EDITORIAL COMMENT: Both Aaron and Russell have since come to the conclusion that Ryan Busse’s book is a self-serving story of a man who could have made the choice to leave his position much sooner than he did. The main reason I have chosen to leave this episode up is because we are both such huge fans of Teddy “Blue” Abbott’s book. But we would not recommend Gunfight.

Ryan Busse worked as a top executive in the gun industry for several decades. “I sold millions of guns,” he says. But Busse became increasingly disillusioned with the NRA’s influence on the industry he loved, to the point that he felt compelled to write about his experience. Gunfight is part memoir, part expose on how this industry has fallen under the influence of the NRA and the Republican party. Ryan’s take on the Second Amendment and using is as an excuse for being able to own whatever guns and as many guns as you want is particularly fascinating.

We paired Mr. Busse’s book with one of our favorite books about Montana’s early pioneer years, the memoir by Teddy “Blue” Abbott, who went on his first cattle drive from Texas to Montana when he was 14 years old. Abbott explodes most of the myths about what it was like to be a cowboy in the early days of cattle ranching in Montana.

As always, we want to thank our sponsors, The Isle of Books in Bozeman, Montana, and Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, Montana. Please visit their websites if you want to order either of these books or any of the books we discuss on our podcast.