For this week’s Deep Dive Series, we are interviewing a bad-ass Clapper creator: @TracyGuns.

@TracyGuns is a gun enthusiast and content creator on Clapper. It’s been almost 12 years since Tracy has been interested in guns, and since then, she spends time educating others on gun safety and she’s currently training to become a stunt shooter for movies. This badass woman has an exciting, adventurous life. From shooting from a helicopter to laying in the middle of a campground shooting pictures of the milky way. All this while also maintaing a job as a social media consultant in Las Vegas. There’s nothing Tracy can’t do and we loved learning more about guns, safety and misconceptions about the firearm community in our conversation with her. 

Keep reading this Deep Dive Series to find out more about this creator’s fantastic story. Make sure to tune in every Thursday at 5pm CT on our @Clappertalks account, to listen to the bonus questions that will only be available on our live radio show: Clapper Talks.

Deep Dive into this amazing creator’s story!

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What does a day look like in your life? 

That all depends because I  am super spontaneous. There is no normal. Right now is the most normal because I have a client located here in Vegas. I do social media consulting so I do a lot of content creation for my clients. Right now I am in their office 3 times a week shooting images and videos to turn into short-form videos. All that sounds boring. It’s the stuff that I do to pay for my style of living. Then, any other time, I’ll get a call to go shoot guns out of a helicopter or to go camping and shoot photos of the stars. It always varies. I like to be as spontaneous as possible.

Tell us about your history with guns. When was the first time you ever shot a gun? How was the experience?

The first gun that I ever shot was a vanilla shotgun. At the time I was traveling around the world with USC. We were up in portland and I was taken to the range for my first time shooting. I guess shooting photos of action sports translates really well overshooting moving targets. At the time I thought I was doing pretty good. I start doing so well that the owner of the ranch comes over to watch and gave me tips. After that, I was hooked. I was scared of guns before I got to understand them. Once you understand them it’s like when you are a teenager and you want to drive a car for the first time. It’s scary, but once you get to practice and learn the safety aspects it’s not scary enough.

Tell us about your training with guns. What kind of training does one have to get in order to become a shooter and how long does it take? 

I’ve been shooting for a long time. Once I start teaching classes I would say I am a professional. It just depends on your passion for it. I feel like people can decide in six months that they want to be firegun instructors and get tons of training to get what they want. It just dependes on how much you are willing to learn, become a very precise shooter, the time and money you are willing to invest. Its not only getting on the range and shooting live rounds. Its also sitting in your living room and dry firing your gun to practice. 

What is your favorite gun and why? 

My favorite riffle I have is my AK47. It’s a 556, so its not a very common round. The 556 ends being a smaller gun. The way I have it customized its still a legal length and also did some modifications to the barrel and the muscle break, the whole gun is shorter as a whole. It’s a bright metallic blue like my hair. As far as my favorite pistol, I carry SIG P365. My favorite gun to train with is my Glock19 which is the first gun I ever purchased, I love that gun.

With such a controversy in the news about gun control, what are some common misconceptions about people who love guns? 

Number one missconception is that we are christian republican men or far right righ believers. I am a non-partisan, female who is raised jewish and was born to a democrat mom. So, I definitely don fit in that firearm stereotypes. I think there’s also a lot of misconceptions on what guns are and the problem comes from the terminology used by the media. AR doesn’t stand for assault riffles it stands for ArmaLite Riffle. It’s very interesting when I hear some of the terms portrayed in media.

For anyone who wants to go out to a shooting range and try shooting some guns for fun, what are some safety measures you would recommend to any beginner? 

In the firearms world it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been shooting, anytime you get on the range for a new course the first thing that happens is that everybody gets together to discuss the safety like where is the closest hospital and who is calling 911. The four rule of firearm safety are:

1. Treat every gun as if it was loaded
2. Never put your finger on the trigger until your own target and ready to shoot
3. Know your target and what is beyond it
4. never point your gun to something or someone you don’t intend to shoot

So, When did you join Clapper? What advice would you give new users that want to be successful on Clapper?

It’s been over a year. It’s been really nice because I feel like there is no dangerous content here. I feel like even if people get political here, I also dont thing it gets dangerous. Also, I wish every platform had your measures of moderations. I am allowed to post my firearms videos and I am allowed to talk about politics if I want. The ability to do that is really cool. As far as a videos, I try to post good quality videos. I would say people should concentrate on delivering quality content. Get a tripod and a light. They are very cheap at wallmart. Also really learning to edit 

For our latest deep-dive on @Donkaaay, read here.