Beyond Measure - An uncomfortable discussion among friends put Caleb Morse on a life-changing course

No one likes talking about suicide. When Caleb Morse opened up The Rustic Renegade gun store in Lafeyette, Louisiana, having discussions about suicide was the last thing on his mind. But when a friend he served with came into the store and told Morse that he didn’t want his guns anymore, Morse didn’t shy away from the conversation.

“Talking to someone about suicide never gets easier,” Morse says. “But the more conversations you have, the more comfortable you get with the uncomfortableness.”

Morse’s courage to have that initial uncomfortable conversation not only made a world of difference to his friend, it completely changed the trajectory of Morse’s business—and his life. 

From the time he was 17 and started working at a local gun store, Morse knew he belonged in the firearms industry. After he left the military, Morse decided he wanted to own his own gun store, so he sank his life savings into buying the store he was working at. The deal fell through, however, and Morse lost everything.

“I thought it was over. I thought I was finished,” he says

With the help of his wife, however, Morse worked through the depression he had fallen into. And that’s when fate stepped in. Morse met a man who owned a custom furniture store and agreed to give Morse a small storefront for a budding gun shop if Morse would agree to manage the furniture store. Even though he knew nothing about selling furniture, Morse jumped at the opportunity.

With only $2,000 left to his name, Morse began selling knives out of the furniture shop in 2018.

“Within 6 months, I turned $2,000 worth of knives into more than $40,000 in inventory,” Morse said. “Then I got my FFL, and I turned that $40,000 into more than $1 million in sales.”

With that, The Rustic Renegade was born. With five employees and less than 7,000 square feet, the store is hardly a behemoth of the firearms industry, but the impact of the store—and its owner —are beyond measure.

After that initial difficult conversation, Morse agreed to store his friend’s firearms, and, as it has a tendency to do, word spread. Before long other veterans who were struggling with mental health issues and thoughts of suicide came into The Rustic Renegade and asked Morse to store their guns. Despite the advice of his lawyers, and many other people, Morse never turned anyone away.

“If an individual comes to me for help, I want to help that individual,” Morse says. “And I refuse to share any information about the people who come to me for help.”

Eventually, the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs heard about what Morse was doing and contacted him. Together, Morse and the VA established a more comprehensive program built around the principle that Morse had already implemented in The Rustic Renegade. It’s called The Armory Project (TAP) and is headed up by Dr. Gala True, of the Tulane School of Medicine. TAP helps prevent firearm suicides by facilitating safe, voluntary, out-of-home firearm storage with trusted firearms dealers and other vetted partners in local communities. thearmoryproject.com

Despite the obvious need and benefits of the project, TAP didn’t take off right away. Most of the FFLs in Louisiana who were approached about joining The Armory Project said “no” because they were concerned about the potential for civil liability if they returned an individual’s firearms for them after temporary storage and that person subsequently harmed themselves or someone else.

 “It’s hard to encourage people to risk their livelihoods, and even possible jail time to help out a stranger in need,” Morse says. “That’s a big ask for anyone.”

Seeing this as a major obstacle to get more retailers and ranges to participate in TAP, Morse knew he had to do something.

“I’ve had an ethos that I tell myself: ‘I am someone, I am somebody’”, he says. “Whenever I hear, ‘someone should do something about that’, or ‘somebody should help’, I tell myself that I am someone. I am somebody.”

Morse and TAP set about to make a change, and in 2022, their hard work and perseverance paid off when Louisiana enacted legislation that stated firearms dealers couldn’t be held liable if they returned firearms to an individual and that individual used the firearms to hurt himself or anyone else. 

“That was a game changer as far as getting people to participate in The Armory Project,” Morse says. “Before that, we only had three businesses participating in Louisiana. Now, we have 26 across the state.”

Like the pebble thrown into the pond, the ripples of Morse and TAP’s efforts didn’t stop in Louisiana. Soon after the law was passed there, Morse and TAP helped get laws modeled after the one in Louisiana passed in Arkansas, Montana, Alabama, and Nevada. Similar bills have also been introduced in Oregon and Texas.

Morse’s commitment to the people who walk into a gun store looking for help doesn’t end at helping pass laws and increasing participation. As soon as a retailer or range signs up to participate in TAP, the organization coordinates with the VA to help ensure that the staff at that business are adequately trained on how to handle conversations about suicide.

And it isn’t just individual retailers and ranges who are stepping up as word about TAP has spread.

“I’m continually impressed with how many people across our industry know that we need to have these conversations,” Morse says. “These conversations are critical because mental health affects everyone. We all tend to think we’re invincible, but we all have issues.”

By having those conversations, however, TAP is making a tremendous difference. Morse says that in Louisiana alone TAP has trained more than 90 employees, handed out more than 10,000 informational packets, stored nearly 1,200 firearms, and helped more than 100 people. And although the majority of the people TAP helps are veterans, Morse says they’ve also stored firearms for people who didn’t serve.

“We offer it to anyone. I’ll never turn away anyone who needs help,” he says. “At the end of the day the goal is to give them a means to be alive for another day.”

And if accomplishing that goal means having a difficult conversation or two, isn’t it worth it? 

Editor’s Note: for more information on industry efforts to combat suicide, see “Leading the Charge,” page 18, SHOT Business, May/June 2025.