This is Why We Don’t Trust Politicians (ft. @stones2ndsense)

In State of the Second 1x68, hosts John and Kaylee sit down with 2A content creator Katie Stone, who runs Stone Second and focuses almost entirely on short-form video. The episode opens loose and personal, with a rapid-fire round covering Katie's bucket-list gun (a tank), her zombie-apocalypse loadout, and a long, funny detour into pizza and chili. From there Katie tells the story of how she fell into the firearms industry by accident. Her sister found a bookkeeping job at Classic Firearms while Katie was working an infant room in a daycare making about $800 a month. She took a customer service role, got pulled into product videos by Ben at Classic, later became his personal assistant, and eventually decided she had maxed out and needed to grow somewhere else. That move led her to Braden and Langley Outdoors Academy, where she built a shorts channel under the Second Press umbrella, which also runs a newsletter and merch. Katie makes the case that short-form content is how you reach a generation with a shrinking attention span, and that a 30 to 60 second video can pull a curious viewer toward longer content from creators like Braden and Tim Harmson. The hosts and Katie then climb on the soapbox to call out what they see as a political and media class that does not understand guns, citing claims about AR-15s, a vice president saying she owns a Glock, and a politician who could not load his own shotgun. The back half lands on a serious through-line under the jokes. Katie and the hosts argue that culture is upstream of politics, that memes only work if people understand why they are funny, and that the firearms community needs a wide, diverse range of content because you never know what reaches a gun-curious person. They close on civic engagement: pay attention to local races and school boards, do not go apathetic after an election, and treat advocacy as a small personal sacrifice. Katie shares that she takes a personal day to attend every GOA Lobby Day in Tennessee so no one can say she was paid to be there. GOA notes it has scored politicians and published a voter guide since it was founded in 1976. Questions this episode answers How did Katie Stone get her start in the firearms industry? She fell into it by accident. While working an infant room at a daycare for about $800 a month, she took a customer service role at Classic Firearms, got pulled into product videos, and later became personal assistant to the company's top buyer and general manager. Why does Katie Stone focus on short-form video instead of long-form content? She argues short-form is how you reach a generation with a shrinking attention span. A 30 to 60 second video makes Second Amendment politics shorter and spicier, catching a curious viewer's attention and pulling them toward longer content. What is Second Press and how do its channels and newsletter fit together? Second Press is the umbrella Katie works under alongside Braden of Langley Outdoors Academy, where she built a short-form video channel. It also runs a newsletter and merch. Does short-form content give creators an edge with younger gun owners? Katie says yes. A quick 30 to 60 second video can hook a gun-curious viewer whose attention span is short and lead them toward longer content from creators like Braden and Tim Harmson. Why do Katie Stone and the hosts say the political and media class misunderstands guns? They point to a class that does not understand firearms, citing inaccurate claims about AR-15s, a vice president saying she owns a Glock, and a politician who could not load his own shotgun. Why does it matter to pay attention to local races and school boards, not just the presidency? They argue culture is upstream of politics and that local people and races matter, so gun owners should stay engaged with county races and school boards and not go apathetic after an election. What does Gun Owners of America do to hold politicians accountable around elections? Gun Owners of America (GOA) has scored politicians and published a voter guide since it was founded in 1976. Katie also takes a personal day to attend every GOA Lobby Day in Tennessee so no one can claim she was paid to be there. Where can people find Katie Stone online? Katie runs Stone Second, a mostly Second Amendment politics channel built around short-form video, and works almost daily with Braden of Langley Outdoors Academy under the Second Press umbrella. Chapters 00:00 — Welcome and meet Katie Stone 01:12 — Rapid fire: bucket-list guns and the tank 02:31 — Zombie apocalypse loadout 05:01 — Pizza, chili, and food as a love language 11:30 — How Katie got into the industry by accident 14:43 — From Classic Firearms videos to personal assistant 18:06 — Meeting Braden and the shorts channel 19:54 — Langley Outdoors Academy and Second Press 23:36 — Soapbox: short-form and a shrinking attention span 30:39 — Politicians and media who miss the mark on guns 36:18 — Culture is upstream of politics 47:48 — Why politicians always run the double-barrel shotgun 58:06 — Stay engaged: local races and post-election true colors 1:05:00 — Advocacy as a personal sacrifice and GOA Lobby Days 1:08:34 — Where to find Katie and wrap-up About the guest Katie Stone runs Stone Second, a mostly 2A politics channel where she mainly does short-form video. She got into the firearms industry by accident through a job at Classic Firearms, where she worked customer service, appeared in product videos, and later became personal assistant to Ben, the company's top buyer and general manager. Before that she worked in the infant room of a daycare. She now works almost every day with Braden of Langley Outdoors Academy under the Second Press umbrella, which includes a newsletter and merch. She attends every GOA Lobby Day in Tennessee. Key quotes "I feel like politics can be one of those things that gets kind of boring after a while. So if we make it a little shorter and a little spicier and get to the point, then I find it catches people's attention a little better." — Katie Stone "So I feel like a lot of our generation, like our new generations and even some of the older ones, their attention span is dying." — Katie Stone "AR15s were made for civilian use." — Katie Stone "We have to be the watchers on the wall. We have to be the keepers of the Constitution." — Kaylee "if this is where the culture is going, we have to fight on a cultural level to preserve our gun rights." — Kaylee "The little people matter. The people that are running in your county and all this. That matters." — Katie Stone