The director of training is Ben Anderson, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and former U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Reconnaissance Infantryman.
“Ben is very well grounded and utilizes the experience and training he received in the military as well as his real-world experience in class, but he doesn’t beat students over the head with it,” MacKinlay relayed. “He’s able to speak to people of all levels of expertise as it relates to firearms and personal defense — from the novice who has never fired a gun to tier-one operators. Our other instructors, Roan Grimm and Jacob Stone, are also quite talented. We have a good outfit.”
Like Anchor Tactical, Diamondback Shooting Sports has been contacted about working with several churches to train their security teams.
“Because of the rash of shootings that were occurring in some of the local churches, we’ve been contacted about training security teams and groups of concerned parishioners — so should there be a shooting, they’re prepared to respond,” he said. “Nothing has really developed yet but the inquiries have been made, so people are becoming more aware of the potential need to have something like this in place at their own churches.”
The Community Connection
Good relationships in the community are essential to every firearms retail business. Some retailers, however, go a step farther. Not only do they cultivate good relationships, but they also make community defense a part of how they do business. This may be through providing specialized services for individual customers or partnering with law enforcement agencies to be sure they have the products they need. Regardless of their approach, these retailers go “above and beyond” in their relationships with their communities.
Educating and equipping community members engenders positive, lasting views of your establishment.
Make sure your entire team — from front-line personnel to trainers — are on board in your mission.
(Pictured: Classes at Diamondback Shooting Sports in Tucson, Ariz.)
Building Ties With First Responders
Bo Carpenter and his wife Heather own Generational Guns in Bondurant, Iowa. Carpenter said they often support community defense one person at a time.
“If we have a customer who has handicapped needs, we’ll modify the gun to fit them,” he noted. “I have one customer who’s in a wheelchair; we made a holster to fit his wheelchair.”
The Carpenters are involved with local charities.
“We donate to Bondurant Fundraising Friends and help them out,” Carpenter said. “A couple of years ago, we donated a gun to raffle off for a family.”
Generational Guns has a very close relationship with law enforcement in Bondurant.
“We certify some of the guns for the departments around,” Carpenter shared. “We have a full gunsmith shop and we work on their guns. We have a great relationship with the local police and the sheriff, and with other law enforcement agencies as well.”
people who buy our products [must] understand how they work and when they can and can’t be used in situations involving personal defense.”
Doug MacKinlay, Owner Diamondback Police Supply Company Tucson, Ariz..
An accident at the store helped create the close relationship with local agencies.
“When we were first getting started, we had a fire,” he recalled. “I had the fire out when they got here, but the fire department came in, got the smoke out of the building and got it locked up while I went to the hospital with third-degree burns.”
Ever since, Carpenter has made a point of doing anything he can to help local agencies.
“I’ve sold fire equipment to the fire department before,” he stated. “We’ve sold them rescue equipment both for the trucks and for the individual firefighters.”
Some of the items he’s handled for the fire department include glass breakers, knives and entry tools and axes for the trucks. He has located smaller than usual axes for trucks that carry female firefighters for whom standard axes are too heavy to handle efficiently.
A Natural Progression
At Anchor Tactical in Springfield, Mo., the mission statement reads in part: “Train, equip, and organize American citizens to always be ready to stop the threat while maintaining security and deterrence through sustained readiness.”
Kyle Braschler, a former law enforcement officer who works at the store, shared much of what Anchor Tactical does began with the desire to serve the law enforcement community and first responders. Over time, however, it grew into a quest to provide the same level of service to personal protection and self-defense customers.
“The store was originally named Kelly’s,” Braschler recalled. “It sold batteries. A lot of law enforcement officers came in to buy batteries, and they asked about flashlights. So, the store started carrying flashlights and then handcuffs. Then it expanded into duty gear and became a ‘cop shop.’”
Products at the time included uniforms and tactical supplies. When the current owner purchased the store three years ago, he expanded into tactical products and gear, including firearms.
Today, Anchor Tactical has good relationships with a number of constituent groups, including private security firms and members of the medical community, especially first responders.
“We carry a lot of medical supplies in-house — direct from manufacturers — so there’s a lot of crossover from that community,” Braschler affirmed.
Several large churches in the Springfield area also have developed relationships with Anchor Tactical.
“We’re in the Bible Belt, and we supply several megachurches in the area,” Braschler shared. “They have anything from church security teams to full-blown protection details for their pastoral teams. We have a lot of outreach there, and the owner of the store is well connected in his own church community. We have a lot of people come in who go to church with him.”
Both individual church members and security details are arming themselves, Braschler noted.
“Sometimes it’s the leadership of the details who come in for equipment they’re purchasing to issue, or for training tools,” he said. “A good example of a training tool being used lately is a phenomenal laser training system from Mantis-X. It doesn’t require a lot of actual shooting; it uses dry-fire, so it’s good for various training scenarios inside the church. It’s a big one; several church communities have been looking at it. Individual church members are arming themselves as well.”
COVID & First-Time Buyers
Besides these constituent communities, Anchor Tactical served many first-time gun buyers last year.
“When COVID started, it caused confusion and fear,” Braschler stated. “People didn’t know what direction things were going to go or what was going to happen. Every single day I helped four to six people personally who said, ‘I’ve never bought a gun in my life; I’m looking to get my first gun. I don’t know anything about them, what do you think I should do?’ Those are my favorite customers to help because there’s no ego to get in the way. They want to be helped, and they want to listen. We’ve had a ton of people come in who never thought they’d own a gun in their lives who came in to buy one.”
We carry a lot of medical supplies in-house so there’s a lot of crossover from that community.”
Kyle Braschler, Sales Associate Anchor Tactical Springfield, Mo.
For these new gun buyers, Braschler’s biggest concern has been to get them trained properly.
“I’ve made sure everyone leaves with a business card with training options,” he said.
Although training opportunities were shut down in a lot of big cities, Anchor Tactical’s facilities remained open in the Springfield area so new gun owners could take classes.
Importance Of “Top Drawer” Instructors
Diamondback Shooting Sports in Tucson, Ariz., has an unusual history and offers unique coursework to the community. Part of the store philosophy includes: “Our training goals are simple: we strive to make ourselves, our families, and our communities safer through professional, affordable, and attainable training and education.”
Owner Doug MacKinlay has a separate corporation, Diamondback Police Supply Company, which operates within Diamondback Shooting Sports.
“We’ve been supplying equipment to law enforcement for 22 years,” he noted. “We supply everything from less-lethal munitions to body armor, OC spray, restraints and duty gear.”
MacKinlay always considered training to be an integral part of selling firearms.
“The thought of putting firearms in the hands of those who are not properly trained or who don’t know the laws pertaining to the use of lethal force is worrisome to us,” he declared. “We offer a myriad of courses from basic introduction to firearms and CCW all the way to more advanced courses in handguns and carbines, as well as shotgun courses and long-range rifle courses.”
Classes include combative handgun, combative carbine, three levels of carbine and handgun night shooting, lifesaver skills, baton and handcuffing, pepper spray and TASER and a variety of self-defense classes utilizing knives and various martial arts.
“We’re certified to train both armed and unarmed guards through the Department of Public Safety,” MacKinlay added. “We teach OC spray, baton and how to handcuff, and we offer personal defense for civilians who are interested. We try to keep the prices affordable, and our instructors are top drawer.”
We certify some of the guns for the departments around. We have a great relationship with the local police and the sheriff, and with other law enforcement agencies as well.”
Bo Carpenter, Owner Generational Guns Bondurant. Iowa
Further Involvement
MacKinlay’s community involvement goes far beyond just what happens in the store.
“I’m on the board of directors of the Southern Arizona Law Enforcement Foundation,” he noted. “It is a 501(c)(3) with the objective to raise funds to provide equipment to local law enforcement who otherwise couldn’t afford to buy this equipment. Their budgets simply aren’t there.”
He’s also on the board of directors of the Tucson Association of Executives, a group of about 100 business owners in the Tucson area who support and promote one another’s businesses.
Diamondback Shooting Sports also works closely with a number of charities, and often will set up a booth to promote their training at charity events.
Customers get some ground work in at Diamondback Shooting Sports classes — indoors on a mat
for a self-defense course (above) and outdoors on gravel during a live-fire training event (below).
“We only promote our training when we’re at these events,” MacKinlay shared. “We’re never there with firearms on display; we specifically promote the training aspect of our classes.”
MacKinlay said there wasn’t any particular event in his life that brought him to this strong sense of community. Rather, it’s an overall desire to be a business that helps solve existing problems in the community.
“We feel a need to make sure education is an integral part of what we do,” he added. “It’s also a recognition the products we sell can be inherently dangerous if they’re misused, and it’s incumbent upon us as business owners and folks who live in the community to make sure people who buy our products understand how they work and when they can and can’t be used in situations involving personal defense or the defense of others.”
Fielding A Call From … The Zoo?
Two years ago, MacKinlay got a call from the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson for help with training their staff.
“They have two response teams that are called out specifically when they have a problem animal,” he informed. “Scenarios would be when an animal attacks one of their zookeepers or one escapes its enclosure and is a threat to the public. It’s the job of these response teams to either capture, subdue or terminate the animal.”
Staff members were initially getting some training through the local police department, but after not working out as planned, the team contacted Diamondback Shooting Sports for additional assistance.
We feel a need to make sure education is an integral part of what we do.”
Doug MacKinlay, Owner Diamondback Police Supply Company Tucson, Ariz..
“When they discovered the level of training we provide — and we found out the limited training they were getting — we put together a program to give their personnel more training to better prepare them to do their job properly if the situation arises,” he said. “We also made suggestions relative to choice of weapons and calibers.”
A Common Aim
Three retailers, three strategies, three paths to the same goal: community defense, involvement and support. These stores have built their business on a commitment to care for and defend their communities. It has made them all an integral part of the communities they help defend.
Dealers, how are you involved in extending defensive tactics to your community? Let the SI team know — we’d love to share your story. comments@shootingindustry.com
