This Marine Built a Better AR – And Got Banned from Advertising It (Ft. Devil Dog Concepts)

Cameron Hillman, president and CEO of Devil Dog Concepts, joins hosts John and Kaylee on State of the Second to tell the story of a company he calls an accident. A former Marine who served as an MP and canine handler, he went into law enforcement and spent about five years on a SWAT team in New York. He got sick of fighting with the standard AR charging handle while running failure drills in gloves, so he sat down drawing one day and came up with a side charging handle system for the AR platform. Eleven years later it has grown into a full product line, and he is now retired from the job and running the business full time. The conversation gets into why building a firearms brand is so hard. Advertising the product directly is, in his words, practically impossible, so the company started a separate coffee brand (Crayon Eater Coffee) and an apparel company (Precision Custom Apparel) as a workaround to run paid advertising outside the firearms industry and backlink it to the main company. Cameron walks through how the side charger works, the engineering problems it solves, and the markets it found beyond tactical use, including competition shooters, hunters, people with injuries, and compliance states like California and Pennsylvania where it can turn an AR into a straight pull. He also details the roughly six-to-seven year fight to make a version that works across the fragmented AR10 market and a separate armorer's tool he developed with John from Hera Arms and the company American Resistance Gear. Cameron shares a rough stretch earlier in the year when the company's social media and business bank accounts were hacked and everything got wiped, two weeks after he retired. Social media was a vast majority of sales, and he only recovered access after working through a local assemblyman and congressional contacts to reach Meta. The episode covers GOALS as a breakthrough convention because of its media day, what it's like owning guns in New York, the failure of district attorneys to hold criminals accountable, mental health, and GOA's closing message that contacting your senator and congressman takes 30 seconds and that elected officials serve the people, not the other way around. Linkswww.gunowners.orgwww.blackoutcoffee.compatriotmobile.comQuestions this episode answers What is the Devil Dog Concepts side charging handle and what problem with the standard AR charging handle does it solve? It is a side charging handle system Cameron Hillman designed for the AR platform after he got tired of fighting with the standard charging handle while running failure drills in gloves on a SWAT team. The concept turns an AR into a side charger without having to machine, modify, or change anything on the rifle. Why did Cameron Hillman start a coffee company and an apparel company alongside the firearms business? Advertising a firearms product directly is practically impossible, so he launched Crayon Eater Coffee and Precision Custom Apparel as a workaround to run paid ads outside the firearms industry and backlink that traffic to the main Devil Dog Concepts company. How did Cameron Hillman come up with the idea for the side charger? He got sick of fighting with the standard AR charging handle while running failure drills in gloves on a New York SWAT team, sat down drawing one day, and came up with the side charging handle system. Eleven years later it has grown into a full product line. What happened when Devil Dog Concepts' social media and bank accounts got hacked, and how did Cameron get them back? About two weeks after he retired, the company's social media and business bank accounts were hacked and wiped, which hit hard because social media drove the vast majority of sales. He only recovered access after working through a local assemblyman and congressional contacts to reach Meta. Why was the Gun Owners Action Leadership Summit (GOALS) such a turning point for a small firearms company? The Gun Owners Action Leadership Summit (GOALS) was a breakthrough for Devil Dog Concepts because of its media day, which Cameron Hillman says opened the door and brought eyes and awareness to his product. What is it like to own guns in New York according to a retired police officer? Cameron Hillman, who lives in New York and spent about five years on a SWAT team there, speaks at length about the difficulty of owning guns in the state, and the episode ties it to compliance restrictions and the failure of district attorneys to hold criminals accountable. Why does Cameron Hillman argue the focus should be on qualifying the person rather than regulating the gun? He frames the issue as letting the person be qualified for the gun rather than the gun qualified for the person, connecting it to district attorneys failing to hold criminals accountable and to mental health rather than the firearm itself. How can gun owners make their voice heard with Gun Owners of America in about 30 seconds? Gun Owners of America (GOA) closes the episode noting that contacting your senator and congressman takes about 30 seconds, and that elected officials serve the people, not the other way around. Chapters 00:00 — Welcome and sponsor thank you 00:39 — Cameron introduces himself and Devil Dog 01:54 — Rapid fire questions 04:12 — What Devil Dog Concepts makes 08:36 — Compliance states and straight pull use 10:07 — Standardizing the fragmented AR10 13:00 — The coffee and apparel advertising workaround 16:36 — GOALS media day breakthrough 17:42 — Hacked accounts and the congressman fix 22:54 — Building an armorer's tool with John and ARG 26:00 — Trust and brothers in arms in the industry 29:29 — Soapbox: owning guns in New York 40:36 — DAs and accountability 44:29 — Election, mental health, and the culture 51:31 — GOA call to action and wrap up About the guest Cameron Hillman is the president and CEO of Devil Dog Concepts and the inventor of the company's side charging handle system for the AR platform. He is a former Marine who served as a military police canine handler, and he went on to a career in law enforcement, including about five years on a SWAT team in New York, before recently retiring. He started Devil Dog Concepts after getting frustrated with the standard AR charging handle, and the company is now in its eleventh year. He also runs a coffee brand, Crayon Eater Coffee, and an apparel company, Precision Custom Apparel. He lives in New York. Key quotes "The whole company was an accident." — Cameron Hillman "So the concept was turn it into a side charger without having to machine modify or do anything different." — Cameron Hillman "It really opened the door and it brought eyes and awareness to my product." — Cameron Hillman "I came from absolutely nothing. This thing started out of thin air." — Cameron Hillman "Let the person be qualified for the gun, not the gun qualified for the person." — Cameron Hillman "Now is the time to grow that grassroots effort and just push." — John "They are elected. They serve us, we don't serve them." — John