I'm very pleased to have with us on set right now Mr. Matt Flemming from MidwayUSA Matt how
are you sir? Good Cam how are you doing? I'm good thank you for coming on the program today.
Thank you for having me. Absolutely, I guess you know, first question, how's everything going so
far? Well it's going great, first day of the show, lots of people here, lots of excitement. So we're
happy to be here. Yeah, now do you have anything for sale right now at MidwayUSA or are you wiped
out? You know like everybody else, inventory is a challenge right now. So we're getting products in
every day. We're shipping products out every day, but yeah our shelves are just a little bit thin
right now. Yeah, I can imagine. You know, I want to ask you to something that President Obama said
yesterday when he was at his press conference. He said you know, people think we're going to,
gun folks out there think we're going after all their guns we're going to take away all their
guns and he says I think that this is you know a bit fear-mongering here that's you know spurring
gun sales and it's good for business the fear is good for business. He's trying to blame the NRA,
he's trying to blame manufacturers, as opposed to blaming these politicians who keep saying we
want to take your guns away. What is your take on that this idea that you know the industry is
happy that gun control laws are being introduced, in fact we can even take it one step further. I've
seen the opposite say the industry is happy that there were 20 children murdered in Connecticut and
that's just you know again that's inhuman to think that. But this idea that you know, the industry is
just pleased as punch about the the profits and the sales and it doesn't really matter why it's
happening. Can you talk about that a little bit? Well any tragedy like what happened in Newton is a
horrible horrible thing and to think that there's anybody out there that's pleased about that,
I can't even imagine that that's the case. I have not talked to anybody, I mean that's a horrible
horrible thing. That's just sick and twisted, its sick and twisted. It seems like the other
side is just trying to take more advantage of this situation to advance their agenda, but as
far as the boom in sales I don't particularly like that. I haven't talked to anybody that likes that.
I'm a long term person not a short-term person, so this is all short-term stuff,
but up but I'm concerned about the long-term outcome. I'm concerned about our right to keep
and bear arms. You know I was raised to be a hunter and a shooter and you know I love hunting
and shooting. I love people that hunt and shoot, I mean those those are my type of people those
are MidwayUSA's type of people and and we want to make sure that that is a privilege, a right,
that we have forever for us, for our kids, for our grandchildren. Who cares about a week or two
or three or even a year or two or three of booming sales, we want the American Way of life. We want
what our Founding Fathers and the Constitution what they instilled. We want those principles
and those values to to to last long beyond us. So I haven't talked to anybody that's pleased about
this boom in business, the spike in business. So to think that that that we're happy that that this
is going on because it's good for business, those folks don't understand us, they don't understand
our customers, and understand our way of life. You know you bring up a word that we never actually
we rarely hear you use the word customers. You know one of the other things that we're seeing
from the media and the Obama administration and the anti-gunners the NRA doesn't represent people
the NRA represents manufacturers and I know that we've even seen stories about MidwayUSA's Roundup
Program for NRA/ILA and that being shown as an example of you know the industry in bed with the
NRA. These folks don't understand that the Roundup Program, it takes customers it takes people,
who are buying your products and making that decision to give a little bit of money to the
NRA that's absolutely true Larry and Brenda Potterfield founded the NRA Roundup Program
back in 1992 so 20 years ago. Since then we've collected nearly 9 million dollars
for the NRA on behalf of our customers, it's not our money it's not MidwayUSA's money,
it's our customers money. We ask every single one of our customers to round their order up to
the next dollar and then every week we send that money to the NRA/ILA to go to the endowment for
the protection of the Second Amendment and that's nearly 9 million dollars. We had a record year
this year where we collected over a million dollars on behalf of our customers in 2012.
MidwayUSA got nearly a million customers in about sixty five percent of all those customers around
their money up for the NRA. There's a whole bunch of folks out there that are supporting the NRA and
those are our customers those are our types of people and in you know thank God the NRA is out
there fighting for us. I wish there were more NRA members. Well I've got some good news, well again
not really I'm glad to see that the numbers are growing, but you know again I think it's because
our rights are under assault right now. But I did see right before we went on the air the NRA
has gained 250,000 members in the last month. So clearly there are more gun owners out there,
more Americans who are waking up to the fact that our rights are under attack and you know again I
think gun owners around the country are are happy to have a conversation about what works and what
doesn't. But what we're seeing here is a lot of bullying and we're being told that you know again
good people like yourself and Larry and Brenda Potterfield are somehow bad people because they
make it possible for folks to exercise their constitutional rights. Well folks like that
don't understand us very well and they don't understand I think what our Founding Fathers
had in mind when they put the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights. MidwayUSA, we're all
about shooting and hunting and in that type of lifestyle and and that's who we are and that's
a very wholesome way of life. My dad raised me to shooting hunt, he's my best friend to this day,
my brother shot and hunt with me he's one of my other best friends to this day. Our family,
one of the things that keeps us together is this common interest interest of shooting and hunting.
My daughter who's 12 years old shot her first deer November this year. She's going to grow up to be
a shooter and a hunter, will stay close . What a wonderful way of life, what a wonderful culture,
the values that you learn hunting, respect for wildlife, respect for firearms, safety,
ethics all those things those wonderful values that that you learn. People that don't understand
our way of life they don't understand those types of things. It's really unfortunate that they can't
see the good things, but I want to say the Second Amendment is not about hunting and we keep talking
about hunting and what do you need a high-capacity magazine for hunting and all these things. They're
missing the point when they're talking about things like that. The Founding Fathers put the
Second Amendment into the Constitution not because of hunting, because we have a right to bear arms,
to protect ourselves. And there's lots of folks out there that enjoy firearms for protection,
but for some reason they don't think the rest of us ought to enjoy that same right. So I just
think that's a real unfortunate thing. Again, thank God the NRA is out there and MidwayUSA
will continue to everything everything that we can possibly do to support that noble organization.
I'd encourage everybody to be a member of the NRA if you own a gun. So I know we've
got four million members today, we hope there's four and a half million by Houston this spring
at the NRA convention. There's 100 million gun owners, I wish there was 50 million NRA members
out there. So please please please join the NRA. MidwayUSA will continue support the NRA,
we'll continue to ask our customers to round up and we'll also support the convention and
lots of other causes for you shooting sports and things like that. Absolutely, I mean you guys,
you know I think there's a reason why Midway's name is a trusted name in the industry and it's
because you guys back up you don't just talk the talk you guys walk the walk. I mean we've sent NRA
news crews out to the Bianchi cup and and have seen the again just all of the effort you know
around the country that you guys do every year to give back and I think that the gun owners,
you know what the mainstream media may not have noticed, and they may not understand but as you
say there are plenty of gun owners out there who do get it. Well Midway will continue to
do that again Larry and Brenda Potterfield are some of the most generous people I know as far
as giving back. Again to state that it's not about profits, we want this industry to be sustainable,
we want it to be here for the long term. Larry and Brenda Potterfield give a half of all the profits
from MidwayUSA right back to the industry, to the NRA, to youth shooting sports, to continue to make
sure that this industry is going to be healthy and along around for the for future generations. So it
isn't about making money, it's about preserving our way of life and preserving the Second
Amendment. Absolutely, so let's let's get a little specific here while we have a couple of minutes.
I suppose one could say that that now there's a a new emerging market for seven round magazines
thanks to New York State. You know how tough is it for for you guys to to try to figure out what
you're going to be able to stock and what you're going to be able to get and what are you hearing
from your customers right now? Well it changes on a day-to-day basis we are monitoring what's going
on out there, we're making policy changes on a day-to-day basis and every single thing that we do
we're doing in the best interest of our customers. We're trying to put our customers first, there are
some things that we've had to do on a day-to-day basis that we wouldn't normally do we don't like
to do. We're monitoring this New York legislation, it may go into effect today I don't know, but
we're watching that we're looking at the thing you know the the definition of what an assault rifle
is. All the different features the collapsible stocks, pistol grip stocks, a flash suppressor,
bayonet lugs, 7 round mags. All those different things we're watching all those things day to
day if the law goes into effect MidwayUSA obeys the law will have to immediately put in delivery
restrictions communicate with our New York customers. Do everything we can to take care
of our customers. Other things that we're having to do is we're trying to get as we get products in
the door we're trying to get them out the same day we get them to get them in our customers
hands in case legislation happens we want to be holding inventory for our customers that we could
be sending to them. Again all within the law we're watching all that stuff and making policy changes
on a day-to-day basis. So we're trying to put our customers first and serve them in what we
thinks in the best interest of the customer group as a whole. Sure, well listen Matt we're almost
out of time this hour, but I really appreciate you coming by. I know it's going to be a very
busy show for you, but thanks for spending some time with us today. Thank You Cam and
we appreciate it. Matt Flemming, the president of MidwayUSA joining us here on cam and company.