I’m Lance Rankin. I run Western Sport, a family gun shop and FFL in Roanoke, Texas, and I’ve been behind the counter long enough to notice a pattern that ought to bother everybody, whatever their politics: the loudest voices for disarming ordinary Americans tend to live behind armed security themselves.
Do as I say, not as I do
Peter Schweizer wrote a whole book with that title, documenting public figures who advocate policies with great conviction and then quietly exempt themselves. Gun control is the clearest example of the genre. A celebrity films a PSA about the danger of firearms, then rides home with an armed detail. A politician proposes restricting the guns you can own while accepting taxpayer-funded protection for life. A billionaire bankrolls gun-control groups from behind a private security budget bigger than my whole town’s police payroll.
Notice what none of them ever proposes: disarming their own guards. The guns aren’t the problem when they’re pointed outward from the gated community. They’re only a problem in your safe.
Why this matters beyond the hypocrisy
Hypocrisy alone is just annoying. What makes this one worth writing about is what it reveals: the people pushing these policies do not actually believe armed defense fails. They believe it works, which is why they pay for it. Their real position is that armed defense should be a service you buy, not a right you hold. If security costs six figures a year, the wealthy stay protected and everyone else files a police report after the fact.
My customers aren’t celebrities. They’re nurses coming off night shifts, ranchers an hour from the nearest deputy, single moms, retirees. None of them can hire a detail. What they can do is buy a reliable handgun or shotgun, learn to use it, and sleep better. Orwell had the line for the alternative arrangement: all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
The Second Amendment doesn’t have an income requirement
The founders wrote the Second Amendment precisely so that the means of self-defense wouldn’t be reserved for whoever holds power or money. It’s a right, not a subscription tier. When someone with armed protection tells you that your protection is the problem, you’re allowed to weigh their actions against their words. I’d encourage it.
I’ll add a note of fairness, because I’d rather be honest than ranty: some public figures face genuine, documented threats, and I don’t begrudge anyone security. That’s exactly my point. Their threat assessment led them to guns. Yours might too. The judgment call belongs to you, not to them.
What you can actually do about it
Here in Texas, exercising the right is straightforward. If you’re new to this, my guide on how to buy a gun in Texas covers the process step by step, and constitutional carry means most law-abiding adults can carry without a permit, though I still think the Texas LTC is worth getting for the training and reciprocity. Not sure where to start on hardware? My first gun guide is written for exactly that question.
I don’t have a security detail either. I have a safe full of tools, a family that knows how to use them, and a shop where I help other folks get to the same place. If I can help you, call 817-393-4000 or email [email protected].
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
