Traveling Armed in America: Why is it so Complicated? (ft. Elite Tactical Systems)

State of the Second hosts Kaylee and John sit down with Eddie from Elite Tactical Systems (ETS) for an episode that runs from magazine engineering into the maze of laws gun owners face when they travel across state lines. Eddie has worked in the firearms industry for about 20 years, including stints at Remington, AOB, Timney, and Crimson Trace, and he explains why he left big companies for a small one. His line is that "big ships turn slow" while small companies stay agile, which is why ETS can develop a brand new magazine for a gun like the Echelon in the same time a large company spends just getting the paperwork done. Most of the show dismantles magazine myths and explains why the magazine is so often an afterthought in gun design. Eddie says the old advice to never leave mags loaded no longer holds for magazines made in roughly the last decade, because wear comes from cycling, not from sitting loaded. He walks through ETS testing, including laser scanners that measure every critical dimension so a bad batch can be tracked, quarantined, and kept off the market. He says there are probably about eight true magazine engineers in America, calls tuning a magazine a "dark art," and points to the industry trend toward standardizing on AR, Glock, and CZ pattern mags. Kaylee and Eddie also push first-time owners to get training and go shoot, since both hosts note how overwhelming and expensive the first purchase can be. The Soapbox segment turns to the episode's title question: why traveling armed in America is so complicated. Eddie describes routing a trip through Memphis to add an hour to his drive just so he could legally carry his gun and the rounds he wanted to use. John recounts driving a U-Haul full of guns through Illinois and being "butt puckered" the whole way, then learning later that some restrictions only applied to residents. Kaylee argues the pro-gun side keeps losing "the battle of language" by adopting terms like "high capacity magazine" and "red flag law," which she calls a gun confiscation order. They cover the push for national reciprocity, the absurdity of state rosters that reject a gun over a screw type or the color of a chamber flag, and the way restrictive places like D.C. normalize what they call tyranny. The episode closes with ETS contact info and a plug for GOALS in Knoxville, Tennessee on August 9th and 10th. Linksevents.goa.org/goalsQuestions this episode answers Why did Eddie leave large firearms companies like Remington and Crimson Trace to work at a small company like ETS? Eddie's view is that big ships turn slow, so the large companies he came from move at a crawl. A small company like Elite Tactical Systems stays agile and can develop a brand new magazine for a gun like the Echelon in the time a large company spends just on paperwork. Do you really need to avoid leaving your magazines loaded, and how often should you change them out? Eddie says the old advice to never leave magazines loaded no longer holds for mags made in roughly the last decade. Spring wear comes from cycling the magazine, not from sitting loaded, so leaving a modern mag loaded is fine. Why is the magazine so often treated as an afterthought when a new gun is designed? Tuning a magazine is what Eddie calls a dark art, and he estimates there are only about eight true magazine engineers in America. Many designers build the gun first and treat the mag as an afterthought, though the better approach is to build the gun around a mag that already works. How does ETS test its magazines for quality? ETS uses laser scanners that measure every critical dimension of a magazine. That lets the company track a bad batch, quarantine it, and keep it off the market. What makes traveling across state lines with a firearm so complicated, and what hoops did Eddie and John have to jump through? Patchwork state laws force gun owners into detours and uncertainty. Eddie routed a trip through Memphis to add an hour to his drive just to legally carry the gun and rounds he wanted, and John drove a U-Haul of guns through Illinois on edge the whole way before learning some restrictions only applied to residents. What is national reciprocity and how would it change things for gun owners? National reciprocity is the push to have a carry permit recognized across state lines, the way a driver's license is. Eddie argues it is disingenuous to hold a Second Amendment right and then have to figure out which inalienable rights you can exercise in each state you travel through. How far do state rosters like California's go in rejecting firearms over small differences? Eddie and the hosts call the rosters absurd, with states rejecting a gun over something as minor as a screw type or the color of a chamber flag. The episode frames this color-compliance gatekeeping as a way restrictive places normalize what they describe as tyranny. Why does Kaylee say gun owners keep losing the language fight? Kaylee argues the pro-gun side loses the battle of language by adopting the other side's terms, such as high capacity magazine and red flag law. She points out that a red flag law is really a gun confiscation order, and that caving to that wording cedes ground. Chapters 00:00 — Welcome and rapid fire questions 05:23 — Ammo Squared sponsor break 06:15 — What ETS is and why Eddie joined 07:52 — How ETS got into translucent magazines 09:43 — Speed loaders, the number one seller 12:13 — The Omega hybrid mag and testing process 15:20 — Magazine myths: loaded mags and wear 19:00 — Why the magazine is the afterthought 24:49 — How many mags should a gun come with 26:00 — First time gun owners and training 36:20 — Soapbox: magazine bans and the language fight 41:38 — Traveling armed across state lines 50:21 — National reciprocity and Freedom Week 52:36 — State rosters and color compliance absurdity 1:00:18 — Wrap up, ETS links, and GOALS About the guest Eddie works at Elite Tactical Systems (ETS), where he has been for three years. He has worked in the firearms industry for about 20 years and previously worked at Remington, AOB, Timney, and Crimson Trace, where he was a product manager. He learned to shoot from his mother, who he says owns more than 300 guns. ETS is known for translucent polymer magazines, speed loaders, and the Omega hybrid metal-and-polymer magazine. Key quotes "The big saying that we had at the big companies was big ships turn slow." — Eddie "It's a dark art tuning a magazine and getting a magazine to work properly." — Eddie "People found that if you make a mag that works, build the gun around the mag." — Eddie "A red flag law is a gun confiscation order, but we let them rebrand and repackage everything and then we cave and we use their language." — Kaylee "I think it's incredibly disingenuous for us to have the Second Amendment and then have to figure out which of our inalienable rights we're allowed to execute in any state we travel through." — Eddie