founder Stephen Gutowski and special guests from across the gun world each week.

Episodes

April 28, 2025 45 mins
This week, we're taking a look at a new approach to gun business investing. Kareem Shaya and Chuck R. from Open Source Defense have launched a new venture capital firm focused on the gun industry. They joined the show to explain why they decided to take the traditionally tech-focused approach and apply it to self-defense companies. The pair, who've worked at major tech companies and startups over the years, said they noticed a lack...
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Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I talk about the Supreme Court's decision to reject Minnesota's appeal of an Eighth Circuit decision striking down its age limit for carry permits, effectively clearing the way for young adults to carry guns in the state. We also talk about a new bill signed into law in Iowa this week that accomplishes the same thing for that state's residents. We then cover a new Fox poll showing more people d...
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This week, we're taking a close look at the state of the NRA. The nation's largest gun-rights group is not nearly as large as it was half a decade ago. President Donald Trump just bailed on its conference. However, its civil corruption suit is now over, and its latest board election is in the books. To give us a detailed view of where the NRA is at today, we've got freelance reporter John Petrolino on the show. John often writes fo...
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Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I cover the latest updates in the shooting at Florida State University, including the early response from President Donald Trump. We also talk about Trump's decision to skip the NRA's annual meeting for the first time since 2015 and what it says about the group's current influence. Finally, we discuss a new federal appeals court ruling upholding Massachusetts' ban on AR-15s and ammunition magaz...
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This week, we're taking a close look at the state of the gun industry and the potential impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs. That's why I'm interviewing the head of the gun industry's trade group. National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) general counsel Larry Keane is back on the show to detail where the industry is at today and where it's headed. Perhaps the biggest question to answer is what tariffs will do to domestic a...
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Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss Colorado Governor Jared Polis signing the most sweeping and restrictive gun bill in the state's history into law and what that says about gun politics in the Democratic Party. We also talk about major new developments at the ATF, both in terms of potential gun policy changes, as well as the announced shakeup in the top two leadership positions of the agency. We also share new insights...
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This week, we're doing a deep dive into the history surrounding Americans under 21 buying guns. That's why we've got gun-rights lawyer Alan Beck on the show. He's currently representing a client who is fighting Hawaii's age restrictions. In the wake of the Eleventh Circuit upholding Florida's gun sales ban for those under 21 by pointing to how contract law limited the same age group's ability to buy guns, he researched the question...
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Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss the potential fallout from President Trump's sweeping tariff announcement on the gun and ammunition market. We talk about why the potential cost increases come at a precarious time for an industry already facing some headwinds, including another month of declining gun sales based on newly released figures. Plus, we discuss a pair of opposite rulings in state courts in Pennsylvania and...
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This week, we're taking a close look at the Supreme Court's ruling in Bondi v. VanDerStok. To do that, we have the Independence Institute's David Kopel on the show. Kopel has written extensively on gun policy and been cited repeatedly at the Supreme Court. So, there are few people better qualified to dissect what the VanDerStok ruling means. Kopel argued the decision upholding the ATF's "ghost gun" kit ban is relatively narrow, but...
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Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I talk about the Supreme Court's 7-2 decision to uphold the ATF's ability to treat unfinished firearms parts kits as completed guns and what that means moving forward. We also talk about the new financial troubles hitting the gun-control group March for Our Lives. Finally, we cover an outlier federal ruling on New York City's stun gun ban before highlighting DOJ's plans for the ATF and investig...
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This week, we're looking at a few actions the Trump Administration just took on gun policy. To wade through those moves and navigate where the signs point, we've got Cam Edwards of Bearing Arms back on the show. We look at different stories from Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). As Cam noted, some were bigger deals than others. First...
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Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I recap the en banc Ninth Circuit's newest decision upholding California's ban on magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds and its much-discussed video dissent from Judge Lawrence VanDyke. We also talk about a separate Ninth Circuit panel's ruling striking down Hawaii's unique restrictions on handgun sales. Finally, we cover a long awaited en banc Eleventh Circuit decision dealing with...
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We've been highlighting the fact that The New York Times, the largest paper in the country, has finally hired a gun-beat reporter. So, this week, we invited him on the show to talk about his approach and goals. Reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff has started consistently doing gun stories for The Grey Lady, as The Times has long been known. It's not his first assignment. I also wouldn't call it his most challenging since he went from acti...
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Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I talk about a ruling out of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that found short-barreled rifles aren't "arms" as considered by the Second Amendment. We also talk about a pair of state court rulings, one out of Oregon upholding the state's purchase permit requirements and magazine ban, and another out Massachusetts that upheld the state's requirement that out-of-state visitors get a special p...
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This week, we've got a longer episode than usual. That's because we're doing a deep dive into oral arguments for the Supreme Court's latest gun case, Smith & Wesson v. Mexico. Most observers, including me, thought Mexico faired poorly in its attempt to move forward with liability claims against American gunmakers over cartel violence south of the border. However, Professor Dru Stevenson, who studies gun policy at Southern Texas Col...
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Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I break down the latest national gun sales data for February and discuss why they suggest trouble ahead for the gun industry. We also talk about Trump's latest omission of his gun policy priorities in a major public address, this time in his first joint address to Congress. Finally, we briefly recap this week's Supreme Court oral arguments in Mexico's lawsuit against Smith and Wesson that seeks...
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This week, we're looking at the first-of-its-kind move to make the FBI Director the Acting Director of the ATF. To do that, we've got Reason Magazine's J.D. Tuccille back on the show. He recently wrote about what Kash Patel's appointment might mean for the gun agency. He argued it could send a signal the administration plans to merge the two law enforcement arms, if not officially, at least effectively. Tuccille said the move has t...
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Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I cover the Supreme Court's latest remand of a case concerning whether convicted felons have any Second Amendment rights. We also discuss major gun manufacturer Daniel Defense's decision to wade into the ongoing efforts to reform the NRA through board elections. We then briefly touch on the Trump administration's decision to tap Kash Patel as acting ATF director before wrapping up with a round ...
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This week, we're taking a closer look at how the Trump DOJ might change its approach to gun litigation. We've got Andrew Willinger of Duke University's Firearms Law Center on the show to give us a different perspective from the one we got last week. He argued the administration is likely to move to reverse a lot of the Biden-era ATF rules currently tied up in court. Although, he said it might not do anything on the "ghost gun" rule...
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Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I cover the Trump administration's current freeze on processing new export licenses and how it is hitting the firearms industry particularly hard. We also talk about a federal judge issuing a preliminary injunction against Maine's 72-hour waiting period for gun sales, an Arizona state judge tossing a local gun control ordinance under preemption, and we wrap up with some headlines from outside T...
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