by Every now and again, it helps to read a feel-good story involving guns. While this story starts out in tragedy, it has a good ending.
Sgt. Brad Lang was a Marine Explosive Ordnance Detail Technician serving in Sangin Province, Afghanistan when he lost both of his legs to an IED. He was in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for 9 months. While there, he was roommates with fellow teammate and EOD technician Johnny Morris. Morris had lost a leg in another IED explosion a month earlier than Lang.
Rather than feeling sorry for themselves, Lang and Morris made plans to go into business for themselves after they finished their rehab.
And while they rehabilitated their injuries, the two friends began their post-military careers by starting Stumpies Custom Guns, Inc., a gunsmith shop in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
“My wife came up with the idea for the name,” Lang said. “We were in
our wheel chairs trying to get some fresh air and talking about
business. We didn’t want some federal job where we worked out butts off.
“In Jacksonville there are 60,000 active-duty Marines who like
firearms with no good gunsmiths around. We were sitting there talking
about a name and my wife said, ‘Stumpies, duh. You only have one good
leg between the two of you.’”
They are now open for business in Jacksonville and have their FFL. Prior to the Marine Corps, Morris had worked in a gun store in Alabama and Lang had taken training in machining and CNC programming.
Their store motto is “We can’t run, but we can shoot.” With that kind of spirit, I don’t see how they can fail.
H/T Blackwater Tactical Weekly – original post was on Dec. 30, 2012
UPDATE: Tonight on 60 Minutes, Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on a program that helps disabled veterans become entrepreneurs. Featured in this report was Sgt. Brad Lang of Stumpies Custom Guns. The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities is a 6 month online training program followed by a 10-day intense on-campus class. It is an all expense paid program funded through grants from major corporations like Walmart and Pepsico. The program is headquartered at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management and includes seven other universities.