Preventing Veteran Suicide with the Firearms Research Institute (Part 1)

Paul Jr. sits down with the Founder of the Firearms Research Institute, Snapper LaGrone. They discuss the foundations goals to prevent veteran suicide and how you can help.

For more info on the Firearms Research Institute: www.firearmsresearchinstitute.org

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
If you or someone you know needsimmediate support, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline at one eight hundred twoseven three talk that's one eight hundred two
seven three eight two five five,or text home two seven four to one
dash seven four to one. Hey, guys, So thank you for downloading

(00:23):
Paul Junior podcast. Uh boy,I just had an amazing conversation, uh
with a with a great guy,a Snapper LaGrone. He's the founder of
the Firearms Institute. And you knowthis is you know, he's all about
really veteran suicide prevention and in andthrough a very unique way, which I

(00:45):
think you're gonna find this conversation extremelyinteresting. You know, the function of
this institute is very uh unique,uh, and I think that's what's so
special about it. It actually hasa tangible quality to it. And without
getting too far into it, Ithink you're really I think you're going to
really enjoy the conversation I have withthis gentleman Snapper. Tell us a little

(01:15):
bit about what this Firearms Research Institute'sall about. Sure, and thanks for
having me on. I mean it'sthis, you know, big for organization
to kind of get our word outbecause most people you know, would never
understand sure everything that's going on.So first and foremost we are research institute,
and what that means is we're lookingat finding ways to educate people and

(01:38):
saving lives at the same time.We've come up with some unique capabilities that
allow people to voluntarily participate in theirown suicide prevention. Too often today people
are caught up in, you know, situations where after something has happened,
people get involved to try and youknow, help with suicide, and we're

(01:59):
taking a step to be in frontof that. Our organization has a great
panel of doctors, and we alsooffer specific things like firearm storage, firearms
locks, and really voluntary assistance ifthey need it. Too often folks don't
even qualify maybe for medical care thatthey need, or they're too worried about
somebody finding out that they're struggling thatmay affect them in their workplace, or

(02:22):
you know, ostracize them from somefuture endeavor, and they really prevent themselves
from taking an opportunity. And sowe're providing an organization that will go hand
in hand with people as they're tryingto prevent suicide for themselves, you know,
or family members that want to bringit to an attention where it's voluntary,
and you know a lot of anonymitygoes along with it that I think

(02:44):
allows people to really be in controlof the situation. And I feel like
a lot of folks today, especiallywith suicide, you know, it's such
a personal moment that most people don'teven really understand. And if we're giving
it back to the individual to takethat personal moment and identify and say I

(03:05):
need help, but I don't necessarilyknow who to reach out to, We're
going to be that that silent voicethat's there that's open to helping in whichever
way we can so so help meunderstand. So, uh, I guess
the question is is as far asthe Firearms read the Firearms Research Institute's concerned,
what is the function? What isthe core function of it? And

(03:28):
I guess what makes it different fromother organizations that's trying that are out there
that are trying to prevent suicide,whether it be through you know, for
veterans or just people in general.Give me the function of what it is
that that you guys are talking aboutdoing that's kind of so different from everything
else out there. Sure, firstand foremost we will store somebody's firearm for

(03:52):
them. So someone's in a ina moment of crisis and they want to
you know, call us up.We'll pay for shipping or whatever. We'll
put it in our secure facility.When they're ready for it back, we'll
ship it back, no questions asked. Okay, So it would be them
voluntarily surrendering their their their firearms.Correct, And you're able to do this.
How we have partners in the industryfor other FFL dealers with things of

(04:14):
that nature that are willing to helpus do transfers and things of that nature
to make it you know, seamlessfor the you know, seamless experience.
So that's kind of a unique function. It is you're actually the federally legally
allowed to take someone's firearm, holdit for him for a period of time,
and when they're ready for it back, you'll give it back to them,
no questions ask no conditions. Yeah, the only condition is, you

(04:35):
know, normally they'll go into anactual dealer and reclaim the item. We
don't ship it to their home.They'll go into another dealer in our network
and reclaim the item, which whichreally is helpful, right because now you
know we don't have to worry aboutit getting stolen or lost in the shipping
or anything of that nature. Youknow, we ship it from an FFL
dealer local to us, and they, you know, pick it up at

(04:57):
a local FFL dealer to them,and they can choose which one they want
to pick it up at, andwe coordinate everything no cost to them.
So that's interesting, and I think, you know, I know a little
bit about this, but obviously forthe sake of the interview, we're having
this conversation. So it's interesting.So the function of it is if someone's
having a hard time, because here'swhat happens, right, Someone gets in
a dark place, they get depressed, they start to feel suicidal, and

(05:19):
they have guns. Right, quiteoften they'll in a moment of desperation,
do something drastic and that's when suicidehappens, right, correct. So the
idea here is if someone's struggling,they can come to your organization and say,
look, you know, I knowwhat's going on in my head.
I'm going through this, whether whetherit's PTSD with a military vet or just

(05:46):
a regular person who's struggling through life, and they could say, hey,
look, I'm worried about myself.I'm not feeling myself. Could you hold
my weapons? Can you hold myguns for until I feel better? Because
that's the problem, right because whenthem guns are always there, that's the
easiest access to you know what insometimes in their mind is the answer when

(06:06):
it's not right. So you're ableto create a function. That's what's so
unique about this. It's a it'sa physical function in which you're able to
help them correct. Right now,from what we understand right is there's kind
of a post vention, and aprevention. Postvention would be more like,
well, someone attempted suicide, Nowlet's treat the person. Which that is

(06:29):
correct. That's a pretty bad youknow, that's a pretty bad approach.
It's not to say don't do that, it's just that, my goodness,
if it's just means they weren't successful, and then there's your opportunity to help.
Sure. What's great about this isit's prevention in the sense that it's
practical application. You're offering them somethingwhere they won't be tempted to have to
get their firearm for whatever period oftime they're not feeling themselves. Am I

(06:53):
right? That's correct? Yeah?Yeah. And the other step to that
too, is you know, ifsomeone's apprehensive about sending a firearm in the
to some people sounds funny, butyou know, we'll send them a lock
and we're actually requesting the key tocome back where they can lock it up
and send us the key still havepossession of their firearm, and then we're
kind of the gatekeeper for you know, giving them access back to it.

(07:14):
And we know that most of thetime when suicide thoughts are coming, there's
a stressor something specific has you know, moved it beyond the normal stress.
Some event series and things. Sometimesyou know it's a vet, you know,
having night after night of you know, whether it's bad dreams or things
that are haunting that you know,their psyche. So there's things to progress

(07:35):
towards suicide. So what we wantto do is say, you know,
there's an option for you if you'refeeling that way where we can help you,
you know, while you get throughthis this stressor then once the stressor
is gone, can we can goback to No Now, is there anyone
doing that out there? Is thereany real So that's amazing. This is
what I love about what you're talkingabout. This is what I like about
this institute that you're creating. Solet me ask you a question, why

(07:58):
why did you start this? Imean obvious say, but for you personally,
like, why why did you startthis this institute? I think we've
all had a personal touch with suicideto some degree. You know, my
dad was a disabled veteran. Igrew up in you know, an interesting
environment. I guess you would say. You know, at that point as
a kid, I didn't really understand, you know, a drug addiction.

(08:20):
You know. I think back therewas a year in my life where I
didn't even talk to my dad becauseI kind of smoking weed in the garage,
and you know, I've got alot of guilt about that, and
not really understanding what he was goingthrough, you know, opted out of
some care that probably could have beenlife preventing. I think, you know,
suicide preventing or how we want tolook at it, just because you
know, the whole medical system withthe VA and you know, just how

(08:43):
veterans feel. I think sometimes aboutthe veterans approach to helping vets wasn't exactly
what he was looking for. AndI feel like it's kind of I can
do it, so I should doit. Nobody else is doing it,
and I feel like personally committed tohelping people even understand why why you should

(09:03):
listen and not judge too quickly,because I definitely was too judgy to my
father and we've all been there.You know. You look back and at
the time it seems like the endof the world, and you look back
at something you go, Jesus,it really wasn't that bad. I think
I overreacted a little bit, butyou didn't know any better, you know,
And that's uh, you know,the big thing about this is human
life, right, There's there's there'slike what what is what more worthy?

(09:28):
Cause is there than life itself?You know? And to help people in
a practical way like this get throughwhat could be some of the hardest time
in their life, which might makethe difference between whether they're here for the
future, for their family, rightyeah or not. That's what really to
me, that's what's really drawing mein. And I'm a practical application guy.

(09:50):
I mean, you know, there'syou know, there's there's like you
know, the psychobabble and stuff likethat. I mean, there's there's reasons
for that at times, right,but certainly what I like about this is
it's tangible. Right, You're liketaking something, it's a very functional thing.
You're offering them something that is real, because it's hard to do in
this situation because quite often with peopleyou don't know, people will commit suicide.

(10:15):
You don't even know that they're depressed. I mean, this is just
I've seen this. I've had friendsthat just all of a sudden aren't there
anymore, and nobody could figure outthe happy, go lucky guy, but
nobody knew what he was going through, you know, And this is that
torment, and we know that.You know what the bottom line is,
it's never hopeless. But when peopleget in that place, that's how they

(10:35):
feel, and it's a false feeling. But you can't change how they're feeling.
So at that stage in the game, all you can do is remove
some of the things that might causethem to go ahead and make a wrong
decision, you know. So letme ask you a question. How hard
was it getting this research institute ofFirearms Research Institute, sorry, Firearms Research

(10:56):
Institute established, Because this is alittle different than like your standard charity.
Right, tell me what's the whatwhat's the function of it? How?
How how is it? How isit getting there, how do you get
there? And then what's different fromlike one of these standard five oh one
C three's that people just kind ofstart on their own. Sure, and
we were really intentional about the nameitself Firearms Research Institute, and because we

(11:20):
wanted people to really be inquisitive andunderstand that it's more than just you know,
we're not a charity, and Iwould never say we're a charity.
We want fund contribution, you needfunding, But the ultimate goal is for
us to come up with ways thatwe can do actual suicide prevention and then
take that and educate the public andsay there are other ways outside of maybe

(11:45):
the traditional medical field for us tooffer prevention. And when we talk with
veterans, a lot of them don'thave someone they feel they can call up
and say, hey, I'm havinga rough time. Can you can you
hold onto my guns for me?Right? And so so we kind of
have naturally and organically come through thisevolution to where we are today. And

(12:07):
it's been tough. I mean,I've had conversations obviously with congressional districts and
senators to make sure, you know, we get the thumbs up on a
lot of the stuff we're doing becausethere is you know, I don't know
if you want to call it controversy, sure or what, but there is
a lot of people that are goingto scrutinize what we're doing because we are
circumventing the medical industry to some degree. That being said, we have a

(12:28):
medical doctor on our panel that helpsus with a lot of things to make
sure that we are doing what weneed to do to offer help. But
really we want to make sure thatthere's no judgment and that we're offering a
service first and foremost. Yeah,it's great, Yeah, that's great.
It's so interesting. And so tellme about the doctors. I mean,
tell me about what the function ofhaving doctors as part of this is and

(12:52):
really what you're trying to accomplish throughthat. Sure, so the doctors play
a pivotal role because we're going tooffer some services and really their job is
going to be one understanding, youknow, is it helping? You know,
are we seeing an impact to thesuicide rate? How do we track
it? Because we want to validateeverything we're doing is actually making an impact

(13:13):
because we don't again, we don'twant this to just end with our organization.
We want to create maybe a newstandard or a new norm or something
that actually is preventing suicide. It'sjust suicide is ramping up for veterans.
I'm from a veteran family, andyou know that's near and dear to my
heart. And if we can finda way, even through participation with the

(13:33):
veterans or any other outlets where wecan offer services, not necessarily even just
my organization, but just as anation that offers prevention where people don't have
to go, especially veterans, getscrutinized at the health facility before they get
help. We want to do that. That's great. So as I understand

(13:56):
it's the National Institute of Health that'syou're looking at some grants from them,
is that there's something in progress there. Tell me about that, correct?
That sounds pretty legit. I mean, if these guys are considering I know
a lot of people put in forthese grants, but your organization's being considered
because it is so kind of groundbreaking, it's so unique of an idea that

(14:16):
they're really looking at this thing,aren't they. They are? And the
reason why is there's been about twentyyears of study on suicide prevention, and
through most of that and almost everypublication says, you know, if there's
safe storage, and people refer toit as you know, if they put
it in a in a safe.You know, people referred to safe storage
as a safe. But we knowthat people can just go over and open

(14:37):
a safe and you know that's nota deterrent. But they say proper safe
storage could be one of the numberone ways for suicide prevention. So we've
taken a lot of the research.We don't need to do more research on
prevention. It's already been done.We're going to actually do what all of
the suggestions have said need to bedone for suicide prevention, and we're going
to and that's what our organization offers. And that's why the NIH is looking

(14:58):
at us seriously because now we're takingall of these twenty years of hypothesis and
we're actually going to function and doit. And that's why the doctors on
our group are as important, becauseyeah, they're saying, we're going to
track the results, we're going topublish the results, and maybe this will
be something that changes everything long term. Gotcha. Yeah, So we're going
to have doctor William Boozang correct andhe's gonna he's your leading research guy,

(15:26):
right, and he's going to bein here in a little bit, and
these guys are really going to begathering information that they feel like is pertinent,
right, I mean, there willtalk to him about I'm really interested
in his professional opinion as to whyhe's involved. So what's intriguing to him
about this organization compared to other thingsout there that he may have been involved
with in the past, you know. And I think that's a critical aspect

(15:48):
of it, because you need theseguys who are well smarter than us,
right Exactly, they could start tocompile this information so it could become more
effective. Right. So what asI understand, you got you're going to
pick a state at a time,or multiple states and start doing trials of
this idea, this concept basically,yeah, correct, through the NIH,
we have three specific states, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. All of

(16:12):
those states have already had some formof suicide prevention. Denver right now,
in particular, has some specific NIHprograms running there on firearm storage itself.
So we felt it would be agood place for us to actually layer in
and say, hey, we've gotthat additional option you've been trying to study.
So yeah, that's the NIH portion. Three states really go in and

(16:34):
be be you know, that foundingsounding board for people to store their firearms
and do some other you know,unique things in the market to help,
you know, reduce suicide rate.And really the goal all is and one
of the reasons why we want fundingis, you know, we can't just
do this in three states. Wewant to offer this to every veteran in

(16:55):
America and then ultimately every person inAmerica and then ultimately every person. It's
just you know, it's it's expensive. You know, we're all pretty transparent.
It's expensive to you know, shipfirearms and store firearms. Whenever firearms
are involved, it gets expen itgets expensive. So you know, hopefully
we can do something. We wantto do something for all veterans. And

(17:15):
you know, I don't want tokeep saying veterans first, but I think
it's kind of a critical point forveterans. I think in the fourth quarter
it was twenty four percent suicide rateincrease over the previous fourth quarter. So
well, do you feel like,yeah, and that's crazy, by the
way, So do you feel like, not only is it that the veteran
thing is near and dear to yourheart as it is mine. But it's
a good starting point, right.It's a good way to start to gather

(17:40):
information, right, put together likea cohesive game plan, narrow it down
to those states that you're talking aboutfor starters, you know, kind of
refine it and then kind of takeit to other states and ultimately to all
the states. Right, I mean, it's got to be nationwide eventually.
That's the whole point, right does. And the other thing that's great about
starting with veterans. One hundred percentof the veteran community has handled the firearm,

(18:03):
so we know if we ship thema label and say, you know,
let's get this thing to our facility, there won't be any concerns about
safe handling. We know that they'recapable of handling it safely and shipping it
safely, and they'll communicate transparently,you know, transparently with us as well.
They're not going to be ambiguous.I think about the expectations, which
is important in the learning for bothsides, because we want to make sure

(18:26):
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(18:47):
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(19:32):
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I could say is call eight oneone before you dig. And I guess
one of the things with veterans too, is apparently if if a veteran is
looking to take his life, he'sninety percent chance he's going to use a
weapon of because of his training andhis understanding of what it is, and

(19:53):
for a multitude of whatever the reasonis. That's just statistically correct, right.
So idea that of holding these weaponsnow it's sticky, right, You're
not taking anybody's weapons. This iswhere everybody gets up in arms. If
you're not careful, they would voluntarilyrelinquish the weapons for you to hold for
the period of time until they're readyto have them back without any kind of

(20:18):
paperwork that says when when, andthey can and can't get it back.
And that's a really important factor here, because no one's given you anything they
if they think you're trying to takeit from them, because you know,
that's a really important thing. Alot of these guys and women have fought
in wars for us, have servedin the military, and this is something
that's important to them. They wantto keep that right, and so we

(20:41):
just have to be very clear.I think the function of this is one
of voluntary, voluntary surrendering of theweapons to a situation where they could be
secure, and then when they wantthem, they get them back, and
I think that's really I think that'sreally important that people understand that clearly is
and there's a lot of like ATFspecific things that we have to do with

(21:03):
these firearms to make sure that youknow, when they come on site,
they're labeled correctly so that it canbe associated to the person that's you know,
sent it in for storage, sothen when it's returned, it's you
know, returned to the right person. And you know there'll be some ATF
compliant engraving and things of that natureon id TAG. So we've gone a
long ways on making sure that thiswas something that everybody was going to be
able to pay attention to and therewouldn't be any scrutiny on the legality sides,

(21:30):
just to make sure that everybody's takencare of. So tell me about
these grants a little bit more,because I'm curious, like, what what
is it? What did you haveto do to get the attention of the
National Institute of Health, Because theyget submitted what tens of thousands of ideas
like yours or in the same veinto prevent different things out there, and
then it gets scrutinized and then theydecide who's getting the grant and that's going

(21:55):
to help with the funding. Correct. Yeah, so you know, we're
still in review, so hopefully weyou know, we all the boxes and
we score, you know, there'sscoring criterias to each project that you pass,
and you know, we you knowdoctor Floor, who we don't have
with us today, he actually hasdone grants for about twenty five years with
the NIH and he's you know,pretty confident in our scoring position. So

(22:18):
we feel pretty good about how we'regoing to score. And really it is
just about you know, getting somefunding to start doing some research. And
I think once we start publishing theactual results from the NIH standpoint, I'm
sure we'll have extended funding. That'sgreat. I mean, to me,
this is uh, you know,I just I'm I'm pretty impressed by it.
I mean overall, and I'm sureit's there's a lot more of the

(22:40):
background and the technical side of it. But what I like about it is
it's a pretty simple thing to understand, you know, and it's a real
functional thing. So yeah, sowhat's next, I mean, what's next
for Firearms Institute. Yeah, We'vegot a couple of things we're working on.
We're actually working with the Native Americancommunities. That suicide is really high
and prevalent in that neck of thewoods. So as we as we grow,

(23:03):
we're going to grow from veterans toNative American communities, uh, and
then see where we can go fromthere. On the national level, we
know there's some real focalized Native Americangroups that want, you know, some
help trying to understand what's going onwith their communities and suicide, and we
feel like we can we can offerthem some amazing opportunities as well, and

(23:25):
really just you know, working onthat funding piece so we can really identify,
you know, how large of ascope we can provide and really help
everyone save some lives. So it'spretty much just you know, how you
go out there is pretty much justrestricted by how much funding you get essentially,
and then the states have to bewilling to participate, correct, Yeah,
especially with the Native American communities.You know sometimes that's on Native lands

(23:48):
and you know, to do certainthings, well, you know, we
want to make sure we sure realwell yeah, yep, great, I
mean I think this is uh,look, I mean we you know,
we know each other. We've beentalking about this for a while, and
that's really what's had me, youknow, interesting to have you on.
And I think that, I mean, gosh, there's like I said before,
there's very few things more important thanhuman life. And and I think

(24:11):
this again. I'm a hands onguy, right, I build things for
a living, and I like thefunction of it. Right, it has
a tangible function, which is whatI think is why these doctors are interested
and why you know, the NationalInstitute of Health is interested in it.
And I'm just surprised that no one'sever come up with it. So kudos

(24:32):
to you, because complicated it probablyis, right, it's not stay up
at night. Yeah, well thereyou go. But you know what,
it's these kind of ideas that changethe world. And that's what it's about,
really, you know, changing theworld and saving people one life at
a time. We've talked about this. If this saves one human life and
you take your whole rest of yourlife working on this along with everyone else

(24:53):
involved, if you save one life, it's all worth it. It's so
it's so no brain, you know. That's how I see it, and
I'm sure you see it the sameway. Now, tens of thousands is
way better. But one is wortheverybody's effort every time. So how can
you not be signed up for that? You know? Yeah, I think
if you know, as soon assomebody participates, it's a win because you

(25:17):
know, we probably saved that thatperson. And we know we can't save
everyone, and we know we can'tunderstand everyone, and really when we think
about it, I mean, ijust feel like I have a duty,
you know. And I've told youthis before. I really feel like I'm
kind of on this spiritual journey rightlike God said, thou shall go forward

(25:38):
and do this, and that's kindof that's where you're at. That's where
I'm at, and it's really weird. I just feel like I'm I can't
really sleep very well because I feellike I'm missing out. You're driven,
Yeah, missing I'm missing out onsaving people right now. I mean,
we found a way to have itoff the ground, Yeah, you know
how to do it. Why can'twe get there? You know? Funding

(25:59):
for the NIH is a couple youknow, even if that goes through,
it's a couple of months from now, you know, and uh, and
I feel like we're missing opportunities wherewe could be doing something today because you
know, my organization's ready. Youknow, we have everything in you guys
are ready. We're just needing thefunding. So we've done all the hard
work and now we just need thefund. Now we were talking, so
a lot of these organizations would getapproved and then have to go through like

(26:22):
years of certain trials. You youyou already passed that kind of thing,
correct, Yeah, explain that tome. What this is kind of an
expedited situation from that standpoint. Soif someone was to get the same funding
as you, they might have aset of things that they have to do
that can take another year and ahalf or two years after funding for them
to even put anything into motion.Correct. Yeah, we we really put

(26:45):
all these pieces together, and wewe tried to figure out how to do
this for for a while, andyou know, really working with our local
you know, congressional districts and senatorsoffices, we kind of came together as
a group and said, look,you know, you got to have this
thing set up, and we submittedour paperwork on January the fourteenth of this

(27:10):
year to be recognized as a fiveto one three And you know, you
and I joked around about this andi'd't even catch it until you mentioned it
to me. I got the recognitionletter on March the fourth, and you
were like, mar dude, Marchthe fourth, March fourth. So yeah,
I mean it was just a catastrophicmeltdown from others. I'm sure if
they knew we got recognized in lessthan sixty days, because you know,

(27:32):
when we first got our letter back, it was like, you know,
let's be twelve to eighteen months.So just the help we've received from others
to get recognized as a nonprofit,to get our grant paperwork together in a
short period of time, to beingon here with Paul talking about our organization.
I mean, it's just it's justtoo it's just too well orchestrated for
me to take any any credit.And I can appreciate, Look, you

(27:56):
know, these things take time,but I can appreciate your impatience kind of
towards the situation because it's obvious thatI don't know what the numbers are,
but I know there's as many astwenty two veterans who are taking their own
lives daily. I know that's anumber that's out there, and well,
we're not sure. Twenty two.Yeah, I love the twenty two.
I just think, like, youknow, that's what you're looking at.
So every day it's not done,you're losing people, and you know,

(28:19):
look, maybe the idea is youcan't save everyone, right, but it's
one more thing that's not out therenow that could really make a difference.
And so I just think it's Hey, I think it's important to have a
message of hope, which is whatthis is, right, It's important to
take an approach that no one's evertaken before. And it's kind of an

(28:41):
epidemic type scenario we're in, rightit is. And nobody wants to talk
about this. Nobody wants to talkabout in the private sector, no one
wants to talk about it, inthe military sector. It doesn't matter where.
Nobody wants to talk about suicide.It's just a taboo thing that people
just stay away from. And it'sa real problem. I think most people
would admit that in some way they'veknown someone or have known someone who's known

(29:06):
someone who's taken their own life.And there's a lot of people out there.
And that's just the United States I'mtalking about, you know, So
this is a real problem in ourcountry and we have to start talking about
it, and we have to startputting things into motion like you are.
So listen, man, I justI want to say kudos. I mean,
I know you've gotten some divine interventionand guidance through this and I operate

(29:32):
that way creatively, and that's what'shappening with you. And I feel like,
look, this is a brilliant idea, and you know that it's taken
a lot of math on your sideto try and figure out all these nuances
to even put in for the grant, right correct, And that's like you
said under review, But you feelyou've got a strong position. That's a
lot of work you've had to putin just to get to where you are.

(29:53):
So you got to have some patienceabout it. Didn't kick us out,
We moved forward, how about that? So listen, man, I
just think so much of what you'redoing. I just think it's it's such
an important thing and you should bereally proud of yourself putting this thing together.
And you know, I think certainly, and I didn't know him,

(30:17):
but we've spoke, your father wouldbe extremely proud of you because this is
this is like a world changer.This is not like, this is not
like itsy bitsy type stuff. Thisis like monumental global game changer at the
end of the day. And Ithink, I know what the offset where
we're talking about is what you're whatyou have to start with. But the

(30:37):
layers to this thing and what itcould become in helping people across the country,
it's almost unlimited where it can growand what it could turn into.
We've talked about various different angles andpositions it can take on for the betterment
of the country. And we don'thave to get into all that because right
now you've got to start somewhere,and that's kind of what you're doing.
You're just getting started and so gettinginto these states, getting the studies going,

(31:02):
seeing how it works, have thedoctors go in there, start compiling
all this information to make you moreefficient and make this thing work better.
I mean, you can't ask formore than that. Yeah, we're excited
about it, and it's funny toyour point. I mean, we actually
crafted this project from the beginning asa nationwide project, and now we've scaled
it down so people can understand itto just real small pieces. So I

(31:25):
think, you know, I thinkit's gonna be awesome, and I really
think that, you know, oncepeople understand why we're different. You know,
there's twenty thousand suicide prevention donation bucketsout there. But I think once
people realize why we're different and that, you know, we can store a
firearm, nobody else can do it. We'll store the key for a lock.

(31:45):
Nobody else has really wanted to dothat. They can send us a
piece of a firearm and we canstore that. I mean, there's so
many options that somebody can do thatmakes them comfortable. And they're in charge,
not the medical field, not nobodyelse. It puts them in the
driver's seat and they can make thedecision for themselves like that. Yeah,

(32:05):
you know, they're they're not aboutgiving anything up, not like that,
right, they're not giving any freedomsup. Put it that way, right,
But I didn't even know that.So they could just they can send
you their barrel, send me abarrel, so they'll start a complete gun.
So if they want to keep therest to send me apart, whatever,
let's send send me a functional partand we'll start. That's great.
And so we're we we haven't saidno, We've only added yes, you

(32:29):
know, to to the project.Right, And in the educational part,
and I mean it's really important thateverybody knows. The goal is to educate
people. We're going to offer thisservice. It's going to happen either way.
We're going to offer this service.And when we're done, I want
people to be able to sit backand say, you know, I remember

(32:50):
when Snapper was talking about, youknow, judging his father and not understanding
his father. And I want themto be able to say, hey,
you know, I'm a twenty yearold kid. Maybe I need to think
about this and say, I don'tknow. You know, I don't really
know. I didn't know. AndI hope that people understand as we move
through this and they start learning aboutour organization that we don't know and somebody
may need somebody to reach out toyou. My question is when will all

(33:15):
of this be functioning out there?I mean, at this stage in the
game, could someone send a weaponto you? Could they? It would
be hard to say no. Imean we don't have the funding. You
know, at the moment, weliterally are in our incubator, but it
would be very hard to say no. And if somebody, you know,
it would be really hard to snaynow right, you know how it is,

(33:37):
But you know, the sooner weget funding, and the sooner we
get some people contributing, and Imean, we want to do this yesterday,
for right now. Meanwhile, you'rein the stages of waiting for a
grant. Public funding would be absolutelywelcome. Obviously, Where do people go
if they want to support this effort. There's a couple of places you can

(33:59):
go. The first and foremost isI would check out our websites Firearms Research
Institute dot org. It talks aboutour doctor panel on there, talks a
little bit about what we're trying todo, and you can donate directly on
our website. We're looking at doinganother go fund me here real short which
we can probably Yeah, I'm gettingwe're gonna figure we're gonna have to give
We're gonna have to give something away. That's we're gonna have to get something

(34:21):
going. Yeah, So you know, the or you can call me.
I give you my phone number.That'd probably be outside the box, but
you know, I do feel stronglythat you know, if you need something,
just email me through that website andyou know, if you need me
to call you, I'll call you. It's great, perfect, Well,
I appreciate you coming out man,and uh, this is this is just

(34:43):
the first of many podcasts I thinkwe're gonna do together because I really wanna.
I want to. I want youback on here when you get that
grant and when things start moving forward. I think we need to kind of
have like the next conversation once youget a little further. Yeah, it's
fantastic because this is like, thisis the kind of thing you follow up
on. You know, it's nota one and done. It's uh,
you know, this is big stuff, especially when you talk about somebody clicking

(35:06):
a button on our website and generatingtheir own shipping label and throwing it at
the you know, throwing the itemand it comes right to us. I
mean, some cool stuff figured out. Yeah, that's awesome. Cool.
Thanks Paul, Yeah man, thankyou. Thank you for listening to the
Paul Junior Podcast. You can findPaul online as Paul Cuttle Junior on Instagram,
Paul Junior Designs on Facebook, Whereis Paul Junior on Twitter, and

(35:30):
Paul Junior Designs on YouTube. Getmore info on Paul's dealership or merchandise at
Paul Junior Designs dot com. Haveany questions you want answer on the show,
email us at podcast at paul JuniorDesigns dot com.