At 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, I met Charlie Cook for the second time on Court Square in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Several hours later that afternoon, I wished my friend Charlie bon voyage and headed him back to Nashville.
It’s not often you create a bond with anyone these days. It’s even more rare to make a friend in such a short timeframe. But you don’t often run into a genuine character like Charlie. OK, if you’re not Internet or YouTube savvy, you probably don’t know anything about Charlie. If you’re one of the people who follow his “Riding Shotgun With Charlie” you know him as a cross between a TV interviewer and a cab driver.
I met him through Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation. Walking through the media center at SHOT Show, I was flagged down by Gottlieb, who proceeded to tell me I “needed to get to know Charlie” - he told Charlie the same thing about me. Then, he proceeded to take a hike and leave us to chat.
We did. And after a few minutes, I was given a business card and told we should take a ride together one day. I replied “sure” then promptly forgot all about the conversation. Imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when Charlie reached out to tell me he’d be in my area this week and wanted to know if I would be willing to take a ride.
That’s the very short version of how I came to be in a stranger’s car riding around my hometown and talking about everything from music (Charlie’s real job is teaching music to small kids -despite that, he still loves music) to the differences between big city and small town living. Interspersed in these seemingly random topics, we talked about the Second Amendment, our favorite guns, and traded stories about growing up in a time where music and guns weren’t “hot-button” political topics.
The stories -at least Charlie’s portion- focused on his assertion that he rides around “with the coolest people in America”. I’m not sure that premise is always accurate, but he has certainly enjoyed some seat time with many of the people you’d recognize in the shooting sports and firearms industry. I watched a couple before meeting him this week, and was pretty impressed that a guy who was simply driving around talking with people like Cam Edwards, Adam Kraut, Chris Cheng, Evan Nappen, Stephen Gutowski, Dave Workman and “Hickok45” got these very disparate personalities to open up to him.
When we started our drive, I understood. Charlie’s created a unique setting that’s one of the very private and uninterruptible place to talk imaginable. It’s more familiar than any studio and far more personal than any video call or telephone conversation.
It’s a place we’re all accustomed to being; even those of us who prefer to be driving. And what do you do when you’re in a car with someone you don’t really know who’s eager to talk to you about one of all mankind’s favorite topics -themselves? You talk. And before you realize it, you’re sharing stories, laughing and enjoying your time riding around with your new friend.
When I asked Charlie why he was putting a gazillion miles on his own, personal car and recording interview, his answer was quick and unequivocal: he genuinely enjoys his drives, and getting to know his “shotgunners” and learning more about them. Shooting sports and gun rights are important topics to Charlie, and, like me, he believes the more people can be helped to realize gun owners are just regular people who prefer shooting to other sports, the better off everyone will be.
Since he began inviting people to ride shotgun with him back in 2017 as part of a Toastmasters Club project, he’s assembled and published nearly 180 interviews. He tells me he has another “dozen or so” waiting for edit. By his every other week distribution schedule, that means he has several months of material sitting on the digital shelf, waiting for him to assemble.
In our conversation, I learned enough about Charlie to realize that he was onto something -and asked how long he intended to keep it up. That’s when I learned he did have at least one goal: to record an interview in every state- including Hawaii and Alaska. He’s already notched 30+ states, and I wouldn’t bet against him reaching his goal.
I also learned that he and I had something in common: On June 26. 2018, both of us were at the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., for the Heller decision. While I was sequestered in the media area on the inside, Charlie was outside listening to the speakers. When Ted Cruz failed to show, Charlie spoke to the crowd.
Finally, he’s not rich and doesn’t have what he calls “YouTube money” - in fact, he says he’s made less than $10 off the monetization of “Riding Shotgun”. But he takes great pride in the fact his adventures have been viewed in 108 different countries.
Charlie, like many of our friends and fellow shooters, isn’t doing the work because he’s trying to get rich. He’s doing it because he enjoys it.
My new friend and I promised to “keep in touch” when we parted company this week. I’m hoping we do. Heck, we could even take a drive somewhere and catch up.
We’ll keep you posted.
— Jim Shepherd