Leading the Way

This issue features our second installment of “Innovators and Influencers,” a celebration of and salute to a select group of leaders in our industry. And, like last year, it’s a diverse assembly of forward-thinkers.

Skyler Thomas, managing partner at Freedom Shooting Center, was determined to create a welcoming atmosphere at his shooting facility. The spark to do this was generated by an excruciating encounter with a grumpy counterman at a gun store. He realized this was no way to treat a customer, so he set out on a different path, one that focused on superb customer service. His operation now sees more than 4,000 customers a week walk through the doors.

David Deng immigrated from Taiwan and landed in Michigan. After obtaining a degree in computer science be began working at Ford Motor Company. Although the job paid the bills, he realized it wasn’t his true calling. He wanted to enter the shooting sports industry, so working with his wife out of their garage, he built a compact riflescope. Thirty years later, the company he founded, Leapers, is a global enterprise with more than 350 employees manufacturing 700 different SKUs across seven different product lines that range from high-quality optics, handguards, and accessories to bipods, range bags, and more.

Jon and Sarah Hauptman are the owners of PHLster, which produces a line of innovative concealed-carry holsters. Their piece de resistance is a no-belt-required concept for popular IWB carry. The success of these young entrepreneurs is also a testament to the power of community. The Hauptmans’ “concealment workshop” Facebook group a curated, educational online community that acts as an informal skunk works has allowed the pair to benefit from thousands of user-submitted photos and comments.

Many years ago, Clark Vargas had a vision, a world of carefully designed and engineered shooting ranges that would offer recreational shooters a first-class experience. At the time, it was uncommon thinking shared by only a few other fellow believers in the industry. But as a result of his untiring efforts, modern shooting ranges continue to push the boundaries of the shooting experience. From turning targets to increasingly complex tactical setups, ranges offer training opportunities unheard of just a few years ago. At the same time, massive shooting sports complexes are sprouting up across the country. Shooters can thank Clark Vargas for helping usher in this golden age.

Kevin Dixie is the owner-operator of No Other Choice Firearms Training (N.O.C.) and the founder of Aiming For The Truth, a six-pronged approach to healing broken families and strengthening the community bonds of neighbors in order to improve their lives. At the age of 21, he joined the Saint Louis City Police Department where, in the Prisoner Processing Division, he was properly introduced to firearms. Once he began to train professionally with guns, he realized that the civil rights for which he advocated included gun rights as well. His epiphany? The Second Amendment is the shield that protects all other civil rights.

I could not agree more.