Note: This transcript was automatically generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and therefore typos may be present.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Hey folks Rob McNealy here and we’re gonna have a really good show for you today. I have a personal friend of mine who I’ve wanted to be on the show for some time, and I can say that I’ve been derelict in my duties with getting him on the show. But he is a gentleman I met over a year ago at the gun rights policy conference, and he is a gun rights activist from the city of Detroit named Rick, Hector. Rick, how are you today and welcome to the show.
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
I am doing great man and glad to be on the show. Hopefully we’ll have some fun
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
We always have fun when we talk. Right?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Like the last time I talked to you is last night, man and it was just kickin it. And we were on the phone for at least two hours, man.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
We should have like, recorded that. But I think we can capture some of that today too. So just just so the audience knows where you’re coming from, give us a little bit of background about yourself. How did you get into becoming a gun rights advocate?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
How did I get into being a gun rights advocate? Wow, how far down the rabbit hole need to go? A long time ago, man, maybe 13 or 14 years ago. I’m going to just hit the highlights 1314 years ago, a relatively brand new homeowner. Only firearm I own was a 12 gauge shotgun just in case some criminal was brave enough to breach my front door. Lo and behold one day I got robbed in my driveway and that changed my life. I went on the Silk Road. called classic hero’s journey that formulaic process that is used to tell movies and basic storytelling. I went on this quest to learn more about personal protection and firearms instruction. I took all the classes I could get and then I felt I needed to learn more and I became a firearms instructor. And then I became a training counselor to train people to be firearms instructors. And then I was still I still had much to do man and I wanted to do more. And I started doing research and my path, cross that with a gentleman by the name of Ken Blanchard, out in Upper Marlboro, Maryland black man with the gun and then I found out he was going to be at the gun rights policy conference one year so then I drove to, you know, what was at Fort Mitchell, Kentucky I met him befriended him and my life hasn’t been the same man and progress gun rights advocate I advocate for lawful carry, whether it’s open carry or concealed carry I advocate for law abiding citizens being armed and making the world a less safe place for bad guys.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
And I know one of the things that you one of your claims to fame is that you’ve helped a lot of the ladies in the inner city of Detroit get trained and certified and safe handling of firearms that correct. That is correct, man. I saw a story nine years ago, man and it was very chilling. It was a story about a woman whose body was discarded in the street as if it was trash. And I felt that someone should do something about that. And I watched the media and I didn’t see anyone addressing it. And so I had a bit of inspiration. I thought that I would leverage some friendships that I have with fellow trainers in the area and we put together a training program for women. all they had to do is show up at a gun range and we would take care of their range fees, their ammunition costs, give them a gun to use and give them a rain safety briefing to have them shoot a gun. And that first year man, I had such lofty goals. I was going to train a million people that day, but only 50 showed up so I trained 50 people, and I continued to grow this program and last year in the last iteration of this program, we trained 114 women with the rain safety briefing and a free shooting lesson. Now I am boldly making plans to train 1000 women in one day give them a rain safety briefing and a free shooting list.
Now this is all done of course with other range safety officers in a very safe and you know very safe environment, right?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Oh yeah, man. Definitely. I had literal army of volunteer firearms instructors and range safety officers. There’s a huge gun range in Metro Detroit that has blessed us with the full use of their modern gun range. I will have no less than 100 fellow firearms instructors so as you can tell, I have some really good relationships with a lot of people who believe in this program and what we’re doing. And they literally This is for many of them the highlight of their year and they do it all for the sake of doing the job well done and feeling really good about what they’ve done when they leave the gun race.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
What time of year do you normally do this training?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Usually I do it exactly one week after Mother’s Day but with all of the lockdowns that we’ve had associated with the corona virus, and I gov, you know, I’m going to be nice today. some very interesting things about public safety and things that need to be done that I just pulled the plug on it and I say, Well, I need to move this event further down the road. And currently now I’m making plans to geared up on Sunday, August 9 to do the latest iteration. And hopefully, I won’t run into any unforeseen roadblocks to deter me from making good on that day.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Well, you know, keep me in the loop on that. And if the pandemic makes it permissible, I would love to come be a volunteer with you.
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Man, I’ll tell you I turn nobody away. Absolutely. No one, you know, I have, you know, safety is the primary consideration, you know, and the way I make that happen is I make sure that there’s one on one instruction between the student and the instructor and we swap out instructors every so often so that we have in instructors who aren’t daydreaming, wondering if they left the stove on or if they lock their front door or trying to remember where they parked. I want everyone to be fresh, alert and safety conscious. And you know what, in all the years that I’ve done this event and all the thousands of women that I gave a free shooting less than two, we’ve had actually zero injuries.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
But that’s really good. So what’s been the response to this training? Typically, you’re coming at it from the inner city, Detroit, and which is as we know, a very governed by the left in trying to be very politically correct here. But the city Detroit is very left leaning typically and politically and from the city council on down. Generally in inner cities, they tend to be politically very anti gun. What is your response from the community in general, with your gun safety program?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
You know, I’ve we’ve had some very interesting interactions with people in the political, public space, you know, through the the length of this project, man. And, you know, there were some people who had some very nice things to say about it, you know, some things such as, you know, it’s the wrong message and we should, you know, not be in a rush to gravitate towards firearms for personal protection. But, you know, I’ve always felt that when you look at the annual crime stats, and going back to when this program first initiated, you know, we were perennially leading the country in the number of murders that were happening across the country, and in particular concern of two women. You know, we were having a neighborhood of anywhere from 800 to 1000 reported rapes. In the city of Detroit, you know, this is not the metro area, this is within the city. And anytime you talk to anyone who talks to you about rape, well, the number of reported rapes is significantly less than how many actually occur because you have the embarrassment, modesty, wanting to be anonymous factor. You know, there’s various multipliers that you can apply towards the reported rape counts to try to get a handle on how many are actually occurring. So really, this is my annual tribute to women. I have women who are in my family, I have, you know, daughters, I have arts you know, I have women who are friends and this is this is the one thing that I typically in any given year can put my hand on and say, I did a really good thing and this is the sentiment that is experienced by a A lot of people who are participating in this program, it’s like a really great thing to do. And it It feels great to make a contribution to do something that empowers people, man and make them more secure in their life, you know, as a Detroiter, and as a Michigander.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
So with the it sounds like the women in the area support it, but the government folks are less supportive of it. That’s kind of interesting, isn’t it?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Well, it’s interesting thing, man, but you know, and, you know, when you talk about the days in which we find ourselves, it’s, it’s really an interesting contrast. But see, typically in years prior to now, you know, there’s always this concern that, well, maybe I’m you know, contributing to the problem. And I’m like, No, I’m empowering women and I’m actually making the community safer because With the more hand with the more people who carry guns lawfully and get concealed carry permits, it actually acts as a buffer to people who hate guns and don’t carry guns. So just the mere fact that there’s a proliferation of people carrying guns, you can be anti gun and be safe. Well, one of the interesting things that we’re finding out now in this now New World, we find ourselves with the corona virus. we’re discovering that yes, law enforcement officers are human too, and they sometimes find themselves subject to be infected with the corona virus in their ability to stay virus free has had a significant impact on their ability to feel their departments and actually patrol and enforce the law. So it’s actually a selling factor, if you will, to get more people to take part in this program for the simple fact that you know what, anything could happen and at at the worst case, You are your own first responder, and you can do, the best thing you can do to make you and your family safe is to be prepared to defend yourself in the life of your family. So, you know, over the years this program as grown by leaps and bounds, you know, get good feet back from people that participate in testimonials, positive news stories. And, you know, there’s very few people who can come out publicly and say that they’re against the program. I mean, because, after all, if it wasn’t for their failures and safeguarding women, then this program wouldn’t have a need to exist.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
So you brought up an interesting point about the police department and in Detroit specifically getting infected with COVID. Now, I was following that for a while because as you and I have talked, I’m actually originally from Metro Detroit. I actually grew up two miles from the city limits of Detroit and how many cups have been out because of Corona Now that you’re aware of in the city tried
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Ah, man, I wish I had that that data handy. But there was one point a very short time ago, maybe a few weeks back when there was a real concern that there were so many police officers who either had it and were suffering with it or who were under quarantine for the simple fact that they had contact with people who had confirmed cases of Coronavirus that they were seriously entertaining the idea of totally restructuring their department and working with other law enforcement agencies in the Regency in the region to make sure that we had adequate coverage. And of course, if you’ve been following the news media, our very own police chief chief Craig actually came down with the Coronavirus and took himself off the playing field so that he could heal. Fortunately for us and for him, you know, he was able to make a full recovery and he’s back on the job but That just merely highlights the fact that this Coronavirus, you know, we’re just now learning more and more about it. We’re learning that it’s not as dire as what we once thought it was that many that as many people are not as susceptible to it as we thought. But it’s still out there, and it could still have an impact and an effect on public safety. So, you know, in the end, I’m all about empowering people and empowering their communities. The more people who are trained in firearms, the more people that carry, the more guns that we have in the homes, the better off and the safer, we are going to be. And I stand on that man and every time I do this program, I feel like I’ve done a really good thing. You know, if by the time I eventually leave this world, if someone has the job of putting an epitaph on my headstone, they could put something on there that that’s a testament to how many women that are I help safeguard and train over the years. I think that that would be a fitting tribute.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
So what is the number so far? How many people have how many women have you actually trained and exposed to firearms in the Detroit area?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Well, just with regards to just this program, and we’re very close to 4000 women that I’ve trained through this free program, and you know, it’s a one day event one day a year, you know, thing. So, you know, it’s kind of skewed because I only do this program one day a year, but man, we train so many people in one day, it’s just, it’s just mind blowing, that, that we actually do it and we make it happen. And I’m surprised it’s not national news, man, but the local news media come out and they cover it. And you know, and I’ll post the clippings, the digital clippings on my YouTube channel and all that other stuff, man, but it’s a big deal, man. I think if I hit 1000, I think The national networks wouldn’t wouldn’t be able to ignore me then not credibly anyway. But you talk about a guy and his gang of volunteers actually training 1000 women how to use a fire. I don’t think even the news media can ignore that.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Do you do this at an outdoor event? Or do you do this at VIP more than one range at a time, logistically speaking?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Well, you know, I’m at a point where I’m going to have to start thinking about branching out maybe to more ranges on the same day, but as of right now, it’s all at one range. A few years back, or shall I say, several years back, I started running into a capacity problem. And while anytime you do things and it you experience rapid growth, you’re going to have to take a step back and look at how you do things. And so one of the innovations I came up with, was splitting the day up into into various shifts. So instead of having say a thousand women all show up at a gun range at eight o’clock in the morning, I decided to break the day up into several shifts, like maybe seven or eight shifts. And through the registration process, they would sign up for a specific shift in a time period. And so that model has carried me all the way through now. And it might get me through maybe another iteration. But at some point in time, if this program continues to grow, I am definitely going to have to use more gun ranges or make it more days. I haven’t figured out yet how I’m going to proceed. But one way or another is going to grow by the number of days or the number of locations.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
So did the women actually get a CCW from this or is this just like an intro exposure kind of seminar?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
No, it’s not a class where they’re going to get a carry permit. You know, that’s an eight hour class and you start are multiplying that by 1000. Man. Now we’re talking about some serious training that physically and through the sheer laws of physics couldn’t be done in a day. But you know what, maybe I just don’t have the resources. But right now this is pretty much a introductory kind of class, bring them in, you give them the fundamentals of firearm safety, you run them through the basic safety rules and give them demonstrations in terms of gun handling and shooting stances. And then their one on one with a firearms instructor in the booth. You know, we do a big informational session where they get all this information up front, and then we line them up and we marched them through the gun stalls with one on one with a firearms trainer. And then we shove them out the door and we welcome the next wave of students.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Nice. How many do you know how many of those actually do decide to go on to get further training and get their CCW do follow those those stats around. No, there’s
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Hasn’t been a really good way to track that man. But I’ll tell you, every time I do this event, there’s a number of women who’ve gone through it at some point before. And maybe there’s a few that took a few years off, or they’ll go every other year. And then Believe it or not, there’s always a legion of women who come every single year and never miss a year. But that’s primarily high gross, you know, social media has been a, a big publicity engine. You know, like I said, I don’t get any national coverage about this program. But I’ll tell you, when you have literally hundreds of women all on the same day, posting pictures of their targets, their silhouettes and the pretty holes they put on them. You know, it’s almost like I’m breaking the internet, at least locally here in southeastern Michigan. And you can’t go on social media without seeing a picture and all these great smiles at people Having about all the fun that they had. And believe it or not, there’s always some people who never heard of the program, believe it or not. And they happen to hear about it during that, let that last iteration. And now they now they’re here and they do it. And then I tell you, you know, they all to a person, they’re happy that they were part of the program. And they tell their family and friends about it. And so we’ve grown organically, you know, from 50 to 814, man. So, onward to 1000.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Well, I think you’re gonna get there. And I think you’re taking the right approach. I know whenever I’ve taken just one on one friends of mine that are no gunners that are interested, especially people that are liberal, which is the best part is that once they go through the safety, and the basics of a gun and get over that initial kind of, you know, fear that they might have, they almost always get hooked almost every time and and I think what the part of the problem is out there is that I’ve seen at least to so many people who have zero experience of guns, all they know about guns at the same time TV, and especially when people come from states where guns are largely illegal or verboten, you can say, and then they come out here. It was interesting. I had a friend of mine who’s an attorney in New Jersey in New York, he lives in Jersey works in New York. And he came out here, he comes out here for business every now and then. And I took him out to the desert one night, or one afternoon, while he was here, and I picked him up from his hotel said, Let’s go shooting. And, you know, I started just pulling out the stuff, some of my rifles and stuff from my garage. He’s like, you have all this stuff. And he’s like, Yeah, he goes, every one of these things is illegal, where I come from. And then it was funny because by the end of the day, he’s like, hand me his phone. He’s like, take a video of me shoot. He’s like, people aren’t gonna believe this back home and I thought it was a really good time. And I think That’s a really good way to get people interested in guns just don’t bore them with an eight hour class, but just give them an exposure kind of thing, you know, demystify it a little bit. And then, you know, if they feel
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Tell me about this woman who was making plans to come to my event, and she had a family member from out of state from Chicago, Illinois wall places, who was very anti gun. And when this visitor came to visit one of my program registrants, the host said, Well, look, you have a choice. You can either wait here for a few hours, or you can come with me to the gun range for this program. And so literally, she dragged this lady from Chicago kicking and screaming the whole way to the program. And so they both went through the rain safety briefing. They both got the shooting lessons done. And that one vehemently anti gun lady, From Chicago is just smiling from ear to ear. And literally you can see tears forming in our eyes of joy. And I turned an anti gunner who had no experience with guns at all, and to someone who’s extremely interested in firearms and personal protection. And it just goes to show you man that a lot of times people are programmed by a lot of things that they see and hear in the news and in the media. What is popular culture in the films, you actually take them to a gun range and give them some training, put a gun in their hand and let them shoot. The first thing they’ll find out is one, that it’s a lot of fun. And two, they find out that gun owners are people just like themselves, normal, good, decent, wholesome, law abiding citizens. And that Yeah, there’s a place for gun ownership in in America and in their communities to
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Well, I think What I’ve seen when I’ve talked to a lot of people, is that where they get excited about it, and I think maybe the tears of joy. It’s the empowerment piece that’s pretty important that a lot of people are petrified. And they’re scared, especially women, especially in the inner cities, that they have no way to defend themselves, no means of, you know, self protection. I say it’s interesting, you know, lately, we’re well, as we’re recording this, we’re in the middle of, you know, protests and the riots seem to be slowing down nationwide. But what we’ve seen here, whereas there is a, you know, a very righteous cause in there where, you know, police brutality is a problem. And I think a lot of people, you know, especially in the white side of the aisle, is there an aisle for white people, but, but I think a lot of white Americans don’t really realize that police brutality can be a problem. But what we’re seeing now, and I think what happened over the last couple weeks is the entire country discussed the shit scared out of it from the Riot Park, right. And I do believe there’s a lot of outside antagonists trying to subvert peaceful protesters for their own purposes. And we can get into that discussion probably on another show. But I think what happened is, the numbers show me and I say whatever, whatever’s come out, whatever comes up the protests and the riots. What you do know is that white America and not inner city, America just got the shit scared out of it. And I say the numbers of how many background checks and purchases of guns have happened in the last two weeks. support that I think people are scared and, you know, even if they don’t understand or have a dog in the, you know, the police brutality and civil rights movements that are here. People watch people getting their businesses looted, and their businesses burned, and it scares them. And I think when people like I’ve seen I mean, it’s interesting, you know, I have a lot of friends in New York and LA. And they have no way to protect their businesses or their houses or anything else. And they’re scared. They’re scared to death. And I couldn’t imagine being in that position personally.
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Well, man, you know, once I got through my own personal experience, I personally don’t know how people walk in polite society without a gun, but that’s me and my personal experiences that I’ve had. But I’ll tell you what, just from all of the news coverage of the riots and all the demonstrations from all over the country, all that it really has done from a gun standpoint, has just fueled another wave of people who are afraid and are frightened. And now there’s another background check frenzy going on. And now they’re just another gun buying frenzy that’s going on. And the thing is, man guns have been selling like hotcakes for so long. Many dealers are having problems keeping guns and ammo in stock. So, you know, it’s one of those things where, you know, you wonder, you know what came first the chicken or the egg man or whether it’s demonstrations and or violence and gun sales man. They’re just two reciprocal processes they keep feeding into one of themselves. And I’ll tell you man, there has never been a greater period in recent memory for gun sales as I can recall. Now, if you look at any graphs over the last Domino 1520 years or so, we’re probably at the highest it’s been in like 20 years, man, and it could probably go further. I just wonder about from the supply side. Can we get more guns into the into the supply chain? I know ammo has already been a problem in some places in the country. And for those of us who have gone through these cyclical periods to Typically at every presidential election every four years, we know that every four years ammo usually gets scarce anyway, so this year is doubly in Tripoli. So so hopefully people have stocked up early and if they haven’t, man, go to your local gun shop and get what you can now so in case you need it later, you’ll have it.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
So Rick, what you’re saying is so, like, pretty typical, like the pandemic and all the politics is going on lately and the riots we’ve sold more guns, I think, this year in 2020, than we have probably in the last 20 years. Would you say that’s probably going to be where we’re going here.
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
That’s where we’re going, man. And you know what, we’re just half the year is not even done, man. There’s still there’s still a lot of time to dwarf numbers from previous years, man, but, you know, as a gun rights advocate, I feel that it’s a good Good direction. You know if you ask me man more guns, more safety, more empowerment, and creates a more treacherous working environment for bad guys.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Would you say that the gun debate is over at this point, given the number of new gun owners that are coming into the market? Do you think that the gun control is just dead now?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Well, at this point in time, they are having a really tough time justifying their positions, man, but for those of us who’ve been around for a while, you know, we know that you know, when things settle down, assuming that they do that will be lowered back into a safe sense of security and then people will get lacks. Hell, a lot of these anti gunners who just bought up all these guns, they’ll probably sell their guns and we’ll wait until the next crisis or next event happens that spurs another, you know, surge of buying, you know, I’ll tell you just from being involved in the community and in this field of endeavor man, you you enter for a while and you start to see cycles and it’s just another cycle.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
So is there been riding in Detroit like there has been in New York and LA?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
No, there hasn’t been any rioting. There have been some demonstrations and you know what? as big as an advocate as I am for the Second Amendment, I’m a huge advocate of the First Amendment. There have been some troublemakers a couple nights after, after nightfall, but you know, those were those and you know, I think it’s those and Tifa folk man troublemakers, but I was looking at the stats that was pumped that were published in the media, and the vast majority of them were outsiders. I’m talking about 80% of the arrest. That people made that the law enforcement community made. We’re from outside of the Detroit boundary, there were people who were coming in from outside of our community, who, in my opinion, were here just to be agitated and try to egg things on. You know, by all means, if you feel that there’s something you need to speak out on and to assemble and demonstrate, by all means, do that. I ran a demonstration of my own on this on the Thursday before these protests, I was about to sell myself and
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
You just killed my segue. I was gonna segue right into he just killed my setup. Alright, but so yeah, so let’s talk about that you recently that was one of the big things that I wanted to talk to you about today is you recently organized a big event at the state capitol in Michigan. So tell me about that.
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Well, you know, I wanted to in a very public fashion, you know, think that this that were on the minds of many people, especially people of color, you know, blacks and Hispanics and other my racial minorities that, you know that when we see incidents like this occur in the national media, whether we’re talking about the Brianna Taylor case, or we’re talking about the Armand robbery case. So we’re talking about George Lloyd. And, you know, and I get it, you know, there are concerns and there’s issues that need to be dealt with. But, you know, what I wanted to do was to put on an official demonstration, a rally at the Capitol and say, Hey, you know, hate has no place in our society, you know, it’s going to take all of us to address it. You know, fortunately for us, you know, the issue is really not as rampant as I think some people in the media would have us believe, but you know what, it is a problem. And let’s address it, and we did so peaceably at the Capitol here in Lansing. Michigan, you know, is the first event I did outside of Metro Detroit. You know, I was really wondering if I was going to be able to pull enough people from across the state to meet up there for a decent meetup man. But you know what I had people come out from Lansing, people come out from Grand Rapids, people who came out from Detroit, and you know, from other where we even have had a couple people come up from Chicago, Illinois. So it was very satisfying. And, you know, there are still people here who, you know, they’re, they’re reluctant to, you know, leave their homes and there’s, they’re reluctant to let alone travel halfway across the state man, but our first iteration it was well received. And the thing that I’m really shocked by man is that, you know, I’ve been really receiving a ton of feedback of people who are telling me they wish they had known about it, because it had they known they would have actually, you know, made the trip up to Lansing. So, you know, I think there’s an interest there and You know what, we may do it again.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
I think that that’s important. And one of the things that I’ve seen in that I would like to see change, especially in some of the, the more legacy gun rights groups, say maybe the NRA, it would be really nice to see more outreach to the black and minority communities. And, and I don’t just mean that in a pandering way and everybody’s like, everybody’s like, we got to get more people from the inner cities and everybody wants to get you know, more people that are minority, but I’m talking like, sincere outreach, because I do believe that many inner cities politically have been led down this path that disarmament is okay, and that guns aren’t a good thing and that there’s a lot of stereotypes that I think the the narrative that’s spun by many politicians on the left that guns are just a redneck white thing. And guns are just, you know, tools of white supremacy and things like that. And, you know, at least my understanding of a lot of history with gun permits and things like that where the opposite is that, you know, guns were originally, you know, gun control was originally erastus concept in many places. What’s your take on that? Yeah.
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Well, you just basically nailed it. In a nutshell man, gun control really has absolutely nothing to do with guns. It’s all about the control of guns from black people, and it’s not for their safety. It’s actually to keep black people from being able to defend themselves from racist and from the government. You know, back when, you know, slavery and, you know, black people needed to have guns and they own guns ever since slavery. And the thing that I tell people about is a case that happened here in Detroit, in 1925, which predates the modern civil rights movement was a case of a physician In the city of Detroit, and this doctor seen sweet, he moved into a previously all white community and the local neighbors didn’t appreciate it. And there were hundreds of people who were literally camped out in front of his house every day chanting all sorts of dreadful, unpleasant things. Oh, this one evening, you know, they fired into his home. And luckily for him, he had friends over who also brought their guns and they returned fire to people in that that mob were killed, and then the police who were there just to merely observe and report, you know, they finally stormed the home and arrested everyone. And this case in 1925 was a a groundbreaking case. This was before normal protections that people take for granted such as Miranda and the right against self incrimination and Have an attorney provided to you free of charge, you know, things that we just take for granted man. But in 1925 Dr. ossian suite was represented by Clarence Darrow, who was a famous lawyer of that time and believe it or not the n double A CP. That’s not the same in double acp of today, they actually paid his legal fees. But at the end of the day, Dr. Sweet was exonerated of every charge. But that case is significant for another reason, is significant, because here in the state of Michigan, Michigan enacted the Michigan Firearms Act in 1927, as a direct response to that case, and as a result of that case, the most onerous restrictive gun laws ever devised were put on the books here in the state of Michigan, and it was devised and implement it only for one purpose. So that no black person could defend themselves from a white racist mob ever again. Fortunately for us through all of the legal challenges and court cases and elections through the years and decades, we here in the state of Michigan have gotten most of those gun laws taken off the books. And Michigan is a fairly decent state with regards to gun laws, but gun rights advocates such as myself, are always working to make sure that they are made better from a gun owner standpoint. And you made reference to the falando Castillo case in Philadelphia, which happens, you know, maybe four or five years ago. And that case to me is very significant as it relates to black people. Because in the aftermath of that case, if you remember the details, it was a gentleman who was with this woman and they were stopped by the police. And based on what version of the story you believe He was reaching for his identification. And the police shot him thinking he was reaching for a gun. Well, in the aftermath of that case, man, many people in the black community were looking for a gun rights organization, ostensibly the NRA to come out and make a statement, man, and they never really addressed it formally. And I think that that was the missed opportunity for the NRA.
Well, well, the reason why, well, for the reason why I want to stop you right there is the point that you’re trying to make is that Philando Castillo did have a gun on him at the time. However, he was a licensed concealed carry holder, and was absolutely within the law by having that gun on him at that time. I’m sorry, I just wanted to throw that out there because that’s, I think, an important detail here about this case, continue about the very,
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Yeah, that’s very important and in the aftermath of a case man, many people In the black community were like, oh man, how awful how dreadful. How could this thing happen and they were looking for someone to make a statement man someone to make a stand, and a lot of them were turned into the National Rifle Association and you know, they did not make a statement, but what I will say is to the credit of, of one of their personalities. Gee, what’s the brother’s name out of out of, is he from New York? What’s the black guy from the National Rifle Association?
Not sure off the top of my head.
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
He came out and made a statement man and well, he came out and made a statement. And you know, he said everything that we wanted the organization to say but but they didn’t. And at the end of the day, another organization, nation, the National African American gun Association, which was at the time a fairly new group, that that was formulated their membership ranks swelled. And now they’re the most significant minority gun rights group in the country as of right now. And I think that just really speaks to the reluctance of the NRA to pick up that mantle and say, Hey, you have a place here. You know, I think the NRA, you know, and in this understanding, I’m not being critical of the NRA. I’m a life member of the NRA. I’m a member of their group that is part of the committee that gets the word up about the NRA and why it’s good for them to join the NRA and I’m a big booster of the NRA. I just think it was a missed opportunity for them to take a stand and say, Hey, this case was wrong. And that Mr. Castiel should not have been, you know, killed in that fashion and that gun rights is very important and we need to fight injustice. Wherever it wherever It occurs wherever it rears its ugly head. But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, black people have found an organization that, I guess that is catering to, you know, their issues. And I continue to hope that they continue to do well. And I do hope at some point in time the NRA does in a more ostensible fashion, makes it known that they want people of color to be in the organization.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Do you think it had to do more their their lack of making a statement that I would say the silence, right, do you think had more to do with race? Or do you think had more to do with the fact that the NRA is very pro law enforcement? Or do you think it’s a combination?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
It’s possible that it’s a combination of the both but I’ll tell you this, it is, believe it or not, and I’m a living example of it. It’s possible to be pro law enforcement and be against, you know, bad cops, you know, whether that They have bad training or there’s some bad animals there, or they actually just don’t like the people that they’re discharged with protecting, you know, which we’ve seen in this last case with George Lloyd, man, but at the end of the day, man, you know, we we have very few bad cops out there man with the bad cops that we do have out there. They create a very bad situation for everyone. And the thing, the point that I think a lot of people are making right now, is not only do we take issue with bad cops, we take issue with silent cops, who see bad cops do bad things and just stand by and do nothing. And if we can look at our nation’s reaction over the last week or so, man, I think we all agree that it’s unacceptable.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
And I think I don’t see how anybody can at a high level I would not agree with that. And I think ultimately At least with law enforcement, I mean, I, I’m a mixed guy, I normally don’t have necessarily have a problem with cops. But growing up, I have had problems with cops even, you know, I grew up kind of poor and I didn’t come, you know, from a big rich family or an affluent family and, and I would say even even in the wider suburbs of Detroit, there’s a lot of bad cops that mess with white people too. I mean, cop abuse happens everywhere. And I think part of that is this like thin blue line, unaccountable culture. Like Where else can you have it that we investigated ourselves and found nothing wrong? Where that Where else would that fly in the world? I mean, other than in law enforcement, it’s really kind of absurd, if you think about it. And I think that’s where people are getting, you know, frustrated with the fact that is that I think in a lot of cases you get you get some bully cops. Let’s just be honest, I think there’s a lot of bully cops out there, but is that there’s something about the culture in law enforcement that I don’t know if it’s that thin blue line mantra, philosophy was Whatever you want to call it, is that a lot of these you’ve got these cops will cover for which is arguably very egregious behavior of their colleagues. And I that’s the shocking part in my mind how this culture has festered. And I do believe people should righteously protest this because it’s become a problem. And it’s been a problem for a long time. And I don’t know how to fix it though. But I think definitely it’s ridiculous not
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
I don’t know how to fix it either.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
And I don’t have the solution Lee you know, someone
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Can you still hear me?
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Yeah, I can hear you. We’re good.
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Okay, good. I lost your video but long as you can hear me that’s the thing that I think most people are taking a big hard look at man is that we’re what’s the alternative? There’s a lot of people in on in the left on the left, who are right now. I believe the mayor of Chicago is the lead Just one I think I’ve heard within the last day. They’re they’re envisioning a world in which we don’t have law enforcement officers. There’s a lot of people out here saying we need to disband the police and not have any police. I mean, I don’t, I’m not going to sit here and suggest that everything is perfect with the police. But, man, I’m not advocating no police at all. I mean, what are you going to replace that? Well,
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
I you know, here’s the thing, one, one, I can get a whole political discussion, but I don’t believe that any government entity is going to disband their police, they may call them something else. They may fund them a different way. There’s no way they’re getting rid of cops because cops are very important roles for government as far as collecting revenue for the government. So and enforcing their regulations. So I have a hard time believing that anybody is going to defund or get rid of cops. I just don’t believe that’s going to happen. Or if they in the I think it’ll probably be saw. It’s I think it’s political speak is what they’re doing right now. They’re pandering. I do. The politicians are pandering right now.
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Well yeah, pandering would be the word they’re pandering.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Yeah, they’re absolutely pandering. I don’t believe that they might call cops something else. It might give them a bunch of extra training, whatever, you know, sensitivity training whatever thing they want, right? It’s not that they don’t already have those trainings. Anyway, they already do have those trainings. So I think they’re just pandering they’re going to call it something else. Maybe they’ll force the force them to write more tickets to pay for it. I don’t know, whatever it ends up being, but I have a hard time believing they’re going to give up their m raps. I have a hard time believing they’re going to give up their machine guns and whatever else they have. They’re not going to do that. So I believe when I see it, I just think it’s a blunt bunch of smoke and mirrors at this time, to be honest, but my concern is, is let’s just say in their weird fantasy that they end law enforcement, right? Let’s just say it doesn’t exist anymore. I know this and you probably know this to white Americans in the suburbs have all the damn guns. Okay, you want to go find the good They’re not in the inner cities. Yeah, I mean, let’s just be honest, most of the guns in the inner cities and that the gangbangers have are pieces of shit guns. I’ve seen what they look like that’s not the fun stuff. The fun stuff is expensive. That’s the one thing that people don’t get the guns are an expensive hobby, though. You know, the fun stuff is on top
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Of the AR as the rifles expense it you know what, you’re absolutely right there in the country, and they’re in suburb area and they are vastly more plentiful than they are in the cities. Yeah, and My take is and this is my concern politically, is that and I’m glad the riots themselves seem to be slowing down because that had me concerned but you know, all it would take politically everybody’s fired up right now everybody’s, you know, amped up everybody’s really sensitive and raw and for a lot of valid fucking reasons, schema language, but a lot of valid fucking reasons. Everybody’s wired up right now. Between the lockdowns and the economy. And the stress and this is just like I think there’s a lot of things all kind of in the mix right now kind of driving this to be honest. But I think what would happen is, if some of these riots started expanding, I’m worried what happens if, you know some white homeowners or some white business owners start defending their property against looters from, you know, someone of a different minority class or, you know, a different race and how the media would spin that. I did hear that, like the mayor and the police chief in Chicago now is like coming out and saying they don’t want quote unquote, vigilante justice, because there was a group of white guys that were basically getting baseball bats and said they’re going to protect their neighborhood. Now, I think everybody has a right to protect their neighborhood. To be honest, I am all about citizen patrols. I do not like the idea of vigilante ism, quote, unquote. But it’s kind of interesting to see how this might play out where you got law enforce on one hand proven that they’re incapable of protecting property and I think That’s important. The government has proven itself in many cities across the country, dozens of cities across the country, and some of the most wealthy neighborhoods and wealthy parts like Midtown Manhattan. The police are impotent at protecting property. And I don’t think that’s going to be lost on people. And at the same time, those politicians are saying we need to disarm not only, you know, basically disarm the police, but then on top of that, they want to prevent vigilante justice. I don’t know where that goes. But I think that most Americans realize that sounds a lot bigger. Well, I think the number of guns being sold is not a logical argument.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
It’s not it’s not it..
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
It doesn’t surprise me that they’re making it but I mean, their movement is basically is going to Peter out at some point in time, because hopefully, they will see some progress, at least on the prosecution side, and I make no mistake about it. You know, the The officer who actually committed the murder Yes, by all means he is guilty. And I also have some sympathies towards the argument that the law enforcement officers who just watched him kill that guy, you know, they should have some level of culpability as well. You know, I think, Well, hopefully we’re going to an age and maybe that that thin blue line, you know, maybe we can do something with that and make it go away. If you are with another police officer, and he does something criminal, you know, to somehow hold the other officers that are with him. Just as culpable for that crime as well. I mean, I think that’s the logical next step. And I think that it needs to happen. It’s just a question as to whether the police unions are going to go forward or, or whether we’re just going to continue to do the same thing we have been doing and just be surprised that we don’t have different results.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Yeah, I’m not sure on the solution and I hope I hope it gets better because, you know, we don’t need more civil unrest in this country. I mean, we got enough problems to deal with, just with the pandemic and and all the other problems with the economy. And this is just not something that we need right now. But Rick, this has gone by very quickly. How can people find out more by you is over? We’re getting over, but I think we’re gonna have another one of these pretty soon. So where can people find out more about you? How can they get in contact with you?
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Man, I’m definitely not hard to find if you literally just type my name up in a search engine of choice, man, Ric Ric k lastname aect. Or my blog is legally armed in Detroit. I’m on all the social media channels. I have over 2000 videos on YouTube. I’m on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, I mean literally wherever you are, just look for me.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
That’s perfect. Rick, thank you so much for coming on. The Show today I’ve really enjoyed our conversation.
Rick Ector – Detroit CCW
Hey, man, thanks for having me. But you know what? Not only did I have fun this past iteration tonight, man, I enjoyed the two hours. We were just shooting the breeze last night. Too bad. We don’t have that stuff archive. Man. That was some good stuff we talked about last night.
Rob McNealy – RobMcNealy.com
Yeah, that’ll be for the crazy version of the podcast next time. But Rick, I’ll talk to you soon, brother. Thank you so much.
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Video Interview
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