‘Sons of Guns’: Love of America, Firearms and Our Troops Equals a Hit Show

by AWR Hawkins

When The Learning Channel (TLC) carried “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” the premiere drew record ratings. Salt-of-the-earth citizens in flyover country loved it, as they always love pro-American programming, and they turned off ABC, CBS, and NBC to turn on TLC and watch Palin talk about the greatness of America as seen from a mountain-top or a fishery or a hunting camp in Alaska.

In a similar vein, those folks in flyover country now have another good reason to turn off ABC, CBS, and NBC – that reason is “Sons of Guns,” a ratings hit on the Discovery Channel. And to watch this show is to watch pride in America unfolding in episode after episode.

The show follows the business of Red Jacket Firearms in Baton Rouge, LA. Owned by Will Hayden, Red Jacket repairs, as well as sells, firearms (and firearm accessories). They also build guns when Will sees a need for a weapon that no one else has made (like an AK-47 sniper rifle). And it’s hard to find an episode where some positive mention isn’t made of our troops overseas: or as Will call them, “our boys that are serving overseas.”

For example, in the episode where Will decided to get his crew working on the world’s first AK-47 sniper rifle, he justified all the headaches of creating such a weapon by reminding himself that the gun would help our troops: “It’s definitely not the money that we’re throwing our hat in the ring for. These will be going out to small units of our boys that are serving overseas. (And) that changes the game enough for me to want to do it.”

For any of you not familiar with AK-47’s or sniper rifles, the AK-47 is famous for its flawless semi-auto action, but it is infamous for its lack of accuracy. On the other hand, a sniper rifle is famous for its accuracy but infamous for the difficulty of getting off a timely second shot in certain situations. Will knew that combining the best of both guns would create a new weapon that might very well change everything  for “our boys that are serving overseas.”

Will talked of how war tests not just our soldiers, but the weapons they use as well. And with the AK-47 sniper rifle, he said: “At a thousand yards every time, I’ll sit on my mountain top and knock [the enemy’s] earlobes off.”

Folks, as you watch Will’s work ethic and see how he thinks, and listen to him talk in an accent that no one will ever confuse with a New Yorker or a Chicagoan, it doesn’t take long to figure out he’s the real deal. And when you hear how our troops are always on his mind or you see the episode where he hosted WWII Veterans at his gun range, it becomes easy to give him the greatest compliment of all – real American.

When the Discovery Channel decided to tap into America’s love for guns with this program, I don’t know if they fully knew that a gift they were giving us in Will Hayden. But almost everyone to whom I’ve spoken tells me they either watch the show every chance they get or they DVR it so they never miss an episode.

Like me, they love to see Will sitting there grinning in the smoke that floats up after shooting five or six rounds, and listening to him say: “Some of my best ideas have been born right out of that gun smoke.”

Mr. Hayden: Thank you for using Red Jacket Firearms to honor  “our boys that are serving overseas” and the vets from WWII.


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Posted Sep 22nd 2011 at 5:00 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Military, News, Television | 136 Comments