RSWC #159 Adam Kraut – Riding Shotgun With Charlie

Riding Shotgun With Charlie
#159
Adam Kraut
Executive Director, Second Amendment Foundation

Adam Kraut was another person who Amanda Suffecool (RSWC #009) told me they were stating that they hadn’t been on the stagecoach. I didn’t have Adam’s contact and I couldn’t find him on social media, so I had to reach out to someone to get his contact info. We were both going to be at GRPC in Dallas and Adam said we should be able to film a show.

This was filmed just before Adam joined Second Amendment Foundation as the Executive Director. Here’s a link to SAF’s press release https://www.saf.org/saf-names-attorney-and-2a-litigator-adam-kraut-as-executive-director/ . It’s an honor to have someone who has done so much work for out 2A Rights with several of the big groups on the show.

Adam tells us that his love of shooting stems from his Boy Scout years despite growing up in an anti-gun house. After hearing about the ‘power’ of a 12 gauge shotgun and getting over his fears, he decided that he would give it a try. His first shot was saying ‘pull’, squeezing the trigger, and missing the clay. Then the instructor told him he needed to aim before he shot. After some instruction, he was hitting clays.

After turning 18, he purchased at Remington 870 in 20 gauge. His anti-gun parents told him to get rid of it, which he didn’t. When he turned 21, he bought a handgun and got a carry permit. His father then told him his life expectancy was going to be ‘pretty limited’ since he had some firearms. A couple years after owning several firearms and shooting, his father then asked Adam to take him to the range. The same smile that Adam had at 18 his father had when he went shooting.

Earning a degree in political science, Adam wasn’t sure what he was going to do. During his last year of law school, he decided that it may be a good idea to find an internship with someone so he had some experience and could get a job after graduation. He saw Joshua Prince’s name pop up as a 2A lawyer in Pennsylvania, and decided to reach out about an internship. After the internship, they did offer him a position where he worked for several years.

He was doing some outside counsel for some cases for Firearm Policy Coalition, and they offered him a position and wore several hats with them. He held that position for 3 years. During that time, he worked with several other attorneys, lots of the state organizations, and many individuals with FPC, NRA, and SAF.

Adam was nominated via petition for the NRA Board of Directors three times. At the Great American Outdoor Show in Pennsylvania, he started talking to Tim Knight and Sean Maloney, both NRA BOD members who were impressed with some of his writings. He didn’t get elected the first time, the second time he ran for the 76th seat and wasn’t elected. The third time he felt he owed it to the folks who voted for him or joined the NRA because they wanted him on the BOD. His number of votes would have had him in the next in line seat, but he declined as he was working for FPC.

At GPRC, Adam spoke about some things going on in West Virginia particularly about the 18-21 year olds. He said Alan Gottlieb (RSWC #100) asked him to look at the WV 18-21 year old cases.. Adam explains that since Bruen, we need to look at the law’s text and tradition about 18-21 year olds, and at the time there weren’t any laws against 18-21 year olds possessing firearms.

Adam really gets into the social science about a number of things we’re facing these days.. He also talks about how some people use emotions about the topics, but they really shouldn’t be used. We also get into some 1A talk about what you should be able to talk about, despite how others feel about the topic.

Having the chance to spend 35 minutes with Adam was incredible. He’s been doing a lot for our Rights and as the SAF’s new Executive Director, he’s going to keep doing the same.

Favorite quotes:

“…people have preconceived notions that are put in their head by what they see on tv, what they read, what people tell them.”

“You ultimately are responsible for yourself.”

“A door opened and I walked through it.”

“The Constitution is really clear on this point, there’s no age restriction baked into the Second Amendment.”

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

01:16 Adam Kraut

03:07 Shooting in Boy Scouts

04:53 Buying a Remi 870

07:35 Converting new folks

08:33 Law school